The Commentariat -- May 1, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Loveday Morris of the Washington Post: "Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced their withdrawal from Baghdad's fortified Green Zone on Sunday, packing up and leaving just a day after they stormed parliament and began a sit-in. Addressing the demonstrators, Akhlas al-Obaidi, a protest organizer, urged people to go home...." -- CW
Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Sunday criticized Donald Trump's foreign policy after the Republican presidential front-runner outlined his 'America first' model. 'I think, based on the speech, you'd have somebody who doesn't understand the difference between a business negotiation and a negotiation with sovereign powers,' Gates said on ABC's 'This Week.'" -- CW
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "... as the gravitational pull of [Donald] Trump's recent primary landslides draws more Republicans toward him, [Ted] Cruz's support among the party's 2,472 convention delegates is softening, threatening his hopes of preventing Mr. Trump's nomination by overtaking him in a floor fight." -- CW
Julie Davis & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Malia Obama, the older daughter of President Obama, plans to attend Harvard University beginning in the fall of 2017, the White House announced on Sunday, waiting until her father leaves office to begin her college career." -- CW
*****
... CW: I did try to watch Larry Wilmore's stand-up, and perhaps it got better later, but he's a comedian in the Don Rickles mode, who thinks insults for insults' sake are somehow humorous. Actually, no. The art of the putdown lies in the absence of malice. BTW, it's hard to listen to the entirety of Obama's remarks & conclude that he really likes Hillary best. I think he views her as the most competent, but he opens with two searing jokes at her expense (altho he doesn't name her), & he's pretty kind to Bernie, who had the grace to show up. ...
... C-SPAN's White House Correspondents' Dinner live video is here.
Valerie Plame, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... embedded within the vast U.S. intelligence complex is a bloated bureaucracy that creates turf battles and inefficiencies that can lead to dire and even deadly consequences. The tale of Robert Levinson -- a retired Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agent turned CIA contractor who disappeared in 2007 from a resort island in the Persian Gulf ]] underscores the dangers of the multi-headed bureaucratic monster called the CIA.... Barry Meier's new book, 'Missing Man,' catalogues how Iranian and U.S. officials knew far more about Levinson's disappearance than previously acknowledged." -- CW
Chas Danner of New York: "Billionaire businessman and occasional politician Michael Bloomberg ... put [Donald Trump & Bernie Sanders ]at the center of his anti-demagogue commencement address to University of Michigan graduates on Saturday. Via an adapted transcript of the speech published on Bloomberg View, the former New York mayor never mentions either candidate by name, but the references are clear." -- CW
The Supremes (Seem to) Buy Bob McDonnell's "Wayne & Garth Defense." Gilad Edelman in the New Yorker: "The threat of harsh federal penalties is supposed to keep people from breaking the law, even if the chances of getting caught are slim. That logic evidently doesn't apply to politicians, in the Court's view, because the practice of selling access is so thickly embedded in American political culture that they simply can't stop doing it." -- CW
One of the reasons that inequality has probably gone up in our society is that people are being treated closer to the way that they're supposed to be treated. -- Larry Summers, ca. 2009
Fuck you, losers. -- CW Translation ...
... Historian Beverly Gage, in the New York Times Book Review, reviews books about "limousine liberals" by Thomas Frank & Steve Fraser. -- CW
** Laura June, in New York, on the myth of maternal "flex time." -- CW: Everyone who has a job that involves working with people of child-bearing/rearing years should read this.
Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "Swift -- the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication -- is billed as a supersecure system that banks use to authorize payments from one account to another. 'The Rolls-Royce of payments networks,' one financial analyst said. But last week, for the first time since hackers captured $81 million from Bangladesh's central bank in February, Swift acknowledged that the thieves have tried to carry out similar heists at other banks on its network by sneaking into the beating heart of the global banking system." -- CW
Daniel Lewis of the New York Times: "The Rev. Daniel J. Berrigan, a Jesuit priest and poet whose defiant protests helped shape the tactics of opposition to the Vietnam War and landed him in prison, died on Saturday in New York City. He was 94." -- CW
Anne Barnard of the New York Times: "As Syria convulsed from the bloodiest week there in months, the United States and Russia declared on Friday that they had won agreement for a new partial truce in several strategic areas, but that it would not immediately include Aleppo, the divided city where recent attacks killed more than 200 people." -- CW
Presidential Race
... Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "As Hillary Clinton begins to look past Senator Bernie Sanders to a possible general election campaign, a new ad she began running this past week pays Mr. Sanders a high compliment. It is unmistakably an homage to Mr. Sanders's 'America' ad, which featured the music of Simon and Garfunkel: Mrs. Clinton's commercial, called 'Love and Kindness,' showcases the rich harmony of Andra Day, a singer nominated for a Grammy for her single 'Rise Up.'..." -- CW
Stephanie Ebbert of the Boston Globe: "'Donald Trump clearly feels threatened by Secretary Clinton's qualifications to be president so he's attacking Hillary Clinton for being a woman,' [Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth] Warren [D] said in a telephone interview with the Globe. 'That's what weak men do.... I don't think the American voters will fall for it.' Warren was responding to Trump's assertion that Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, was playing the 'woman card.'" -- CW
MoDo says Donald Trump is more girly than Hillary Clinton. She doesn't make her case, but she has a point -- but only if you associate feminism with a "tender ego, pouty tweets, needy temperament and obsession with hand sanitizer." I don't. -- CW
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Donald Trump's campaign got burned again Saturday in the hunt for loyal delegates ..., this time on turf where he'd recently trounced his rivals in primary elections.... In Arizona [Trump lost] about 40 of the 55 delegate slots that were up for grabs.... Ted Cruz ... emerged with the bulk of support from the state's delegates.... In Virginia, where Trump beat Cruz by a two-to-one margin in a March 1 primary, Cruz's forces captured at least 10 of the 13 delegates on the ballot. The Texas senator won 18 of 24 delegates in local Missouri conventions, even though Trump won that state on primary day as well. In all, Cruz won about 80 delegate slots on the day of the more than 170 up for grabs. Another handful went to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and even Marco Rubio ... scored about seven supportive delegates.... Trump ... scored strong victories in Massachusetts delegate fights and held his own in Arkansas and Alaska...." -- CW
Cindy Carcamo, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "Latino activists said they expect more large protests as Donald Trump moves his presidential campaign into California." -- CW
Gubernatorial Race
Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "Ken Cuccinelli II, the polarizing former Virginia attorney general, said Saturday he will not run for governor, scrambling the contest and opening the door for a far-right conservative to vie for the Republican nomination in 2017. An active surrogate for Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential bid, Cuccinelli has been traveling the country in support of the senator from Texas while overseeing the campaign's delegate selection process in Virginia.... Cuccinelli's decision removed a major obstacle to the party's nomination for Ed Gillespie, the longtime GOP strategist and former White House counsel who is trying to appear as the inevitable candidate with a robust fundraising operation and early establishment endorsements." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Phillip Zonkel of the Long Beach (California) Press Telegram: "A Superior Court judge Friday made sweeping statements about the Long Beach Police Department's treatment of gay men in the community, saying in a ruling over a lewd conduct case that the department intentionally targets gay men, and that the prosecutor's office portrays them as 'sexual deviants and pedophiles.'" -- CW
Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "A fanatical Donald Trump supporter, who was arrested by the FBI in Oregon this week after repeatedly threatening to kill President Barack Obama and federal agents, had multiple pipe bombs in his home, authorities alleged in court on Friday. John Martin Roos, a 61-year-old from Oregon, has been charged with communication of a threat in interstate commerce, and additional charges are likely forthcoming." -- CW
Way Beyond
Loveday Morris & Mustafa Salim of the Washington Post: "A state of emergency was declared in the Iraqi capital on Saturday as protesters stormed Iraq's parliament, after bursting into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, where other key buildings including the U.S. Embassy are located, in a dramatic escalation of the country's political crisis. Live footage on Iraqi television showed swarms of protesters, who have been demanding government reform, inside the parliament building, waving flags, chanting and breaking chairs. Some lawmakers were berated and beaten with flags as they fled the building while other demonstrators smashed the car windows. Others remained trapped inside rooms in parliament and feared for their lives, lawmakers said." -- CW
News Lede
Guardian: "A freight train derailed close to Washington DC early Sunday and is leaking hazardous material and causing disruption in the area of the capital. More than 10 cars are understood to have left the tracks, a small portion of the long, 175-car southbound train. No injuries have been reported." -- CW
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Reader Comments (7)
Hmm...methinks MoDo and The Donald share just about the same amount of "girly-girly" traits: Vain, pouty, needy, obsessed with hair, fragile egos, need for attention, allergy to criticism.
Please note these are NOT descriptors of feminism, but of Stepford Wifeyism. MoDo is not married, but does not need to be, because she has been Stepfording all these years with her older, powerful NYT bosses. Trumpster is married to a Stepford, which allows him to project his quite obvious, though blustering, Stepfordism onto poor Melania--who in truth is much the tougher of the two.
How about MoDo as The Donald's VP? She sings better than Carly Fiorina, and she has a brother who is a cop--and would brass knuckle Trumpster if he got crazy(er) with little sister.
I agree with Kate's view of the similarities between MoDo and trump. I don't, however, think that trump's behaviour and mannerisms are Stepford Wifeyist, with all due respect to Kate who knows infinitely more about these things than I do. His needy, narcissistic behaviour is, I think, more often seen in men, as it hasn't been acceptable for women to walk around with a great bullhorn and sign above them screaming "Look at me! Look at me!". That's changing, and there are notable examples. But, I have been wondering about some of his mannerisms like those thin pouty lips, so often rounded and pursed - I can't hold my lips like that and still speak. I find it disturbing. I don't like to read too much into body language, but in the delicate way he holds his fingers in little circles to match those lips when making points, he strikes me as effete. I see a complete dissonance between the person, trump, and his words. Trump doesn't even try acting, as an actor has to match actions with dialogue.
As an antidote, can I inject a little humour into your Sunday morning? I love this old parody/tribute to a real person, a real man and a real hero.
@Gloria: You're right! See photo above. I tried it, and with effort, I can pucker my lips into the same pout, but it isn't comfortable. Not only that, I can't speak very well; my words (and tone) sound babyish -- "very" = "vewy."
It's possible that he took elocution lessons to lose his Queens accent, & the teacher taught him to exaggerate certain "lip postures" to help him pronounce words with a standard American accent. He still doesn't speak like a Manhattanite (standard American), but he also doesn't speak like any outer borough native.
Take the Trump Pucker Test yourself, readers, & share your results.
Marie
Just say "Yuuuggge", and the pouty O-shape comes naturally.
I skipped the Larry Wilmore bit––am not a fan––just wanted to hear Obama who has the wit and the chops to deliver lines that have the punch of a professional comedian. The Boehner bit with Obama is SO good––zippyity doodad–– what a wonderful way to end their days.
" I'd like to die with my boots on. "
Daniel Berrigan / May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016
Rest In Peace
Trump's mother obviously didn't tell him not to make strange faces
because they might freeze that way and he'd look strange forever.
My mother told me that at an early age.
Or else he has a job on the side sucking holes out of donuts.