The Commentariat -- Sept. 19, 2015
Internal links removed.
Michael Gordon & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "As the first Russian combat aircraft arrived in Syria, the Obama administration reached out to Moscow on Friday to try to coordinate actions in the war zone and avoid an accidental escalation of one of the world's most volatile conflicts. The diplomatic initiative amounted to a pivot for the Obama administration, which just two weeks ago delivered a stern warning to the Kremlin that its military buildup in Syria risked an escalation of the civil war there or even an inadvertent confrontation with the United States. Last week, President Obama condemned Russia's move as a 'strategy that's doomed to failure.'" CW: I was thinking earlier today that the only possibility of a solution to the Syrian crisis would come via an agreement between Russia & Western powers. What that solution might be, however, escapes me as the Syrian population itself is fanatically fractured. ...
... Dan Bilefsky of the New York Times: "As key nations tighten their borders, thousands of migrants and asylum seekers hoping to enter Western Europe are now bottled up in the Balkans, placing precarious new burdens on a region of lingering sectarian divisions that is exceptionally ill prepared to handle the crisis that has been shunted to it. More than 17,000 migrants have entered Croatia since Wednesday, and were essentially trapped there, having been blocked from Hungary, sent packing from Serbia and unable to move on to Slovenia. The migrants have become a sloshing tide of humanity, left to flow wherever the region's conflicting and constantly changing border controls channel them."
Jonathan Soble of the New York Times: "In a middle-of-the night vote that capped a tumultuous struggle with opposition parties in Parliament, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan secured final passage of legislation on Saturday authorizing overseas combat missions for his country's military, overturning a decades-old policy of reserving the use of force for self-defense." CW: Not a great day for peace.
White House: "In this week's address, the President discussed the significant progress we have made in our economy since the financial crisis seven years ago this week, and the steps we can take to build on that momentum and strengthen the economy for the long term":
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Obama is nominating Eric K. Fanning, a close civilian adviser to Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, to be the secretary of the Army, an appointment that would make him the first openly gay secretary of a military branch. Mr. Fanning has been the acting under secretary of the Army as the current secretary, John McHugh, prepares to leave his post." CW: Sooner or later, a person's sexual orientation will not appear in a lede. ...
... Oh, or in the headline, as it appears in the WashPo: "Obama to nominate first openly gay service secretary to lead the Army."
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Army general who carried out an investigation last year into the alleged desertion of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl believes that a jail sentence would be 'inappropriate,' despite the massive search caused by him walking away from his unit's outpost in Afghanistan. Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl testified Friday in Bergdahl's case that he found the soldier 'unrealistically idealistic' about other people and remorseful for the massive search his actions caused."
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The House passed two abortion-related bills Friday, including one that would strip federal health-care funding from Planned Parenthood for one year, but it remains unclear whether the votes would appease conservatives who have threatened a government shutdown over the organization." ...
... Gail Collins on the confederates' fight for unplanned parenthood.
Joe Nocera on the GOP jobs-killing extremists who refuse to allow a vote to reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank "... led by the House Financial Services Committee's chairman, Jeb Hensarling.... The Ex-Im Bank, which insures and sometimes finances export sales, had to stop making deals at the end of June, when its reauthorization deadline came and went."
Coral Davenport & Stewart Ewing of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Friday directed Volkswagen to recall nearly a half-million cars, saying the automaker illegally installed software in its diesel-power cars to evade standards for reducing smog."
** Wendell Berry, in the Louisville Courier-Journal (Sept.10): "Obama's election has brought about a revival of racism.... The President must be opposed, not on this or that issue, but upon all issues. This opposition is often expressed in tones of contempt, not only of the President himself, but of the office he holds so long as it is held by him.... Elected officials or candidates seeking the support or the votes of racists do not need to question the authenticity of Mr. Obama's birth certificate or to call him a Muslim, a communist, a nazi, or a traitor. They need only to stand silently by while such slurs and falsehoods are loudly voiced in public by others.... Their silence declares that no truth or dignity is worth as much as a vote.... This subtilized racism is not only a perhaps unignorable lure to Republican politicians; it can also be noticeably corrupting to Democrats. In Kentucky, for example..., if the President comes into the state to visit, some Democratic candidates ... become conspicuously busy elsewhere.... The paramount fact of this moment in the history of racism is that you don't have to denominate the President by a recognized racial slur when his very name can be used as a synonym." CW: Many thanks to contributor Janice for bringing Berry's essay to our attention. ...
... CW: I continue to think the virulent opposition to President Obama is about tribalism. Racism, sexism, homophobia, Christianism (all all the other "ism"s are subsets of tribalism. Tribalism itself is a function of individuality, a group affirmation of our own selves. The more people are like me, the better they are. Each of us needs to feel special & laudable, even if we are fairly ordinary. Simply being unique, which each of us is, is not enough. We seek out others who will affirm our superiority. So when a celebrity like Donald Trump says of a completely reprehensible asshole, "I like this guy," as he did of the fellow who wanted to "get rid of" Mooslums -- including Obama -- Trump knew what he was doing. Trump was affirming that jerk's personal excellence. Right now that jerk is at home boasting to his fellow jerks that a prominent presidential candidate is "looking into" ways to deal with the "problems" the civic-minded jerk brought to the fore. The jerk is momentarily special within his own tribe. For Trump, as for the the jerk, mission accomplished. An ideal transaction has occurred, wherein both parties "won." That we as a nation lose every time such a transaction occurs, is immaterial to both of them. ...
... CW BTW: Nobody, including Trump, said a word about the next questioner Trump called on; he described CNN as the "Clinton News Network." Sexism, if just subtle enough, is so common that it does not merit comment. ...
... ** Catherine Thompson of TPM: "White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Friday spoke out forcefully against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump's failure to correct a voter who called President Barack Obama a Muslim, turning his criticism into a harsh indictment of Republicans at large":
... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "Trump ... went well beyond not defending the President: he affirmed an attack on the millions of Muslim Americans who are as much a part of the national community as anyone else." ...
... Brian Beutler: "There's no sense in giving Trump a pass on this, but it's worth keeping in mind that this isn't a Trump problem. It's ... a Republican politician problem. The Republican interest in Trump's dishonorable conduct is deeply selective.... These outbursts spill over into racist conspiracy theories frequently enough that the politicians really ought to have pat reprimands at the ready.... And Trump isn't even close to the only politician who fails this test...."
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post provides some background on those Islamic "terrorist training camps." CW: I found Bump's report pretty interesting, because for many years I owned a cottage in the same town as the "national headquarters" of Muslim terrorism, & the only times I felt in any sort of danger was when white murderers escaped from local prisons (which they did with some regularity). That is, the scary people around Deposit, New York, look a lot more like that Trump fan than like the Muslim terrorists of his imagination.
... when the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one. -- Rep. Paul Gosar (RTP), a Roman Catholic
... Mike DeBonis: "Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) said in an op-ed published Friday on Townhall.com that he" is boycotting Pope Francis's address to Congress. Because climate change, Islam, persecuted Christians, etc. CW: I'm sure Gosar will be missed. Thanks, Arizona! ...
... CW: It won't matter to Gosar (who asked for & was denied a private audience with the Pope for the purpose of scolding His Holiness & giving him Gosar-vetted talking points), but for the hell-bent infidels who are interested in knowing what Francis will be doing in the U.S., the New York Times has published his general schedule here. ...
... Gosar reminds Hunter of Daily Kos that "... all the elements for the ascension of true fascism are now in place among the top ranks of the American right. The adaptation of pseudo-'Christian' rhetoric to promote movement goals (expansionist interventionism, hyper-nationalism, xenophobia, a focus on 'true' members of the nation versus the undesirable intellectual, political, religious and ethnic 'others') while actual Christian thought is marginalized as "leftist" and even dangerous...." CW: The scariest people in the U.S. are not Mooslums living in the countryside; they are so-called Christians wielding power in Washington, D.C.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: In the person of Jeffrey Lord, a former Reagan political operator, CNN has its very own paid Trump supporter. Lord doesn't think Trump should apologize for letting that jerk claim that President Obama was a foreign Muslim until Barack Obama apologizes for not leading his congregation to fire the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. CW: That doesn't even makes sense. But then, why should a Trump supporter make sense? It's not his job. And why should CNN suddenly stop hiring political hacks? That would completely upend their "news" model.
Presidential Race
Lisa Mascaro & Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: "Hillary Rodham Clinton's rivals in the Democratic primary have been demanding for weeks that the party hold more presidential debates than the scant six that are planned, and on Friday they got a big boost when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said she agrees with them.... When asked about the schedule, Clinton campaign officials have repeatedly said it is not up to them, that it is controlled by the Democratic National Committee. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has repeatedly said the issue is closed. But Pelosi's comments put more pressure on the DNC to reopen it."
Washington Post Editors: "Instead of the responsible discussion one would hope to hear from those asking to be entrusted with the fate of the country, the candidates [at Wednesday's GOP presidential debate] by and large exacerbated the threat of a shutdown with inflammatory pandering on the subject of Planned Parenthood. Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina all seemed willing to force a government shutdown based on invective and deceptive claims.... Mr. Cruz labeled the family planning provider an 'ongoing criminal enterprise' and said the videos show Planned Parenthood officials 'bartering and selling the body parts of human beings ... essentially [confessing] to multiple felonies.' Mr. Christie referred to the 'systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts.' Ms. Fiorina challenged President Obama and Hillary Clinton to view the tapes and 'watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.' Those characterizations are false."
Emily Atkin of Think Progress: "Donald Trump imagines a world where regular citizens can buy automatic weapons; where gun owners can hide their weapons in any state; where there are no expanded background checks for gun purchases; and where citizens fight crime with their own assault rifles. That's at least according to Trump's position statement on guns, which he released on Friday. In it, the Republican presidential candidate laid out a vision on the Second Amendment similar to the one held by the National Rifle Association, which opposes new gun control measures and advocates instead for stricter enforcement of existing laws."
Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Donald Trump canceled his appearance Friday evening at a major campaign stop for the GOP presidential field in South Carolina as he faces criticism from both Republican and Democratic candidates over his failure to address claims that President Obama is a Muslim and 'not even an American.'" Trump's campaign claimed "a significant business transaction" prevented him from attending the event.
Patrick Healy of the New York Times: Donald "Trump said in an interview that he was prepared to spend $100 million or more to become the Republican nominee and that most of it would go to galvanizing voter support in states with early nominating contests. While he boasted last month that he would spend $1 billion if need be, he said that a realistic amount would be far less and that he would count on the national Republican Party for financial help if he became the nominee." ...
... Benjamin Wallace-Wells of New York: Donald "Trump's pledge, remarkably modest, is simply to replace one terrible set of elites with another, amazing one.... Trump is a candidate of fury in a time when, relatively speaking, no one in his base really has it too bad." ...
... Dana Milbank earns his Village People creds: "Probably the most encouraging development [during Wednesday's debate] was the candidates' willingness to support each other in calling out Trump's boorishness.... It raises hope that Trump will indeed succeed in making America great again -- by motivating Americans, even fellow conservatives and Republicans, to repudiate his nonsense." CW: Yes, won't it be grand to get back to talking about how big a tax break we should give the rich?
Jeb! The One Honest Politician Donald Trump Could Not Buy! Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post on Donald Trump's unsuccessful efforts to change Florida gaming laws: "Trump, who has made his successful business negotiations central to his presidential campaign, has never won the legal right to build a casino in Florida.... Trump has said he knows most elected officials have been bought by donors -- because he used to be the one doing the buying. But in Florida, [Jeb] Bush remained a steadfast opponent of expanded gambling [even tho Trump held a fundraiser for him]. That outcome ... highlights Trump's tendency to obscure his business failures as he portrays himself as a perpetual winner.... Trump's interest in a casino in Florida, however, has not faded. He hired a lobbyist to press for the idea again after he purchased the Doral Resort & Spa in Miami in 2012. For the past two years, Trump has backed bills in the Florida legislature that would allow the creation of 'destination resorts,' high-end casinos at a handful of luxury Miami hotels."
Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast: "... uh... did anybody listen to the substance of what [Carly Fiorina] said [during the debate]?... Fiorina's military buildup would add $500 billion to an already historically huge Pentagon budget. But it's far worse than that. This woman is a crackpot warmonger who would start World War III. No -- III and IV. I could barely believe what I was hearing.... She's an absolute madwoman." ...
She's the face of income inequality and the face of corporate greed... She makes Mitt Romney look like a Democrat.... I've had 11 consecutive victories. I have run against Democrats, Republicans, men, women, people of all ages. She was by far the most mean-spirited opponent I ever had. -- Sen. Barbara Boxer, on Carly Fiorina
... Seema Mehta of the Los Angeles Times: "Sen. Barbara Boxer lashed out at Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Friday, saying that the woman she defeated in 2010 is a 'mean-spirited,' failed business leader who cared more about enriching herself than about working Americans." ...
... Sarah Kliff of Vox tried twice to get Fiorina's campaign to show her those Planned Parenthood videos Fiorina claimed during the debate she had seen, & twice failed. The campaign sent her other footage of other videos unrelated to Planned Parenthood & not necessarily of aborted fetuses. "'Rest assured, I have seen the images I talked about last night,' [Fiorina] told Good Morning America Thursday morning. If these images Fiorina says she's seen do exist, she still has not shared them." ...
... Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones (and others) found it amusing that Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz & Donald Trump suggested Rosa Parks become the first woman to appear on U.S. currency inasmuch as Parks was a board member of Planned Parenthood....
... CW: But their choice of Parks was even more amusing when you consider that Parks was a lifelong political activist, & hardly the meek but principled seamstress who must occupy the empty minds of Rubio, Cruz & Trump. Jeanne Theoharis in the Huffington Post (February 2013):
She worked alongside the Black Power movement, particularly around issues such as reparations, black history, anti-police brutality, freedom for black political prisoners, independent black political power, and economic justice.... She was an early opponent of the Vietnam War in the early 1960s, a member of The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom..., she protested apartheid and U.S. complicity..., and opposed U.S. policy in Central America.
News Lede
AP: "Jackie Collins, the bestselling author of dozens of novels including 'Hollywood Wives' that dramatized the lives of the rich and treacherous, has died. Publicist Melody Korenbrot says Collins died of breast cancer on Saturday in Los Angeles. She was 77."
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Reader Comments (5)
I detest The Donald J. Trumpet as much as (I am sure) do all of you! He is a narcissistic sociopath, and that is just for openers. However, I have a (conspiracy) theory that is seeming more probable to me as I think about it and rematch the town hall tape.
To Wit: I believe the Republican "Dirty Tricks" Team (is Karl Rove still part of that?) planted the guy at the Trump town hall in New Hampshire Thursday night to make the Obama/Muslim assertion, and speak about Obama's plan for "re education camps" in America. Not that people just as crazy were not in attendance, but I listened to the guy yelling to be recognized--before Trump turned to him and said "I like this guy, go ahead." When the guy started his rant, Trump paled. I think he knew he had been had! After that, he could not get out of there fast enough--not a usual Trump move--and did not stop to shake hands or sign autographs.
I admit--this is only my theory. No proof, for sure. However, we all know establishment Republicans are foaming at the mouth over The Donald, and would likely stop at nothing--short of assassination--to get rid of him. Stay tuned in to see what happens in the polls.
Good Morning Kate and all,
Your theory is certainly plausible. Though I wonder how any of the others would have reacted put in the same situation as Le Donald faced. It's hard to imagine any of them simply and forthrightly declaring that Obama is a Christian born in Hawaii. Nearly half of the electorate, and a large majority of GOP primary voters, have bought the birther's lies. It's a core belief of the party base, and all the candidates must live in fear of having directly to contradict it. They'll snipe at each other, but acquiesce in any fantasy that the sacred base has bought.
That's the problem with living on lies, it's not easy to stop. The long list of GOP fantasies that Akhilleus posted yesterday are sacred truths to the base, and conservatives hate heretics. They like to burn them.
On a lighter note,
Since Marie often links items of interest to the Space Cadets among us, I hope she will allow the following Public Service Announcement:
Tonight is International Observe the Moon Night.
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/observe_the_moon_night/
Events are held around the world, check the link for local listings.
I will be at Quiet Waters Park near Annapolis Maryland with other members of the Astronomy Club of Southern Maryland. Forecast is fine, but indoor events will be held regardless of weather. Any CWs in the area, please stop by and say hello. Easy to spot me, I'm the guy with the biggest one. Telescope, that is.
I am still confident that Trump's candidacy will be defeated by the GOP money machine. The goal of the contemporary GOP is entirely at odds with democracy. Trump doesn't have the interests of the real moneyed elite at heart. I'm pretty convinced the Koch brothers and their ilk have one ideology, to make more money by any means necessary. I suspect they couldn't care less about abortion or God. The other issues like women and minority rights or voting rights are of interest only in service of their main goal.
Trump is a narcissist. His strategy is just how outrageous he can be, like a toddler who insists on smearing poop all over until he's stopped. Acting out rather than ideology. For other candidates, personal megalomania takes different forms; Cruz, "I just want to rule the world as is my right", Huckabee, "I'm the 2nd coming, God damn it!", Bush, "But, but, but I'm a Bush!", Rubio, "Ola, look at me, I'm an Hispanic and I know heartache because of my father's made up story!", Paul, "FREEEEEDOM, I'll get back to you with the details", Carson, "I'm so not an angry black guy that I'm considered almost white" Christie, "I'm a thunderous bully and boy can I keep those bad Russians, Muslims and North Koreans in line", Fiorina, "I'm an extremely vicious person who will tell any lie necessary, back up all you little people or risk being stomped into the ground."
Everyday I am more and more mortified with the ignorance, viciousness, and self aggrandizement that is on display to the world by these GOP candidates fomented and amplified by our media.
I am excited to know that I am sort of the adopted daughter of Rosa Parks...well, not really, but for years my mother belonged to WILPF and various other organizations-- for all I know, they could have crossed paths. My mother was ahead of her time, a feminist, a radical leftist, someone who worried about the Negro community in her various southern communitites, and a real role model. Unfortunately, her life was cut short in her seventies and eighties by Alzheimers, and I lost her long before I actually lost her. She would have sat on that bus with Rosa, had she the chance. I wish her daughter was her equal.