The Commentariat -- July 11, 2016
Afternoon Update:
The Lady and the Storm Troopers. Michael Miller of the Washington Post: The woman in a summer dress being rushed and arrested by police in riot gear at a Baton Rouge protest has been identified. "Within hours of the photo's publication, news outlets, activists and the Internet itself were working overtime to figure out who she was.... After activist and New York Daily News writer Shaun King posted the photo to Facebook, several self-identified friends and family members identified her as Ieshia Evans. 'To see all of the comments under this post shows me that my cousin did not make a mistake by going out there and standing up for her rights and what she believes in,' wrote Nikka Thomas."
...Akhilleus: One commenter to the WaPo article noted that it looked like a queen meeting the peasants. But plenty of other commenters can't stand the fact that this is a calm black woman not knuckling under to the power. One idiot whined that Black Lives Matter protesters can't possibly look like that. Others are complaining that protests like this should not be allowed. Still other misogynists zero in on the fact that she has a child but is not married. "Her kid will be a thug soon enough" and "Shame" are common attacks. They can't stand the idea of any black person, especially a woman, displaying dignity when faced with an overwhelming show of force. She should be on her knees begging forgiveness. Heads are exploding all over. Thank you Ieshia.
Who Will Stand Up for Racism, Authoritarianism, and Ignorance? Who Else? Priscilla Alvarez of The Atlantic: "The list of speakers for the Republican national convention is taking shape, even as tensions among some Republicans and the party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, run high. House Speaker Paul Ryan is among the latest adds to the speaking list, according to Politico's Playbook, just days away from the convention in Cleveland. Ryan, who will deliver a 10-minute speech, said 'I want to talk about our ideas, our solutions, and how our party should unite ... around our common principles and how we apply those principles to problems.'"
...Akhilleus: Sure, Paul Ryan claims he doesn't agree with Donald Trump but he's happy to go to Cleveland and support his candidacy. Did I miss something there? Oh, Ted Cruz is also happy to stand up for racism and authoritarianism. Natch.
Trump Allowing Religious Right Loonies to Run the Show. Peter Montgomery of Right Wing Watch: "The Republican Party's platform committee started meeting in Cleveland this morning to hash out final language that will be presented to delegates at the Republican National Convention next week. Religious Right activists have been gearing up for months to make sure that the platform keeps the anti-gay and anti-abortion language.... In May, right-wing Iowa Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told Fox News that his goal was 'to get as many solid, constitutional conservatives to Cleveland and onto the platform and rules committees.' That same month, The New York Times reported that Ted Cruz supporters, including former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, were out to 'fill the Rules and Platform Committees with strong conservative voices.'"
...Akhilleus: Suprise, surprise, surprise! Maybe they can open the proceedings with a reading from Two Corinthians.
*****
Anushka Asthana of the Guardian: British PM "David Cameron has said he will step down as prime minister on Wednesday afternoon following prime minister's questions, allowing Theresa May to succeed him at No 10. The outgoing prime minister made a brief statement on Monday, welcoming the fact there would not be a prolonged Conservative leadership contest, saying that he felt Andrea Leadsom had made the right decision to step aside." See also linked story under Way Beyond the Beltway. ...
'It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done' ....
Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "President Obama will deploy 560 troops to Iraq to help retake Mosul, the largest city controlled by the Islamic State, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced on Monday. It is the latest escalation of the United States' role in the war here by Mr. Obama, who ran for office on a pledge to end America's involvement in the conflict. The additional troops will bring the official number of American service members deployed in Iraq to 4,647." -- CW
... How to Safely Arrest a Dangerous Protester. CW: Illustration from the Louisiana State Police Manual, I guess. (Actually, the photo is by Jonathan Bachman.)
Manny Fernandez, et al., of the New York Times: Dallas "city and county leaders said the presence of armed protesters openly carrying rifles on Thursday through downtown Dallas had created confusion for the police as the attack unfolded, and in its immediate aftermath made it more difficult for officers to distinguish between suspects and marchers.... Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas suggested in an interview on Sunday that, in the wake of the attack, he supported tightening the state's gun laws to restrict the carrying of rifles and shotguns in public." CW: Apparently in Texas it takes a Democrat like Rawlings to articulate the consequences of Stupid Republican Tricks. ...
... Yamiche Alcindor & Steve Kenny of the New York Times: "DeRay Mckesson, a national voice for the Black Lives Matter movement, was among hundreds of people arrested at demonstrations across the country late Saturday and early Sunday, as protesters expressed anger over the shootings of two black men by police officers last week.... Among those arrested in Baton Rouge were three members of the news media and Mr. Mckesson.... He was released around 3:30 p.m. Sunday after more than 16 hours in custody." -- CW ...
... The Washington Post story, by Fenit Nirappil & others, is here. -- CW ...
... Darlene Superville & Kathleen Hennessey of the AP: "President Barack Obama on Sunday urged respect and restraint from Americans angered by the killing of black men by police, saying anything less does a 'disservice to the cause' of ridding the criminal justice system of racial bias. He also urged law enforcement to treat seriously complaints that they are heavy-handed and intolerant, particularly toward minorities. 'I'd like all sides to listen to each other,' Obama said in response to a reporter's question after he met with Spain's acting prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, during an abbreviated first visit to Spain as president." -- CW ...
... Jessie Hellman of the Hill: "President Obama will visit Dallas on Tuesday at the invitation of Mayor Mike Rawlings, following the shooting deaths of five police officers. Obama will deliver remarks at an interfaith memorial service at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the White House announced on Sunday afternoon." -- CW ...
... ** Aviva Shen of Think Progress: "Another black man was shot and killed by police in Texas early Saturday morning. Houston Police said Alva Braziel was waving a gun around and pointed it at them when they opened fire. But surveillance footage from a nearby gas station suggests otherwise. The video, which began circulating Saturday night on Twitter, shows Braziel walk out toward an intersection. When the squad car arrives, he appears to put his hands in the air and turn around, standing still for a few seconds before police shoot him.... In a majority-white neighborhood of Houston this weekend, an armed suspect fired seven rounds at police officers. Yet police managed to end the standoff with gas and other non-lethal means without killing the man." -- CW ...
... Alan Blinder & Timothy Williams of the New York Times: "The sniper who fatally shot five police officers in Dallas was believed to be planning a larger attack, the city's police chief said Sunday, providing new details of how the gunman had been singing, laughing and taunting officers during prolonged negotiations before he was killed by a bomb-equipped robot. David O. Brown, the police chief, said that evidence showed that Micah Johnson ... had been practicing detonations and that the explosive material had the potential 'to have devastating effects throughout our city and our North Texas area.'" -- CW ...
... Brandi Grissom of the Dallas Morning News: "Gov. Greg Abbott was in severe pain from second- and third-degree burns on his legs when he joined Dallas city officials Friday for a press conference in the aftermath of the mass shooting that left five police officers dead, the Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday." -- CW ...
... AND Rudy Giuliani Just Can't STFU, Part 1. Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Sunday said when people use the phrase 'black lives matter,' it's 'inherently racist.'... Giuliani said only a small number of African-Americans will die at the hands of the police, whereas the majority of African-Americans killed will die at the hands of a civilian, 'most often another black.'" CW: Yo, Rudy, the majority of Caucasian-Americans killed will die at the hands of a civilian, most often another white. I'm sure you know that, but that's not your point; you point is to diss black people. ...
... Rudy Giuliani Unable to STFU, Part 2. Nick Gass of Politico: "'So if you want to deal with this on the black side, you've got to teach your children to be respectful to the police, and you've got to teach your children that the real danger to them is not the police. The real danger to them, 99 out of 100 times,' is 'other black kids who are going to kill them; that's the way they're gonna die,' Giuliani said.... He said 'there's 60 shootings in Chicago over the Fourth of July and 14 murders, and Black Lives Matter is nonexistent, and then there's one police murder of very questionable circumstances, and we hear from Black Lives Matter.'" CW: To be fair, Giuliani did say the police must have "zero tolerance" for racial discrimination. ...
... Wait, Wait! There's a Part 3. Nick Gass: "... Rudy Giuliani on Monday fiercely defended his remarks the previous day in which he laid out the possible solutions to the United States' racial divides.... 'I believe I saved a lot more black lives than Black Lives Matter. I don't see what Black Lives Matter is doing for blacks other than isolating them,' Giuliani said Monday on 'Fox & Friends.' 'All it cares about is the police shooting of blacks. It doesn't care about the 90 percent of blacks that have been killed by other blacks. That's just a simple fact....' Giuliani then noted that '82 percent of the whites are killed by other whites,' adding that 'if you want to care about white lives matter, you have to worry about whites.'" CW: I told you Rudy knew that. But look how he managed to twist even that into a racist remark. I'm surprised Giuliani isn't on Trump's veep shortlist.
I can't imagine what this place would be -- I can't imagine what the country would be -- with Donald Trump as our president. For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be -- I don't even want to contemplate that. -- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in an interview Friday ...
... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "In an interview in her chambers on Friday, Justice Ginsburg took stock of a tumultuous term and chastised the Senate for refusing to act on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee." Justice Ginsburg also discussed earlier decisions. "Asked if there were cases she would like to see the court overturn before she leaves it, she named one. 'It won't happen,' she said. 'It would be an impossible dream. But I'd love to see Citizens United overruled.'" -- CW
Telesur via Juan Cole: "U.S. state and local spending on prisons and jails grew at three times the rate of spending on schools over the last 33 years as the number of people behind bars ballooned under a spate of harsh sentencing laws, a government report released Thursday said.... State and local spending on postsecondary education has remained mostly flat since 1990, the report said. Average state and local per capita spending on corrections increased by 44 percent as higher education funding per full-time equivalent student decreased by 28 percent, it said." --safari
Paul Krugman: "there has been an extraordinary plunge in long-term interest rates.... Policy makers should be ... accepting the markets' offer of incredibly cheap financing." -- CW
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
If Only the NYT Could Be More Like the Huffington Post. Isaac Chotiner of Slate: Liz Spayd, the new public editor of the New York Times, thinks the best way for the Times to prosper is to dumb it down & do lousier journalism, because that's what readers wants. Also, more comments (because the important thing isn't the news; it's what people think of the news). -- CW
Rosie Scammell of the Guardian: "The Vatican has named a former Fox News journalist and member of the controversial Opus Dei group as its chief spokesman, while a Spanish female reporter will serve as his deputy. The appointment of Greg Burke, 56, was announced following the resignation of Federico Lombardi, a Jesuit priest who has served as spokesman for Pope Francis and his predecessor, Benedict XVI." -- CW
Presidential Race
Nick Gass: "Bernie Sanders will join Hillary Clinton on Tuesday for a rally in New Hampshire, Clinton's campaign announced Monday. Sanders will campaign with Clinton at a high school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at 11 a.m. Tuesday, less than two weeks before the party's convention begins in Philadelphia." -- CW
Ezra Klein interviewed Hillary Clinton June 22. Here's a transcript & video of the interview. (CW: Not sure why it took so long to publish the interview.) ...
... Klein says there's a gap between Hillary the public figure & Hillary the private person because she's a lousy speaker but a great listener, a skill she uses to help determine public policy. He says this gap is a sexist thing: women are listeners & men are talkers. -- CW
Katie Williams of the Hill: "Pressure is growing on the State Department to revoke the security clearances of several of Hillary Clinton's closest aides, potentially jeopardizing her ability to name her own national security team should she become president. The move could force Clinton to make an uncomfortable choice: abandon longtime advisers or face another political maelstrom by overriding the White House security agency." CW: It appears that "pressure" is coming from the usual suspects, so I'd take this story with a grain of salt.
Juan Cole: "The Clinton loyalists debating the Democratic Party platform have defeated an amendment that would have called for an end to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and condemned Israeli squatter settlements illegal.,..If the Democratic Party can't even just state that the Israeli squatter settlements are illegal, which is what the US signed on to when it ratified the Geneva Conventions, then it should change its name to the Colonial Party." --safari
Washington Post Editors: "... yes, the two major-party candidates for president are historically unpopular. But if this election is unusually bad, it is not because both parties chose bad candidates. There is no equivalence between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.... Ms. Clinton is a knowledgeable politician who has been vetted many times over. She understands and respects the U.S. Constitution. She knows policy. She can cite accomplishments in the public interest.... Mr. Trump, by contrast, has waged a campaign based on bigotry, ignorance and resentment. He has no experience as a public servant, and his private record of bankruptcies and exploitation should be disqualifying. He regularly circulates falsehoods. He has no discernible interest in or knowledge of policy.... Ms. Clinton is a politician, long in the arena, whom you may or may not support. Mr. Trump is a danger to the republic." -- CW
Alexander Burns & Maggie Haberman do some reporting on how Trump has stayed on message (one crafted by others, of course) this weekend. "Mr. Trump gave no interviews, and his normally active Twitter account sent only five posts.... His advisers have tried to seize opportunities for him to project a sense of calm leadership. So far, this has been unsuccessful." CW: If he hadn't attended a fundraiser in the Hamptons, I'd suspect his campaign had literally tied him down & taken away all means of communication. As it was, I suppose the tranqed him & sent him out among his people, albeit on a short leash.
Today's Kneeslapper. Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Oklahoma's governor, Mary Fallin [R], said Donald Trump was 'trying to campaign as a racial healer', as the presumptive Republican nominee tried to paint himself as a unifying force in a country feeling fractured over race, violence and policing." -- CW ...
... Here's Sen. Corey Booker (D-N.J.), speaking Sunday on "Meet the Press," with a Reality Chek: "So when I hear a presidential candidate like Donald Trump gratuitously demeaning women, demeaning Muslims, demeaning Latinos, at a time when our country needs reconciliation, we need people that bind our wounds and build bridges across our chasms -- to see someone so callously stoking hate and fear and inflaming divide, this is not the person to be president of the United States I believe ever, but definitely not at the time we need a healer, a reconciler." -- CW
Jessie Hellman: "A Donald Trump campaign stop in Indiana scheduled for Tuesday is raising speculation that the presumptive Republican nominee will announce Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate. The Washington Times reported Sunday evening that Pence has a '95 percent probability' of being Trump's choice, according to sources close to the campaign and to the governor." -- CW ...
... John Santucci & Corrine Cathcart of ABC News: "Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal is among those being considered as a possible vice president pick for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, sources tell ABC News.... McChrystal retired from the military in 2010 after being relieved of his position as the top commander in Afghanistan by President Obama following a controversial interview he held with Rolling Stone magazine." -- CW ...
... Cross This Guy Off the List. Jessie Hellman: "Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a rumored possible running mate for Donald Trump, said in an interview Sunday that it's a woman's right to choose whether or not she wants an abortion." CW: Flynn is a registered Democrat.
Michael D'Antonio of The Daily Beast: "Always deeply psychological endeavors, presidential campaigns reveal, in remarkably accurate ways, the hearts and minds of the candidates.... In 2016, with Donald Trump, we have a candidate who has spewed anger and bigotry and lurched from one controversy to the next.... But if you pay attention to his style, and the unique themes he returns to again and again, you start to recognize a pattern.... Trump's life is filled with so many examples of his effort to humiliate others as 'losers' (one of his favorite words) or 'dummies,' or 'ugly,' that it becomes clear that the concept of shame is always lurking in his psyche and ready to be flung at anyone who comes near...The supply of shame inside Trump is so great and near the surface that it comes bubbling up in his campaign that we naturally look for its source." --safari ...
... David Remnick of the New Yorker: "By his own standards, Donald Trump's statements on the violence in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas had, as the weekend began, been remarkable mainly for how subdued they were. And yet it can't be overlooked that these events come in the midst of a troubling election campaign in which Trump has done everything possible to arouse the worst instincts of many voters. His casual race-baiting, deliberate divisiveness, and stagey swagger are the last qualities the country needs in a leader -- always, but now in particular. Have you been watching Trump this past week? I mean, watching him in all his unbalanced fullness? To watch him is to wonder about his mental stability." -- CW
Sean Posey, via Salon: "Writing off Trump might be presumptuous at this point, especially since the media and other experts missed almost every salient facet of Trump's seemingly improbable rise. Yet even if his campaign encounters electoral bankruptcy in November, the specter of another Trumpian figure emerging in the future remains highly probable." --safari
** Yastreblyansky, posting on No More Mister Nice Blog, points to evidence that Trump would be largely an absentee president. "He might be willing to be the Head of State -- like the president of Germany or the queen of England -- but not the Head of Government. He'll fly around from photo op to photo op, taking meetings and looking at things, and perhaps relaxing at the local golf course.... He'll spend a lot of time on the Twitter denouncing his critics, of course. It doesn't make the prospect of a Trump presidency any less dangerous." -- CW
Nicole Hemmer & Brent Cebul in the New Republic: Trump is the new Gingrich. -- CW ...
... Alex Shephard of the New Republic: No, Donald & Newt don't suddenly get it, just because they made the appropriate noises in the wake of the Dallas massacre. Their long histories of overt racism aren't wiped away by a couple of reasonable statements. -- CW ...
... Aaron Rupar of Think Progress: "Gingrich, like Trump, has advocated for profiling as a counterterrorism strategy. He also dog whistled about black-on-black crime during Friday's Facebook Live broadcast, saying that part of the reason it's more dangerous to be black is 'because of the crime, which is the Chicago story.' And of course, Gingrich has linked himself closely to Trump, who has spent his campaign fomenting many varieties of racial animus." -- CW
Way Beyond the Beltway
Anushka Asthana, et al., of the Guardian: "Andrea Leadsom has pulled out of the race to become the next Conservative leader in the 'best interests of the country', paving the way for Theresa May to be crowned prime minister.... Graham Brady, the chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, said he would now formally confirm May as the new leader of the Conservative party.... Leadsom had been shaken by the scale of the response to a newspaper interview in which she suggested that the fact she was a mother meant she had a larger stake in society than May." -- CW
Jake Adelstein of The Daily Beast: "In the Land of the Rising Sun, a conservative Shinto cult dating back to the 1970s, which includes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe..., finally has been dragged out of the shadows.... The state-sponsored Shintoism promulgated here before and during World War II also elevated the Emperor to the status of a God and insisted that the Japanese were a divine race -- the Yamato; with all other races considered inferior.... The current cult's goals: gut Japan's post-war pacifist constitution, end sexual equality, get rid of foreigners, void pesky 'human rights' laws, and return Japan to its Imperial Glory. With Japan's parliamentary elections to be held on July 10, the cult may now have its chance to dominate policy completely." --safari
Jason Burke of the Guardian: "More than 300 people are reported to have been killed, including many civilians and a Chinese peacekeeper, in renewed fighting in South Sudan's capital Juba, raising fears the country is returning to civil war. The new clashes broke out on Thursday and Friday between troops loyal to Salva Kiir, the president, and soldiers who support the vice-president, Riek Machar. Observers say it is clear that the peace deal concluded last August between the two main factions in the young country is only holding 'by a thread'." --safari
News Lede
New York Times: "John Brademas, a political, financial and academic dynamo who served 22 years in Congress and more than a decade as president of New York University in an all-but-seamless quest to promote education, the arts and a liberal agenda, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 89." CW: I knew Brademas back in the day. He was a magnificent man, the embodiment of "a gentleman & a scholar." And he did single-handedly turn a third-rate university into a world-class institution, by itself a remarkable feat.
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The Blame Game
Rudy Giuliani isn't the only one blaming black people for Dallas. It's become an interesting game of intellectual dishonesty and a doubling down on the double standards.
This morning I heard a comment on NPR to the effect that, in the wake of the Louisiana, Minnesota, and Dallas shootings, everyone should bow their heads in humility and start listening to the other side.
The comment came from far-right "thinker" Jonah Goldberg, attempting desperately to execute a "both sides are to blame" jiu-jistu move. This sounds stupid enough on its face, of course, the idea that the actions of Black Lives Matter have been as deadly and as longstanding as police brutality against black Americans. This is the same mindset as that of reactionary pundits who take issue with the Occupy movement, which came about as a result of years of economic abuse inflicted by Masters of the Universe, declaring that both sides need to shape up. Oh. I see. The Occupy protesters are just as bad as the mendacious, greedy bastards who partially collapsed the world economy because....why? Oh, there was some unnecessary littering in Zuccotti Park and protesters complained after being gassed by police. Those little hippy bastards! Shape up you crazy kids.
But this is right-wing logic in a nutshell, an appropriate container for this kind of sick, twisted thinking.
And here's Golberg on the National Review website whining that liberals have a double standard because they blamed the Gabby Giffords shooting on Sarah Palin's crosshairs chart. No, idiot, they didn't. What they did was to suggest that such demonstrations add to the fetid right-wing air of suspicion, paranoia, hatred, and the idea that deadly violence and murder are reasonable tools for resolving political conflict.
He then twists this around and says "But now, I gather, any suggestion that rhetoric from Black Lives Matter influenced these murderers is beyond the pale."
Wow.
This could take some time to unpack, but here's the short version. First, Black Lives Matter came about because of the tidal wave of killings of young black men, many of whom were unarmed, by police officers who walk away from any consequences for their actions in the cases of highly questionable and unnecessary deaths. Second, for the most part (there may be some instances of protesters reacting to the murder of black men who have done this) Black Lives Matter, unlike Sarah Palin and a significant number of influential right-wing commentators, do not advocate, even in short hand form (such as crosshairs over the faces of targeted Democrats) killing their opponents.
But this is the sort of thinking you might expect from a guy who has suggested that if Democrats want a list of terrorists who should not be allowed to purchase assault weapons, then Republicans should be able to institute a "no abortion" list of women deemed ineligible for abortions in any circumstance (but wait, isn't that already the Republican standard?). Because if the NRA can't allow assault weapons to be sold to terrorists, then women can't have abortions. Nyah-nyah. Also because a women's healthcare issue and ISIS sponsored terrorism are exactly the same.
At least it's nice to see that wingers can carry on a mature conversation and are able to construct solid arguments using carefully considered logical positions.
And so, it's a banner day for lovers of intellectual dishonesty, rank ideological absurdity, and that hoary old standby, the double standard.
Much more to come, I'm sure.
The The Daily Beast post describes the source of Trump's NPD mental illness. Deep inside his brain he believes that he is a loser and an ugly dummy.
I found the piece by Isaac Chotiner most interesting. He was, among many other excellent writers, part of the journalistic crew at TNR before it was bought out by someone who wanted to revamp the magazine to appeal more to younger readers who apparently cannot read more than short sentences at a time. An in- depth piece would put them to sleep or interfere with their need for the quick and the ready. Because of this change a slew of TNR's writers left––we find them now at Slate, Salon, NYT and other places. But in time this someone who changed the format found that the people who read the magazine were people who wanted that in- depth reporting and he left. The magazine is under new management and it looks as though it has a chance to have a come back. Whether those renegade writers will come back is another question.
So Chotiner knows of what he speaks. It would be a travesty for that Grand Old Gray Lady to become a silly, spurious, embarrassing paper of record.
David Brooks was once asked whether he reads the comments under his pieces. He replied that he used to, but he became terribly depressed and so stopped reading them.
Under the NYT's piece is a back and forth with Chotiner and Michael Kinsley (also once at TNR) that is amusing.
"Donaldo the Doofus Loser" is certainly an entirely plausible self-image that the bully Trump has been working both mightily and sleazily to ward off by throwing out his chest, pounding the table, pointing his (quite small) finger, and calling others doofus losers.
Just think of the bullies you've known in your life. Can you believe that any one of them was a well adjusted, truly self-confident individual? Even an aggressive,borderline sociopathic, snarky bully like The Decider, whose air of self-confidence was more the result of some warped pathology than personal aplomb, was out to prove something, to put his boot on the neck of those less powerful in order to show everyone who was boss. Donaldo is not much different.
Bullies often attack others for the very traits they hope to heaven no one realizes are inseverable parts of their own personalities (consider Roy Cohn's virulent attacks on gay men). What separates them from the other "losers" is their penchant for acting out in abusive and violent ways.
Sounds like Donaldo to me. Good choice there, Republicans!
Akhilleus,
Wingers always specialize in the narrow view--starting with self, maybe moving as far as tribe, but never any farther. They have to. If they included the "other" in their thinking, it would confuse them. Then they'd have to account for people who don't live, look and think exactly like they do.
And because of their limitations, they just can't do that.
I can't say whether those limitations are intellectual, moral or cultural. Likely all three, but they do definitely exist.
In any case, hence arises the double standard, which when it comes to thinking is no standard at all, because it is both morally and intellectually corrupt.
I'm still puzzling over which comes first, the Winger or the Winger brain.
It's the KISS principle without the comma.
Ken,
"...without the comma." Very good.
Or maybe they need to add a conjunction for clarity: KISAS. Keep it simple and stupid. Or is that implied?
As for what came first, I don't know if that's a worthwhile rabbit hole to visit. It seems more a matter of tribal membership. I've probably used this comparison before, so forgive me, but ideologically inscribed winger thinking reminds me of the categorical support Christian theology held for the Aristotelian view of the universe, especially in the face of new information via pain in the ass guys like Copernicus and Galileo (I'd include Kepler, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut).
The Aristotelian model of the solar system is one helluva Rube Goldberg thingamajig. In order to keep the earth in the middle, tribal astronomers had to come up with more and more whacko sidebar processes to account for irrefutable observations. So there were spinning thingies and bouncing ball mechanisms to account for rotary motions of planets and unaccountable movements and other heavenly problems. Then compare it with the Copernicus/Galileo model and everything fits into place. But rather than say "Oh, shit. Now it all makes sense. We were off our nut before" they all doubled down, called Copernicus a devil spawn, and put that big mouth Galileo under house arrest. Because that's what you do when the truth doesn't correspond with the tribe's accepted storyline.
And that's what wingers constantly have to do. Right now heads are spinning (if heads stuck in anal cavities can spin--must be painful!) at the NRA as they try to reconcile a black man with a gun permit being shot. "Danger, Will LaPierre! Danger! Make up some good shit, and HURRY!"
You remember how the Decider's rationale for invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 changed every other week or so? "WMD!", er...we couldn't find them. "Okay, they hide them on railroad cars"...couldn't find them neither. "Fuck! Okay, regime change. Saddam's a bad guy." "Democracy. Yeah, that's the ticket. We're bringing democracy to Iraq!" "Er...ah...the Iraqi people want baseball...yeah...and they want to see the NBA on cable." "No? Okay, how 'bout Captain Crunch? They must want some good old 'merican cereal, right? And we're gonna give it to 'em, by jing. We just need to kill us a few million mooslims first."
And so it goes...
Has there ever been a bigger optimist than Lyndon Johnson, who supposedly remarked when he signed the Civil Rights Act "We've just lost the South for a generation"?
So Bernie Sanders is expected to endorse Hillary Clinton tomorrow sometime at a rally in New Hampshire? Yawnnn.....good news. I guess. Why didn't he wait until after the convention? Prob'ly be a slow news day right after. Might even make the front page of the national section.
Bernie has played his string out so long it almost doesn't matter (and his foot dragging has sent a strong message to the "Never Hillary" morons).
Sanders did something unexpected and, in places, unexpectedly wonderful this campaign season. Unlike the non-stop name calling, childish farting contests, and dick waving on the Republican side, Sanders asked (and often answered) serious questions about the direction of the country. And his surprise success has forced Clinton to acknowledge his points and has already pushed her to the left. Something few of us thought was possible.
But his apparent belief, communicated none too subtly to his troops, that he was being jobbed by the DNC and the Clinton campaign (and he probably was), and that the nomination was being stolen from him (it definitely wasn't), has morphed into an unappealing intransigence that comes across as juvenile pique and that over time has diminished his influence and the usefulness--especially to himself and his causes--of this tardy endorsement.
I won't qualify his accomplishments by complaining that he's not even a real Democrat. He ran as a Democrat and Democrats voted for him. He had a serious connection to voter angst and, unlike Donaldo, to whom he has often been compared, did not attempt to boost that with the toxic steroidal cocktail of hatred and violence. He could say, as did Othello, "I have done the state some service, and they know 't." But like the moor, he let jealousy and passion cloud his better judgment.
I'll be glad when he finally accepts the inevitable and joins in the struggle to keep Republican totalitarianism from returning, in a much worse form, to the White House, but he should have done this a month ago.
Yeah, I'll give you the "and," Akhilleus. Thought about it but was reluctant to mess with the accepted acronym. Maybe just a revision of the word order? Keep it stupid, simple (ton?).
And your point about NRA head-spinning certainly hits the bullseye.
Have been wondering for some time what the gun lovers would say when gun wielders began to shoot the wrong people. Apparently, not much. Right now, when the bullets are aimed in the wrong direction across racial and religious lines, it's uncomfortable enough, but what happens when they are fired across the growing economic abyss?
When the trodden on white folks, like those long on real grievance but so short on brain they think the Trumpster is the answer, start shooting their white masters in a show of violent populist force?
Can't happen here?
It has before.
As originally said: "I am not afraid... I was born to do this.?"—Joan d'arc
...exemplified by Ieshia Evans in 2016
@Marie
..." David Brooks was once asked whether he reads the comments under his pieces. He replied that he used to, but he became terribly depressed and so stopped reading them."
I am guessing that all those years ago, Brookstone read our comments on his "philosophical meanderings," and quite a few other daunting criticisms as well. I know we both got lots of recommendations, and we never held back on our contempt for
this phony compassionate conservative who preached, moralized
and psychologized about life, character, women and marriage (still does). Of course, that was before his wife left him and before we were banned by the NYT from becoming "loyal commenters," or whatever they call those who do not need "moderating."
I gave myself a gift, and no longer read Brooks. MoDo either. In fact, I rarely read any op eds except Krugman and Tim Egan. I hear
you are back to commenting a bit, and I applaud you for your strong stomach! But I doubt you have been designated a loyal commenter. You know too much, say what you think, and don't make nice!
Just have to applaud the photo of Ieshia Evans repelling Imperial Storm Troopers with the force field of her righteous indignation. A great recruiting poster for law enforcement. As Obama never tires of saying, "that's not who we are" Or are we?
Today's Guardian has a headline "Dallas police chief calls for public to adjust its expectations of officers" What the fuck does he think Black Lives Matter is about? Until WAPO and the Guardian counted and publicized the number of police killings there was no authoritative voice authenticating the Black claim of police brutality and measuring its extent and every cell phone a camera allows us to participate intimately in the last moments of another human life.
What's mindblowing is the " Ah just moved that rock and suddenly millions of ants appeared outa nowhere" attitude of law enforcement and a society stunned that Blacks should be so upset at a little killing now and then. Offensive that officials find a killing rate for blacks 2.5 times that of whites and a killing rate for young blacks 5 times that of young whites unremarkable. Now when I read/see a human gunned down my second thought is "Who/where are the other 1 or 2 of today's victims. A 1 victim day is a good day to be appreciated. A 0 victim day is cause for celebration.
I figure, after reading Taibbi's 'The Divide' that the reason why twice as many young Blacks are killed as Blacks overall is that the Black man who has lived to middle age has learned that Society doesn't want N*****s littering the public streets and is tired of being arrested for obstructing the sidewalk at 1am on a weekday morning while standing in front of his building smoking. So he stays inside watching TV while the young man has places to go and things to do outside, where the police are.
The Divide is a great book which illustrates how an appartheid society uses the justice system is used to crush the aspirations of Blacks and contrasts that with its treatment of the 1%. Hopefully it is a picture only true for New York City but I know better.