The Commentariat -- Nov. 23, 2015
Internal links & defunct video removed.
Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "ISIL's still not the varsity team, President Barack Obama said Sunday, but if Republicans running for president and in Congress continue to respond to attacks by playing off fears, they're doing the terrorist' work for them. A Republican reaction that's tried to block refugees from entering the country -- and members of the media whom he blamed for lacking perspective in coverage over the past week -- give in to fear as the terrorists want, help them recruit and let a group of people who'd have no hope of actually defeating American forces on the battlefield win anyway." ...
... Elena Mazneva of Bloomberg: "U.S. actions in the Middle East helped Islamic State to gain influence, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said, according to Interfax. The strengthening of Islamic State 'became possible partly due to irresponsible U.S. politics' that focused on fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad instead of joining efforts to root out terrorism, Medvedev was cited as saying in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. President Barack Obama earlier on Sunday said that Russia is facing a strategic choice as Assad can't stay. The Obama administration declined to comment Sunday on Medvedev's statement."
** Josh Zeitz in Politico: "... language commonly invoked in opposition to admitting Syrian refugees bears striking similarity to arguments against providing safe harbor to Jewish refugees in the late 1930s. Then as now, skepticism of religious and ethnic minorities and concerns that refugees might pose a threat to national security deeply influenced the debate over American immigration policy. For conservatives, this likeness is an inconvenient truth." Read the whole essay.
CW: If you want to know what's the matter with the U.S.A., read Alec MacGillis's essay, linked Saturday, David Dayen's post, linked yesterday & Diane's comment at the end of yesterday's thread. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I'm sure I did not understand that saying yesterday morning as well as I do today. Thank you, Diane.
Paul Schroeder & Tim Devaney of the Hill: "The fight over blocking refugees from Syria and Iraq has emerged as one of the biggest hurdles to Congress completing work on a year-long spending bill and preventing a government shutdown. Lawmakers will return from their Thanksgiving break with just two weeks to reach a deal before a Dec. 11 deadline." CW: Nothing makes us look better in the eyes of the world than shutting down our own government because we're skeert of accepting a few refugees fleeing terrorists.
"To Protect & Serve." Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "In 2014, for the first time ever, law enforcement officers took more property from American citizens than burglars did. Martin Armstrong pointed this out at his blog, Armstrong Economics, last week. Cops can take cash and property from people without convicting or even charging them with a crime -- yes, really! -- through the highly controversial practice known as civil asset forfeiture." With caveats.
Nasser Karimi of the AP: "Iran has sentenced detained Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian to an unspecified prison term following his conviction last month on charges that include espionage, Iranian state TV reported Sunday. Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, the spokesman for Iran's judiciary, announced the punishment in a statement on the TV station's website."
David Remnick of the New Yorker on life in Raqqa under the control of (Assad) & ISIS. "When you say 'Raqqa,' the first thing people think of is ISIS. They forget hundreds of thousands of civilians, normal people like us. I am not a terrorist. There are so many people, normal people, who want to live in a free, democratic Syria." -- a journalist from Raqqa
Paul Krugman: "... Obamacare has hit a few rough patches lately. But they're much less significant than a lot of the reporting, let alone the right-wing reaction, would have you believe. Health reform is still a huge success story. ...
... Justin McCarthy of Gallup: "U.S. adults are slightly more likely to say it is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure all Americans have health insurance coverage (51%) than to say it is not the government's responsibility (47%). The percentage who believe the government has that obligation is up six percentage points from 2014. This year marks the first time since 2008 that a majority of Americans say the government is responsible for making sure all citizens have health insurance."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Bo-tox, Lo-tax. AP: "Pfizer and Allergan are joining in the biggest buyout of the year, a $160 billion stock deal that will create the world's largest drugmaker. It's also the largest so-called inversion, where an American corporation combines with a company headquartered in a country with a lower corporate tax rate, saving potentially millions each year in U.S. taxes. Pfizer, which makes the cholesterol fighter Lipitor, will keep its global operational headquarters in New York. But the drugmaker will combine with Botox-maker Allergan as a company that will be called Pfizer Plc. That company would have its legal domicile and principal executive offices in Ireland."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. offered reflections on one of his predecessors [-- Charles Evans Hughes --] Friday night, and in the process he illuminated his own place on a Supreme Court that he said had grown both more and less political."
Jerry Markon the the Washington Post: "... the reality [of space travel] is less glamorous [than it's presented in the movies], with journeys into deep space posing serious dangers to astronauts that include inadequate food, radiation exposure and heightened risks of developing cancer and other maladies. And NASA is not yet ready to handle those dangers as it moves ahead with plans to send the first human mission to Mars by the 2030s, according to a recent audit." CW: Not sure why Markon thinks getting stuck on Mars with no food & water is "glamorous." But Matt Damon, I guess.
Presidential Race
Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "At rallies these days, [Hillary] Clinton criticizes the Republican presidential candidates for their economic policies ('Our economy does better with a Democrat in the White House'); she knocks their foreign policy approaches and says their positions on immigration and women's issues would set the country 'backwards instead of forwards.' What she does not do is mention her main Democratic primary opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont."
Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "For Trump, American greatness comes from defeating foes, which might mean doing some previously 'unthinkable' things to Muslim Americans. For Sanders and Clinton, America's greatness comes from its pluralism and rejection of bigotry. Which vision of America will win out is quite possibly the highest stake in the 2016 election."
Trump's Hate Campaign:
Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering. -- Donald Trump, in Birmingham, Alabama, Saturday
They Were Arabs. There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations.... It was well covered at the time, George. -- Donald Trump, to George Stephanopoulos, Sunday
Trump says that he saw this with his own eyes on television and that it was well covered. But an extensive examination of news clips from that period turns up nothing.... Now Trump has defamed the Muslim communities of New Jersey. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
... Trump & His Magic Teevee. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "'I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down,' he told a crowd in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday. 'And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down.' No news reports exist of people cheering in the streets, and both police officials and the mayor of Jersey City have said that it did not happen. An Internet rumor about people cheering in the streets, which said it was in Paterson, not Jersey City, has been denied numerous times by city and police officials. But when pressed on Sunday by George Stephanopoulos in an interview, Mr. Trump emphatically stuck to his story. 'It did happen, I saw it,' Mr. Trump said. 'It was on television. I saw it.'" ...
... CW: Apparently Trump can't tell the difference between the West Bank of the Jordan River (where celebration of 9/11 did occur) & the West Bank of the Hudson River. An easy mistake to make. To Trump, Jersey City is a foreign place -- a place far, far away where "those people" live. Also, "Jordan" & "Hudson" have the same number of letters & syllables. ...
... Donald J. Thug. Nick Corasaniti: "Donald J. Trump said on Sunday he was in favor of the actions of his supporters who reportedly punched and kicked a protester from the Black Lives Matter movement who interrupted Mr. Trump's campaign rally the previous day in Birmingham, Ala." ...
... Jenna Johnson & Mary Jordan of the Washington Post: "'Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing,' Trump said on the Fox News Channel on Sunday morning.... That was a change in tone from just a month ago, when Trump would regularly tell his audiences not to harm the protesters who often infiltrate his rallies." ...
... Jeet Heer: "Donald Trump embraces open racism. Going back to at least Barry Goldwater's 'constitutional' opposition to civil rights and the strident 'law and order rhetoric' of the early 1960s, the Republican Party has specialized in racist dog whistles. But Republican front-runner Donald Trump doesn't do dog whistles. He specializes in train whistles. Consider the tweet he just sent out with bogus statistics on crime. According to the tweet, 81 percent of murdered whites are killed by blacks. In fact, that's the reverse of the truth. Most people are killed by members of their own race because crime is motivated by proximity and opportunity. As the Huffington Post notes, 'According to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics, 84 percent of white people killed every year are killed by other whites.'... The source of information cited in the tweet -- the 'Crime Statistics Bureau' of San Francisco -- doesn't seem to exist." ...
... Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs found the source of Trump's tweet: a neo-Nazi fan of Hitler's. "I hope you're not surprised that a guy like Donald Trump, who continually spouts fascist rhetoric, is attracted to fascist memes posted by neo-Nazis. This is where the right wing has ended up in 2015." ...
... Kevin Drum: "Having already played the hate card against Mexicans and Muslims -- and getting crackerjack results -- Donald Trump has apparently decided to move on to African-Americans." ...
... Steve M.: "If you're the kind of person who receives and retransmits this sort of undigested, unverified alarmist nonsense on a daily basis, then of course you're going to feel especially alienated by your country. Look at all those murderous, white-hating black people! Look at all those defiant Muslims dancing for joy right under our noses in our own country while real Americans suffer! Donald Trump is exactly like everyone's email-forwarding racist uncle. No wonder everyone's email-forwarding racist uncle plans to vote for him." ...
... Dara Lind of Vox on Trump's recent history of condoning racist violence. ...
... Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Donald Trump and Ben Carson ... have both indicated they would bring back waterboarding and other forms of 'enhanced interrogation' that were dropped by the US government, having widely been denounced as a form of torture." CW: Carson equates a failure to torture with "political correctness." ...
... Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Ben Carson laid out his plans to deal with the threat of terror and the Syrian refugee crisis in an exclusive interview with The Hill, separating himself from GOP front-runner Donald Trump on hot-button issues pertaining to surveillance and databases for Muslims. Carson said Sunday he is against that kind of blanket surveillance Trump has advocated, arguing that domestic spying should only be initiated if intelligence indicates a specific threat." ...
... Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Ben Carson said in an interview broadcast late Sunday that Donald Trump endlessly attacks his character because Carson threatens Trump's chances of winning the GOP's 2016 presidential nomination.... 'Trying to tear someone else down is not part of the character for me. I'm going to stick to my characters and my principles and talk about the things that are really important,'" [Carson said]. CW: So when he called President Obama a psychopath and a liar, that was, like, the other Ben Carson or something.
Pam Belluck & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "As a surgeon, [Ben Carson] was praised for his dedication, unassuming demeanor and attention to detail. As a candidate, he has sometimes seemed imprecise or ill-informed, as when he said China had intervened in Syria, and prone to odd assertions like his belief that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. Some articles have questioned the accuracy of parts of 'Gifted Hands.' His comments doubting evolution and the medically recommended schedule of vaccines have baffled people in science and medicine." ...
... Doc Ben's Fractured History. Fred Barbash of the Washington Post: "Ben Carson, author of book about the Constitution, incorrectly states that Thomas Jefferson crafted it.... In a C-Span interview Sunday [Ben Carson praised Thomas Jefferson] as one of the most impressive of the Founding Fathers because he 'tried to craft our constitution in a way that it would control peoples' natural tendencies and control the natural growth of the government.'" Jefferson did not attend the Constitutional Conventional because he was serving as the minister to France. ...
... CW Note: While it's true that Jefferson did not "craft our constitution," he had considerable before- and after-the-fact input. It's also true that Jefferson believed in a limited federal government & chose to interpret the Constitution in those terms. Tenthers are fond of Jefferson for this reason. I'd give Carson a C on this, not an F. HIs history GPA is low enough already.
Evan Osnos of the New Yorker profiles Marco Rubio in an long piece titled "The Opportunist." ...
... Brian Beutler of the New Republic: "By successfully adopting a more measured, less inciting form of rhetoric, but refusing to condemn Trump's bigotry, Rubio has unintentionally outflanked Trump -- on the right.... Trump's plan, which would at least provide immigrants the means of returning to their countries of origin, and the opportunity to return legally, is sensible and humane by comparison [to Rubio's "plan" to leave undocumented people in limbo for 10 or 12 years].... [Regarding Muslims living in the U.S.,] Rubio instead simply promised to shutter more and different mainstays of Muslim communities than Trump did." ...
... "A Civilizational Struggle." Nick Corasaniti: "Marco Rubio's campaign is hitting the airwaves, releasing its first television ad on Sunday.... Mr. Rubio's first ad focuses exclusively on the Paris attacks and the issue of national security.... The context of the ad is a binary choice of 'us or them.'" Marco will save you! Ad embedded in story. ...
... CW: I don't like to make comments about a person's appearance, but I was just wondering, "Is the handsomest boy candidate wearing Mr. Spock ears?" I apologize to Mr. Rubio & his entire family. ...
... New York Times Editors: "Of all the abuses involving hidden political money sloshing through the presidential race, one of the most brazen is being perpetrated by campaigners for Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate who has been rising lately in opinion polls. Until last month, virtually all of the senator's television ads were financed by deep-pocketed donors operating secretly through a tax-exempt 'social welfare' organization that claims independence from the senator while blatantly operating as an auxiliary of the Rubio electioneering machine.... Meanwhile, regulators at the Internal Revenue Service and the notoriously toothless Federal Election Commission are looking the other way.... Someone in the next debate should ask him who has been paying for his TV spots."
Charles Pierce goes to a Des Moines, Iowa, forum for seven GOP candidates. "... this campaign is nowhere near as ugly as it's going to get. It changed over the last two weeks, and all of the well-dressed friends of Jesus at the Thanksgiving table there on stage have declared themselves along for the whole damn ride."
Beyond the Beltway
Today in Responsible Gun Ownership. Jed Lipinski of the Times-Picayune: Sixteen people were injured Sunday night (Nov. 22) after gunfire erupted during a block party at Bunny Friend Park in the Upper 9th Ward, New Orleans Police Department officials said.... Speaking at the scene, NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison said he believed multiple people had fired into the crowd of more than 300. NOPD spokesman Tyler Gamble later confirmed that all victims are in stable condition."
Way Beyond
Joshua Partlow & Irene Caselli of the Washington Post: "Mauricio Macri, the wealthy Buenos Aires mayor who catapulted to prominence on a wave of discontent over government scandals, a feeble economy and combative nationalism, was elected president of Argentina on Sunday, according to preliminary results.... the stunning opposition victory marks a major shift in Latin American politics, ending a dozen years of leftist rule, first by Nestor Kirchner and then his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a tenure marked by increasingly fiery anti-American rhetoric and protectionist policies that isolated Argentina and diminished its influence in the hemisphere."
Andrew Higgins & Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura of the New York Times: "After a dramatic security sweep late Sunday marked by the deployment of soldiers in the historic center of the Belgian capital, the authorities [in Brussels] announced early Monday that 16 people had been arrested in a joint police and military operation to try to head off what the prime minister earlier described as a 'serious and imminent' threat of a Paris-style terrorist assault." ...
... Update. Lorne Cooke & Sylvie Corbet of the AP: "Belgian police launched more raids in Brussels and beyond early Monday, detaining five more people as they continued their hunt for a fugitive suspect in the Paris attacks. In Paris, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he will ask for parliamentary approval for the U.K. to join airstrikes against Islamic State extremists in Syria. The raids began late Sunday, capping a tense weekend that saw hundreds of troops patrolling and authorities hunting for one or more suspected extremists including Salah Abdeslam, a fugitive since being named a suspect in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. Between Sunday night and midday Monday, 21 people were detained." ...
... Update. Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura of the New York Times: "The capital of Belgium entered the third day of a siegelike lockdown on Monday: Schools, shopping malls, public transit and food markets remained closed, and hotels and bars were desolate, as the total number of arrests in a sweeping counterterrorism operation rose to 21. The authorities searched five homes in the Brussels area and two in the Liège region overnight, seized 26,000 euros, or about $27,600, and arrested five people, in addition to the 16 who were detained on Sunday, according to Eric Van der Sijpt, a magistrate and a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office."
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Reader Comments (24)
Hillary as Hawk.
Between her ties to Wall Street and Libya, she sounds as bad as any GOP candidate. I remember the video of Gadhafi being shot at the tailgate of that Toyota truck. There were Americans in combat dress taking the pictures. Here's Bronwich's take on Hillary as a Hawk.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/hillary-clintons-libya_b_8590130.html
I really don't see the equivalency of Hillary Clinton to any Republican candidate. She's accomplished, rationale and thoughtful. She is all for the social safety net, women's rights, and sensible gun laws. She is for protecting the environment and fighting global warming. She would likely make admirable appointments to the Supreme Court. . The idea that it would make no difference to America's well-being if Hillary or Cruz or Carson or a Trump were elected is risible.
@Waltwis & Victoria D.: The idea that there's no difference between Republicans & Democrats is (a) ludicrous & (b) was the cause of how we helped inspire ISIS (2000 election, Iraq War), not to mention a Supreme Court that is a menace to society & all the other ills of Bush policies.
The story that "there were Americans in combat dress taking the pictures" is nonsense. There are some rumors that the French were involved, but in all likelihood it was Libyans alone who shot Gaddafi & took the videos shortly before & then after his death. Making up stuff does not help make a case.
Marie
He saw it! End of story. The fact that maybe 100 million other people were fixed to the TV in the days after 9/11 and no one else saw changes nothing. Thank you Donald for providing a classic symptom to verify my diagnosis of NPD. He is so special that he never has to check for a fact. He already knows everything.
And notice that the word fascist and even Hitler are all over the place when discussing Trump and the usual responses to using those words are not present because in this case it is accurate.
And just to provide some positive numbers, if you look at the level of Trump support among Republicans and the percentage of people who identify as Republicans, he has about 6% of the total US voters picking him as their first choice (could be a little higher since there is no number on independents).
So to sum it up, for the first time in US history a candidate for POTUS has the following words attached to him by the media: fascist, Hitler, thug, racist, liar.
I am confused (again).
What is all the hysteria about immigrants? Suppose I'm a suicidal terrorist, hell bent on attacking the US. The last thing in the world I want is to be noticed by the authorities. That is the foremost thing that I want at any cost to avoid. So why in the name of sanity would I deliberately bring myself to their attention, and invite their closest scrutiny, by applying to immigrate? What would be the point? I ain’t trying to live here, I ain’t looking for a job, I just want to get here, and as quickly as possible blow myself up along with as many people as possible. Why the hell would I need immigrant status to do that?
Its my understanding, correct me if I’m wrong, that all of the terrorist who have attacked anywhere in Europe held valid European passports and could easily travel anywhere in the world, needing only the price of an airline ticket.
And another thing (Emily Litella voice): We’ve been hearing for years, from a succession of experts, about all the intricate planning and organization required to carry out simultaneous attacks. How is it any more difficult than planning a surprise party? I mail invitations to my fellow suicidal lunatics: “Hey guys! Let’s all go to Paris on Fred’s birthday. It’ll be a blast! We'll watch a soccer match, go to a concert, and get something to eat at a cafe...” How hard was that? You’d think even a Republican terrorism expert could figure that out.
The same experts tell us about all the sophisticated, encrypted, communications technology essential to this activity. Why? Organized criminal activity, highly organized, highly successful, has existed on a vast international scale for centuries before digital anything had ever been dreamed of. The internet didn’t create the possibility of drug smuggling, bootlegging, arms trafficking, human trafficking, or anarchist guerrilla activities. Those things have been around a while.
So what’s new? One thing: we now have an army of terrorism experts with an urgent need to justify their costly existence. And one way to do that is to dream up complicated and elaborate scenarios of what terrorists might do, if the terrorists were stupid enough to employ needlessly complicated and elaborate methods.
D.C. wrote: "...we now have an army of terrorism experts with an urgent need to justify their costly existence."
Ain't it the truth? Last week I was watching some talking heads going on about how terrorists might be knocking on your door in Sandusky, OH or Scottsdale, AZ, tomorrow! So be scared and be prepared. Then the host threw it to a guy who had a few years in the FBI, maybe or worked a desk at the CIA and is now a member of the burgeoning counter terrorism "experts" brigade, all running around with their noses to the ground, baskets in the air waiting to catch the money falling out of the sky. This guy assured everyone who could hear him that TERRORISM is REAL and it's not going away, so be scared. Be really, very, wicked scared. And hire him.
You'll never hear any of these guys reminding people that they have a far greater chance (by orders of magnitude) of drowning in their own bathtub than being killed by a terrorist (80,000 to 1 vs 20M to 1).
And because terrorists are hiding everywhere, even under your bed (and maybe in your bathtub too, to listen to Fox--hmmm maybe that's the reason for all those bathtub drownings!), more "experts" are required. So now you can get certified as a counter terrorism "expert" by taking online courses. I am not even kidding. Might as well get certified in brain surgery by taking an online course with Ben Carson. He'll explain why Thomas Jefferson wanted to implant ammo in your head, an idea he came up with when writing the Gettysburg Address to the NRA while Jesus was visiting him and telling him his ideas for the Constitution.
Then check out websites of the companies these guys create once they get their certification in bringing down the bad guys. One site dispensed with the nonsense that there is little chance of your being attacked by terrorists. They insist that everyone WILL be attacked and the only thing you can really do is hire them. For a tidy sum they'll tell you how to keep your entire building from falling over (like the World Trade Center) after it's been terror-bombed. Also, how to minimize the deaths to your workforce when those toxic chemical are released inside your building.
And of course, not only are they everywhere, but terrorists are experts in everything. They're not just insidious, they're superhuman. Another reason why tough guy sheriffs can't abide the idea that one of these supermen might inhabit a cell in a supposedly inescapable prison. Up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's TerrorMan!
Too bad so many of these guys are complete frauds, like the recent "expert" Fox has been using for years to whip the yokels into spasms of fear.
But, as D.C. points out, it ain't much of a career for these guys in counter terrorism if there isn't an enormous number of terrorists to counter.
And as with most things touched by the baleful mindset of Right Wing World, these people seek only to address the symptoms. Never the underlying causes. Because where's the fun in that?
Here's a quote from, and a link to an excellent WaPo Investigation:
"The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work."
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/
Trump's most recent lies, (filthy) Arabs in NJ cheering the fall of the twin towers on 9/11, and the extraordinary number of white people killed by (filthy) black murderers, are nothing more than fantasies that Confederate voters want desperately to be true. There just has to be a real reason for their irrational hatred.
Rest assured, had tens of thousands of Muslims been out in the street waving banners and celebrating the destruction and death in lower Manhattan, there would have been riots. And if it were true that 81% of all white homicides came at the hands of black gunmen, black neighborhoods would be attacked by hordes of gun wielding George Zimmerman types. And police. It would be a bloodbath. Every black guy stopped for running a red light would be shot.
Oh, and by the way, another Confederate lie: the "we're tired of being nice guys" meme.
I checked out one source of Trump's racist statistics. A guy on Twitter named SeanSean something, something. First, I wanna know where they get these people. Do they grow them in big Petri dishes? And does someone come by while the bacteria is reproducing and dump in something toxic? The Twitter account for this Sean somebody, features a picture of him that could easily have come from Confederate Central Casting. Muscle shirt, dark glasses, grimace (his best "not gonna take it anymore" expression), and a pit bull ready to attack. Such a sweet guy. You can still see the agar dripping off his rippling biceps.
And this is his motto-message, whatever you call it:
"NEVER EVER VOTE RINO AGAIN! If you are not Conservative? Please don't follow me as I will not Follow you back ever! I am done meeting in the Middle"
Get it? He is DONE! Never meeting in "the Middle" ever again!! And he will NEVER follow you! So, like, don't even ask, liberal traitors, cuz he will KICK YOUR ASS!
One more question. When do you think guys like this have ever met anyone in "the middle"? The middle for these guys is that part where they forgot to threaten to shoot people who piss them off. They were being nice then. But no more. Ya heah? Is this the kind of guy who would entertain the possibility that Arabs weren't celebrating in NJ by the tens of thousands after 9/11?
This is the type of guy Trump appeals to. Remind me again of that time he was a "nice guy" who met everyone in "the middle"?
Fucking clowns.
We have seen the enemy, and he is us. -- Pogo
Maybe we all have overactive scaredy-cat genes left over from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, and we manifest the effects of those genes, perhaps especially as we get older, in different ways.
Unlike Chris Christie, I have no fear of Syrian toddlers (or adults), but I do have an irrational fear of opossums, who admittedly are lurking in my jungle garden & show no fear of me when scurrying around near the house. I know perfectly well the ugly little critters have no intent to harm me (one did fall on the head of my gardener as he -- the gardener, not the possum -- was clearing out some underbrush, but neither party was injured). The flies who occasionally get into the house are more likely to harm me than the possums, but I'm not afraid of flies. Or spiders. The other night when a friend e-mailed me to phone her, I had to think twice before I went out to the car under cover of darkness to get my phone because -- a possum might be under the car! Or someplace!
I realize there is a big difference between my fear & Christie's. For one thing, his is likely to be fake. For another, I'm not promoting legislation to eradicate opossums. (But if I could inveigh upon opossums to "Get Off My Lawn," I would.) For a third, I'm not running for president on the Anti-Pogo Party platform.
Marie
For this afternoon's interview with a Northwest Farmers Union official this PM, have so far this morning unsuccessfully researched the present status of COOL (country of origin labeling) for the food products we consume. Do know the House overwhelmingly rejected the idea earlier this year because the WTO has concluded that such labeling diminishes Canadian and Mexican market share in the US, and see the Senate has been working on some kind of compromise that will still allow voluntary labeling of some food products, primarily meat.
Wish I knew more, but so far two lessons here.
First, as we knew, trade agreements (and corporate profit) are more important than domestic or national interests.
Second, the same House members who are unwilling to discriminate against the importation of dead meat that has been inspected cursorily or not at all have no trouble documenting, registering and even denying entry to thoroughly vetted human beings, this from many of the same party who claim that human life is so valuable it begins at fertilization.
Like D.C. I'm confused.
Marie,
Though I live in a wooded area, thanks to my German Shepherd Dog I have no foolish possums. Natural selection does work, but decreasingly on H.Sapiens.
We used to have possums coming to our kitty-feeding stations, and except for the tiny ones, they were uniformly UGLY. That naked tail--ugh! Then we got a new dog and a fence, quit feeding neighborhood cats, and now, no possums...except that I have five or six books of Walt Kelly Pogo cartoons-- love me some Pogo-- does that count? And every once in a while, a phrase will jump out and I will realize it's a Pogoism, and my kids don't understand or appreciate. But, sigh, like Bun Rabbit, I carry the hose. It's my job to be a dinosaur...(Albert?? Where are you? Oops, he's a gator...)
Love Pogo.
War on women? What war on women? Lying lib'ruls.
So, you know how Confederates, especially the loud mouthed kind on places like Faux, are always screaming that there's no war on women, so shut up already about that stuff?
Well, in Ohio, the state well known for being the place whose secretary of state basically stole the election for The Decider back in 2004, and the place now run by current candidate for the White House, John Kasich? Well, they are proving to the world that they don't hate women. Not at all.
Why, now that Ohio Republicans are chloroforming Planned Parenthood, they are demonstrating their compassion for women, especially the icky, low income kind, some of whom are, you know, "urban", nudge, nudge, you know, the kind who get everything handed to them. Once Planned Parenthood is defunded, based on carefully doctored videos, wingers in Ohio will be directing women to get their "healthcare" at all kinds of interesting and convenient locations:
"...dentist offices, school nurses, senior centers, addiction treatment centers, and a food bank."
A food bank! Why not ATMs and gas station rest rooms? "Hey, what are those funny things on either side of all those ATMs?" "Why, those are stirrups, just drive up, put your feet in the stirrups, and the 18 year old teller, or more likely, the 45 year old assistant bank manager (male, natch), will take a peek and let you know how things look."
Republican healthcare for women. These people are fucking savages.
School nurses? Addiction treatment centers? DENTIST OFFICES? I suppose they already have the chair and people who dress like doctors. Why not?
By the way, as much as it sounds like it, this is not a joke. This is what Confederates really think of women. This is a serious proposal. By elected officials of the GOP.
Just imagine if you told a Republican Party big wig that he needed to have his penile implant checked out in an addiction treatment center, by one of the counselors, but only after the junkies got their methadone?
Sometimes...I don't even know what to say...
Akhilleus, let's be fair. The Republican view on women is exactly the same as other groups. For example, ISIS.
Very true Marvin, re:
Memo to my Moslem friends:
Can we talk? Some of you guys do seem to be just a little obsessive about the whole female virginity and chastity thing — the 72 virgins in Paradise and all that. What’s behind it? Be honest. It’s Performance Anxiety, isn’t it? Fear of Comparison. Am I right? Now really fellas, get over it. You’ll feel (and perform, (wink)) much better if you just relax and stop worrying about it. Trust me.
Best regards,
Well! Interesting...top commenters on NY Times online!
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/23/nytnow/23commenters.html
Geez, had they done this a few years back...someone named Marie Burns woulda collected the most 'recommends' title fer sure. Tho' I'm sure she's fine with Gemli getting that title now.
Interesting to see the 'for real' personalities that we follow.
@MAG: Thanks. Gemli is an absolute gem. I admire his writing, his politics, his philosophy of life & his quick wit. He should have a Times column & Ross Douthat should get a full-time job advising the pope on what-all his holiness is doing wrong.
Marie
The John Oliver video doesn't work: Here is another link that might:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/23/john-oliver-don-t-listen-to-fear-mongering-gop-we-should-accept-heavily-vetted-syrian-refugees.html
@MAG: Thank you for this. Gemli has always been someone I always read when and if I venture to read the NYT and yes, Marie coulda been a contender! In fact that's how I found her in the first place. Who IS this woman I asked myself after having read reams of her comments before finally clicking on to her site. Aren't we lucky she decided to abandon that "all the news that's fit to print" paper and do her own thing–– even the possums want to get close to her.
And speaking of sexually-repressed men (Douthat), I think D.C.Clark is onto something. I don't suggest free love would solve all the world's problems, but a sensitive approach to sexuality would mitigate quite a few of them. More openness about sexuality, as well as a natural view of sex & love, would certainly deprive radical pseudo-religious organizations of one of their top recruiting tools & motivators.
Marie
@PD Pepe: Thanks. I was afraid that video would go. I try to use the HBO video, but they didn't release one this week (at least yet) for this segment. I reposted the video via the Daily Beast, but that will probably go, too.
Marie
From Pro Publica, "The View from Counterterror's Front Lines"
"Another Belgian counterterror official said the mindset of his prey was no mystery.
“The Islamic State gives criminals an opportunity to avenge themselves,” the senior official said, his voice full of disgust. “It’s a pretext for hate. A chance to shoot cops, the bourgeoisie, the infidels, everyone they’ve always hated and resented. They have the same psychology as the mass killers you have in the United States. But they do it as a group, not as individuals.”
This seems quite a valid insight. Especially given the revelations about the "party girl" and the dope smoking terrorist that wreaked havoc on Paris.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-view-from-counterterrors-front-lines
@ D.C. Clark
"So what’s new? One thing: we now have an army of terrorism experts with an urgent need to justify their costly existence...."
I'm not sure how your French is, but here's a link to a really interesting interview with an experienced anti-terrorism judge in France, Marc Trévidic. To give you a quick summary: All the "army of terrorism experts" hunting down and spoiling the terrorist attacks in France (and Europe in general) are all packing lucky charms in their pockets.
French intelligence thought the supposed brains behind the latest attacks was hiding out in Syria...turns out he was right under their noses. He's suspected of being involved in four of the last six attempts at terrorism in France. How could they not know where he was?
The intelligence/security forces are far too overstreched here, with thousands of nationals having travelled back and forth from Syria/Iraq and the borderless Schengen system making it nearly impossible to track them once inside. Despite their greatest efforts, they still can't figure out who is here and who is there. And if they've got a European passport, there's little authorities can do anyway. Beyond that, the countries involved in the Schengen system are only now waking up to the reality that they need to share their information with their European counterparts! Incredible...
The judge in the interview essentially says that many of the attacks that were "foiled" were just dumb luck. Suicidal idiots fucking up their own plans, like the dolt who shot himself before taking action, or citizen heroes taking the initiative on the train to Paris. Like you alluded to, it doesn't take much to put together mass murder in a highly concentrated population.
That he is so candid about the systematic security weaknesses definitely makes one think twice. His somber assessment for the future of European security as long as the Syrian embers fester and nativism boils over has me wondering about lesser evils.
http://www.franceinter.fr/emission-le-79-marc-trevidic-la-plupart-des-attentats-on-ne-les-a-pas-dejoues-on-a-eu-un-coup-de-cha
@D.C. I just read your comments to my husband using my Emily Litella voice. We are still laughing–––and actually I was thinking similar thoughts: How hard was this operation? Obviously, not hard at all.
and yet–––not at all a laughing matter!
MAG: Thanks for the Times tip.
Remember seeing many years ago--look at his age!--Larry Eisenberg's name on the contents pages of scifi magazines. Was wondering if the Times' versifier could possibly be the same. Nah, it couldn't. He'd be too old....
Turns out to be a very nice Thanksgiving surprise, which prompts the hope that all here will still be firing away, guns a-blazing, when we too reach ninety-five.
I also found Reality Chex and the mind behind it--not to omit the other RC'ers--through Times comments. Though I seldom read and less often write comments for the Times these days, I'm thankful for that too.
BTW the R. Leuttgen, the Times token conservative, also got notice, and certainly qualifies for the distinction. He thinks and writes poorly and is most often wrong. Maybe he could move to the Vatican with Ross. He makes as much sense about economics as Douthat does about religion