The Commentariat -- July 27, 2015
Internal links & defunct video removed.
Afternoon Update:
Jeff Mulvihill of the AP: "Three public workers' pension funds are suing New Jersey for billions in damages, claiming the state government breached contracts when it contributed less than planned. The filing Friday is the latest volley in a more than yearlong dispute over pension contributions. They stem from Gov. Chris Christie's decision last year amid a budget shortfall to veer from a pension funding plan he signed into law in 2011.... Spokesmen for Christie did not respond immediately to a request for comment."
CW: If you think the next administration & future federal courts should be made up on graduates of Livingston High School, New Jersey, & Seton Hall Law, you should definitely vote for Chris Christie. It will happen. Matt Arco of NJ.com reports. Nonetheless, I suppose David Wildstein won't become Transportation Secretary.
*****
Peter Baker & Marc Santora of the New York Times: President "Obama, accompanied by [Susan] Rice, now his national security adviser, convened a meeting on Monday to try to forge a peace in South Sudan, in his most direct personal intervention since the violence broke out more than 18 months ago. During a visit [to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia]..., he sat down with regional leaders to try to build a consensus behind a peace proposal, and to come up with a backup plan, in case that fails, involving increased sanctions and possibly an arms embargo."
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama sharply criticized Republican 2016 presidential candidates Monday for engaging in 'inflammatory remarks' that were cheapening the nation's political discourse.... [Mike] Huckabee responded to the president's remarks in a statement Monday morning, doubling-down on his previous comments ... that the Iran deal was so flawed it will 'take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven'":
Anne Barnard, et al., of the New York Times: "Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions American warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, American and Turkish officials say. The plan would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone controlled by relatively moderate Syrian insurgents, which the Turks say could also be a 'safe zone' for displaced Syrians."
Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Barack Obama huddled with Ethiopia's leaders Monday for talks on counterterrorism, human rights and regional security issues, including the crisis in neighboring South Sudan. Obama's visit marks the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Ethiopia. He arrived at the National Palace in the capital of Addis Ababa for a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, followed by a joint news conference."
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "In a rare and fiery weekend session, the Senate voted on Sunday to resurrect the federal Export-Import Bank, handing the Republican Party's most conservative wing a major defeat and setting up a showdown this week with House leaders divided over the moribund export credit agency. The bipartisan vote -- 67 to 26 -- broke a filibuster and allowed supporters to attach a measure to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank to a three-year highway and infrastructure bill, which is expected to pass the Senate early this week. The agency's authorization expired June 30, halting all new loan guarantees and other assistance to foreign customers seeking to purchase American companies' products. A clear majority in the House also supports resurrecting the agency, but it will be up to House leaders to decide whether the body will get a vote...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate is fast-tracking a bill to defund Planned Parenthood in the wake of two controversial videos that sparked a political firestorm. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) finished the process, known as 'Rule 14,' on Sunday, allowing the legislation to skip over the committee process and be placed directly on the Senate calendar for a floor vote." ...
... Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "The Senate on Sunday voted down a Republican effort to repeal Obamacare, the GOP's first attempt to get rid of the president's health law since the party took control of the chamber in January. The effort fell 49-43, exactly along party lines, with eight senators not voting in the rare weekend session. Third-fifths of the Senate would have had to vote to add Obamacare repeal to a highway funding bill. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is expected to ask the Senate -- likely Monday -- to reconsider the Obamacare amendment. He would propose a procedural motion to change Senate rules in order to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act with just 51 votes." ...
... Manu Raju & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Republican leaders, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), delivered what senators described as punishment for [Ted] Cruz's brazen floor tactics -- the Texas senator first accused McConnell of lying and later sought to change Senate procedures in order to push for an Iran-related amendment. So when Cruz came to the floor looking for 16 senators to agree to hold a roll-call vote, only three raised their hands. McConnell, sitting at his desk, turned around and peered at Cruz, who looked stunned at what had just happened. The Senate dispensed with his effort by a voice vote and quickly moved on, doing the same to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a Cruz ally who sought to use arcane procedures to force a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood.... Cruz later] accused McConnell of scheming with Democratic leader Harry Reid." ...
... Kevin Cirilli of the Hill: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) doubled-down Sunday in his attacks on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).... 'I would note that it is entirely consistent with decorum and with the nature of this body traditionally as the world's greatest deliberative body, to speak the truth,' Cruz said. 'Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility.' Asked if he want to far during his Friday speech, Cruz instead blasted the press for not writing about whether or not McConnell lied about a deal."
Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor, weighs in on the paper's hasty, erroneous reporting of the supposed two inspectors generals' request for a "criminal investigation" of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link. CW: Sullivan faults the paper for the "mess," but it appears she gets some major items wrong. (And, BTW, if she had followed my advice & read Kurt Eichenwald's takedown, she would wound not have made those mistakes.) First, Sullivan asserts that "the fact remains that [Clinton's] secret email system hamstrung possible inquiries into her conduct while secretary of state both by the news media and the public under the Freedom of Information Act and by Congress." Not according to Eichenwald. Any documents -- including notes written on napkins -- that a public official creates in the course of her duties are subject to FOIA requests. Second, Sullivan implies that Schmidt's March 2015 scoop on Clinton's private server was a paragon of investigative journalism. Not according to Eichenwald:
The Times's public editor defended that piece, linking to a lengthy series of regulations that, in fact, proved the allegations contained in the article were false.... The reality remained that, when it came to this story, there was no there there.
... Finally, Sullivan lets NYT executive editor Dean Baquet get away with this whopper: "You had the government confirming that it was a criminal referral. I'm not sure what they could have done differently on that." Both Sullivan & Baquet are journalists. But let me explain to them, there was something else they could have done: they could have asked the IGs, as Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) did, if in fact they had sent criminal referrals of Clinton to the DOJ. The reporters & their checkers did not ask, so the IGs said publicly Friday that they had not sent out criminal referrals. It isn't as if that was top-secret info that the Times could not possibly have wrenched out of the IGs. You don't have to be a reporter or an editor to know that if you're going to write, "A did B," you have an obligation to at least ask A if he did B. You don't necessarily have to believe A's answer, if you have other, more credible sources that refute A, but you do have to ask A. Sullivan should have pointed out this major flaw in the "reporting." Instead, she just faults the Times reporters & editors for a method of "fact-checking" that involved re-asking their original sources if they had the story right. Considering the sources (almost certainly GOP House Benghaazi! committee members or their staffs), the Times should have been super-skeptical, especially on a highly-partisan issue that could have an impact on the presidential election.
The Hard Realities of Soft Corruption. Bill Curry in Salon: "That [Barack] Obama translated this public anger [against political corruption] into a message in 2008 -- but didn't follow up with policy in 2009 -- may reveal an underlying worldview. When Justice [Anthony] Kennedy pronounced the public unconcerned with systemic corruption he spoke not for the Tea Party but for a Washington establishment of which Obama, many political reporters, most political consultants and all lobbyists are members for life.... The flaw in [Hillary] Clinton's candidacy is the flaw in our politics. It is Kennedy's 'soft corruption.'" CW: Curry highlights the New York Times' fake stories, but I think he's right about his central point -- that Democrats don't care about political corruption. Whether you like her or not, Hillary Clinton personifies the entrenched Village SOP.
Steve M. points to & elaborates on a post by David Futrelle titled "Angry misogynist murders women at showing of film by feminist comedian; police worry 'we may not find a motive.'" CW: Steve & Futrelle seem to be on the right -- or at least a plausible -- track. In addition, I think it's easy to connect the dots between Houser's motives & columns like the one Ross Douthat wrote for today's Times, linked below. I don't mean to suggest that Douthat is directly responsible for the multiple murders of women, but his point that Planned Parenthood medical personnel -- a large percentage of whom are women, & whose clientele are mostly women -- "have spent their careers crushing, evacuating, and carving up for parts ... dead human beings," can lead some crazy men to "reason" that it's okay to kill young women who might have abortions & allow "dead human beings" to be carved up like meat. Houser may have figured that by killing young women, he was saving lives, i.e., the lives of Douthat's "dead human beings." Some readers will think I'm exaggerating. Probably I'm not. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Amanda Marcotte in Slate: "We don't know exactly why yet Houser shot up a theater that was showing a movie written by an unapologetic feminist, but this moment should still be a wake-up call about the problem of misogynist violence in our culture. If we're not going to talk about gun control, then let's talk about how to get fewer men to see guns as the solution to their inchoate rage at women." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Bobby's Aposty. Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana called for tougher gun laws in other states on Sunday.... On CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Mr. Jindal called for states to adopt laws similar to Louisiana's that feed information about mental illness into a federal background check system for potential gun buyers.... Officials have said Mr. Russell [sic., John Russell Houser], of Phenix City, Ala., legally bought the murder weapon there in 2014, although he had been denied a state-issued concealed weapons permit in 2006 because he was accused of domestic violence and soliciting arson." CW: Not a hoax, & in 2013 Jindal, believe it or not, did sign into law bills to cooperate with the federal database on purchases of weaponry, um, along with other bills that would expand gun rights. ...
... Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker (July 24): "During his Presidency, [Barack Obama has] gone from a kind of rote acknowledgment of the issue [of gun violence] to a deeply felt recognition of its centrality, if only because it represents not a problem that is insoluble in its nature but something stupidly simple and easy to fix. In any sane polity, gun killings would be a horror, not a habitual event. Seeing the President's metamorphosis suggests that, as another old song had it, a change is going to come."
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Rick Perry's voice softens when he talks about the joy he gets from looking at his iPad and seeing 'that 20-week picture of my first grandbaby.' Marco Rubio says ultrasounds of his sons and daughters reinforced how 'they were children -- and they were our children.' Rand Paul recalls watching fetuses suck their thumbs. And Chris Christie says the ultrasound of his first daughter changed his views on abortion. If they seem to be reading from the same script, they are. With help from a well-funded, well-researched and invigorated anti-abortion movement, Republican politicians have refined how they are talking about pregnancy and abortion rights, choosing their words in a way they hope puts Democrats on the defensive." ...
... CW: Surely this is the same script that Scott Walker flubbed last month when he "justified" Wisconsin's law requiring women seeking abortions to view ultrasound images of their fetuses by exclaiming the procedure was "just a cool thing out there."
** Noreen Malone & Amanda Demme in a New York cover story & photo essay: "There are now 46 women who have come forward publicly to accuse Cosby of rape or sexual assault; the 35 women here are the accusers who were willing to be photographed and interviewed by New York. The group, at present, ranges in age from early 20s to 80 and includes supermodels Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson alongside waitresses and Playboy bunnies and journalists and a host of women who formerly worked in show business. Many of the women say they know of others still out there who've chosen to remain silent." Story includes photos, videos & links to the full stories these women tell. ...
... David Ferguson of the Raw Story: "The New York magazine cover featuring 35 women who have accused Bill Cosby of rape featured one empty chair for any women who have not come forward because they are still too afraid to speak out. Within minutes of the cover's publication on Sunday evening, Twitter users had created a hashtag for #TheEmptyChair, dedicated to victims of rape, sexual assault and abuse who are too frightened to come forward due to shame, stigma or the possibility further abuse." ...
... Andrew Chow of the New York Times: "Spelman College has discontinued a professorship endowed by Bill Cosby, a university spokeswoman said. After suspending the professorship last year in the wake of mounting accusations of sexual assault against Mr. Cosby, the college terminated the program and returned the related funds to the Clara Elizabeth Jackson Carter Foundation, the spokeswoman, Audrey Arthur, said in a brief statement. The foundation was established by Mr. Cosby's wife, Camille. The Cosbys have had a long relationship with Spelman, a historically black women's college in Atlanta."
Louis Menand of the New Yorker: Most criminals are recidivists. "For [Richard] Matt and [David] Sweat, being on the outside essentially boiled down to coming up with ways to get back inside. Inside, they were masters of their environment.... Away from that environment, though, they were lost.... Once he was free from prison, the only place David Sweat could possibly have ended up, short of dead, was back in prison."
Presidential Race
Vanessa Williams of the Washington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton called for harnessing the power of the sun to generate enough renewable energy to run every home in the country within the next decade, as part of a climate change initiative announced Sunday." ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Clinton's numbers are down in crucial states because when she's running for office, she has a high unfavorability rate among white voters.
The Rhetorical Question of the Day. Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "... if [Donald] Trump weren't around would the other Republicans behave that much more responsibly?" ...
... The Great Unknown. Tim Noah in Politico: "Over the past two decades [Donald Trump] was a Republican, then an independent, then a Democrat, then a Republican. Now, registered as an independent, he leads the Republican 2016 presidential field. But what does Donald Trump really believe on policy? It's hard to tell -- his campaign will identify no policy director, he has no 'issues' tab on his campaign website and he hasn't given any substantive policy speeches on the campaign trail." CW: Let's face it: Trump serves a special-interest constituency of one -- Donald Trump. Trump is a Republican now out of a profound belief that the GOP base is crazier than the Democratic base. ...
... Adam Sneed of Politico: "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump charged on Sunday that Hillary Clinton's private email practices as secretary of state were 'criminal.' 'What she did is far worse than what Gen. [David] Petraeus did, and he's gone down in disgrace,' Trump said on in a telephone interview on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'What she did is criminal.'... Trump refused to elaborate when pressed by CNN host Jake Tapper, who noted that federal inspectors general had cited security rather than criminal concerns." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jennifer Agiesta of CNN: "In the first national telephone poll since Donald Trump earned rebukes from Republican leaders over his comments about Senator John McCain's military service, the real estate mogul has increased his support among GOP voters and now stands atop the race for the party's nomination. The new CNN/ORC Poll finds Trump at 18% support among Republicans, with ... Jeb Bush just behind at 15%, within the poll's margin of error." ...
... Steven Shepard of Politico: "Donald Trump has surged to the lead in the New Hampshire GOP presidential primary and virtually erased Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's advantage in the Iowa caucuses, according to new NBC News/Marist polls released Sunday."
How stupid is the Doofus Plan to Phase Out Medicare? Paul Krugman counts the ways. "In this, as in other spheres, [Jeb!] Bush often seems like a Rip Van Winkle who slept through everything that has happened since he left the governor's office -- after all, he's still boasting about Florida’s housing-bubble boom.... Medicare at 50 still looks very good. It needs to keep working on costs, it will need some additional resources, but it looks eminently sustainable. The only real threat it faces is that of attack by right-wing zombies."
Marco Rubio, Senator No-Show. Manu Raju of Politico: "... Rubio has been absent more often than other senators seeking the White House." Lindsey Graham & Ted Cruz are other frequent absentees. Bernie "Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, missed just seven votes since mid-April, which is more in line with the average attendance rate of all senators, who cast 97 percent to 98 percent of roll calls on the floor."
Worst Argumentum ad Hilterum Ever. This president's foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven. Mike Huckabee, in a Breitbart interview. MAG contributed the link (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
I may run with links to some reactions to Huckabee's remark. Other than that, from now on, Huck gets the Sarah Palin treatment here: no coverage unless highly newsworthy. -- Constant Weader
Daniel Politi of Slate: "The National Jewish Democratic Council ... called on other Republican presidential candidates to denounce Huckabee's remarks. 'Far, far too often, this organization has found itself forced to denounce politicians for invoking the Holocaust in inappropriate and offensive ways,' the NJDC said in a statement. 'These comments by Gov. Mike Huckabee, however, may be the most inexcusable we've encountered in recent memory.'" ...
... Jerry Markon of the Washington Post: "The reference to the Holocaust -- in which Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers and their bodies cremated in ovens -- created a backlash Sunday on Twitter, with numerous users condemning Huckabee's remarks. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called on the former Arkansas governor to 'apologize to the Jewish community and to the American people for this grossly irresponsible statement.'... Spokesmen for the leading GOP presidential candidates -- including [Donald] Trump, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker -- did not respond Sunday to questions about the remarks."
News Ledes
Boston Globe: "Boston's Olympic bid is dead. In a joint statement, United States Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun and Steve Pagliuca, chairman of bidding group Boston 2024, characterized the decision to pull the plug as a mutual one."
New York Times: "Peg Lynch, who wrote and starred in 'Ethel and Albert,' one of television's earliest situation comedies, died on Friday at her home in Becket, Mass. She was 98.... Ms. Lynch, who wrote nearly 11,000 scripts for radio and television without the benefit of a writer's room committee (or even a co-writer), was a pioneering woman in broadcast entertainment. As a creator of original characters and a performer of her own written work -- every bit of it live! -- she might be said to have created the mold that decades later produced the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Schumer."
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Reader Comments (11)
Click on an RC link and you never quite know what it will lead to! Case in point, the Peg Lynch tribute in the Ledes took me to the actual obit, which took me to this absolutely wonderful name: Odd Knut Ronning!
Peg's late husband who was quite a guy!
I've never commented before but wanted to say that this is the reason you've become my first news read of every day: " Some readers will think I'm exaggerating. Probably I'm not." You're right, you're not.
Tortoise Beats Hare. Literally.
I would love to have seen that smug little pest Cruz getting backhanded by The Turtle. Existence in one's own bubble where one can simply make up stuff and casually disdain rules others observe is no substitute for actually knowing what's going on and how to play the game. McConnell hasn't been in office this long without learning how to smack around narcissistic tyros like Cruz who think they know it all.
Seeing Cruz humiliated and "stunned" as the Politico article maintains, to realize that he's not president yet and the Senate will not hop when he tells them, would have made my whole summer.
But it's a microcosmic sample of what the country could expect were Cruz or any of the 'bagger brigade to come into real power. Rules out the window, whatever's expedient for the far right in the front door and devil take any naysayers.
It's also a demonstration of how little care these people give to details. Unless all the other GOP senators are lying (not entirely out of the realm of the possible), McConnell, whether directly or indirectly, made it clear that he would allow an amendment to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank. Cruz, however, has been too busy dreaming up new publicity stunts, practicing his "sneer of cold command" in the mirror, and reading his own press notices to pay attention to what's happening past the end of his nose and correctly interpret the tea leaves.
Another reason he has zero legislative achievements (really, look it up; he hasn't done shit). Aside from racing around making speeches, casting aspersions, threatening Armageddon, and grandstanding, all he's done since being elected is to shut down the government for which he insists on serious respect. A bit like a resident fresh out of med school demanding to be treated like head of surgery when his only accomplishment as an MD has been putting a patient into a coma.
But it's so nice to see that self-satisfied smirk wiped off that lying mouth.
Maybe Cruz can indulge his o'erweening narcissism with his own TLC reality show featuring his patriotic and pure home life: "Ozzymandias and Harriet".
I'd watch the pilot if I didn't have anything better to do, like pull some weeds.
The Public Editor has weighed in on the Clinton email story.
"A Clinton Story Fraught with Inaccuracies: How It Happened and What Next?"
The latest moral Confederate avenger intent on punishing, with a loaded weapon, those he hates and fears is undergoing a serious makeover by the winger press. As Kate predicted, this killer is being neutralized as a "distrubed" or "mentally ill" person. Thus, the latest random, completely unrelated mass shooting like all the other random, unrelated mass shootings, is just a sad event having nothing to do with right-wing hatred and the availability--even to dangerous people--of weapons.
When I read about Houser walking into a theater showing "Trainwreck", an Amy Schumer comedy, I thought maybe he just didn't care what movie he went to as long as there were people there he could shoot. But if he wanted to shoot as many people as possible, he would have gone to see "Ant Man" or "Jurassic World". If he wanted to shoot up kids and families, he would have gone to "Minions". But if you want to kill women, "Trainwreck" would be your best bet. Then I read about his background and his choice of movies made absolute sense.
Right after the shootings, Bobby Jindal was hopping from podium to podium saying that now was not the time to talk about guns or gun control. Because it's never time to talk about guns or gun control. But now he's doing a little talking and, as both a presidential candidate and one of the NRA's favorite testicle tenders, he found an out. And Kate called it.
Jindal demands that every state do what he ("look at me, look at me") did in Louisiana, add mental illness records to the FBI database that allowed Dylann Roof to purchase a gun and do his thing. Because "MENTAL ILLNESS" is behind all of the random, unconnected shootings. Jindal said so. In the Times piece linked above, he says "Look, every time this happens, it seems like the person has a history of mental illness."
No. It doesn't. Mental illness certainly figures into some cases, but I'm betting the majority of gun violence and deaths in this country are not the work of seriously mentally disturbed people. Keeping mentally disturbed people from purchasing weapons would be a start, but, of the 300 million guns abroad in this country right now, that might only account for a few thousand. And even if one can trace the rest of the gun violence to one or two percent of the rest of those guns (a mere 6 million), that's still an enormous number of potentially bad situations waiting to happen.
Add to that the non-stop harangues spitting out of Confederate media outlets and the angry listeners who finally can't control themselves anymore, and you have the kind of situation that Bobby Jindal first meant when he said now is not the time to talk about that sort of thing.
As I said, what he and the rest of them mean, is there is never a good time for that. Let's just blame it all on mental cases.
Policy Wonks for Trump!
It's looking more and more as if the first few Confederate Party "debates" (why do they call them that? These charades are about as close to a debate as angling for a parking space at the mall is to the Indy 500) are about to devolve into shit-filled socks being flung across the stage from one contestant to the next. Since Trumpy is clearly the biggest shit, he stands a good chance of winning.
I also see where Trump's website has no information on policy questions and answers. Surprised? I'm sure no one out here is. He doesn't give a rat's ass about policy or questions of governance. He's already behaving like a king, using the royal We and declaring certain representatives of the press persona non gratis in the presence of his royal person.
And guess what? His fans don't care. Most of them couldn't provide a decent explication of a single important policy concern currently before the public. Banking regulations? Infrastructure spending? Immigration reform? Common core? Judicial activism? Gerrymandering? US foreign relations with the EU, with Russia, with China? Fuggedaboutit. I'm not talking about obscure stuff such as whether or not it's a good idea to re-up the Ex-Im Bank. This is the stuff of basic everyday governance. But they care--and know--even less than Trump. Because the right has made it its goal to court and countenance ignoramuses.
So shit-filled socks being lobbed about the stage would be eminently more satisfying to these voters than debating the finer points of education spending at home and nation building abroad. "Lookathere! The Donald whacked ol' Lindsey Graham right in the kisser with three pounds'a donkey shit. Hooooo-eeee! Don't he look a sight!"
As long as the gun show loophole or unregulated online weapon purchases exist, the insanity of American (and it's very American now at this point) mass murders will persists into infinity. It would take decades to make a serious move on the gun show loophole alone, if anything is even done in my lifetime. Online sales will be the NRA's Alamo, the last stand until Armaggedon comes knocking on their doors looking to confiscate their Freeeedoms.
I saw Rick "dumbfuck" Perry calling for guns to be allowed in movie theaters. I know it's a futile exercise, but let's review the logic. Allow everyone and anyone to bring their guns to a pitch dark place, and hold your finger not from the trigger in case any strange noises arise. In that case, spray as many bullets toward the source of the noise, regardless that you can't even see the source of the 'threat'. All in the name of saving American lives I suppose. Take a few to save a few, that's what Uncle La Pierre said, right?
Or for maximum safety, we could all just pack heat, watching the film through our night vision goggles, just in case.
The reporting and editorial problems of the New York Times continue. After watching the President's measured, thoughtful, extemporaneous remarks in response to questions about inflammatory statements by certain Republicans, I found the Times' front page news item summary: "President Obama lashed out at Republican presidential candidates for what he called “ridiculous” claims about the nuclear deal", to be misleading and inaccurate. For a good, brief response to the sitting senators indirectly referenced by the President, take a look at the March 10, 2015 speech on the Senate floor by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the deputy minority leader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJaPnhTbph8. @ Marie, thank you for your timely and helpful explanation of how to add a workable link in a comment. I hope this attempt works.
From yesterday's thread, if RC rules allow...
Kate,
Thanks for the comment.
Feared I might have pushed someone's button with my poorly expressed, and perhaps poorly chosen, comparison. I apologize.
The partial equivalence I was after was not in saying the anti-abortion crowd and vegetarians are in all respects the same but in the self-righteous smugness, the air of easily achieved virtue I occasionally see expressed by the Left, tho' far more often, almost always, by the Right. (They ARE Right, after all.)
I see two items here worth a further note. First, no argument about the meat issue. We do treat meat animals horrendously, and maybe we should be doing more than we do about it. Years ago, a good friend called chickens the world's fastest growing vegetable. The phrase and all it implies has stuck with me. I would hope that all who choose to eat steak, turkey or hamburger, even fish, do not lose sight of the grisly manner it likely came to their plate. As someone who has eaten meat from both chickens and goats he has killed himself, that's something I am always aware of, and likely one of the reasons--personal and environmental health and the expense the others--our family does not eat very much meat.
You have chosen to do more than I do in this regard. You don't eat meat at all. I presume, though, you do not sneer at all those who do include meat or fish in their diet or wish to pass laws saying that no one can.
In a way you echoed my main point. I never found it easy shooting a goat kid in the forehead both because it was so obviously inflicting death and because I have always found goat kids expressing the simple joy of living with their frolicsome side-to-side jumps among the most fetching sights in the world. I do not have the same feelings about fetal tissue and I do not understand why anyone does.
Marie suggested the sexual component as an explanation and I suspect that for many there is something about the wages of sin in there somewhere, but I am still puzzled.
@AK: Cruz connection: "...Near them on the sand,/ half sunk, a shattered visage lies ,whose frown/ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command..." You nailed him, Bud, but his Harriet wouldn't be in the kitchen, she'd be out there amongst all them Christian folk doing their good works.
@Ken: I thought your post from yesterday thoughtful and riveting. My father's avocation was hunting and fishing and as a girl I'd help him clean fish and fowl down in our cellar. And later when I trained as a Med Tech I had to watch autopsies. Both of these experiences leads one to look at what's inside the outer coverings of mammals, birds and fish. When I think of aborted fetuses I applaud that they can be used for medical purposes. Better they be tossed in the dustbin? All this brouhaha, in part, stems from the religious belief of "souls" and "sin"; the other part is the old "keeping womens down on the farm"–––it's still with us after all these years.
And your goats frolicking in the fields––yes–-I know what you mean.