The Commentariat -- Nov. 20, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Kodji Siby, et al, of the Washington Post: "Security forces surrounded gunmen inside a luxury hotel in Mali's capital on Friday after attackers stormed past guards, killing at least 20 people and holding hostages as others among the 170 staff and guests fled for safety. Hours after the standoff began, it appeared many people had managed to reach safety outside the besieged hotel compound in a city that serves as a logistics hub for French forces helping fight Islamist insurgents. An al-Qaeda-linked group asserted responsibility." ...
... Dionne Searcey & Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "A senior United Nations official said that as many as 27 people had been killed, with bodies found in the basement and on the second floor, according to a preliminary assessment of the devastating attack. An unknown number of gunmen, perhaps four or five, took 'about 100 hostages' at the beginning of the siege, said Gen. Didier Dacko of the Malian Army. He said soldiers had sealed the perimeter and were now 'inside looking for the terrorists.' By afternoon, there were no more hostages being held, said Colonel Salif Traore, Mali's minister of interior security, but the operation to retake the hotel was still underway. Two assailants had been killed, he said, and the remaining attackers were holed up in a corner of the hotel." ...
... Mamadou Tapily, et al., of the Guardian: "A nine-hour hostage situation at a high-end hotel in Mali's capital is over after special forces stormed the building, officials said, but an unspecified number of attackers remain on the upper floors and are continuing to resist arrest."
Hamza Hendawi, et al., of the AP: "The Islamic State group is aggressively pursuing development of chemical weapons, setting up a branch dedicated to research and experiments with the help of scientists from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region, according to Iraqi and U.S. intelligence officials. Their quest raises an alarming scenario for the West, given the determination to strike major cities that the group showed with its bloody attack last week in Paris."
Gov. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), in a New York Times op-ed: "... many of my fellow governors have been quick and loud in proclaiming their states off limits to Syrian refugees -- even though governors lack authority to close state borders to refugees. They spoke before knowing what the review process entailed, and in some cases punctuated their comments with divisive and misguided rhetoric that appeared to saddle all Syrians with the crimes of the Islamic State. The House bill, which President Obama has said he will veto, would essentially halt the resettlement of refugees fleeing Syria. That's a mistake driven by fear, not sound policy making." ...
... ** Still a Hero. Yvonne Abraham of the Boston Globe: "If you want them here so badly, why don't you take in a refugee? That was the inevitable response from some of congressman Seth Moulton's [D-Mass.] critics this week, after he called out Governor Charlie Baker [R-Mass.] for saying he didn't want Syrian refugees coming to Massachusetts until his concerns over security are assuaged. Actually, Moulton has opened his home to a refugee. In this and other ways, the representative from the Sixth District speaks from experience as he takes a blessedly unequivocal stand in favor of compassion and common sense on this issue." Via Charles Pierce. ...
... Maggie Haberman & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's remarks Thursday that he would 'absolutely' institute mandatory registration of Muslims drew sharp condemnation from Democrats on Friday, and a number of other Republican rivals spoke out against the idea in more muted tones.... In a Twitter post linking to an article about the remarks, Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote, 'This is shocking rhetoric. It should be denounced by all seeking to lead this country.' The post was signed with an 'H,' signaling that the candidate, and not her staff members, had written it." ...
... Greg Sargent: Jeb "Bush unequivocally declares Trump's intentions towards Muslims to be 'wrong,' and doesn't shy away from labeling them demagoguery. Rubio's approach suggests a reluctance to call out Trump in this fashion, which perhaps also reflects a desire to avoid alienating conservative voters. Of course Rubio is rising among GOP voters, and Bush is falling, so maybe Rubio's apparent calculation is right.... The problem with tiptoeing around Trump's various prescriptions is that he is perpetually engaging in 'demagoguery inflation,' which is to say that he’s always calling for something worse than what preceded it."
*****
Yesterday's Comments center on an excellent discussion of the politics of fear. Keep up the good work. I have to finish tiling the bathroom before the plumber comes. I'll be back this afternoon. -- Constant Weader
Jennifer Steinhauer & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to slap stringent -- and difficult to implement -- new screening procedures on refugees from Syria seeking resettlement, seizing on the fear stemming from the Paris attacks and threatening to cloud President Obama's Middle East policy. The bill, which passed 289 to 137, with nearly 50 Democrats supporting it, would require that the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the director of national intelligence confirm that each applicant from Syria and Iraq poses no threat, a demand the White House called 'untenable.'" ...
... Charles Pierce: "In the United States House of Representatives on Thursday, 47 Democratic politicians voted for terror. They voted for terror as a useful political emotion in their districts, and they surely voted for terror as a successful tactic abroad. There were 47 Democrats who voted for terror on Thursday. These are their names."...
... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) says a House bill suspending the resettlement of Syrian refugees ... will not make it to President Obama's desk.... Reid said at a press conference that Democrats will block the legislation that requires the secretary of Homeland Security to affirm to Congress that every refugee being admitted is not a security threat. Senate Democrats are pushing alternative legislation, to be unveiled after Thanksgiving, that would tighten up security gaps in the visa waiver program.... Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking member of the Democratic leadership, earlier in the week said a pause of the refugee resettlement program may be necessary. On Thursday he took that option off the table."
McKay Coppins of BuzzFeed: "A leading voice on the religious right sharply criticized the 'dangerous' anti-refugee sentiment that has permeated the recent political debate in the United States -- and warned that some Republican presidential candidates may turn off Christian voters with their lack of compassion. Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, told BuzzFeed News on Thursday that he was shocked by the 'overheated' rhetoric being employed by high-profile politicians in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris."
Eric Beech of Reuters: "Islamic State militants released a video on Thursday threatening the White House with suicide bombings and car blasts and vowing to conduct more attacks on France....The latest threat comes one day after the militant group put out a video showing scenes of New York City, which suggested it was also a target."
Zachary Tracer of Bloomberg: "The biggest U.S. health insurer is considering pulling out of Obamacare as it loses hundreds of millions of dollars on the program, casting a pall over President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement. UnitedHealth Group Inc. has scaled back marketing efforts for plans sold to individuals this year and may quit the business entirely in 2017. It's an abrupt shift from October, when the health insurer said it was planning to sell coverage through the Affordable Care Act in 11 more states next year, bringing its total to 34. The company also cut its 2015 earnings forecast."
Ana Gonzalez-Barrera of the Pew Research Center: "More Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico from the U.S. than have migrated here since the end of the Great Recession, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from both countries. The same data sources also show the overall flow of Mexican immigrants between the two countries is at its smallest since the 1990s, mostly due to a drop in the number of Mexican immigrants coming to the U.S."
Digby, in Salon: Winger macho-boy Erick Erickson, who once threatened to take out any U.S. census worker who stepped onto his property, wrote that he was afraid to go to the movies to watch "Star Wars 97" or whatever it is because theaters don't have metal detectors to save him from 3-year-old Syrian refugees. But then he realized big boys pack heat at the movies, so he deleted his remark & now says "he is not afraid to go to the movies because he will be carrying a gun and assumes that others will too. If that's true, a lot of people should rethink their plans to attend Star Wars. With theaters full of armed men who are quivering in fear and ready to fire at the first loud noise, does seem wise to avoid that situation." ...
... Paul Krugman: "... at this point panic is what the right is all about, and the Republican nomination will go to whoever can most effectively channel that panic. Will the same hold true in the general election? Stay tuned."
In a straight news piece, David Fahrenthold & Jose DelReal of the Washington Post outline just how extremely anti-Muslim (mostly Republican) elected leaders & wanna-bes have become. ...
... BUT It's Obama's Fault. Greg Jaffe, in another straight WashPo news report: President "Obama's response to the attacks also raises a more political question: Why hasn't a man known for his rhetorical gifts done more to address the fear the attacks instill in ordinary Americans?"
Brian Beutler on why Republicans insist on using the term "radical Islamic terrorists," but when the shoe is on the other foot, cannot abide the term "right-wing extremists" when applied to this country's right-wing extremists.
Charles Pierce: "Six people were shot to death over the weekend in a place called Palestine. Did you read much about it? No. Because this Palestine is in Texas, and because it was just another example of the price we are expected to pay for our Second Amendment freedoms..., and that is the terrorism that supposedly is the cost of our Constitutional liberties, the terrorism that is our birthright as Americans. It was a land dispute so, naturally, this being America and all, guns had to become involved.... Not much on this from the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, one of the 20-odd governors currently trembling with fear that the prospect of Syrian toddlers invading their states."
Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "Federal regulators on Thursday approved a genetically engineered salmon as fit for consumption, making it the first genetically altered animal to be cleared for American supermarkets and dinner tables."
Peter Baker & Jodi Rudoren of the New York Times: "Jonathan J. Pollard, the American convicted of spying on behalf of Israel, walked out of prison early on Friday after 30 years, the Israeli prime minister said, but the Obama administration had no plans to let him leave the country and move to Israel as he requested." ...
... Eric Tucker of the AP: "'The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "As someone who raised Jonathan's case for years with successive American presidents, I had long hoped this day would come,' he said."
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The D.C. government will pay $16.65 million to settle a federal lawsuit after a jury found that D.C. police framed an innocent man who served 27 years in prison for a rape and murder. The settlement Thursday in the civil rights case of Donald E. Gates, 64, is the largest in city history, District officials said. A nine-person jury on Wednesday found that two D.C. homicide detectives fabricated all or part of a confession purportedly made by Gates to a paid police informant and withheld other evidence in an attack on a 21-year-old Georgetown University student in Rock Creek Park."
Spencer Hsu: Douglas Hughes, "the Florida postal worker who landed a gyrocopter at the U.S. Capitol to protest campaign finance laws, vowed to continue speaking out against 'wealthy special interests' as he prepared to plead guilty to a felony charge of operating his aircraft without a license Friday morning."
David McCabe of the Hill: "YouTube will pay court costs to the creators of some videos accused of copyright infringement in cases that the online video giant believes represent clear cases of fair use. The company, owned by Google, said Wednesday it will keep those videos online despite copyright takedown notices. It will also cover up to a million dollars in legal costs associated with fighting the takedown." The YouTube statement is here.
The News in Tweets (must be nonpartisan):
House passes bill that could limit Syrian refugees. Statue of Liberty bows head in anguish @CNNPolitics https://t.co/5RvZwVftgD — Elise Labott (@eliselabottcnn) November 19, 2015
CNN source informs me that Elise Labott has been suspended for two weeks for tweet about House vote on refugees: https://t.co/XTKTabRade — ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) November 20, 2015
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Gabriel Sherman of New York: NBC News chair Andy Lack "is looking to give a show to the campaign chroniclers John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. According to four media executives, Lack is in talks with Bloomberg Television to simulcast Heilemann and Halperin's politics show With All Due Respect on MSNBC." CW: I can hardly wait. But since I still have no idea where MSNBC is on my cable line-up, I guess I'll have to.
Gabriel Arana of the Huffington Post: "The media's default of erasing distinctions between terrorists and non-terrorists, and between attackers and victims in the Muslim world is why we are currently in the midst of an insane discussion (if you can call it that) about allowing Syrian refugees into the country." And, no, it's not just Fox "News." "A recent survey from the Pew Center of 11 countries with substantial Muslim populations shows widespread negative attitudes toward the terrorist group -- in no country did support for ISIS rise above 15 percent. That's a smaller percentage than Americans who believe in UFOs (21 percent), think there's a link between vaccines and autism (20 percent) and deny climate change (37 percent). Strong majorities in most of these countries also support the recent airstrikes against ISIS."
Presidential Race
Amy Chozick & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Thursday for accelerating the American-led operation to defeat the Islamic State, going well beyond what President Obama has proposed by urging a no-fly zone with coalition forces to protect Syrians, more airstrikes and an expanded deployment of special operations troops to assist local ground forces.... Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Mrs. Clinton contrasted her outlook with those of the Republican presidential contenders as 'a choice between fear and resolve.'... Expanding on her previous call for a no-fly zone, Mrs. Clinton said it should be limited to northern Syria, where Turkey has proposed a buffer zone to protect civilians...."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders offered a robust defense of democratic socialism on Thursday, defining his political philosophy in explicit terms and arguing that his views would bring economic fairness back to America. Anticipated as a major speech in Mr. Sanders's campaign for the Democratic nomination, the senator from Vermont described his views as being in the mainstream and rooted in the reforms introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression."
Gene Robinson: "The impact of the Paris attacks on the Republican presidential race may turn out to be minimal, especially since the establishment candidates aren't making any more sense than outsiders Donald Trump and Ben Carson."
Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "Donald Trump would not rule out tracking Muslim Americans in a database or giving them 'a special form of identification that noted their religion', Yahoo news reports in a long interview with the Republican presidential candidate." CW: The argumentum ad Hilterum just stop being ridiculous....
... The interview, by Hunter Walker is interesting in a Cliff Clavin sort of way. The problem of course is that Cliff was a fictional jerk; Trump is a real one who could be president. ...
CW: I see I'm not alone in being unable to avoid making the Nazi comparison. Vaughn Hillyard of NBC News: "Ibrahim Hooper, national spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, sounded incredulous when he was asked about Trump's comments, telling NBC News: 'We're kind of at a loss for words. What else can you compare this to except to prewar Nazi Germany?' Hooper asked. 'There's no other comparison, and [Trump] seems to think that's perfectly OK.' Rabbi Jack Moline, executive director of the nonprofit Interfaith Alliance, drew the same comparison Thursday night.... Trump was repeatedly asked to explain how his idea was different. Four times, he responded: 'You tell me.'"
Mad Dogs? Ben Carson Has Been Too Long in the Midday Sun. Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Ben Carson likened Syrian refugees fleeing the country;s bloody civil war and Islamic State violence to dogs on Thursday.... Speaking to reporters following a campaign stop in Mobile, Alabama, Carson ... noted there should always be a balance between safety and humanitarian concerns. 'For instance, you know, if there is a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog, and you're probably gonna put your children out of the way,' Carson said. 'Doesn't mean that you hate all dogs by any stretch of the imagination.' Continuing his analogy, the Republican presidential candidate said that screening refugees is like questioning how you protect your children, even though you love dogs and will call the Humane Society to take the dog away to reestablish a safe environment. 'By the same token, we have to have in place screening mechanisms that allow us to determine who the mad dogs are, quite frankly.'..."
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Carson both defended his knowledge of foreign affairs and distanced himself from adviser Duane Clarridge, a former CIA agent who publicly raised doubts about Carson's intelligence, as well as Carson's longtime political confidant and business manager, Armstrong Williams.... Carson tried to publicly separate himself from Williams, a longtime adviser who appears frequently on television on Carson's behalf. 'Armstrong is an independent agent,' Carson said. 'He happens to be a friend of mine. He has nothing to do with the campaign.' However, when a reporter asked Carson who he consulted with about his recent op-ed in The Washington Post, the candidate said he sent the column to Williams to edit." CW: It was Williams who suggested the New York Times contact Clarridge. Williams also said that Carson couldn't answer a simple question on "Fox 'News' Sunday" because he "froze."
Politico "Asked Marco Rubio to Lay Out His ISIL Strategy. Here It Is": "Whatever it takes.... Never relent.... Obama ... dithers."
Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "John Kasich has attacked Donald Trump relentlessly in debates and now his super PAC is planning to invest $2.5 million in the most aggressive takedown of the poll leader yet -- on behalf of an increasingly anxious GOP establishment." ...
... Jack Torry of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch: "One day after urging the creation of a federal agency to promote 'core Judeo-Christian, Western values,' Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said on Wednesday he instead would upgrade the existing Voice of America to 'engage in the war of ideas' against Islamic State.... Critics complained that Kasich wanted to increase the size of the federal government with a new agency and that he wanted the U.S. government to promote religious values.... 'I don't think we should be promoting Judeo-Christian values in the Arab world,' one of Kasich's GOP rivals, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, told Real Clear Politics. 'I think that was the Crusades.'" ...
... CW: I don't think Kasich has backed off the Crusades aspect at all; he is responding only to the criticism that creating a new federal agency would not be "fiscally conservative." Those lucky-ducky kiddies in the Middle East will still get to hear Bible stories on Sunday mornings.
Beyond the Beltway
Steve Annear of the Boston Globe: "Harvard University police are treating the discovery of strips of tape placed across photographs of black professors outside of a lecture hall as an act of hate, officials from the university said Thursday. In an e-mailed statement, Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School, said police are investigating who defaced portraits of black faculty members displayed at Wasserstein Hall."
Molly Redden of the Guardian: "Ohio this week became the latest state poised to defund Planned Parenthood in reaction to dubious videos accusing its employees of violating federal law. But in an apparent first, its lawmakers are not going after the family planning funds that legislators in many other states have targeted. Instead, Ohio abortion foes are taking aim at $1.3m Planned Parenthood uses to conduct STI and HIV tests, and infant mortality reduction programs to supplement the state;s troubled healthcare system.... In defense of the cuts, senators disseminated a list of alternative providers that include dentist offices, school nurses and a food bank as options for Ohio women." (Emphasis added.)
Liam Stack & Gabriel Fisher of the New York Times: "Princeton students ended a 32-hour sit-in in the university president's office on Thursday night after administrators signed a document that committed them to begin conversations about addressing racial tension on campus, including possibly removing the name of former President Woodrow Wilson from some public spaces, the university and students said. The sit-in came amid racial tension and escalating student activism on college campuses nationwide and focused in part on what students called Wilson's legacy of racism. Shortly after the document was signed, an administrator received a bomb or firearm threat by email. It was being investigated late Thursday." ...
... CW: This is fairly quixotic. Almost all of our former presidents were racists (and sexists, too) from slaveholder George Washington to civil rights leaders Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. It's okay with me if people wants to rename Washington, D.C., Washington state & Lincoln, Nebraska. If Americans want to rename all of the places honoring racists, we will forget where we are. (Writing from Lee County, Florida. At least Fort Myers was named for a Jewish man, but oops!, his claims to fame were fighting Seminole Indians & serving in the Confederate army. I rest my case.)
Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The last execution currently scheduled to take place in the United States this year was carried out Thursday evening when Georgia executed a man [Marcus Jordan] convicted of raping and murdering a woman in 1994."
Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: "Former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle was sentenced Thursday to more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges related to child pornography and sexual conduct involving minors."
Way Beyond
Guardian: "The Paris prosecutor has announced three people died during Wednesday night's raid on an apartment in St-Denis, where Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged ringleader of the Paris attacks, was killed. The third person's identity is not yet known." From the liveblog at 9:51 am GT. ...
... Update: Here's the Washington Post story, by Anthony Faiola & others, with more detail.
Steve Erlanger & Kimoko de Freytas-Tamura of the New York Times: "Shocked by the carnage of the Paris attacks, France and Belgium moved aggressively on Thursday to strengthen the hand of their security forces, pushing Europe more deeply into a debate that has raged in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001: how to balance counterterrorism efforts and civil liberties. With their populations stunned and nervous and political pressure growing on the right, the French and Belgian governments made it clear that, for now, they would put protecting their citizens ahead of other considerations."
Andrew Higgins & Kimoko de Freytas-Tamura of the New York Times: "... [Abdelhamid] Abaaoud, 27, is believed to have organized a string of attacks that made him the most talked-about -- and, in jihadist circles, feted -- terrorist since Osama bin Laden. French intelligence officials have concluded that Mr. Abaaoud was involved in at least four of six terrorist plots foiled in France since the spring.... Before his deadly ambitions culminated in the massacres in Paris on Friday that killed 129 people, they included a thwarted attack on a Sunday-morning congregation at a Paris church and an attack on a Paris-bound train this summer that was halted when passengers overpowered the gunman." ...
... Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post on how French intelligence officers located Abaaoud & his associates in Saint Denis. Also, it turns out the woman who blew herself up during the raid was not Abaaoud's cousin.
Dionne Searcy of the New York Times: "At least two gunmen stormed a Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, on Friday morning and seized 140 guests and 30 staff members as hostages, according to the company that runs the hotel. Northern Mali fell under the control of Islamist militants in 2012, but a French-led offensive ousted them in 2013, although remnants of the group have staged a number of attacks on United Nations peacekeepers and Malian forces. The hotel is known as a popular place for foreigners to stay in Bamako, a city with a population approaching two million that is the capital of Mali, and French and American citizens were among those taken hostage."
Ruth Eglash of the Washington Post: "Two separate attacks by Palestinians against Israelis on Thursday left five people dead, including one American and one Palestinian, and several injured, Israeli authorities said. The killings marked a surge in violence after several days of relative quiet following weeks of near-daily stabbings, shootings and vehicular attacks in Israeli towns and cities and violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the West Bank."
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Reader Comments (27)
Donald Trump said yesterday that he would be in favor of data basing all Syrian refugees–––asked several times by a reporter–-just to make sure he understood correctly what Trump was advocating, Trump reiterated that yes, he certainly would be in favor of that. Wouldn't that be like what the Nazi's did to the Jews in Germany? asked the reporter. "You tell me" replied Trump.
Carson's rabid dog analogy rounds out these horrific outbursts from the two top Republican candidates for President.
Then this morning we learn that all the pictures of black professors that line the walls of the Harvard Law School have been besmirched. See link below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-hall/his-morning-at-harvard-law-school-we-woke-up-to-a-hate-crime_b_8604688.html
And as I sip my coffee on this Friday morning I mourn for my country. It's as though it has become sick with a cancer that has spread throughout. And I think how ironic that Congress refuses to pass federal gun laws, but is ready to round up Muslims because–––fear of terrorists hiding among them––the OTHER––what we don't understand we vilify.
We have a Muslim family living down the road from us. They have a five year old daughter whom the mother drives every day to the bus stop which is only a hop, skip and a jump from their home (which is off the road ). I often wondered why the little girl couldn't walk to and fro from the bus stop. I don't wonder any longer.
PD,
We also hate those whom we have wronged -- because the alternative would be to acknowledge the wrong we have done.
DC
First I want to thank the FDA for approving genetically engineered salmon so I can post about something other than politics. I never paid any attention to the panic over genetic engineering's effects, but I looked into this one a little bit. Seems that they added another salmon gene that makes a growth stimulation protein with a different controlling sequence (promoter). In other words more protein, more growth. It seems beyond unlikely that humans will in any way notice. As far as effect in other salmon if they find there way into the ocean it is hard to tell but my best guess is that they could starve because they will be internally demanding more food.
Thank you Marvin,
Humans have been genetically modifying plants and animals for 10,000 years by selective breeding, cultivation and hybridization. The only difference is that today, by gene splicing and other techniques, we can do it in a single generation of a species.
There are inherent risks in this. Undesirable consequences can manifest immediately, and spread before we realize and can control them.
On the other hand, we are much better able to anticipate such consequences.
As with all such capabilities, there's no way to put this genie back in the bottle. All we can do is the best we can do to control it through regulation, transparency, independent research... all anathema to the capitalist oligarchy.
I really do try to be an optimist, but its getting harder every day.
Yes, PD, said indeed.
Can't let yesterday's fear discussion drop. Following those comments, I continued to think about the politics of fear that seem today so overwhelming.
Though it wasn't my intent to determine exactly how cowardly any one or all Republican politicians were or are, measured on my patented skeerdy-cat meter, my words seem to have taken me in that direction anyway.
What I was heading toward but never got to is this.
We all fear things because self-preservation is in our nature and because there's a lot of money and power for some in successfully playing the fear card, but as Akhilleus says, some deal with their natural and engendered fears better, more rationally and effectively, than others.
So maybe we should be looking at those who manage to do that, that is, look at rare instances of political courage, at those who stand above the baseline of fear.
How would I judge that? These days, anyone who actually identifies the real problems we face instead of pretending they don't exist is courageous. And anyone who is willing to say that the complex problems we do face don't have simple sound bitesolutions is heroic.
None of our real challenges, nationally and internationally, from unequal resource distribution, to the rise of jihadism (not unrelated), to looming environmental catastrophes, can be met unless we summon the will to at least say what they are, or find leaders with the courage to do so.
So who on the national scene today displays that kind of courage? Sanders? Maybe.
I wandered into Bush II yesterday as a kind of counter example to what I didn't say and ended up giving him a bit of a pass, but I surely didn't mean to imply he was a profile in courage. Quite the contrary, in fact.
I'll never forget him saying that the Presidency is "hard work." He had no idea.
His problem, scaredey-cat or not, is that he was fundamentally lazy, never willing to work hard enough identify the real problems we have, talk about their complexity and suggest we can't meet them effectively with simple solutions like guns and bombs.
Meeting them demands of us that other thing we so much fear--changing the way we view the world and maybe even changing the way we live. Those thinking and talking about that kind of change should be our measure of courage, for without that quality in our leaders, we surrender to fear, the politician's default position.
And however we define or identify them, the world is in such a state that despite their preponderance, we can no longer afford pusillanimous politicians of any party or gender.
Many headlines (Britian/ USA) about the non-cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, being a party girl and a "skank". WAPO article "Why are we so surprised by the less-than-pious lives of religious terrorists?"
We do give them a lot more gravitas than is warranted. But then, we minimize the home grown terrorists in front of our faces or chock their actions up to mental illness when they commit murders in theaters and schools.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/20/why-are-we-so-surprised-by-the-less-than-pious-lives-of-religious-terrorists/
But, Marvin, you did post about politics.
As D. C. Clark implied, the controversy over GMO foods, whether they're good or bad, whether we should label them or not, is in part political.
GMO foods are only one of the places where we have to meet and deal with rapid change. The issues surrounding fracking are another. If rapid change prompts fear in most, and I believe it does, I'd suggest the pace and reach of technological change and its far-reaching consequences has had much to do with the general sense of unease our fear mongering politicians batten on.
When there were fewer people, living separated from one another by oceans that took months to cross, humans used to have multiple generations to get used to a new way of doing things, but we no longer have the luxuries of so much time and distance.
Things change overnight and every day technological advances quicken that pace. Since at least WWII, that is, as long as I've been alive, we've been playing catch-up, and it's evident we're falling farther and farther behind.
No wonder so many are fearful and retreat into either anger or fantasy.
Like D.C., I'm kinda scared, too.
Back to politics.
The fear is not about terrorists. It is not about Muslims per se. It is about anyone or anything that is not yourself. When it's blacks we call in racism, when it's Jews it is antisemitism. We have feared every new entity that has come to America. Muslims are not looked at any differently then Catholics in the 19th century. Remember in the 60's when people were afraid that electing a Catholic POTUS, the Vatican would take over America.
The good news is that in the end, all of the previous immigration fears finally were to various degrees adapted by the majority of the country (Not so much in the confederacy).
This noise is the result of the coincidence of the current run for POTUS. So Republicans are using this natural fear for their purpose. I have this good feeling that if we could actually get most Americans to vote, the problem would be solved. I have this bad feeling that most Americans have no sense of responsibility as citizens.
And BTW I am pretty sure requiring only certain groups of Americans to 'register' is a violation of the Constitution. Of wait! There is no longer a Constitution, now we have a Trump.
D.C.,
This is the post you referred to. Feel free to edit as needed, especially if you prefer it without the David Brooks wraparound. I've added one or two things I forgot on the first go round and a couple of things that have happened in the weeks since this was first posted. Hope your winger friend blows a gasket.
It has long been a point, universally conceded by all with a working brain and an active intellectual life, that prognosticators like Brooks are wrong much, if not most, of the time, and yet suffer little to no reduction in respect or consideration as worthy political and social oracles. Meteorologists are often kidded for being wrong about big weather events. But the worst of them would have to be basing their forecasts on divining pig entrails to be as wrong as Brooks has been.
The bit of Brooksian wisdom recalled for us in the quote Marie has selected has this peremptory dismissal of an Obama presidency, tossed off the way one might dispose of a used napkin:
"The bottom line is this: If Obama wins, we’ll probably get small-bore stasis;"
Stasis: a period or state of inactivity or equilibrium.
In other words not much happening.
But Barack Obama's term (and he's not even finished yet) in office will go down, in spite of the hatred and obstructionism foisted on him by Brooks' party, as one of the great presidencies in American history.
The Affordable Care Act alone would put him in the upper brackets of presidential success stories, an accomplishment many believed impossible to achieve and he did it with every single member of the other party and all their media shills actively working against him (and still trying to kill it). Kind of like walking a tight-rope through, not over, Niagara Falls, blindfolded, in the middle of a hurricane and reciting the Gettysburg Address backwards--in Pig Latin--while doing it.
There are too many detractors to count (especially on the right, the people who caused it) of what was necessary to revive the economy after Republicans and their imbecile president wrecked it. It could have been badly mishandled. It wasn't, and the economy is better now than it's been in nearly a decade. Pundits still whine about it, but if Obama had screwed up on that one, we'd all be in the deep stuff.
And speaking of the economy, earlier this month (November) the addition of jobs over the last few months (not to mention years) has brought the national unemployment figure down to 5%. Lowest it's been since April of 2008. Bush handed Obama an economy in ruins then went off to paint pictures of his toes. Obama has put Humpty-Dumpty together again. Nonetheless, Republican "experts" like Donald Trump and "scholars" at the American Enterprise Institute tried to counter the unemployment drop by first saying that the number was actually much, much higher. When they couldn't back that up, they simply let it go by saying unemployment figures didn't matter much anyway. Oh-kaay. Nonetheless, had it been a Republican administration, ticker tape parades would be the order of the day.
The Iran Deal could go down as a first-rate piece of diplomacy and accomplish what Republican bombs and torture and threats never could.
Republicans are also aghast that Obama has opened up relations with Cuba, something else pundits claimed could never be done. The restoration of a relationship with two long-standing enemies gives all parties a chance to create a rapport over time that will reduce international tensions and eventually open new avenues of commerce, trade being an essential component of peace in the world.
He's the first president to recognize marriage equality. Took him a while to get there but he did. And that recognition has helped slide the country's social tectonic plates in ways few could have predicted. Let's not even mention his place as the first black president and all the problems that's caused him, the disrespect, the insults, people calling his wife a gorilla, etc.
Bush fucked up every crisis he faced and his indolence and "stasis" allowed one of the worst disasters in American history leading him to create another disaster, only one much worse. Obama has been a rock-steady force through the BP spill, the Ebola crisis, the economic meltdown, the ending of Bush's Iraq War (and let's not forget who it was who finally captured Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive") and has attempted to tackle the immigration problem in the face of ridiculous intransigence, ignorance, and racism.
And in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, when all about are losing their heads and running around with their hair on fire calling for war and boots on the ground, Obama is keeping his own counsel and staying calm. He's also challenging continued Republican efforts to undermine the essential values this country was founded upon. If we allow fear and callowness and cowardice to roll over on our most important beliefs, what good are we? This is a stand of immense importance and demonstrates the necessity for an even handed approach to situations of great moment, not running off half cocked ready to unleash Shock and Awe which in turn created ISIS and present crisis.
Small bore? Stasis? If this is what David Brooks thinks is small bore stasis, I can't imagine what he thinks an active and successful presidency might look like. And you know what? Neither can he. Because if he thinks Obama has been a failure, which he's declared often, he has no fucking clue what he's talking about.
In short, some of Obama's biggest accomplishments:
Provided health insurance for tens of millions of Americans.
Ended Bush's wars.
Brought the economy back from ruins.
Reduced unemployment from double digits to 5%.
First president to recognize the essential humanity and rights of LGBT citizens.
Captured the architect of 9/11.
Opened relations with Iran and Cuba.
First president to attempt to come up with long term solutions to the immigration crisis without resorting to gimmicks or pandering to racists.
Perhaps Brooks still thinks of these as "small bore" feats.
Let's face it. The guy is a well turned-out fraud. A bumbling know-nothing with a faux academic mien who complains that the mouthbreathers in his party aren't aware of the proper time to use the dessert fork but looks the other way when they're burning down the house.
Stasis my assis.
Marvin,
I agree that there's been quite a lot of nonsense connected to genetic modification, the so-called Frankenfoods. As D.C. suggests, humans have been working on modifying the world for millennia. But now we are able to extract single genes and replace them with others. The creation of certain crops that can withstand blight and drought is a wonderful accomplishment and something we'll need as we struggle to feed the world's burgeoning population.
My concern is this: there is very little (some of my friends in research fields would say "none") pure science being done, however you choose to define that activity. My definition would be an exploration that has no immediate economic value, just seeing what would happen if...
Now perhaps economic value can be extracted from new discoveries, but most research is goal oriented and has a direct connection to ROI for corporations which fund such work. All well and good. If Company A pours $500M into a project they should be able to recoup their investment. Why not? But it gets tricky when profits preclude careful science. I have no idea what goes on in the inner sanctums of Koch Industries' R&D labs, but does anyone believe that a similar company involved in genetic engineering and modification would put on the brakes if some new process presented likely side effects that could not properly be estimated or avoided, especially if there was a bundle to made by fudging the data?
I dunno. I'm a big fan of science, but as with most great science fiction, it's not the science that fucks us, it's the people who use it for less than stellar purposes.
@DC: Was just going to tell you that if you google "List of Obama's accomplishments" you'll have your pick of a slew of them. But I see our main man has retrieved what you had been asking for.
"small bore" feats, indeed–-–-could we conclude someone else is the small bore with perhaps feet that stink? Yes, we could!!!
Akhilleus, the overall concern about genetic modification is legitimate because in today's world commercial activity in science is all about the money. The fact is in many cases there is no way to even check all of the concerns about genetic modifications of things like plants because it is difficult to know, for example, what the new plant will be like when the genetic modified version has sex with a current type since what it does in the lab today is not necessarily what it will be next year outside.
I don't have any expertise on the plant game so I am limited in my comment. However in the salmon case, adding one more copy of a salmon gene really sounds like no big deal.
Reading (the indispensable) Digby's column on pissy pants Erick Erickson, self-proclaimed he-man with a gun, I was struck yet again by one of the immense falsehoods abroad in Right Wing World, the idea that gun control means removal of all weapons and denial of ownership of any and all guns from here to eternity.
Here's loony tune Ben Carson on the subject (per Digby):
“I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away.”
Nobody is taking away a right to arm themselves. What reasonable gun control does is to remove the ability of idiots to buy guns with no background checks. It involves a rational approach to the purchase and ownership of deadly weapons, no different than the controls placed on ownership and operation of an automobile. You prove you can handle a weapon, you go the proper channels, you pass the checks and you can buy and register your weapons. How is this "taking away" anyone's rights?
This shit is so maddening, and you can see the hatred and vitriol on the face of wingers who scream about their Second Amendment rights and talk about Obama coming in a black helicopter piloted by Muslims from the UN to take away all the guns. This is complete nonsense but it's pushed non-stop by everyone on the right, from wingers who sit in their basement bunkers listening to hate radio 24 hours a day to candidates for president.
Akhilleus,
Thanks very much.
Re science, science fiction, the future and all:
"The survival value of human intelligence has never been adequately demonstrated."
~ Micheal Crichton in 'The Andromeda Strain'
@Akhilleus: My favorite part is where Republicans & the NRA insist that suspected terrorists living in the U.S. have the right to own arsenals, too. Sometimes freeedom is for terrorists.
I note that wussy Democrats want to take away this particular freeedom.
Marie
Greetings. One & All.
The documentary "DRONE" opens today in NYC (and, I believe, also in L.A.).
If of interest . . .
"Air Force Whistleblowers Risk Prosecution to Warn Drone War Kills Civilians, Fuels Terror" (At first glance, I felt "Terrorism" would have been the more accurate choice. And yet, in keeping with the theme of Fear (fear-mongering *and* the very real experience of Fear - I see that both words "work".
http://m.democracynow.org/stories/15703
Unfortunately - at least for me - the video interview of these 4 "Whistleblowers" cuts-off in midstream. However, I found the available footage a worthy watch.
Ophelia M.
Evolutionary biology 101: Xenophobia may have a deep biological basis. Back in the truly tribal days, when a stranger appeared at an isolated encampment, either of two deadly outcomes would have been likely: 1. They take him (or them) in and everyone promptly gets sick and dies. or, 2. They take him (or them) in and are soon attacked by their followers and the men are all killed and the women and kids stolen. Those genetically prone to reject the stranger(s) or circle the wagons, or whatever they used back then, would have been more likely to survive.
Tim Egan has an especially fine comment today on the vast different between civilization and barbarism and our own politics of nativist fear. In this case the cliche about not being able to say it better myself is literally true. I couldn't and I didn't:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/opinion/the-civilized-and-the-damned.
@Whyte Owen: That's precisely why I consider the xenophobic to be throwbacks. They just haven't "evolved" much from hunter-gatherer days.
Marie
I don't know if anyone covered this about UnitedHealth Group Inc CEO pay: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2015/04/07/unitedhealth-group-executive-compensation-2014.html, "UnitedHealth Group Inc. paid CEO Stephen Hemsley $14.9 million in 2014, up 23 percent from the year before. Ya think he's got your best interests at heart when he makes $40,000 a fucking day!!!??
Salmon farming is against the law in Alaska because folks there know how good a good thing is...and how easy it is to screw it up. Marvin, the same wisdom that brought us the twentieth century now says it knows better than nature how salmon should be put together. Most of this farmed fish is fed with with other fish that is ground, dried and turned into fish feed and wheat and soy. Salmon were never meant to eat soy or wheat. Oh, by the way (file:///Users/dan/Desktop/Cargill%20buys%20Norwegian%20salmon-feed%20company%20for%20$1.5%20billion%20-%20StarTribune.html) Cargill just bought one of the largest salmon feed companies in the world for $1.5 billion; do you think that had an inkling of this ruling in advance of its announcement? Friends don't let friends eat farmed fish, as the saying goes.
A friend sent the following to me.
She has a dog of her own.
And her Other Half is Muslim.
So I trust no offense will be taken,
as we all found this to be quite joyful . . .
And in need of feeling that, given all else that surrounds us.
Ophelia M . . .
<< She lives next door to a mosque.
She bought a husky.
He is very nice and does not bite.
She is now getting complaints from the imam next door.
She doesn't know why... >>
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vogp-n1-JPA
Citizen625:
And that's exactly why (United Health Group CEO pay, not farmed salmon, though I'm sure I could forge a connection), single payer is the only rational alternative to the mess we have. (The ACA for all the good it has done millions and for all the money it has demonstrably saved, has only extended that mess and perhaps delayed the current silly system's certain collapse.)
File this one, too, under the CW's "capitalism is awesome" heading.
@Citizen625: It's even worse than you thought.
Yesterday when I read the article of Mr. Hemsley boohooing how United Healthcare might have to drop out ACA coverage (of which, they are not a major player anyway). I thought I remembered something about his annual income that had many of us angry over a year ago...did some research: et voila! according to Daily Kos:
"UnitedHealthcare @myUHC CEO Stephen Hemsley took home $66 million in 2014, $102 million in 2010"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/4/9/1376712/-UnitedHealthcare-myUHC-CEO-Stephen-Hemsley-took-home-66-million-in-2014-102-million-in-2010
Don't know how I missed this one:
It appears those wonderful Americans, sterling supporters of constitutional democracy and great humanitarians, the Koch brothers, have their very own CIA, designed for covert operations in undermining liberal causes and candidates. Sounds like the surveillance and dirty tricks operation of Nixon's dreams.
Such nice guys. Always trying to make life in America better. For themselves.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-car-dealers-racism_564e440ae4b0258edb30ba10
"... Since the markup practice tends to result in overcharging borrowers of color, the CFPB recommended that banks and dealerships ditch the practice. If they didn't, however, they needed to ensure that borrowers with similar credit profiles weren't receiving different interest rates due to their race or national origin...."
Congressmen including dems voted to keep the higher prices for minorities. Sneaky bastards.
Note this is from HuffPo
mae finch