The Commentariat -- March 20, 2014
Internal links removed.
David Herszenhorn & Alan Cowell of the New York Times: "Bowing to the reality of the Russian military occupation of Crimea a day after Russia announced it was annexing the disputed peninsula, the Ukrainian government said on Wednesday that it had drawn up plans to evacuate all of its military personnel and their families and was prepared to relocate as many as 25,000 of them to mainland Ukraine. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and sailors have been trapped on military bases and other installations here for more than two weeks, surrounded by heavily armed Russian military forces and loosely organized local militia." ...
... Luke Baker of Reuters: "European leaders hold critical talks on Thursday about how to tighten the screws on Russia following its seizure of Crimea, how to support Ukraine's stricken economy and how best to wean themselves off Russian oil and gas in years to come." ...
... Marco Rubio has an op-ed in the Washington Post that doesn't sound insane & only mildly criticizes President Obama. But gives the President lots of advice. The op-ed appears to be Rubio's cover for voting for a bill that includes IMF reforms Republicans don't like. ...
... A terrific piece by Paul Waldman of the American Prospect, in the Washington Post, on how U.S. "tough guys" -- McCain & Co. -- "sound awfully weak" when you see what they would do differently on the Ukraine front. Waldman does cite Bill Kristol as an exception, a pundit (who of course has no responsibilities) longing for hot war.
Fernanda Santos of the New York Times: " A federal judge in Kansas on Wednesday ordered federal election authorities to help Kansas and Arizona require their voters to show proof of citizenship in state and local elections, in effect sanctioning a two-tier voter registration system that could well set a trend for other Republican-dominated states.... Judge [Eric] Melgren's decision holds particular significance this election year, as it could prevent thousands of people from voting just as the governorship and other major offices are on the ballot in both states.... The ruling takes effect immediately unless the courts grant a stay pending an appeal. The Justice Department said that it was reviewing the court's decision." Melgren is a George W. Bush appointee. ...
... Rick Hasan: "... in states which impose citizenship requirements, the streamlined path of voter registration just got a whole less streamlined." ...
... David Firestone of the New York Times: "... there is no evidence that people who are in the country illegally want to vote, or have tried in any significant number. But that hasn't stopped Arizona and Kansas from insisting on proof of citizenship in order to register, knowing full well that the legitimate voters who will have the most trouble coming up with that proof tend to lean Democratic.... The requirement can be added to the long list of other stumbling blocks -- voter ID requirements, early voting cutbacks, stringent absentee ballot rules -- that have no civic purpose other than to give Republicans a political advantage."
The POTUS Is Black. He Should Act It. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said Wednesday that President Obama should be particularly wary of domestic spying, given the government's history of eavesdropping on civil rights leaders like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., injecting the issue of race into the contentious debate over surveillance."
I find it ironic that the first African-American president has without compunction allowed this vast exercise of raw power by the N.S.A. -- Rand Paul, speaking at U.C. Berkeley.
I wonder if Li'l Randy finds it ironic that when it comes to spying, this POTUS acts pretty much like all those white POTUSes since Harry Truman. What's troubling the Little Philosopher here is that President Obama is not playing to stereotype. -- Constant Weader
CW: I missed this excellent piece by Tom Edsall of the New York Times on the Koch brothers defense of anonymous political campaign contributions: "It's interesting, to say the least, to see the Koch brothers -- each of whom is worth $36 billion -- summoning the founding fathers and the N.A.A.C.P. in defense of their policy of donor secrecy."
Linda Greenhouse: Context matters. "How far the Supreme Court should go to acknowledge the real-world context of its decisions is a question worth considering."
Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "The senior lawyer for the National Security Agency stated unequivocally on Wednesday that US technology companies were fully aware of the surveillance agency's widespread collection of data, contradicting months of angry denials from the firms. Rajesh De, the NSA general counsel, said all communications content and associated metadata harvested by the NSA under a 2008 surveillance law occurred with the knowledge of the companies – both for the internet collection program known as Prism and for the so-called 'upstream' collection of communications moving across the internet."
Babies Puke & Poop. Nicholas Kristof: A reality teevee show "16 & Pregnant," & its spinoffs have "been remarkably effective in cutting teenage births.... In no other developed country are teenagers as likely to get pregnant as the United States.But here's the good news: Teenage birthrates have plunged by 52 percent since 1991 -- one of America's great social policy successes, coming even as inequality and family breakdown have worsened."
Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "On the eve of a decision about his sentence on sexual misconduct and other charges, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair on Wednesday tearfully apologized to the women he had wronged, and to the Army where he had spent 27 years, saying that he 'felt a deep and abiding sense of shame and remorse. I have squandered a fortune of life’s blessings, blessings of family, work and friendship,' General Sinclair said, standing as he read a 366-word statement from behind a lectern inside a military courtroom at Fort Bragg."
Obama & Ellen talk Twitter records & dog poop. Oh, and health insurance:
News Ledes
CNN: "Fred Phelps -- the founding pastor of a Kansas church known for its virulently anti-gay protests at public events, including military funerals -- has died, the church said Thursday." ...
... WIBW, Topeka, Kansas: "Margie Phelps, Phelps daughter, told WIBW-AM that there will be no funeral for him."
New York Times: "The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, said on Thursday that satellite imagery had detected floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean that might be parts of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished on March 8. But he and an Australian rescue organizer both counseled caution about the sighting."
Washington Post: "Robert S. Strauss, a smooth-talking Texas lawyer and businessman who became a consummate political insider and played a key role in reviving the Democratic Party's fortunes after its landslide loss to Republicans in the 1972 election, died March 19 in Washington. He was 95."
Share Article
Reader Comments (9)
Clearly, I've missed the Republican outrage over the General's abuse of power. What sort of message will it send to other sociopaths in positions of authority if he is let off easy? That's the question I'm waiting to hear from Chairman Issa, Joe Scarborough, or Senator Huck Graham.
Video of Obama/ Putin comic exchange on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show last night. Very funny.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/jimmy-fallons-obama-putin-call_n_4998168.html
Here's an article depicting Tax-hating states totally fine with taxing the poor with a map illustrating the combined state and average local sales tax rates in 2014:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/sales-taxes-highest-in-st_n_4988216.html
It is particularly offensive that a noxious little creep like Aqua Buddha Boy feels he has the right to lecture the president on what it means to be black, reminding the poor man, as an extra special teabaggy favor, of the legacy of Martin Luther King.
Don't forget that Mr. Black Culture Expert once employed a spokesperson who honored MLK's birthday by displaying "Happy Nigger Day" on his MySpace page. Nice, huh?
This is the guy who pointed out that one of his problems with the Civil Rights Act was that it prevented you from keeping blacks out of your place of business. Sooooo inconvenient.
This is also the guy who hired ANOTHER white supremacist, racial pride dickhead (one wasn't enough?) who framed himself as the "Southern Avenger" and who celebrated the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation. And this wasn't some schmoe he hired off the street, this guy was close enough in spirit and temperament to the Little Racist to co-author a book with him.
And leave us not forget Bad Toupée's visit to Howard University where he deigned to lectured the students on Civil Rights, a topic he seemed to think they knew very little about, but one on which he deemed himself an expert, and then wagged his finger at them about connecting the GOP's efforts at voter suppression in black voting districts with racial animosity. Sure. No animosity. We just don't want you blah people to be able to vote.
But this is the guy who has the brass to lecture the president on what it means to be black.
Dictionaries defining the word "asshole" have a new image to put next to that entry. A more disagreeable douchebag I can't even picture.
(And to his 'bagger supporters who try to let Bad Toupée wriggle out of all charges of racism by claiming that those other guys were speaking for themselves, not for him, I repeat what my mother used to say. "Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are." His friends are racists and 'baggers. 'Nuff said.)
@Ak: Your mother had it right. In Rand's 2011 book, "The Tea Party Goes to Washington," he was praising some Mises (Ludwig von Mises Institute in Alabama started by money put in by Papa Rand whose members are this side of a cracked pot, spouting Biblical baloney and racial bigotry, etc.) Institute scholars (as Rand refers to them) recommending their work and their website. Now that Rand is thinking about throwing his many hats into the ring for the big brass one, he's backed off from his friends with the extreme views. "Turn your back on your friends and I'll show you what you are" might be another of mother's adages.
The mouthbreathers are just not happy, are they? Obama is a weenie-ass, he's a tyrant, he's a commie, he's a Nazi, he's....Christ! He's BLACK!!
They have plenty of insults but no solutions and nary a rational thought to stanch the flood of fantasies sluicing out of their exploding heads. Heads are empty but mouths are in overdrive regarding Crimea, right-wing mancrush Vlad the Mad, and America's role in the new world order.
But Reagan would know just what to do. Let's see, there must be some tiny island country we can invade to show how tough we are. 'Cause that's what Ron Would Do.
But let's attempt some dispassionate thought for a change. For those, like McCain and Bill (I haven't been right since I was potty trained) Kristol, who demand action (ie, Shock and Awe), and for the other wingnuts jawing away about the president's impotency against their new boyfriend, I would ask, just for a few moments, to consider what you're talking about.
What kind of military action would satisfy? And more to the point, what kind and amount would have an acceptable effect (the return of Crimea to Ukraine and the rollback of Russian troops from the region)? Hmmm? What kind? You really think a battle group steaming up the Bosphorus is going to make Putin run and hide? Okay, so what then? Bombs? So you're talking war now, right? War. With Russia. Are we ready for that? Because I'm guessing Putin would welcome a chance to blow stuff up.
In fact, this whole thing is Putin showing everyone that he does, in fact, have a dick. He's been worried that people were not taking him seriously as a Big Shot. So he pulled a Reagan.
Crimea is (after a fashion) Putin's Grenada.
And for that we should go to war?
War, children, is not for the likes of you. We found that out with Baby Shrub and Bratty Darth. And arming the Ukraine to fight a guerrilla war (or any other kind) against Russian incursion might sound like fun but I'm guessing they'll know where those weapons are coming from. They haven't forgotten Afghanistan. And besides, arming the Mujahideen is what got us radicalized Islam, Osama Bin Laden, 9/11, and Iraq.
Actions have reactions. Anything we do needs to be thought through. And for longer than it takes John McCain to say "bombs away".
If we're going to play a responsible role in the new world order, it had better be done with more smarts than the right is currently exhibiting.
Akhilleus: Push-back guerrilla war in Crimea would be really short-lived, but in its nano-existence it would look more like n-dimensional Northern Ireland than Afghanistan. The Russian majority (the people who live there) would take the opp to eliminate all the non-Russians. That's how it has been done (sort of a local tradition) for centuries in the lands between the empires.
Kate,
You mentioned the other day that you had just about had it with the missing plane bullshit.
Merdre! Moi aussi.
I watched a couple of the Sunday Gasbag Extravaganzas whereat drooling congressbots declared all sorts of idiocies based on nonexistent information: "I don't know shit about anything but I will now spout off for the next 15 minutes about that shit I know nothing about."
And why not?
But those are the professional morons.
What I want to know is why CNN is throwing credibility out the window like empty beer cans on a midnight road trip to Tijuana? On Google News, right now, here are the featured story-things from CNN:
What do satellite images show?
Michael Pearson, CNN
Satellites spot objects in ocean
Jethro Mullen and Mitra Mobasherat, CNN
See the satellite image up close
CNN
Debris found in Indian Ocean?
CNN
Aboard plane scouring for clues
CNN
How about "What do Drunken Louts See in Their Dreams?"
Tomorrow I expect to read that Santa and Rudolph have been engaged by CNN to scour 1,000,000 square kilometers of the Indian Ocean and surrounding waters for indications of what's happened and that Eric Von Daniken and the Amazing Kreskin have been hired as special correspondents to interpret tea leaves and dead animal entrails for the latest headlines.
WTF.
I'm thinking I'd rather be picnicking with you around the saguaros than spelunking in the Cave of Crazy with the wackos.
You've all likely seen this in today's NYTimes, but perhaps not read it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/us/politics/koch-group-seeks-lasting-
It's message: big government cannot be good government, the central message brought to you by the Kochs.
Maybe..in some ways, maybe....but there's no doubt that big/international corporations, beholden to and regulated by no one are a far sight worse.
When will be hear more about that in the Times or elsewhere? And more to the point, which billionaire(s) will fund that PAC campaign?