The Commentariat -- Oct. 25, 2014
Internal links removed.
Marc Santora of the New York Times: "The governors of New York and New Jersey announced Friday afternoon that they were ordering all people entering the country through two area airports who had direct contact with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to be quarantined." ...
... Michael Paulson of the New York Times: "Nina Pham, a 26-year-old nurse who became infected with Ebola while caring for a Liberian patient, walked out of a Maryland hospital on Friday, thanked God and others for her recovery, then went to the White House for a hug from President Obama before her return home to Dallas." ...
... Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: The Soviet Union once worked on developing Ebola as a biological weapon. "The research began amid intense secrecy with an ambitious effort to assess Ebola's potential as a biological weapon, and it later included attempts to manipulate the virus's genetic coding, U.S. officials and researchers say. Those efforts ultimately failed as Soviet scientists stumbled against natural barriers that make Ebola poorly suited for biowarfare.... Now, at a time when the world is grappling with an unprecedented Ebola crisis, the wall of secrecy surrounding the labs looms still larger...." ...
... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Speaking in a local radio interview on Thursday, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown [D] blamed the NRA for a lack of a U.S. surgeon general, and Congressional Republicans for cuts to public services." CW: Sherrod Brown is one of my very favorite Senators. And proof that somebody with a coif like Rand Paul's can still be a righteous smart guy. ...
... Gail Collins: "Two years after the Sandy Hook tragedy, the top gun-control priority in the United States is still background checks. There is nothing controversial about the idea that people who buy guns should be screened to make sure they don't have a criminal record or serious mental illness.... The problem, of course, is the National Rifle Association, which does not actually represent gun owners nearly as ferociously as it represents gun sellers."
The Two Faces of John Roberts -- Are Both White! Garrett Epps of the Atlantic on Chief Justice John Roberts inconsistent holdings on race: when it suits him, he says the law should be absolutely color-blind. But when a lower court concluded that the Texas voter ID the law was purposely racially discriminatory (i.e., not color-blind), Roberts let it stand anyway, so as not to inconvenience the state or something.
"What Happened to that GOP Lawsuit?" Josh Gerstein of Politico: "It takes about 10 minutes to walk from the Capitol to the federal courthouse just down the hill, but House Republicans haven't managed to make that trip in the four months since they announced they'd be suing the president.... Some attribute the delay to electoral politics -- suggesting that Republicans were worried it could rile up the Democratic base -- though the GOP is mum on why the suit has yet to be filed.... 'I thought this was a constitutional crisis and the republic was in jeopardy because Obama overstepped his bounds. Now, they can't even get around to filing it?' asked former House Counsel Stan Brand, a Democrat. 'It, to me, emphasizes the not-serious nature of it.'"
Paul Krugman: "Profits are very high, so why are companies concluding that they should return cash to stockholders rather than use it to expand their businesses?... This kind of divergence -- in which high profits don-t signal high returns to investment -- is what you'd expect if a lot of those profits reflect monopoly power rather than returns on capital."
Josh Marshall of explains Sarah Palin AND Fox "News": "... Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol have now spoken out about their notorious boozy family brawl, recasting Bristol's attack on the event's host as a morality tale about violence against women and media bias.... In talking about themselves they're already railing about Hunter Biden and Chelsea Clinton and media bias and the 'war on women' and the rest. As she has since she stepped onto the national stage six years ago, Palin is the ultimate avatar of base Republican culture since she views herself as an eternal victim, with all the grievance and resentment that entails.... In very broad terms, the origin of Fox News is analogous."
** Annals of Journalism, Ctd. "When Politicians Lie." The Washington Post publishes an essay "excerpted from the Press-Enterprise Lecture [former Post editor Ben Bradlee ]delivered at the University of California, Riverside, on Jan. 7, 1997."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Lynne Marek of Chicago Business: "Chicago Sun-Times journalists, whose colleague Dave McKinney resigned this week, are asking the newspaper's owners for reassurance that the latter won't seek to influence editorial content. The request comes in a petition that's posted on the reporters' union website. It follows the exit of Mr. McKinney, the Springfield bureau chief, who questioned in his resignation letter whether the newsroom is insulated from owners' interests." ...
... CW: Back in the Dark Ages when I lived in Chicago, the Sun-Times, although published in tabloid format, was a decent alternative to the righty-right-wing Tribune. Not any more, I guess. I haven't linked to it very often as (a) their Website sucks, & (b) their content is usually fairly sketchy.
November Elections
Tim Murphy of Mother Jones introduces us to Dan Patrick, the next lieutenant governor of Texas: "Man Who Believes God Speaks to Us Through 'Duck Dynasty' Is About to Be Texas' Second-in-Command." ...
... CW: How Republicans can stop the flow of immigrants without building fences: publish truthful profiles of themselves in all the major media of the world. Who would want to come to a place run by people like this?
Presidential Election
Katharine Seelye & Amy Chozick of the New York Times: The Boston Two-Step. When Hillary met Liz. Also, Martha was there. ...
... Maggie Haberman of Politico has more on the Hillary Clinton-Elizabeth Warren offstage meeting.
The Most Interesting Man in Washington, Ctd. Paul Waldman: "... what if placating the right isn't as hard as it appears? That question is right now being contemplated by Rand Paul, who is running for the White House harder than anybody. Paul has now given a speech outlining his foreign policy vision (which every candidate is supposed to have). The speech shows just how Paul is navigating the tension between the two competing incentives that will define his candidacy.... If you took out the five Reagan references and changed some words and phrases here and there, the speech Paul gave could have been delivered by Barack Obama. The difference between a Republican and a Democrat, apparently, is that the Republican says that we should always be prepared for war, but war should be a last resort, while the Democra says that war should be a last resort, but we should always be prepared for war.... And also, Reagan Reagan Reagan." ...
... Steve M.: "Unless you think all the older Republicans are going to stay home while under-35s do all the voting, this is a recipe for failure in the GOP primaries." ...
... CW: I dunno. In the 2012 GOP primaries, Romney beat off a handful of professional wingers. Yeah, he said he was "severely conservative," but even the dumbest of dumb bunnies knew he was less conservative than the other candidates (including Jon Huntsman, Jr.). Somehow millions of actual severe conservatives pulled the lever for Mitt. Why? Because Mitt looked & sounded more like a president than, say, Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich. Winning is everything.
Beyond the Beltway
AND Anthony Weiner, who is not Rep. Anthony Weiner or Mayor Anthony Weiner is still Anthony Weiner. Jordan Sargent of Gawker: "It's been three years (only!) since Anthony Weiner's political career went limp because he sent photos of his dick to random women via social media, and yet he has still not learned how to use Twitter." CW: Actually, he's known all along how to use Twitter: as a medium for sending sexy pictures, this time "favorite-ing" a body-shot of "Sugarfuzz," a woman who urges married men to contact her "to indulge your sexual fantasies by having an affair." Calling Dr. Kate Madison.
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Reader Comments (12)
Would have been nice if Ms Pham had said "Thank you taxpayers for NIH" instead of that silly god stuff.
@James Singer: I have to agree with you about Pham. Especially since she got that hug.
Seriously, the idea that beneficence goes to those with the highest quantity or quality of prayers defies logic. Of course, logic and faith are mutually exclusive. But still.
@James S. & Victoria D. So often doctors & other healthcare providers get faulted when somebody gets sick & dies of natural causes, but God gets the credit if the patient survives.
I fault the Creator for the natural causes, & thank the scientists & healthcare professionals for interceding on my behalf. The anti-Gods who defend me against God's capriciousness & her/his careless design flaws are my heroes. God, not so much.
Marie
P.S. Pardon me for being anthropocentric. If I were an Ebola virus, I guess I'd be pissed off.
CW: Sherrod Brown is one of my very favorite Senators. And proof that somebody with a coif like Rand Paul's can still be a righteous smart guy. ...
Yeah, me too, Marie! Sherrod Brown is HOT! He is one of my favorites. And he "walks the walk"--always a good sign in my book!
Plus, he is married to Connie Schultz, a terrific writer, who did not see the necessity (like moi) of changing her name when she married.
The most telling difference between 'Lil Randy and Sherrod Brown is that Brown's coif is NOT a toupee! We all know that Aqua Buddha has to take off the top of his "hair" every single night and put it on the plaster head in his dressing room. And stitch together his forked tongue every morning. He rarely remembers what he has said the day before. Or any other day. Whatta Ass Wipe!
@Kate Madison. Yeah, a couple of years ago a conservative blogger wrote to Schultz (misspelling her name):
"Dear Ms. Shultz,
"We are doing an expose on journalists in the elite media who socialize with elected officials they are assigned to cover. We have found numerous photos of you with Sen. Sherrod Brown. In one of them, you appear to be hugging him.
"Care to comment?"
Her response was pretty funny.
Marie
We would think with the renewed (or just normal I guess) push for voter restrictions by the GOP caused by the minuscule possibility of voters to commit fraud, that if logic existed then the same rigor would be carried on to the question of background checks for weapons, as the very real possibility exists for opportunities of fraud among those looking to pack heat for whatever reason.
Yet, logic is in short apply, among voters who recoil in fright from the deadly experiences of everyday life and of course the profiteers who finance their carnivorous appetites through no-holds-barred sales.
Besides, criminals are just going to break the law anyway, so making laws is a practice in vain. Yet if that were indeed the case, following winger logic, all the trouble of legislating and putting into place these voter restrictions is a mere time-waster of government largesse, because all those fraudsters will do it anyway, so a more effective approach would be to just stick our heads in the sand and pretend nothing's happening.
Maybe the answer to this reasoning lies in requiring every citizen to present a firearm as acceptable voting IDs? That'd be exceptionally American! Combine the two issues, increase democracy and profits all the while making the world safer by flooding our streets with more guns. It couldn't be considered a "tax" cause it's a life-saving tool that everyone needs, like buying bottled water, right?
What went through my mind when I heard about the Seattle shooting was how many of those young victims had parents who were against any stringent gun control and if so, would the shooting of their kid change their minds–-at all?
I have always found those who thank God for saving them from whatever implies that this capricious god has chosen them over the millions that don't survive the whatever. I am worth this god's intervention––I am the lucky ducky unlike all those others, but it must be because I prayed harder––god needs lots of attention and didn't he say somewhere that he's also a jealous god? Be careful not to thank the scientists, doctors, or medicines too much cuz that pisses him off. Sigh~~~~~~~~~~~~
@P.D.Pepe: That jealous god thing is part of the Ten Commandments -- the 4th, specifically:
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." [Exodus 20:4-5]
I guess if wingers got what they wanted & enacted the Ten Commandments, the children, grandchildren & great-grandchildren of bad guys would spend their lives in jail. (Conjugal visits, of course, would be a requirement for this arrangement.) Seems fair.
Marie
"... CW: How Republicans can stop the flow of immigrants without building fences: publish truthful profiles of themselves in all the major media of the world. Who would want to come to a place run by people like this?" Short answer: because their countries are massively fucked up. Monopolistic pseudo-capitalism is spinning out of control even worse in all the 'marginal' countries where democratic institutions haven't been strengthened to compete against military/narco-trafficking/oligopoly policies. This failure to strengthen democratic institutions in the second and third world is where Hillary and her husband, Podesta, Panneta and their fellow Authoritarians in the Democrats are almost as guilty of stupidity as the brute force stupidity of the Cheney/Bush Authoritarians.
Here is a quote from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in a column by Walker's ubiquitous apologist Christian Schneider:
"Walker's pollsters argue that with a more realistic sample, their candidate has an edge, and the numbers tend to bear this out. For instance, when the Marquette "likely voter" number was 80%, the race was tied. But in the previous poll, the likely voter number was only 73% and Walker was up 5.8%. In the poll before that, Walker was up 3.6% among likely voters with the likely voter percentage at 73.6%. It appears that with fewer likely voters, Walker performs better."
In the state's largest newspaper, the republicans explained why they work so hard at voter suppression.
I had a lot more to say about this in several posts that I managed to lose, so I'll just end here.
Thanks for paying attention to this race in the middle of flyover country.
Just to press my point above, here is a quote from the Journal-Sentinel's current top story online:
"Gordon Lang, a retired Whitefish Bay physician and Walker volunteer, says he likes to tell Burke supporters, "Remember to vote — on Nov. 5," in hopes they'll confuse the date of the election.
He's OK with that little subterfuge, he says, because "she's lying on her side," he said of Burke.
"What we want is to make sure the other side doesn't vote.""
Pretty exceptional, in case you've missed it:
http://www.salon.com/2014/10/26/thomas_frank_we_are_such_losers/