The Commentariat -- June 9, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Tierney Sneed of TPM: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has cleared the way for most of a restrictive Texas abortion law -- that among other things requires clinics to meet hospital-like standards and providers to attain special credentials with local hospitals -- to go into effect. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, all but seven of the clinics in the state stand risk of closing." Includes copy of decision.
Nick Gass of Politico: "Unmarried Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says that if he becomes president, he will have a 'rotating first lady.'” CW: I think I'll vote for Lindsey just so I can watch a first lady rotate. As well as being an experienced first lady, Michelle Obama is a very good dancer & athletic gymnast. Lindsey should pick her.
Nick Gass: "Just one Iowan showed up at [Rick Santorum's] 2 p.m. campaign stop Monday at a restaurant in the unincorporated community of Hamlin, population 300, according to a report from The Des Moines Register -- Peggy Toft, an insurance agent who chairs the county's Republican Party.... Eventually, there were four Iowans gathered at Santorum's table.... Santorum told the Register that the low turnout was not surprising, but that it is all a part of the plan."
Samantha Marcus of NJ.com: "The [New Jersey] state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Gov. Chris Christie can slash billions of dollars in contributions from New Jersey's troubled public employee pension system. The court's ruling caps an intense fight for pension funding and deals a major blow to the state's labor unions, who challenged Christie's spending cuts. Christie had sought to dismantle the pension law, which he argued was unconstitutional. Judges split 5-2 reversing the lower court's ruling that ordered Christie had broken his own landmark pension law and had to work with the Legislature to comply with it."
Jessica Wohl of the Chicago Tribune: "McDonald's tapped two outsiders for key brand roles on Tuesday, the latest signal from the world's largest restaurant company that it wants to ignite change in the organization. Robert Gibbs, former press secretary for President Barack Obama, was named global chief communications officer. Silvia Lagnado, a past chief marketing officer for Bacardi Limited, was named global chief marketing officer, a position that was vacant for five years."
*****
... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Days before the Supreme Court hands down a ruling that could drastically undermine the Affordable Care Act, President Obama will deliver a speech on Tuesday extolling his health care law as a moral and practical victory that was decades in the making." CW: The speech is at 11:50 am ET. I'll try to embed it here, but if I can't be here -- a possibility -- go to WhiteHouse.gov/live . ...
... UPDATE: You can view President Obama's remarks here. The President begins speaking 2:30 min. in.
Kate Connolly of the Guardian: "The G7 leading industrial nations have agreed to cut greenhouse gases by phasing out the use of fossil fuels by the end of the century, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has announced, in a move hailed as historic by some environmental campaigners." ...
... Kate Connolly: "Barack Obama has used the close of the G7 summit in Germany to deliver his strongest criticism yet of Vladimir Putin, lambasting the Russian president's isolationist approach as the seven leaders signalled their readiness to tighten sanctions against Russia if the conflict in Ukraine escalates.... World leaders, including the summit's host, ">Angela Merkel, presented a united front against Putin": ...
... Julie Davis & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama said on Monday that he has asked the Pentagon for a plan to accelerate the American military's efforts to train and equip Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State, acknowledging that the militant group's recent gains indicated a need for a shift in strategy.... Earlier Monday, Mr. Obama met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq, where he reaffirmed the world powers' commitment to supporting Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State, which has made major gains in recent weeks." (Also linked early yesterday afternoon ET.)
** Walter Pincus of the Washington Post: "What better way to celebrate the two-year anniversary of Edward Snowden's first leak about the National Security Agency's operations than to have the latest story from his cache of stolen government documents create another misleading public understanding of an NSA program, this one aimed at catching foreign hackers. As with the initial Snowden-generated story about the NSA's collection and storage of American telephone metadata (every call, date, time and duration) the newest story does not report any violation of law or misuse of the data that the NSA collected -- only the implication that the program could be abused." Read the whole column.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "In an important separation-of-powers decision, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Congress may not require the State Department to indicate in passports that Jerusalem is part of Israel. The vote was 6 to 3, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissenting. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for five [other] justices, said the question of the status of Jerusalem is 'a delicate subject.' But he said the Constitution conferred exclusive authority on the president to recognize foreign governments." (Also linked early yesterday afternoon ET.) ...
... Lyle Denniston of ScotusBlog: The Supreme Court "resolved a sensitive modern question and decided one of the most enduring -- and, until Monday, unanswered -- questions about the meaning of the Constitution.... The ruling in Zivotofsky v. Kerry obviously was a difficult one for the Court: argued in early November, the case took more than seven months to prepare, emerging Monday in five separate opinions in a six-to-three split."
Lyle Denniston: "Raising significant new questions about how much protection the Constitution's Second Amendment actually gives to gun owners, the Supreme Court on Monday left intact a local ordinance that restricts access to guns even within one's own home. The denial of review drew a fervent dissent from two Justices [Scalia & Thomas], who argued that the Court is narrowing the amendment's 'right to keep and bear arms.'"
Paul Waldman: "Here, courtesy of GOP Senator John Thune, is the tweet of the day, and probably the month:
Six million people risk losing their health care subsidies, yet @POTUS continues to deny that Obamacare is bad for the American people.
"As this blog predicted. No snark I could come up with would add anything to the rampaging stupidity on display here." ...
... Angela Keane & Justin Sink of Bloomberg: President "Obama said [in response to a question at his G-7 summit press conference that] he has confidence the court, which has upheld other portions of the law, will again rule in favor of keeping the program intact.... 'I'm optimistic that the Supreme Court will play it straight when it comes to the interpretation,' he said. 'If it didn't, Congress could fix this whole thing with a one-sentence provision.' That won't happen, said John Barrasso of Wyoming, the fourth-ranking Republican in the Senate. 'Instead of bullying the Supreme Court, the president should spend his time preparing for the reality that the court may soon rule against his decision to illegally issue tax penalties and subsidies on Americans in two-thirds of the country,' he said in a statement. 'Congress will not pass a so-called "one-sentence" fake fix.'" ...
... digby: "It wouldn't be a fake fix at all, of course. Whatever sabotage the Republicans come up with would be the 'fake fix.' If the Supremes reject the administration's argument they are basically giving the GOP a cudgel with which to destroy sick people's lives. And they know it." ...
... Now the Wayback Machine Takes Us to Oral Arguments in King v. Burwell: Justice Antonin Scalia to Solicitor General Donald Verrelli: "I don't care what Congress you're talking about. If the consequences are as disastrous as you say, so many million people without insurance and whatnot, yes, I think this Congress would act." Via Charles Gaba....
... Daniel Marans of the Huffington Post: "On Monday, President Barack Obama said the Supreme Court should not have taken up the challenge to the Affordable Care Act in King v. Burwell. 'This should be an easy case. Frankly, it probably should not even have been taken up,' Obama said during a press conference at the G-7 summit in Germany.... The president called the legal challenge 'bizarre' in light of the law's successful implementation.... When asked whether the administration had a 'plan B,' in the event that the Supreme Court strikes down subsidies in states that do not run their own health insurance exchanges, Obama said there are no easy solutions." ...
... Susan Cornwell & Caroline Humer of Reuters: "U.S. Republicans face a potential political backlash from voters if the Supreme Court rules soon against President Barack Obama's healthcare law, and are split over what to do about it, with some calling on the Obama administration for help. But the White House, perhaps sensing a chance to blame Republicans for trouble, is showing no outward signs of crafting a contingency plan in case of an adverse outcome in King v. Burwell, expected to be ruled on by the end of this month." ...
... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "It may be easier than expected for states to save their ObamaCare subsidies, if the Supreme Court rules against the law this month. Two states -- Pennsylvania and Delaware -- said this week they would launch their own exchanges, if needed, to keep millions of healthcare dollars flowing after the decision. Both want to use existing pieces of the federal health insurance exchange, like its website and call center -- a path that would be far less costly than the way most other states have created their exchanges. If those plans win approval, many of the other 36 states that stand to lose their subsidies could then pursue a similarly simple strategy." (Emphasis added.) CW: As soon as King v. Burwell made the news, this is exactly what I said progressive states would/could do. States led by Republicans? Many would require a public outcry to get off the dime. ...
... Sarah Kliff of Vox: "The GOP has 5 plans to fix Obamacare if the Supreme Court blows it up. They're all a mess." ...
... Jonathan Chait sums up the problems the GOP faces if they "win" King v. Burwell. ...
... CW: Here's a related problem: Burgess Everett of Politico finds plenty of indicators that the Senate is returning to a state of gridlock.
** Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Fifty hospitals in the United States are charging uninsured consumers more than 10 times the actual cost of patient care, according to research published Monday. All but one of the these facilities is owned by for-profit entities, and by far the largest number of hospitals -- 20 -- are in Florida. For the most part, researchers said, the hospitals with the highest markups are not in pricey neighborhoods or big cities, where the market might explain the higher prices.... Community Health Systems operates 25 of the hospitals on the list; Hospital Corp. of America operates another 14.... By comparison, the researchers said, a typical U.S. hospital charges 3.4 times the cost of patient care." (Emphasis added.) ...
... CW: Guess what greedy, wicked bastard used to be CEO of Hospital Corp of America before the board of greedy, wicked directors kicked him out just prior to settling the largest fraud case in U.S. history? Thanks again, Florida, for twice putting this steaming pile in the governor's mansion.
Sarah Larimar & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: Dennis "Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in the history of the House, is expected to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon, emerging in public for the first time since the indictment was announced."
Dennis Hastert goes to court today. ...
... ** Todd Purdum in Politico: "A reassessment of Hastert's leadership began in earnest following his indictment two weeks ago. In hindsight, it now seems clear his avuncular persona ... served to deter broader scrutiny of congressional misdeeds, including an Illinois land deal of his own that netted him millions."
We turn now from reminders of scumbag politicians to a sweet, uplifting & informative piece by Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post on what it was like to cover the funeral of Beau Biden. The contrast is startling.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. CW: Charles Pierce did a nice job yesterday of reprising the Sunday showz. It comes as no surprise to me that John DICKerson, who has taken oven the CBS show, remains as big a DICK as ever & a strict adherent to he-said/she-said "journalism." Pierce gives him the House Cup. It's worth noting that Chris Wallace of Fox "News," who probably just doesn't like Rick Santorum, did his job a helluva a better than Dickerson did his. (See also yesterday's Commentariat.) Also, it's pretty rich that Chris Christie, who could soon find himself under indictment for abuse of office, is accusing his entire state of fraud & corruption. Unless it's your job to watch this crap, I'd advise finding a better way to spend Sunday mornings. I spent mine tearing up a kitcken counter, which was no fun at all, but much less stress-inducing than witnessing what passes for mainstream journalism in the USA. ...
... digby does an excellent job of debunking a New York Times "First Read" "analysis" (linked here yesterday), the gist of which was that Hillary Clinton isn't going the "bipartisan" route that her husband took in 1992 to win the presidency: "... the fact that they even lamented that 'campaigns don't engage in persuasion anymore' tells us that haven't given up their precious derp just yet." CW: I would go further, tho. What I think Democratic candidates have figured out is appealing to many conservative voters, because poverty, near-poverty & fear-of-poverty are bipartisan, largely thanks to conservative policies.
Presidential Race
Greg Sargent on how Hillary Clinton might develop her economic agenda & theme, & whether or not Wall Street is skeert of her taking a populist, anti-Street tilt.
Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed: "A charity administered by the New York Times received a $100,000 check from the Clinton Family Foundation on July 24, 2008, months after the paper endorsed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, according to a New York Times spokesperson. However, the check was a 'replacement check' for one that had been sent in 2007 that the Times never received, the spokesperson said." CW: Wingers seem rather excited about this story. Seems like a big meh to me.
Steve Benen: Jeb Bush, who thought he would be the anointed one by the time he stopped collecting secret money & formally announced his presidential candidacy, just fired his non-campaign director & replaced him with long-time GOP media operative Danny Diaz. CW: Of course, Jeb's failure to leave the pack in his wake has nothing to do with the candidate himself. Iraq.
The Profligate Son. Steve Eder & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Among the serious contenders for the presidency, [Marco] Rubio stands out for his youth, his meteoric political rise — and for the persistent doubts about his financial management, to the point that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign flagged the issue when vetting Mr. Rubio as a possible running mate in 2012, interviews show.... A review of the Rubio family’s finances — including many new documents — reveals a series of decisions over the past 15 years that experts called imprudent: significant debts; a penchant to spend heavily on luxury items like [an $80,000 speed]boat and the lease of a $50,000 2015 Audi Q7; a strikingly low savings rate, even when Mr. Rubio was earning large sums; and inattentive accounting that led to years of unpaid local government fees.... [Rubio] has long portrayed himself as a champion of financial austerity, railing against excessive government spending and runaway debt."
Charles Pierce: Scott Walker, the roadkill candidate. CW: I don't see what Pierce's problem is. Roadkill is an excellent source of protein, one which all the Wisconsinites Scotty has reduced to poverty can well-afford, as long as they have butcher knives & freezers. As we've already learned from Fox "News," "Ninety-nine percent of them have a refrigerator." So there you go.
Beyond the Beltway
Bruce Smith of the (South Carolina) State: "A white former North Charleston police officer was indicted on a murder charge Monday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man who was running away from the officer after a traffic stop. The shooting April 4 was captured on video by a bystander and showed officer Michael Slager firing eight times as 50-year-old Walter Scott ran away. The shooting rekindled an ongoing national debate about the treatment of black suspects at the hands of white officers." (Also linked early yesterday afternoon ET.)
Rick Rojas of the New York Times: His unprecedented escape from an upstate New York maximum-security prison was not the first time two-time-killer Richard Matt eluded law enforcement: "In 1986, he had escaped from a jail in Erie County. About a decade later, after Mr. Rickerson’s death, Mr. Matt fled to Mexico, where he killed an American man at a bar and served several years in prison before being brought back in 2007 to stand trial here in Niagara County."
American "Justice," Ctd. Michael Schwirtz & Michael Winerip of the New York Times pick up on the story of the suicide of Kalief Browder, the teen who was jailed for three years without trial on New York City's Rikers Island, kept in solitary confinement for two years & repeatedly beaten. Jennifer Gonnerman of the New Yorker first brought Browder's ordeal to public attention; yesterday I linked her story on his death.
Yoni Appelbaum of the Atlantic on how white Americans, over the decades, have figured out how to segregate swimming pools.
Your Tax Dollars at Work. John Shiffman of Reuters: The Virginia Board of Medicine has accused Dr. John Henry Hagmann, who "has received more than $10.5 million in business from the federal government," of giving U.S. military "trainees drugs and liquor, and direct[ing] them to perform macabre medical procedures on one another.... The report alleges Hagmann told students to insert catheters into the genitals of other trainees and that two intoxicated student were subjected to penile nerve block procedures. Hagmann also is accused of conducting 'shock labs,' a process in which he withdrew blood from the students, monitored them for shock, and then transfused the blood back into their systems."
News Ledes
New York Times: "A days-long manhunt for two escaped killers prompted a burst of police activity on Tuesday as investigators converged on an upstate town about an hour from the prison where the men had been incarcerated. The prisoners, Richard W. Matt and David Sweat, were discovered missing from their cells at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., 25 miles from the Canadian border. On Tuesday, law enforcement officials swarmed Willsboro, a small town about 40 miles southeast of Dannemora."
Washington Post: "Rebels announced the capture of a strategic army base in southern Syria on Tuesday, in the latest of several sweeping offensives by forces battling President Bashar al-Assad. A coalition of moderate rebel factions known as the Southern Front took control of the Brigade 52 base by early afternoon, spokesman Issam al-Reis said. Brigade 52 is the largest military installation in Daraa province, which borders Jordan, and is key to the defense of northern routes leading to the Syrian capital, Damascus."
Los Angeles Times: "Vincent Bugliosi, the Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who gained worldwide fame for his successful prosecutions of Charles Manson and his followers for the brutal 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others, has died. He was 80."
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Reader Comments (13)
CW: MAG & my spam-blocker seem to have a special relationship. Here's a comment MAG made yesterday that ended up in the spam pile. You now can also read the comment in context in yesterday's thread:
Words from Snidely Whiplash: "Avoid indulging in snarky, contemptuous dismissals of Americans on the other side." begs Arthur C. Brooks in today's NYTimes. "Three Canadian psychologists found that habitual Internet commenting is strongly correlated with hateful personality pathologies "...The total amount of time spent posting comments online correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism."
Does this mean I need to cut back?
DC Clark —Old, but still funny!
MAG
Here's a gem:
"Slave owners were very good Christians and good people. They weren't terrible, rotten, horrible people. And that's how I see gay people."
—Idaho state Rep. Paul Shepherd
Seen on the "Say What?" tag in the Doonesbury page. Googling it up, I found he explained that: "Slave Owners Were Good People Who Made Bad Decisions, Like Gays"
DC: Clicked on your link from yesterday––"Ya, vat vas you thinking?" one of the premier ads as were the following that I felt compelled to watch. Thanks––belly laughs here.
On swimming pools and that idiot policeman who wrestled a 14 yr. old girl to the ground and then sat on her––his bulk pressing down while she's screaming and crying. I don't often say, or even think, that I would like to squeeze that part of a man's anatomy until he's in dire pain, but watching that policeman manhandle that girl I ached to perform that operation.
"We tried to integrate the city swimming pool. They just allowed blacks in on Weds. afternoon and evening and then drained the pool Thursday morning."
Frank Oppenheimer in Pasadena in 1936
@PD Pepe: Thanks. A reminder of how "bad" American communists were. Oppenheimer lost more than a decade of productive work because of McCarthy-era blacklisting.
Marie
Marco Rubio seems strikingly unready to handle his own personal finances, let alone manage the affairs of the United States. Coupled with his questionable driving record, he presents the maturity level of a teenager - and not one headed to Stanford.
"This is according to one Arthur Brooks, who heads the American Enterprise Institute, an intellectual chop-shop..."
Glad to see Charlie Pierce jumped on Snidely's commentary in yesterday's NYT with his post today: A Paine in the AEIs: Political Civility Is Overrated
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a35560/thomas-paine-would-kick-political-ass-today/
On another note, mebbe we need to reconsider the wit (?) and wisdom of one Mitt Romney. Well, at least for those he didn't choose for his running mate as leakage continues about the reasons why not.
Christie. Rubio. Both ruled out...and we learn more why!
(Spambot, watch yourself!)
Some Supreme Schtupid.
Does anyone believe for a second that, in the decision to uphold a certain presidential prerogative (the Jerusalem passport case), the dissenting justices, Roberts, Scalia, and Alito, would have voted with the majority had the president been named Bush, or Reagan, or Walker, or Rubio? I dunno what happened to Thomas. Was he in a coma? Can't see how he could resist another chance to join with the troglodytes for another round of "That Obama! How Dare He!"
But fear not, Thomas will have a chance to play "That Obama! How Dare He" when they court tears up the ACA and let's millions of Americans go hang just so they can chalk up another one for their side.
Supporters of a better life for all Americans have been steadily pushed to the edge of the cliff by Confederate Haters looking to kill healthcare. And because they are not idiots, and have every reason to expect that Republicans and their Supreme lackeys will do just that, many are attempting to come up with a fall back plan.
But here's the conundrum. Republicans, who never have fall back plans (Iraq?), know that Democrats, unlike themselves, try to consider future consequences and adjust for them. That is their weak spot. So here's what's going on. Republicans and the specter of death in the form of the Five Horseman of the Derpocalypse on the Court, have been pushing supporters of a better life for all Americans to that cliff edge. The supporters of a better life for all Americans know that these evil bastards have no problem pushing them off the cliff so they're scrambling to come up with a solution.
They find a sheet and fashion a parachute that may or may not work. Seeing this parachute contraption, the Haters say to themselves, and media onlookers in the stands feeding their faces with Confederate popcorn, "Hey, look. They have a backup plan. So nothing will happen when we push them off the cliff. Have a nice landing, guys..."
Political pragmatism, rationality, and a sense of responsibility to the American people can get you killed. Republicans and the Five Horsemen have none.
(Talk about hateful, sadistic, Machiavellian, and psychopathic.)
Victoria,
Thanks for the link to the story on Rubio: Fiscal Conservative!
Confederates pooh-pooh his many personal fiscal problems, chalking up things like double billing Florida taxpayers for expenses, missing mortgage payments, packing payrolls with family members, using a GOP credit card to pay for personal items, and quite a few more, as "clerical errors".
Hmmm...
Lots of people have money problems. Plenty of people suck at handling money. And, in fairness, the Times article points out that Rubio came into a high powered scene at a young age and with no experience at balancing a personal budget, and got in over his head. Very believable. I don't doubt that younger people can get into trouble with money. I had my own misadventures when younger. But at least I learned from them. And I'm also not directing everyone else to tighten their belts and suck it up while I'm out dropping 80 large on a luxury speedboat, something you'd expect from a rookie on a major league sports team who's 21 and just hit it big, not a guy who preaches personal responsibility and fiscal austerity and is running for president.
The fact that Rubio came of age in Florida at a time Mother Jones calls the "golden age of corruption in the Sunshine State" might have something to do with it. The Tampa Bay Times details a lengthy laundry list of GOP malfeasance during this period of rampant fiscal irresponsibility and corruption, while the Florida GOP was preaching austerity for everyone else (some Democrats were involved in a few of these schemes but 90% of them are Republican born and bred), yet another example of IOKIYAR.
But "clerical errors" aside, the most worrisome aspect of Rubio's money problems, and his seeming inability to keep from spending other people's money, and mismanaging his own, is his subsequent reliance on Big Money "mentors" to bail him out. His wife works for one of his biggest supporters, wingnut billionaire Norman Braman. Specifically, she works for a "charity" that Braman touts as one of his philanthropic enterprises, a philanthropy that gave out a total of $250 in 2013. That's not a typo, that's what passes for largesse by Republicans. $250. But Braman appears to foot the bill for a lot of Rubio family expenses.
You see the problem here? You see why Rubio preaches no taxes for the rich and austerity for everyone else? Who thinks a cop who's in big to his bookmaker is going to be the one staging a raid on that bookie's gambling business?
Money problems are one thing. Corruption and doing the bidding of dark money men, because you're beholden to them, are quite another.
Out of morbid curiosity I checked out the response to the Times piece by Confederates. They are outraged. Outraged, I tells ya, that this liberal rag is after their boy (Rubio is considered one of the most conservative politicians in the land, almost besting caveman Jim DeMint a few years ago, in wingnuttiness). One of them added a link to demonstrate that "both sides do it", a USA Today piece from 2004 which the commenter declares is proof positive that Obama had the same kind of trouble as Rubio, and yet his credit card mismangement was treated as a heroic story. Here is every single word about Obama's credit card problems in that article:
"BOSTON — Four years ago, Barack Obama was nearly broke after a failed race for Congress. He wasn't planning to go to the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles until a friend persuaded him to hop on a low-fare Southwest flight. When he arrived at the airport, he had trouble renting a car; his credit card was maxed out."
That's it. How that comes across as equal to the shocking list of Rubio's fiscal skullduggery and theft from the public, I have no idea. Also don't know how this description is in any way "heroic".
But, you know, both sides do it. Except one side is guilty of jaywalking while the other is guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery. But hey, that's about equal, right?
Breaking news (should be braking news) from the Not So United States of Jesus:
According to Reuters "A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld the main provisions of a restrictive Texas abortion law including one that requires clinics to have certain hospital-grade facilities..."
Theocratic Christianists, putting the brakes on freedom, claim their ongoing attempts to take choice away from American women is an effort to protect "women from substandard abortion facilities and practices." Jesus had nothing to do with it. They're just tryin' to be friendly like to all those poor benighted women who just don' unnerstand and are likely all goin' to hell.
How about protecting women from religious zealots who feel they have the right to impose their religious beliefs on everyone else?
Tell me again how Christians have no power in this country, how they're all under attack and how Christianity will be outlawed any day now and Christians all carted off in boxcars for liberal re-education or torture or some fucking fantasy bullshit or other?
Thank you, Akhileus, for reading and analyzing the Rubio story, and adding your own particular brand of enlightenment.
I, too, was struck with the surprising number of commenters who rushed to Rubio's defense and sought to either minimize his irresponsibility or compare it to that of various Democrats. Just another example of deluded thinking, failure to read and comprehend, failure to see any shades of gray (Obama once maxed out a credit card = borrowing from an IRA, accepting payment out of proportion to service rendered, buying a luxury boat while in debt....Sure.)
On another front, I listened to a good portion of President Obama's speech to the Catholic Hospitals Association this morning. He was detailed, passionate and eloquent in his defense of the ACA, putting the Act in historical, political and moral context. It was a great speech from what I heard and I can't imagine a candidate running for president in 2016 doing nearly as well, not any of the Republicans or the Democrats either. And of course, it isn't just the speech but what it represents in achievement. On that score, of course, the Democratic candidates fare pretty well.
Personally, I think America is lucky Obama was elected, and re-elected. When I hear him speak, it still gives me hope for the future despite all the challenges. And hope is, after all, what he promised.
@CW,
If you're going to scavenge roadkill to put in your freezer you need to make sure that it freshly killed.
I had to run a sortie into the heart of Kochistan yesterday. During the 4-hour drive from my point of insertion to my zone of engagement I counted 8 carcasses along the road AFTER I started counting. All in various stages of dismemberment and decomposition - certainly not dry-aged USDA Prime.
Saw one street pizza that must have started out as little Bambi and I'll bet the white spots weren't dollops of fresh mozzarella.
Some had huge clouds of flies that would swarm like a huge flock of starlings. Another that I could see up ahead was so bloated, with it's legs sticking straight out, it exploded like an IED immediately after I passed it (possibly set off by the schock wave of my car moving it's leg triggers.) Fortunately I didn't have to make a side trip to the car wash to clean off the debris.
On another note - thanks for not posting the picture of Scottie on his hog when in Iowa for Joni's de-balling demonstration last week. When I saw the photo on other less particular sites two thoughts came to mind:
1. The old joke growing up in Milwaukee asking what's the difference between a Harley and a Hoover? (A Hoover has the dirt bag on the inside.)
2. If his handlebars were attached to his helmet, Scottie would kinda look like a deer with antlers...
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/08/fox_news_host_gets_schooled_on_fracking_and_angrily_orders_his_guest_off_the_show/. One thing often lost on the public is that fracking chemicals are not registered with the government for their toxins because the fracking chemicals are trade secrets. Perhaps the most important thing about fracking is that drilling companies learn where all the freshwater supplies are located throughout the West and anywhere they drill. So oilmen learn where the fresh water is closest to the surface, and which range/ranchland is most valuable. So everywhere from the oil fields of Kazakhstan to Kern county California the oil men ('cause it definitely a sexist business) buy up and control the fresh water supply at the same time they lock away the energy resources for the gains of distant financiers. And the Mormon church has done much the same thing in a pleasantly tax-exempt way. "Cadillac Desert", by Marc Reisner is a good place to start looking at some of this subject.
As an aside, if you watch the video the host starts marginalizing and diminishing the guest speaker by using diminutive pronouns and not the guests name as soon as he's called a liar. Is it bad form to call the tv host a liar if he is? The host totally reminded me of the people who immediately try to marginalize and diminish Bernie Sanders by name-calling him a socialist, liberal so as to change the subject away and divert attention from the subjects Bernie brings up.
Bill Maher slams the fallacy that Christians are under attack. This is good. We here on R.C. could add to his frustration if only he could read us.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/06/1391078/-Bill-Maher-exposes-the-utter-ignorance-about-the-false-war-on-Christianity?detail=email