The Commentariat -- October 21, 2018

Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump strongly criticized Saudi Arabia's explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi late Saturday, saying that 'obviously there's been deception, and there's been lies.' At the same time, Trump defended the oil-rich monarchy as an 'incredible ally' and kept open the possibility that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not order Saudi agents to kill Khashoggi. 'Nobody has told me he's responsible. Nobody has told me he's not responsible. We haven't reached that point ... I would love if he wasn't responsible, Trump said in a phone interview with The Washington Post.... Trump reiterated that the United States should not let the incident interrupt U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, citing a $110 billion arms sale with Riyadh he announced last year that analysts have said is inflated.... Trump had told reporters Friday that the Saudi explanation was credible, but U.S. officials said he has privately grimaced that his son-in-law Jared Kushner's close relationship with the crown prince has become a liability and left the White House with no good options."

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: There are alternative reactions one can offer to every crisis, but it is rare in the history of the American presidency that the president* endorses the alternatives in one breath. Trump does not know what he's doing from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. Yesterday the fistfight fish tale was credible; today it's not. They're liars; they're incredible! P.S. My idiot son-in-law jammed me up. ...

     ... AND this from the story linked above: "Trump on Saturday denied that any U.S. officials have heard audio, seen video or read any transcripts from the Turks.... But CIA officials have listened to an audio recording that Turkish officials say proves the journalist was killed and dismembered by the Saudi team, according to people familiar with the matter. If verified, the recording would make it difficult for the United States to accept the Saudi version that Khashoggi's death was effectively an accident." ...

... Don't Like That Story? Okay, Here's Our New One. Marwa Rashad of Reuters: "As Saudi Arabia faced intensifying international scepticism over its story about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a senior government official laid out a new version of the death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that in key respects contradicts previous explanations. The latest account, provided by a Saudi official who requested anonymity, includes details on how the team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi on Oct. 2 had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped and then [accidentally] killed him in a chokehold when he resisted. A member of the team then dressed in Khashoggi's clothes to make it appear as if he had left the consulate." Rashad's source elaborates on the tale. ...

... Katie Benner, et al., of the New York Times: An "army of Twitter trolls" who daily attacked Jamal Khashoggi "were part of a broad effort dictated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his close advisers to silence critics both inside Saudi Arabia and abroad. Hundreds of people work at a so-called troll farm in Riyadh to smother the voices of dissidents like Mr. Khashoggi. The vigorous push also appears to include the grooming -- not previously reported -- of a Saudi employee at Twitter whom Western intelligence officials suspected of spying on user accounts to help the Saudi leadership. The killing by Saudi agents of Mr. Khashoggi ... has focused the world's attention on the kingdom's intimidation campaign against influential voices raising questions about the darker side of the crown prince. The young royal has tightened his grip on the kingdom while presenting himself in Western capitals as the man to reform the hidebound Saudi state." ...

... Washington Post Editors: "Saudi Arabia now has acknowledged that it lied to the world for 17 days about what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi when he entered its consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. But the new account offered by the regime of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is utterly devoid of credibility.... That President Trump would pronounce this fable credible only underlines his shameful intent to assist in the attempt of the regime -- and, in particular, the crown prince -- to escape meaningful accountability. As Mr. Trump surely knows, the new Saudi cover story is contradicted not just by evidence collected by Turkish authorities and by journalists but also by the reporting of the U.S. intelligence community. All point to Mohammed bin Salman as the instigator of a premeditated, cold-blooded and brutal murder, followed by the dismemberment of Mr. Khashoggi's body." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Maureen Dowd: "Even before the bloodcurdling execution of Jamal Khashoggi for his just criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it was clear that the chump Trump and jejune Jared had bet their entire Middle East strategy on a chillingly autocratic and reckless person."

... Nicholas Kristof: "After lying for more than two weeks about the death of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi government has now announced a series of new lies about his murder in ways that insult both Jamal's memory and our intelligence.... These lies are so blatant and implausible that they underscore how out of touch M.B.S. is, and also suggest M.B.S. believes that he will have the backing of the United States in this cover-up. That's a good bet, since Trump has lately celebrated the assault on a journalist by a Montana congressman and previously suggested that maybe a rogue killer was responsible for killing Jamal.... So what we really have now is a test of Trump and of America itself." Kristof has several suggestions on how the U.S. should go forward. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Ben Hubbard & David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia is facing perhaps its greatest international crisis since the revelation that its citizen planned and carried out the attacks on September 11, 2001. Members of the ruling family are increasingly worried about the direction of the country under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old favorite son of King Salman and the kingdom&'s day-to-day ruler.... The one person who could intervene is the king himself, but senior princes have found it nearly impossible to bring their concerns to the 82-year-old monarch, and some doubt he is fully aware of what is happening or willing to change course." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump said Saturday he will exit a landmark arms control agreement the United States signed with the former Soviet Union, saying that Russia is violating the pact and it's preventing the U.S. from developing new weapons. The 1987 pact, which helps protect the security of the U.S. and its allies in Europe and the Far East, prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing, producing or test-flying a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles.... National Security Adviser John Bolton was headed Saturday to Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia." ...

... (UK) Press Association (PA): "Britain stands 'absolutely resolute' with the United States, the UK defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, has said, after Donald Trump's announcement he would pull out of a decades-old nuclear weapons pact with Russia. Williamson blamed Russia for endangering the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, which was agreed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987, and called on the Kremlin to 'get its house in order.'... He accused Russia of breaking the agreement, saying Moscow had made a 'mockery' of the INF." --s

Ivanka's Felony Fraud. Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "Ivanka Trump misrepresented the sales figures of various Trump-branded properties around the world on multiple occasions over the past decade, according to a lengthy exposé released late Wednesday by public interest news organization ProPublica in conjunction with Manhattan public radio station WNYC. Those real estate-related misrepresentations were almost certainly criminal according to legal experts surveyed by Law&Crime.... The report [linked yesterday] notes, 'The Manhattan district attorney's office [under Cyrus Vance, Jr.] considered charging the Trumps but backed off after a visit from a donor -- Trump's attorney Marc Kasowitz.'... And there's also an apparent coda here: The Manhattan District Attorney's office is now under investigation by the FBI over those corruption and pay-to-play allegations, according to the New York Daily News. In light of the FBI's investigation into Vance's office, it's possible that Ivanka Trump could be facing criminal charges herself over the fraudulent real estate schemes." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Erica Green, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, the most drastic move yet in a governmentwide effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law. A series of decisions by the Obama administration loosened the legal concept of sex in federal programs, including in education and health care, recognizing sex largely as an individual's choice -- and prompting fights over bathrooms, dormitories, single-sex programs and other arenas where gender was once seen as a simple concept. Conservatives, especially evangelical Christians, were incensed. Now the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive government financial assistance...." Mrs. McC: This is cruelty for cruelty's sake. The cost to the government of protecting transgender people is minimal.

"Capitalism is Awesome," Ctd. Jennifer Dlouhy of Bloomberg: "White House officials pushed the EPA to maximize savings for the oil industry despite the agency's concern that weakening regulations would allow more methane to escape into the atmosphere, according to newly released documents. The White House pressure campaign came as the Environmental Protection Agency honed a proposal to relax Obama-era requirements governing how frequently oil companies have to check for and repair leaks of methane, an intense greenhouse gas that warms the atmosphere 84 times more than carbon dioxide. Every move to dial back required inspections and reduce industry costs triggered a corresponding climb in projected methane emissions, a jump that appeared to trouble some EPA officials, according to internal documents filed in a government docket Tuesday.... The entire process was driven by an attempt to maximize corporate profits at the expense of public health and the environment, said Amit Narang, a regulatory policy expert with Public Citizen." [Open in private window] --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Max Blumenthal of Harper's [Oct. 17]: "Less than a week before her resignation, [U.N.] Ambassador [Nikki] Haley made a pilgrimage to ... mostly evangelical Republican operatives known as the Council for National Policy, or CNP.... There was no public notice, no transcript. I was ... the only journalist.... [In her speech, she said] She once attempted to intimidate the Chinese ambassador with threats of a military invasion of North Korea, she said, warning that she had no idea what her boss was capable of. In a way, Haley had deployed a version of Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon's 'madman theory,' holding up Trump as an unstable actor who might do anything. It seemed that she herself also genuinely had no idea what Trump would do.... Haley told the CNP crowd that [Reince] Priebus initially offered to make her secretary of state. 'I thought the job should go to someone who didn't have the same learning curve,' she said, conceding that she was not qualified for a top diplomatic position. Days later, the president pitched another opportunity: US Ambassador to the UN. 'I told [Trump], "Honestly, I don't even know what the UN does,"' Haley revealed. The crowd erupted with sympathetic laughter and applause[.]" --s

Rebecca Onion of Slate: "The Proud Boys' acceptance at a fancy Republican club looks a lot like the courtship between conservatives and fascists before WWII."

** The Descent. Juan Cole: "The US has fallen off a cliff on global health statistics, plummeting an unprecedented 21 places in the world index. Moreover, the US is expected to fall even further behind over the next 20 years. Mellan Solly at The Smithsonian Magazine analyzed the numbers in a just-published Lancet article.... The US has switched places in the world rankings with China [by 2040].... So ... what is causing this backwardness in US health prospects.... Air pollution, mercury pollution from burning coal, radioactive waste, killing off insects with pesticides, and heat-trapping gases threatening our future -- all of these have been unleashed by Trump.... 1 in 4 Americans get enough exercise. 1 in 10 eats enough fruits and vegetables. In turn, our poor diet and sedentary existence (75% of us!) are connected to things like capitalist television.... American barracuda capitalism isn't providing a living wage to large numbers of workers. The average wage of the average worker has been largely stagnant since 1970...We don't need to take our country back from the Chinese or Mexicans. We need to take it back from the Sheldon Adelsons of the world." --s

Naked Racism. Sam Fulwood III of ThinkProgress: "...[M]ounting evidence brings into clear focus that racial animus was -- and remains -- the foundation for the president's political support.... [A] recent study by the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, a research collaboration of more than two dozen analysts and scholars spanning the political spectrum, offers insights into the GOP's refurbished reliance on racism to win at the ballot box.... The study provides another set of data points to rebuke the white working class economy anxiety argument.... [V]oters appear to understand, correctly, that while Wall Street has greatly benefited from the Trump and Republican-controlled Congress' tax cuts, life on Main Street has improved very little. Hence, there's no room for the GOP to tout any real economic success.... This is a welcome harbinger for next month's midterm elections. Yet, the crucial fact remains that race -- not worries over the economy -- matters more to trigger voters to turn out and vote." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Election 2018

** William Saletan of Slate: "Trump believes that advocating violence and ridiculing victims are effective political tactics. He thinks that people who like this behavior will support Republicans and that many people who don't like it -- enough to decide the election — will stay home or vote Republican anyway. He was right in 2016. He was right in 2017. What you do on Election Day will tell him whether he's right again." Read the whole post. It will make you angry all over again.

Asleep at the Wheel. Li Zhou of Vox: "Latino voters could make the difference in some of this year's most competitive congressional races -- particularly in places like Arizona, California, and Texas where they make up more than 20 percent of the electorate. Given high anti-Trump sentiment among Latino voters -- and a strong preference for Democratic candidates -- these voters could help spur a 'blue wave' in November. But Democrats have to reach them and turn them out to vote first.... In an October 16 poll, the groups found that 55 percent of Latino voters haven't experienced any form of election outreach from Democrats or Republicans.... At the same time in the 2016 election, almost the exact same proportion of Latino voters also said that they hadn't received any outreach." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tim Johnson of McClatchy DC: "In three states, the referee for the midterm elections is also on the field as a player. Elected secretaries of state in Georgia and Kansas -- who in their official capacities oversee the elections in their states -- are running for governor. Ohio's secretary of state is running for lieutenant governor. All are Republicans. They have faced scattered calls to resign but have refused to do so." --safari: Democrats could never get away with this, nor should they. But IOKIYAR. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "A shockingly racist radio ad from a super PAC calling itself Black Americans for the President's Agenda went viral on Thursday evening. The spots, running on radio stations popular with black voters in Arkansas and Missouri, urge black women to back Republican Rep. French Hill in Arkansas' 2nd congressional district, Republican Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley in his U.S. Senate campaign, and GOP candidates in general. Their factually inaccurate argument: if Democrats accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual predation without evidence, black 'men and boys' will be subject to 'race verdicts, life sentences, and lynchings when a white girl screams "rape!"' The donors bankrolling this committee, however, appear to be rich [white], conservative ideologues, not the actual 'Black Americans' they claim to be.... [To his credit] Hill tweeted that he condemned the 'appalling' and 'outrageous ad in the strongest terms.'" --s...

Missouri. Bryan Lowry & Brian Murphy of McClatchy DC: "A new radio ad seeks to frighten black voters away from Sen. Claire McCaskill's campaign by suggesting the Democrat supports lynchings.... Another of the group's Missouri ads accuses McCaskill, the Democratic incumbent who supports abortion rights, of not caring 'that black babies that are aborted three times more likely than white babies....'" --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jessica Goldstein of ThinkProgress: "Some 10,000 voters in Missouri received mailers with incorrect information about the dates for their absentee ballots were due. The source? The Missouri Republican Party. Ray Bozarth, the party's executive director, admitted that his party was responsible for the misleading information but insisted the incorrect date was caused not by malice or an effort at voter suppression. It was, he said, simply 'the result of a miscommunication between the party and its vendor, which he declined to name,' as the Kansas City Star reported." --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yesterday, I read the original story in the KC Star, by Alison Kite, & if the report is correct, this does not appear to be a case of intentional voter suppression. The mailers pushed up the deadlines for asking for & submitting absentee ballots & -- according to the party -- the mailers went to likely Republican voters. If so, the mailers could have (a) encouraged Republican voters to hurry up & vote, or (b) convinced those voters they didn't have time to vote before the fake deadlines. So if the mailers suppressed any votes, it would have been those of Republican procrastinators. Goldstein's post, which goes on to discuss voter suppression, seems to imply the mailers were part of a GOP dirty trick. It seems to me the mailers were the result of Republican officials being stupid.

Alabama. Kim Chandler of TPM: "Congressional [Democratic] candidate Mallory Hagan said Thursday that a worrisome number of Alabama voters have been removed from active voter lists, prompting her to create a committee to assist people who encounter problems before and on Election Day. Hagan's campaign said more than 55,000 voters in the 3rd Congressional District have been disqualified or labeled inactive since February 2017, according to numbers they obtained.... She announced the creation of a committee of lawyers who will volunteer their assistance to voters. In addition, her campaign will staff a hotline for voters to report any concerns. People can also check their voting information at the secretary of state's web site myinfo.alabamavotes.gov." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan. John Bowden of the Hill: "A Michigan Republican women's PAC is backing two Democratic candidates in November over their Trump-supporting opponents, pointing to President Trump's rhetoric and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings as key reasons for the move. The Metro Times reported Wednesday that the political action committee Republican Women for Progress will take out ad buys for two Democratic House candidates facing Trump-aligned GOP challengers as the group seeks a Congress willing to serve as a 'check' on the president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Iowa. Christopher Mathias & Nick Robins-Early of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) visited Austria in August and gave an extensive interview to a far-right publication there in which he spelled out, in clearer and more shocking terms than he ever has before, his white nationalist worldview. The eight-term congressman, up for re-election next month, talked to Caroline Sommerfeld of the Austrian far-right propaganda site Unzensuriert (which means 'uncensored' in English).... King discussed his belief in the superiority of European culture over others. He talked fearfully of falling fertility rates in the West and spoke at length about his belief that Europe and America are threatened by Muslim and Latino immigration. 'If we don't defend Western civilization, then we will become subjugated by the people who are the enemies of faith, the enemies of justice,' King said. The interview is remarkable, capturing a sitting U.S. congressman completely fluent in modern white nationalist talking points just weeks before an election he is favored to win." Mrs. McC: If Steve King is the "master race," I sure don't want to be in it.

Colorado. Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "[A] Colorado ballot initiative would expand the buffer zones between homes and industrial oil and gas facilities. As with other ballot initiative attempts in the past, Colorado's anti-fracking activists are sending the oil and industry into a frenzy, despite the relatively modest nature of the proposition.... The industry has so far raised $30 million to defeat the measure, about 40 times the money that environmental groups have raised. But Proposition 112 is far from radical. It doesn't call for banning fracking in Colorado. The measure would simply keep new wells farther away from homes and schools, expanding the distance from a 500-foot minimum to 2,500 feet.... The industry's spending of million of dollars appears to be working. Polls show the final vote on the proposition is going to be extremely close, according to supporters of the proposition." --safari: Who in their right mind would vote against this? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Utah. Thanks, Obama. Patrick Caldwell of Mother Jones: "Utah is one of four states with ballot initiatives next month that ask voters about Medicaid expansion, the part of the Affordable Care Act that broadens eligibility for Medicaid to anyone making up to 138 percent of the poverty line.... A new poll from the Salt Lake Tribune released on Thursday suggests they soon might not have a choice. According to the poll, 59 percent of respondents favor adopting Medicaid expansion, with just 33 percent opposed. That's up from 54 percent in June. An estimated 150,000 Utahans stand to gain Medicaid coverage if the initiative passes." --s

Frank Dale of ThinkProgress: " U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts brought a temporary halt late Friday to a landmark climate change lawsuit that was set to begin later this month. President Donald Trump's Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to stop the lawsuit in a filing on Thursday. Roberts approved the request on Friday even though the U.S. high court in a unanimous ruling in July had said that the case could proceed. 21 children and young adults sued the federal government in August 2015, alleging the government had failed to protect them from the impacts of climate change." --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Could be what inspired Roberts was the new climate phenomenon known as the "Kavanaugh Effect." It works like this: we've got 5 solid justices to back Trump's "natural instinct for science" that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that climate change is a hoax.

Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "A disturbing new study finds that global warming helped drive as much as a 60-fold decline in insect population in Puerto Rico's tropical rainforest between 1976 and 2013. 'Our results suggest that the effects of climate warming in tropical forests may be even greater than anticipated,' said lead author, biologist Brad Lister, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). And that's a potentially catastrophic problem given that the forest saw 3.6°F (2°C) warming during that time -- yet warming this century is on track to be far greater.... These new findings follow several studies in recent years that found collapsing insect populations around the world.... So these findings are 'a real wake-up call -- a clarion call -- that the phenomenon could be much, much bigger, and across many more ecosystems,' invertebrate expert David Wagner (who was not involved in the study) told the Washington Post. He added, 'This is one of the most disturbing articles I have ever read.'" --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Helen Davidson of the Guardian: "Climate change is already exacerbating domestic and international conflicts, and governments must take steps to ensure it does not get worse, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has said. Peter Maurer told Guardian Australia it was already making an impact and humanitarian organisations were having to factor it into their work far earlier than they were expecting.... Australia has no formal energy or climate change policy, and the Coalition government at one point flagged pulling out of the Paris Agreement." --s

White Power News. Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "A segment on the Friday morning edition of Fox & Friends showcased a racist, anti-Obama photo during the show's profile of an Arizona-based pro-Trump fan-shop.... [T]he shop apparently sells ... a card featuring a photo of Trump at his presidential desk with the words, 'First time in history that a billionaire moves into public housing vacated by a black family.'.... In an email to ThinkProgress Friday afternoon, Steven Slaton, owner of The Trumped Store, said the racist anti-Obama meme was a 'funny Birthday Card.' '[F]or your information Its not racist!!!!' he wrote. 'We bring in fun things to laugh at. If you or someone takes it as Racist, sorry we can't help them.'" --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Because overt racism is hilarious & makes a nice birthday memento. Also too, as contributor Marvin S. says, there's plenty of doubt that the current occupant of the White House is a billionaire.

Beyond the Beltway

AP: "Police removed the remains of 63 foetuses from a Detroit funeral home and regulators closed the business amid a widening investigation of alleged improprieties at local funeral homes. The Detroit police chief, James Craig, said officers found 36 foetuses in boxes and 27 others in freezers during Friday's raid at the Perry Funeral Home. He said he was 'stunned' by the discovery, which came a week after the remains of 11 infants were discovered in a ceiling at Detroit's defunct Cantrell Funeral Home. Those remains were found after state regulators received an anonymous letter." --s

Way Beyond

Sarah Frier & Giulia Camilo of Bloomberg: "WhatsApp banned hundreds of thousands of accounts in Brazil as the Facebook Inc. messaging service struggles to contain spam, misinformation and political shenanigans ahead of a runoff election in Latin America's largest country. Facebook set up a 'war room' to stem the tide of hate speech, false information and other damaging content during Brazil's election this month, marking a test for the social network ahead of the November midterm elections in the U.S.... Newspaper Folha de S.Paulo this week reported allegations that companies are paying for a mass social media campaign against Haddad, and the country's top electoral court responded on Friday night by saying it will open a formal probe against Bolsonaro." --s

Comments

[Akhilleus]

Steve King at a fund raiser for VIP wingers demonstrating why he is a member of the master race, including his foreign policy plans.

Zig Hile. Or something...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UxL3A4ln58o

[Marvin Schwalb]

"The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth,"

So all humans are born with the same brains.
So if you have 6 fingers on one hand you are not human.
So all concepts must be 2-5000 years old.
So Jesus said use my name to hate.

And BTW, that science crap proves that Adam & Eve were black!

[Victoria]

Since genitalia, like every other part of a human body, can take a wide variety of forms, some even ambiguous, is the government (republican of course) going to appoint a Lord High Whichiswhat to narrowly determine which is what?

[PD Pepe]

YOUR SUNDAY SOCIAL UNREST SCENARIOS:

1: On a Dublin-based budget airline a racist bigot refused to sit next to an elderly black woman calling her "an ugly black bastard"
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ryanair-london-flight-racist-man_us_5bcbb441e4b0a8f17eed1de0

2: Mitch McConnell is confronted by angry diners. These poor republicans simply cannot eat in peace anymore. (on Huff Po)

3: Steve King's blatant white nationalist rhetoric.

4: A happy birthday card that smacks of racism but we are told we are barking up the wrong tree here––it's supposed to be funny, people, can't you see that? you liberals, always looking on the dark side of life.

And the sun is out today and the wind is blowing and the chill in the air tells us the warm days are over.

[Ken Winkes]

Repugnant intentions to define out of existence another obstacle reality has placed on path to the Nirvana of Simplicity-this time transgender issues-- prompts me further (not nearly all the way) to list all the ways the Let's Pretend Party chooses to avert their eyes and minds from everything they don't want to know.

So far, though it's quite a list, more items are always welcome. I'm thinking of the list as notes for a sermon yet unwritten.

Global Warming.

Immigration —driven in part by global warming as well as economic globalism

Population growth…and pressure on and depletion of natural resources…

The obvious effects of crony capitalism….inequality….with its own political and social consequences….all ultimately antithetical to democracy...here and abroad

Poverty here at home

Tax policy

Uneven distribution of medical services

An entire country superimposed on a place where Palestinians had lived for centuries

Transgender--defined out of existence

And associated thoughts: The go-to LPP's response each time out: Blame the victims… usually someone with a different religion or skin color like those now moving north from a disintegrating Central America...

And

How much of the LPP's reaction to these situations and events is cynical manipulation of the ignorant….and/or do they choose ignorance out of a general inability to ask fundamental questions or look beyond the moment? Is that severe handicap endemic to the way even the party's leaders think?

[Marvin Schwalb]

“Trump’s action [pulling out of the Paris agreement] could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of 250C and raining sulphuric acid,” Stephen Hawking told BBC News.

[safari]

I'm really feeling for our Saudi allies this weekend...

At every step of their evolutionary lie, Donald has stepped in front of news cameras, with the crumbling credibility of his office behind him and declared himself to be satisfied with the Saudis and their latest version of their "alternative facts" campaign.

Meanwhile, the Saudis are likely sitting in Riyadh with Fox "News" glued to their boob tube (good lord, er, Mohammed! Not boobs! Make that the teevee) just as much as Trump is, whenever he isn't getting dressed to go push blatant lies in front of cameras.

But after each time declaring himself satisfied with the latest Saudi lies, he comes back on after commercial break to declare, "It's not enough", or "We need to find out more" while "the investigation continues."

The Saudis obviously need to dispatch an agent to Donny's bedside because he always parrots what was last relayed into his decaying dome. If dissenters keep getting their word in, he'll never be satisfied with their latest "facts", and the Saudis will need to throw more egg on their faces to please the presidunce*. Maybe Jared can hold down pillow talk duties.

[MAG]

The Crown Prince is shocked! Shocked, I tell you! according to a breaking WAPO headline.

[Ken Winkes]

Sadly, it seems the Sunday comics are less funny every year, so this AM I turned to Douthat, often good for a laugh.

Today's column was no laughing matter so I fired this off:

"Don't have the time to read all the comments on this silly piece and suspect I'm only one of many who tried to point out the obvious to Mr. Douthat, who is so mired in his Catholicism that he can't perceive such obvious realities as the general, far-reaching effects of an ever-growing human population on a planet not getting any bigger.

I will mention only two, both of which already have implications and effects that only the willfully blind do not see: Global warming and diminished resources worldwide.

Combined with and directly related to population growth, these two trends have already created the immense movements of peoples that so worry conservatives both here and abroad, and that have fueled white nationalism everywhere.

Glaciers melt, usable water and other resources are harder to find, droughts persist, storms wrack population centers, people flee, political disorder heightens and strong men rise to quell it.

What we're seeing is the Irish potato famine writ large. Disturbing enough to those who wanted to send the thousands of Irish Catholics who emigrated to the U.S. back to their country, those numbers were smaller than the tens of millions now displaced around the world.

Even more disturbing to some (like Mr Douthat?), the millions now displaced by burgeoning populations, the changing climate, attendant pressures on resources and the wars that inevitably result. are most often not even white or Christian.

And the answer is more white children.

Really?"

[AuntHattie]

(Some) Seeing The Light
(Hallelujah?)

<< Pastor Doug Pagitt, the executive director of Vote Common Good, on Sunday published an op-ed in USA Today encouraging fellow an evangelical Christians to rethink their support of Trump, warning they “are trading their moral core for anti-abortion gains.” >>

https://www.alternet.org/evangelical-pastor-blasts-religious-leaders-trading-their-moral-core-support-trumps-gop-antithetical

[PD Pepe]

Voting suppression for Blacks & others? Problem solved: Trevor Noah urges them to register as Republicans but once in the voting booth they vote Democratic. Sounds like a plan, my man.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trevor-noah-scheme-voter-suppression_us_5bc99e6fe4b0d38b5876e1c6