The Commentariat -- Sept. 6, 2015
Defunct video removed.
Alison Smale of the New York Times: "Pope Francis on Sunday called on every parish, religious community, monastery and sanctuary in Europe to shelter refugees fleeing 'death from war and hunger,' adding that the Vatican's two parishes would lead the way by taking in two families." ...
... Katrin Bennhold, et al., of the New York Times: "Germans waving welcome signs in German, English and Arabic came to the train station [in Munich] Saturday to greet the first group of what is expected to be about 8,000 migrants to arrive in Germany by early Sunday, after an arduous and emotional journey through Hungary and Austria. Germans applauded and volunteers offered hot tea, food and toys as about 450 migrants arrived on a special train service from Austria, finally reaching Germany, which had held out an open hand to them." ...
... Griff Witte & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "A column of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty made it to Western Europe on Saturday, after forcing Hungary's anti-immigrant leaders to yield in a days-long campaign to turn them back. But with a fresh rush of migrants at Europe's borders, the broader refugee crisis only looked to be worsening." ...
... Ian Traynor of the Guardian: "Europe’s meltdown in the face of its biggest post-1945 immigration emergency is generating the worst east-west split since the Iraq war.... On Thursday Germany and France ordered the European commission to come up with a new 'permanent' and binding regime for spreading the refugee load around all of the 28 countries in the union. [British PM] David Cameron and home secretary Theresa May want nothing to do with the scheme and have absented themselves from the policymaking, carping from the sidelines. On Friday the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic told Paris and Berlin to get stuffed, arguing that west European-style multiculturalism is nothing but trouble and that they have no intention of repeating the same mistakes.... On Wednesday [the commission] president, Jean-Claude Juncker, will unveil proposals obliging at least 22 countries with a combined population of almost 400 million to absorb 160,000 people from Italy, Greece and Hungary, which are struggling with influxes from the Middle East and Africa." ...
... Der Spiegel: "This year has seen a sharply increased number of attacks on asylum hostels in Germany, many of them perpetrated by right-wing extremists. Officials are concerned that neo-Nazi networks may be spreading across the country." ...
... Der Spiegel: "The attacks on refugee hostels in Germany have reached a shocking level this year. By July 6, there were fully 199 of them, and the attacks have shown no signs of stopping. At the same time, though, Germans seem more willing to help than ever before. They visit refugee hostels, bringing along clothes and toys. They cook together with the Syrians and Sudanese. They invite migrant boys to join the football teams where their own children play. Which Germany will prevail?" ...
... David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Pleas for more aggressive American-led rescue measures seem all the more futile given the failures to reach a consensus on the country's own immigration problems, made vivid in the simmering debate over policing the border with Mexico and calls by a leading Republican presidential candidate to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants." ...
... Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: Rich Gulf nations that won't aid Syrian refugees angry at critics.
Jana Kasperkevic of the Guardian on what has changed for American women -- and what hasn't -- since Hillary Clinton gave her speech on women's rights in Beijing.
Bob Cesca, in Salon: "... the GOP appears to be getting behind the idea that both public and private sector workers can refuse to do their jobs with impunity as long as they can recite a biblical verse to back it up." ...
... What Kim Davis & David Koch Have in Common. Elias Isquith of Salon: "... just as a socialist and a liberal can differ on many things but still share a fundamental belief in the legitimacy of redistribution, so too can conservatives find common ground in the 'defense of power and privilege.' As [Kim] Davis and her Republican champions show us, if there's one organizing principle to conservatism, that -- and not law, order, gradualism or liberty -- is it."
Presidential Race
Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Twenty years to the day since her iconic address on women's rights in a suburb of Beijing, Hillary Clinton delivered a stirring speech on gender issues in America while casting her Republican rivals as decidedly anti-women. And for those who might accuse her of playing the gender card, Clinton repeated a simple message: 'Deal me in.' Clinton spoke before more than a thousand supporters on Saturday at a launch event for 'Women for Hillary' in New Hampshire, touching upon many of the familiar themes of her presidential campaign -- equal pay for women, paid family leave, raising the minimum wage."
Beyond the Beltway
Reuters: "A high school football player in Louisiana died from injuries he sustained on the field during a game, officials told Reuters on Saturday. Tyrell Cameron, 16, a student at Franklin Parish High School in north-east Louisiana, was wheeled off the field on a stretcher after he was injured during the fourth quarter on Friday night, Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb said in an interview. Tyrell was pronounced dead later at a local hospital, Cobb said."
Way Beyond
Veit Medick of Der Spiegel: Jim Messina, "who organized Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and this year orchestrated British Prime Minister David Cameron's spectacular, nail-biting win, is now getting into German politics. Messina has agreed to a consulting job in Berlin: He wants to help the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) beat Chancellor Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democrats in the next national election in 2017."
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On Democracy in Kansas:
On Wednesday, a district court in Kansas ruled against the Brownback regime and threw out a law trying to change who can appoint judges. Earlier this year, however, Brownback and his cronies slipped a provision in a different law effectively cutting off funding for the entire state's court system if this law was overturned by the courts.
Only thanks to a last minute emergency injunction by the state's attorney general (a Republican, obviously) to rule that the other law is in fact legal, the judicial branch of Kansas is still operating. Otherwise, technically speaking the budget for the judicial system in Kansas should have had its financing cut to $0.00.
Now the Republicans are trying to play down the insanity saying that the legal battles and court cases trying to right the wrongs will take so long that lawmakers will have plenty of time to scheme up another way to blackmail judges over their salaries and livelihoods.
Brownbackers (and today's Confederates) want a wholly partisan government, purged of all dissent, with an executive branch on a holy mission of Winger Thought and an ideologically extreme legislative branch wheeling and dealing, free from the constraints of law and order has perversely paved the way for them to gain their stranglehold of the system.
It's quite amazing that this story isn't getting more press than it is. We have a state government legislating the death of an entire branch of government. How is this compatible with Democracy?
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/the-court-case-that-could-shut-down-kansass-courts/403957/#disqus_thread
At the request of the League of Conservation Voters, just sent this to my Congresscritters:
"Those who don't like the Endangered Species Act and would like to see it weakened or dismissed entirely are the same people who prefer that all environmental changes that measure man's impact on the planet go unnoticed. To them ignorance is bliss, as it often is....for a short time.
But ignoring reality is not dealing with it, and as Stephen Crane said more than 100 years ago, the Universe doesn't much care if we notice what's real or not.
That's up to us, and to you."
Crane's words were, as I remember them: "A man said to the Universe, 'Sir, I exist!' "However,' replied the Universe, 'that his not created in Me a sense of obligation.'"
Have always appreciated that sentiment, and as I recalled them this AM I naturally thought of REALITY Chex, the CW and the entire circle of commenters who share their thoughts here. I think Crane would be pleased.
Just a note of appreciation to all who make my day, every day, prompted in part because I'll be off the net for the next five weeks or so.
Memo to the Christian Right on refugee crisis:
Matthew 25:35–40
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’"
Oh well, I hear the Huckster is going to visit Kim in jail. I guess that counts.
Happy Sunday,
Sunday afternoon reading. I'm a fan of Pro Publica and they have a series of articles in an ongoing story on the Red Cross. Their record of transparency was abysmal in regard to the assistance rendered as a result of massive donations for the Haitian and Sandy Hook disasters. Additionally, it appears that there is an effort to block investigations into the why and wherefore. From afar, I always wondered what black hole all that $ went into, because the Haitians still seem in pretty bad shape.
It reminds me of my long deceased father's hatred of the Red Cross which stemmed from his return from the South Pacific after WWII. He told the story that the Red Cross was on the docks at San Francisco when the large troop ships returned. They had coffee and doughnuts for the troops. However, they were charging for them. Dad said several large coffee vats ended up in the Bay.
http://www.propublica.org/series/red-cross
@Diane-
I have heard similar tales about the Red Cross. I do think they do their Blood Bank well, but that is it. Red Cross "administrative" costs are a farce--highly paid executives who stay in their offices and do not venture into "the field."
I think the best charities are those who have boots on the ground all over the world. My favorites: Doctors Without Borders and Mercy Corps. Both have low administrative costs, and keep permanent staff in refugee camps and many 3rd World countries. They also do not spend millions on advertising and "waving the flag!"
@Diane: my father was also in the Pacific theater. He did not talk about his experiences and he passed away many years ago. Just recently I filed forms to retrieve his military records. To my dismay I learned that records of most WWII veterans and indeed their predecessors and successors spanning years on either side had been destroyed in a fire at the records center. Evidently records were all kept in one place with no backups. This was bureaucracy at its worse- it saddened me not to have at least some record of my dad's sacrifice.
@Victoria. Oh No! I have just decided to request my Dad's records from the National Archive. It seems that as I age, it becomes more important. I have some of his papers, ribbons, purple heart, photos and he was a wonderful story teller, but I did want the official records.