The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705
Thursday
Jun162016
The Commentariat -- June 17, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Dozens of Republican convention delegates are hatching a new plan to block Donald Trump at this summer's party meetings, in what has become the most organized effort so far to stop the businessman from becoming the GOP nominee. The delegates are angered by Trump's recent comments on gun control, his racial attacks on a federal judge and his sinking poll numbers. They are convinced that Trump is an insufficiently conservative candidate and believe they will find enough like-minded Republicans within the next month to change party rules and allow delegates to vote for whomever they want, regardless of who won their state caucus or primary.
Right Wing Extremism Around the World. BBC: "Police investigating the killing of MP Jo Cox have said they are prioritising inquiries into the suspect's possible links to right-wing extremism. Mrs Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed outside her constituency surgery in West Yorkshire on Thursday. A 52-year-old man has been arrested. The BBC understands Nazi regalia was recovered at suspect Tommy Mair's home. -- Akhilleus
Marco, Marco, Marco, Back, Back, Back? Tal Kopan of CNN: "Florida Rep. David Jolly on Friday announced he will pull out of the Republican primary to replace Sen. Marco Rubio. Jolly instead will for reelection to his seat in Congress, citing 'unfinished business' in an email to supporters Friday afternoon. He said he had been convinced to run for Senate by insiders who told him redistricting made his reelection to the House too difficult, but decided he wanted to continue doing the job he has. The move, though, comes as Rubio has in recent days signaled he might accede to pressure to run for reelection to his seat." ...
Unfinished business my ass. House Republicans haven't done anything in years. What's so important now?Rebecca Ruiz of the New York Times: "Russia's track and field team has been barred from competing in this summer's Rio Games because of a far-reaching doping conspiracy, an extraordinary punishment without precedent in Olympics history. The global governing body for track and field, known as the I.A.A.F., announced the decision on Friday, ruling in a unanimous vote that Russia had not done enough to restore global confidence in the integrity of its athletes.
The Russian doping scandal goes all the way to the top, meaning the government has been involved and is running the program, likely with full knowledge of Vladimir Putin. No wonder Trump loves this guy.*****
Julie Davis of the New York Times: "One by one on Thursday, inside an arena in downtown Orlando where friends and relatives of the victims of the nation's deadliest mass shooting had congregated, Mr. Obama embraced mourners sick with loss. He told them that the nation stood with them and that his own heart was broken, offering words of comfort for a tragedy that he confessed he could not fathom.... His visit to Orlando came four days after the massacre. Accompanied by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr...., the two men took turns hugging and grieving with the scores of people who lost sons, daughters, siblings, partners and friends.... In an emotional statement to reporters before he returned to Washington, Mr. Obama said the encounters with mourners underscored his determination to change the debate over gun restrictions and enact the sort of measures that might have prevented the tragedy." -- CW
Erica Werner of ABC News: "The slaughter in Florida and an attention-grabbing filibuster in the Senate did little to break the election-year stalemate in Congress over guns Thursday, with both sides unwilling to budge and Republicans standing firm against any new legislation opposed by the National Rifle Association.... Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., derided [Sen. Chris] Murphy's [D-Conn.] filibuster as a 'campaign talk-a-thon' that did nothing but delay potential votes.... It's the same exercise the Senate has engaged in time and again after mass shootings.... But Democrats have been unable to turn the tide of public opinion [favoring gun control] to their purpose because the NRA is able to mobilize and energize voters who will threaten to vote lawmakers out on the gun issue alone. This past week, the NRA made robo-calls in Pennsylvania urging people to contact their senators and 'express their strong opposition to any new gun control laws.' In the GOP-controlled House, Republicans had no plans to act on guns and Democrats were unable to force any action...." -- CW ...
... New York Times Editors: "Few places on earth make it easier than the United States for a terrorist to buy assault weapons to mow down scores of people in a matter of minutes.... Yet yet the N.R.A. ... clings to the absurd fantasy that a heavily-armed populace is the best way to keep Americans safe. That failed in Orlando, where an armed security guard was on the scene but could not stop the slaughter. The gun industry lobbyists may be beyond reason, but the lawmakers have a duty to respond to their constituents. Unfortunately, after each new massacre, far too many offer nothing more than condolences and moments of silence. That silence is killing us." -- CW ...
... How an Unhinged, Grumpy Old Man (and Sore Loser) Runs for Re-election. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ... said President Obama was 'directly responsible' for the terror attack in Orlando due to his failure to combat the rise of the Islamic State terror group. McCain's statement goes beyond the criticism of Obama that has been leveled by his Republican colleagues in the Senate, and it follows remarks made this week by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.... In a statement released Thursday afternoon after the comments were publicized, McCain said he 'misspoke.'... The likely Democratic nominee in [McCain's Senate] race, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, issued a statement Thursday saying McCain 'cross[ed] a dangerous line in comments that undermine our Commander in Chief on national security issues -- at the very moment the president was in Orlando to comfort victims' families.'" -- CW ...
... Michael McAuliff of the Huffington Post: "McCain has long blamed Obama for the quagmire in the Middle East while ignoring the previous president’s rush to war in Iraq, which set off the conflicts that gave birth in 2004 to the group now known as ISIS or ISIL as a branch of al Qaeda, which used the conflict to gain a foothold in Iraq." -- CW ...
...Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "There's a good reason why McCain would ignore guns and focus on foreign policy. According to data from the Center of Responsive Politics, no member of Congress has received more direct and indirect support from the National Rifle Association than the $7.7 million that has gone to McCain over the course of his career." --safari...
... Emily Crockett of Vox: "At a Monday vigil in Salt Lake City for the victims of the Orlando shooting, Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox [R] gave a moving, tearful speech apologizing to the LGBTQ community for treating them poorly in his early life, and expressing gratitude to them for helping him realize the error of his ways." -- CW
... The New York Times story, by David Victor, is here. ...
... Frank Rich: "Republican politicians always speak warmly of the LGBT community after its members are the victims of a horrific crime. Nonetheless, it took [Speaker Paul] Ryan until Tuesday to acknowledge that gay people -- or 'the gays,' as Trump calls them -- were targeted in Orlando. It took Rick Scott, the Republican governor of Florida, until Wednesday. There's nothing to suggest that such politicians' belated expressions of sympathy with the gay victims of a terror attack will change their anti-LGBT acts of public policy." -- CW ...
... Holly Yan, et al., of CNN: "The Orlando shooter and his wife exchanged text messages during the Pulse nightclub rampage, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told CNN.... [Noor] Salman is coming under increasing scrutiny.... Salman apparently gave conflicting accounts about what she knew of Mateen's intentions in the hours before the attack, authorities said." -- CW ...
... Katie Zavadski, et al., of the Daily Beast: Omar Mateen was a poor student who had a violent temper & was often disciplined in school. CW: I find it creepy that news organizations have quickly gotten hold of a person's grade-school records. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to see a report in the newspaper of my 6th-grade shenanigans. ...
... David Brooks, who bills himself as a "public intellectual," has another, well, God-awful column about god & religion. But he gets this much right: "For the religious person it's about God. For the terrorist, it's about himself. When Omar Mateen was in the midst of his rampage, he was posting on Facebook and calling a TV station. His audience was us, not the Divine." -- CW
... Tony Dokoupil of NBC News: The family of Eugene Stoner, who invented the AR-15, said he never intended it for civilian use. "The ex-Marine and 'avid sportsman, hunter and skeet shooter' never used his invention for sport. He also never kept it around the house for personal defense. In fact, he never even owned one. And though he made millions from the design, his family said it was all from military sales.... [The family's] comments could also bolster a groundbreaking new lawsuit, which argues that the weapon is a tool of war -- never intended for civilians." -- CW ...
... digby: "I have been asked how I, as a civil libertarian, could support using the watch list and the no-fly list to keep people from buying guns. My answer is this: I don't think owning guns are a fundamental civil right so if an innocent person is denied a gun, I just don't care.... I believe the right to travel is fundamental, however, so there should be a reformation of the no-fly list and the terrorist watch list should have rights of due process as well. Innocent people should not be caught in a Kafkaesque black hole where they have no right to defend themselves." -- CW...
...Kate Briquelet of The Daily Beast: "Since the Pulse nightclub mass shooting early Sunday, at least 125 people have died in shootings and 269 were injured by guns, statistics show. Five of those incidents were mass shootings, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit tracking America's gun violence. The alleged motives behind the killings are startling." --safari
Mark Landler of the New York Times: "More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration's policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country's five-year-old civil war. The memo ... says American policy has been 'overwhelmed' by the unrelenting violence in Syria. It calls for 'a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process.' Such a step would represent a radical shift in the administration's approach to the civil war in Syria, and there is little evidence that President Obama has plans to change course." -- CW
The War on IQs. David Freedman of The Atlantic: "As recently as the 1950s, possessing only middling intelligence was not likely to severely limit your life's trajectory. IQ wasn't a big factor in whom you married, where you lived, or what others thought of you.... The 2010s, in contrast, are a terrible time to not be brainy.... Even in this age of rampant concern over microaggressions and victimization, we maintain open season on the nonsmart. ... Rather than looking for ways to give the less intelligent a break, the successful and influential seem more determined than ever to freeze them out." --safari
American "Justice", Ctd. Abby Haglage of The Daily Beast: "Four years after chemistAnnie Dookhanwas arrested for falsifying evidence at Massachusetts' state drug lab, less than 1 percent of the 24,000 cases she may have tampered with have been reviewed. Dookhan's story -- of how she tainted drug evidence in criminal investigations on a massive scale -- has been well-documented by local media. But lost in the focus on the chemist herself are the more than 20,000 defendants who may have been wrongfully convicted thanks to her mishandled results." --safari
Bryce Covert of ThinkProgress: "Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) has had enough of the growing movement to drug test poor people who need government assistance. So on Tuesday, she's introducing a bill that she says will make things fairer. Her 'Top 1% Accountability Act' would require anyone claiming itemized tax deductions of over $150,000 in a given year to submit a clean drug test.... Her office has calculated that the people impacted will be those who make at least $500,000 a year. 'By drug testing those with itemized deductions over $150,000, this bill will level the playing field for drug testing people who are the recipients of social programs,' a memo on her bill notes." --safari
Presidential Race
Michael Crowley of Politico: "Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state under George W. Bush, says he will vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, in one of the most dramatic signs yet that Republican national security elites are rejecting their party's presumptive nominee. Armitage, a retired Navy officer who also served as an assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan, is thought by Clinton aides to be the highest-ranking former GOP national security official to openly support Clinton over Trump." -- CW
Two Reports on the Same Event:
1. Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: Bernie Sanders is still running for something. -- CW ...
2. NEW. Or Not. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "During his 23-minute speech live-streamed across the country, Sanders sounded very much like a candidate prepared to drop out of the Democratic presidential race." -- CW
Robert Kagan in a Washington Post op-ed: "Even as they call [Donald Trump] a 'textbook' racist and acknowledge his scant regard for the rule of law, Republican leaders assure voters that the U.S. system of checks and balances will contain their candidate's authoritarian impulses. Congress and the judicial system will keep Trump under control. History and recent events suggest that is a risky proposition.... Never before has a presidential candidate given more reason to fear that he will run roughshod over democratic institutions and abuse the vast powers of the presidency for personal ends.... Anyone looking to Congress to curb the excesses of a President Trump will have to count on the Democrats. Is that the Republican message: Don't worry about Trump, Democrats will protect you? To hope that the judicial system will check Trump may be equally fanciful.... Today, Americans can't simply rely on the system to save them from the possibility of a fascist president. And they certainly can't count on the Republicans who produced this threat in the first place." -- CW ...
... Frank Rich: "... , a year in, there's no point in hoping that feckless Republican elites can or will do anything to stop [Trump]." (Linked above.)
Donald Trump wants to make TV great again. -- Kevin Drum ...
... Coming Soon -- The Trump "News" Channel. Sarah Ellison of Vanity Fair: Donald "Trump is ... considering creating his own media business, built on the audience that has supported him thus far.... He has also discussed the possibility of launching a 'mini-media conglomerate' outside of his existing TV-production business, Trump Productions LLC.... Trump, [a] person close to the matter suggests, has become irked by his ability to create revenue for other media organizations without being able to take a cut himself.... Hope Hicks, Trump's spokeswoman, adamantly denied that such conversations have occurred." -- CW ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... if this is Trump's plan, it makes sense. Perhaps he grasps a truth the official Republican Party has refused to acknowledge: The conservative base is a subculture.... It rejects the moral values of the larger society and wallows within its own imaginary world, in which Barack Obama is a foreign-born agent of anti-American interests, global warming is a lie concocted by greedy scientists or perhaps the Chinese, and hordes of foreigners are rendering the United States unrecognizable." -- CW ...
... Paul Campos is LG&$: "That this is even a plausible hypothesis (and it is) is yet another example of how certain famous cinematic satires can now be enjoyed as prophetic documentaries":
Seth Stevenson of Slate: "Slate reached out to find people who'd worked on The Apprentice during Trump's tenure.... What do they recall about Trump's on-set behavior? It's a lot like his campaign behavior." --safari note: Some pretty revealing quotes included in the interviews. More confirmation that Trump is a disgusting human being.
Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "There are essentially two Republican parties right now: the Party of Donald J. Trump and the Party of House Speaker Paul Ryan -- who has, nonetheless, endorsed Trump for President. One of the ways in which members of the Ryan faction delude themselves is by believing that Ryan's policies would dominate if Trump were President and Ryan remained Speaker of the House." -- CW ...
... "Party before Country." Tim Egan: "They will remember, a century from now, who stood up to the tyrant Donald Trump and who found it expedient to throw out the most basic American values -- the 'Vichy Republicans,' as the historian Ken Burns called them in his Stanford commencement speech.... In this week of trial and tragedy, Trump showed us how he would govern -- by fear, by intimidation, by lies, by turning American against American, by exhibiting all the empathy of a sociopath." -- CW
Meghan Keneally of ABC News on a year of Donald Trump flip-flops. -- CW
Zoya Sheftalovich of Politico.eu: "He once called the Belgian capital city Brussels 'a hellhole,' but U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has changed his tune. 'Belgium is a beautiful city,' Trump said during a rally in Atlanta, Georgia Wednesday. It should be noted that Belgium is a country, not a city." --safari ...
... Ryan Cooper of the Week: "If elected, [Donald Trump] would almost certainly displace Andrew Johnson as the worst president in American history.... Even his image as an enormously successful businessman is an outright fraud.... Aside from xenophobia and racism, [scamming people] is pretty much all Trump knows." -- CW
Sorry I failed to embed this sooner -- CW:
Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "As thousands of Donald Trump supporters streamed out of an evening rally [in Greensboro, North Carolina,] this week, they walked past a handful of vendors from Ohio selling simple white T-shirts featuring Hillary Clinton, Monica Lewinsky and a vulgar joke. The back of the shirts read: 'TRUMP THAT B[ITCH]!... At most of Trump's rallies, there is a palpable hatred of Clinton in the air...." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
In Touch Weekly: "... some members of the Stanford swim team had long been suspicious of Brock Turner, the former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexual assault on an unconscious woman]. Brock's arrest wasn't surprising to anyone on the team. From the beginning, the women swimmers had found him to be very, very odd. Brock would make comments to the women such as 'I can see your t--s in that swimsuit,'" a Stanford swim team insider exclusively reveals, adding that one elite swimmer vowed to never be alone with Brock after witnessing him get drunk at a party. 'He was warned by upperclassmen on the team to scale back on the partying, but he just didn't listen.'" Via Gabriella Paiella of New York. -- CW
Way Beyond
Ma'an News Agency, via Juan Cole: "A controversial new anti-terrorism law passed the Israeli Knesset on Wednesday, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which will grant the Israeli state far-reaching powers in cases of suspected 'terrorism,' in a move a member of the Joint List called 'draconian and unacceptable.' According to Haaretz, the new Israeli law would apply only within Israel and includes a provision expanding the definition of terrorist organization membership to include 'passive members' who are not actively involved in any group, but can now be indicted by Israeli authorities." --safari
Robert Booth, et al., of the Guardian: "The grieving husband of Jo Cox, the Labour MP shot and stabbed to death, has called on people to fight 'the hatred that killed her' as detectives investigated whether her killing was politically motivated. The 41-year-old mother of two young children was the victim of a daylight attack outside her West Yorkshire constituency surgery by a man who, according to two witnesses, shouted 'Britain first' during the assault. The ... killing ... led to the suspension of campaigning for next week's EU referendum until Saturday. Cox had taken part in a high-profile event on Wednesday supporting the remain [in the E.U.] campaign on the river Thames. Police arrested a 52-year-old man, named locally as Thomas Mair, who was described as using an 'old-fashioned' gun and a knife in the attack...." -- CW ...
... The Guardian is updating developments in the story here. ...
... Griff Witte & Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "The man detained by police in connection with the killing of a rising star of British politics had longstanding ties to a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization and, in the past, had ordered a how-to guide for assembling a homemade gun, according to a watchdog group that tracks extremist behavior.... The Daily Telegraph also reported that [the suspect Tommy] Mair had subscribed to a South African magazine published by the White Rhino Club, a pro-apartheid group." -- CW
Paul Krugman: The Brexit vote is a choice between bad & worse.
News Lede
New York Times: "After weeks of battling the Islamic State, Iraqi forces quickly entered central areas of Falluja on Friday, as thousands of civilians fled in a new wave of displacement that has overwhelmed the ability of aid agencies to care for them. Reporting little resistance from Islamic State fighters, counterterrorism forces raised the Iraqi flag over the main government building in central Falluja, about 40 miles west of Baghdad, and they moved on to besiege the city's main hospital."
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Reader Comments (14)
When I listened to the 45 second clip of Senator McCain's comments about "direct responsibility", I was dismayed by his repetitive assertions about "pulling our troops out of Iraq". I was even more dismayed by the repeated absurdity that President Obama's measure and prudent policies, in the Middle East quagmire he inherited, were somehow responsible for Senator McCain's own failure, and that of his Republican colleagues, to introduce a bill in 2004 extending the ban on assault weapons.
As for Iraq, Senator McCain's repeatedly fails to take into account the November 17, 2008 Strategic and Security Framework Agreements negotiated with Iraq by President Bush's administration. These agreements entered into force on January 1, 2009. "Perhaps most significantly, the concluded agreements require the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by December 31, 2011." http://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34531.pdf
Senator McCain's repetitions remind me of those of Marco Rubio in one of the Republican primary debates. The Think Progress article suggests Senator McCain has been fed his sound bite lines.
Speaker Ryan is even worse. Is there no reporter with the courage to ask him whether he (Ryan) thinks there is a constitutional right for a civilian, including veterans like Senator McCain, and this writer, who are not currently subject to the training, control and discipline of a military organization, to own an assault weapon?
With the enormous amount of time and money spent on high level US political discussions, one would hope that sitting leaders and candidates to replace them would demonstrate the ability to THINK.
Marie may well have written about the professionals challenges facing reporters if they ask embarrassing questions. But surely there is a large audience for such commendable, productive efforts.
So I gather by some of the articles written today regarding the filibuster yesterday by Chris Murphy ––15 hours––will be for naught in the end because even though they can bring the amendments up for a vote (and that's a positive––usually filibusters are just looked at as grandstanding and have no results) they aren't going to pass. The NRA's power is astounding. And I'm waiting for an interview with a Republican die-hard gun advocate in which the reporter asks "why would you be against banning assault weapons? " and press that Congress person to admit it's because of MONEY––all those $$$$ they get from those generous folks over in rifle world. Reporters let these jamokes go on and on playing the game of "let's see how long I can bullshit before I'm let off the hook."
Back in the man who would be King's world it appears that his little stint in holding court in Arizona at the home that once belonged to Barry Goldwater is causing a flare up. It's amusing to me that the King would choose this venue–-another indication of tin ear or just plain stupid. I'm not convinced that this candidate is serious about becoming president. I think he's been snookering the Republican Party and the public and enjoying every minute. He keeps sabotaging his candidacy, was supposed to call 20 donors per instruction from Reince P., but only called two and stopped. He's playing a game and when he loses he'll use his fame for something HUGE and profitable.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/why-barry-goldwaters-family-against-donald-trump
By the way–– saw Donald Trump Jr. on Fox and was amazed at his rapid speech––seemed a wee bit unhinged to me.
Assholes will always be with us.
But for a major party candidate for the office of the President of the United States to promote assholism, as well as racism, misogyny, hatred, foulness, and debasing the public discourse to the level of a drunken frat party? We have arrived at a strange new place, boys and girls. The trip has been down, all down. The story about the Ozytrumpias rally in North Carolina (linked above) where assholes line up to pay money to serve as walking billboards for misogynistic incivility, wearing t-shirts that say "Trump that Bitch" and "Hillary sucks but not like Monica", is one of the more depressing outcomes of Drumpf's ego campaign, an assault not just on intelligence and critical thinking, but common decency and decorum. Politics ain't beanbags but it doesn't have to be dumpster diving.
Even worse than the insulting stupidity and outrageous disrespect for women (how does Monica Lewinsky come in for such public ridicule from these creeps, many of whom are too young to even remember what actually happened?), are the comments from Trump supporters (aka Hate Lovers). One woman, dismissing criticism of such displays, calls it "just a feel-good American-type thing" making it clear that she inhabits a far different America than I live in, and making it even more clear the type of startlingly ignorant fools Trump attracts. A marketing major from Marshall College thinks his frat buddies will get a "kick out of it". What better reason to be a dick? Can't wait to see what his ad campaigns will look like. One imbecile says he loves to wear his "Trump That Bitch" t-shirt as he walks around the upper West Side in NYC, presumably to outrage the libtards. He claims the "Trump women" love it and he gets high fives and hugs for wearing it. Sounds like dementia is not reserved just for the candidate who consistently insists that "The women love me!"
Yeah. I'm sure they do. And with any luck, you'll find out just how much come November.
This isn't just a reaction to political correctness. It's an assault. An assault on all women. There really is nothing like it that you can say about a man. Especially a term that puts him down simply for being a man. You can call a guy a dick or a prick or an asshole, but those words just don't have the same power. Making reference to "sucking" and "Monica" invokes much more than political disagreement. It's saying "She's bad because she's a woman", then add in the abusive sex reference and that's Trump's argument too.
I truly hope that Ozytrumpias is left standing trunkless, a colossal wreck on lone and level sands after election day. But these morons will still be with us, freshly empowered by a malicious and downright ignorant campaign, to continue to spread the kind of malignancy we as a nation have worked so hard to diminish.
I know assholes will always be with us. I'm just pissed that Trump has made it cool to be one.
Islander,
References to The Decider's War of Choice which has engulfed the entire Middle East in violence, hatred, and sectarian chaos for well over a decade now, and brought about the rise of ISIS, the Syrian civil war, and jump started world terrorism, are considered bad form, especially among Confederates, and McCain is most certainly in that camp.
This is even more surprising considering the despicable ratfucking that Bush engaged in to screw McCain during the 2000 campaign, vicious robo calls to voters and a shabby whisper campaign about McCain's "secret black baby". A Vanity Fair article way back in 2008 wondered that "...John McCain must be haunted by the vicious South Carolina smear campaign (he was crazy, a traitor, he fathered a black child) that helped Bush win the 2000 Republican nomination. Has McCain joined the team that engineered his destruction?"
Yes. He certainly did. He even became a cheerleader for the team.
Of course, Bush disavowed all knowledge of his South Carolina ratfucking, in the same way that Trump spreads lies about Obama being involved in the Orlando shootings then, when called on it, excuses himself from any agency or responsibility, claiming he's just repeating what others have been saying. The fact that "others" means "him" has never deterred Drumpf from further smear assaults.
Ratfucking and lying have become core constituents of Confederate DNA, so it's no wonder that McCain can't bring himself around to considering any facts that undermine the narrative he's decided he needs to maintain power and allow him to keep his regular gig of appearing on Sunday morning gasbag extravaganzas to sling the shit with his particular brand of factless wingnut gusto.
Whatever works, truth be damned. It's the Republican Way.
@AK: Great post. Interestingly, the mister and I were having a discussion yesterday over our G&T's on the word "balls"––used to indicate strength or courage or chutzpah––but we have no female anatomical word to describe these same characteristics in women. The pejorative words like "cunt" and "bitch" have a sting that "dick" or "prick" just do not. I recall when John McCain (now back in the news for shooting off his mouth) called his wife a cunt in front of reporters who, of course reported it, I was stunned. I have never forgotten that and it soured any regard I had for the man.
Anyway––many thanks for being the kind of man that is outraged by the assaults on women, whether they be words on Tees or malicious actions. "I'd kiss you, but I just washed my hair."
Mellow Yellow! & Sassy Saffron!
So simple! So superb! One of Christo's best ever. " walking on water " if only we all could get to Italy! And as NYTimes commenter, Morgan from Atlanta wrote: "I needed this story after this week of man's inhumanity to man."
(Hate to say it, ...even Ozytrumpias could walk on water here. )
PD,
Ha! Thanks for the thought anyway.
I think something a lot of guys (and some women, apparently) don't get is that it's not a gender thing (well, it is, but it shouldn't be), it's a human thing. It's about respect for all humans. For all creatures. I don't want to veer off into crunchy granola territory, but it's really as simple as that. What's the purpose of resorting to such insults if not to put someone down? And not for what they think or what they say. If that were the case, I don't really have a problem as long as it's fair. But to insult someone, to put them down purely for having a slightly different anatomy? That's just fucked up and weird.
A good description of Drumpf, wouldn't you say?
PD, re your conversation with your husband: one of my favorite quotes is from Betty White. It's the one about "balls" :
https://www.google.com/search?q=betty+white+quotes&espv=2&biw=1024&bih=667&tbm=isch&imgil=68HVXQLplI-p-M%253A%253B0UQIS7DfEZ55TM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fquotesgram.com%25252Fbetty-white-quotes%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=68HVXQLplI-p-M%253A%252C0UQIS7DfEZ55TM%252C_&usg=__xqXNBN19ic1kY0iamPanz6cBU8s%3D&ved=0ahUKEwiFoLqUva_NAhWE4SYKHXn3C7YQyjcILw&ei=zSRkV8WFFoTDmwH57q-wCw#imgrc=68HVXQLplI-p-M%3A
Man, oh man, I just LOVE the idea of a whole passel of one percenters peeing in a cup to reap the benefits of their very own special taxpayer funded social programs in the form of immense tax breaks.
Can you see that line up? The furs, the Hermes scarves and Façonnable ties, the bespoke suits and designer kicks, standing there, all scowls and indignant pusses, little dogs on diamond studded leashes yapping at their sides? All waiting to prove that they're not indulging in a slight cocaine or prescription drug habit? "Oh, but my dear, those pills are prescribed by er....doctor....well, I can't remember his name now, but, trust me..."
Maybe they'll give them a Waterford crystal water glass to pee in. Ha!
But you know it will never happen. Nevah, nevah, nevah. Nevah, evah.
As the great Irish philosopher, Christy Moore says, "There's one law for the rich, one law for the poor."
Ain't it da trute?
Patrick,
Yeow! Never heard that one. Betty White kicks out the jambs, baby.
Reading comments on gun control possibilities in the House and Senate should remind us that we have three branches of government; The Executive, the Judicial, and the National Rifle Association.
With his proposed News and Entertainment network the Donald may have sensed a decline in American moral standards that goes hand in hand with the belligerent ignorance of his supporters, and he believes he can capitalize (what else?) successfully on the audience his candidacy has identified/created. Or maybe, Donald being Donald, he's just woofing.
If he does go ahead with the notion, I'd propose he call it the LCD Network, for the arithmetic term that gave some so much trouble in elementary school. We already have a number of those channels and networks; they just go by other names.
Elections, like most everything, are illuminated by math. We'll see as the summer goes on if indeed the American LCD is L'ing even lower, as much evidence--certainly recent headlines--suggests it is.
Don't have the numbers to support it, but an wondering if our growing economic inequality, where incomes at or near the bottom one third are stagnant or declining mirrors an equal decline in educational achievement among the same population, more than plenty to support a new LCD network.
As I say, I don't have the numbers, but Christopher Jencks on "Why the Very Poor have Become Poorer" in a recent NYReview supply a few.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/06/09/why-the-very-poor-have-become-poorer/
Ken,
LCD: Lowest common denigrator?
But don't worry. If Drumpf does think he can become Donaldo Berlusconi, it will be fun to see how long it takes for his new media empire to crash and burn. Naturally, he won't be at fault. Backstabbers, haters, and little people jealous of his Greatness will be to blame, as they always are in the wake of his many, many business failures.
Looks like Marco Rubio has decided he doesn't want to let go of the public teat after all. The man who had given up on the senate and wanted to move on to the top spot now wants to come back and do it all again.
Florida voters who don't just mindlessly click on the (R) need to ask themselves what they got the last six years and how the GOP thinks they'll all fall in line for another go.