The Conversation -- May 27, 2024
This Memorial Day, Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?
We gather at this sacred place, at this solemn moment, to remember, to honor the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of women and men who have given their lives to this nation. Each one, literally ... a link in the chain of honor stretching back to our founding days, each one bound by common commitment; not to a place, not to a person, not to a president, but to an idea unlike any idea in human history: the idea of the United States of America. Today, we bear witness to the price they paid. -- President Joe Biden, Arlington National Cemetery, Memorial Day 2024
A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all 'suckers' because 'there is nothing in it for them.' A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because 'it doesn't look good for me.' A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family -- for all Gold Star families -- on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America's defense are 'losers' and wouldn't visit their graves in France.... God help us. -- Gen. John Kelly, remembering Donald Trump
Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country. -- Donald Trump, in a post Memorial Day 2024
Jonathan Swan & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Whatever the verdict in his 2016 election interference criminal case, Donald Trump will be a dick about it. "If the past is any guide, even with a full acquittal, Mr. Trump will be angry and vengeful, and will direct attacks against everyone he perceives to be responsible for the Manhattan district attorney's prosecution. He will continue to level the attacks publicly, at rallies and on Truth Social, and privately encourage his House Republican allies to subpoena his Democratic enemies."
Presidential Race
Aaron Pellish of CNN: "Chase Oliver won the Libertarian Party presidential nomination on Sunday after seven rounds of voting at the party's convention in Washington, DC. The 38-year-old, who has previously run for Congress multiple times in Georgia, focused his pitch on making Libertarian values palatable to a broader audience." The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ The Losers. Aaron Pellish of CNN: In the first round of voting, "independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was eliminated from contention for the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination during the party's convention Sunday.... Donald Trump was also nominated on the convention floor Sunday, but Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle ruled the former president was not qualified because he did not submit nominating papers. Trump spoke Saturday at the convention, where he was loudly and consistently booed...."
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Louisiana. GOP v. Earth. Shannon Osaka of the Washington Post: "For the past decade, Louisiana's program for coastal protection has been hailed as one of the best in the country, after the devastation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita pushed the state to shore up coastlines, repair levees and protect natural habitats. But now, environmental advocates and experts say the state's new Republican governor is undermining its coastal protection agency -- the state's first and strongest line of defense against climate change-induced sea level rise. In an open letter published this week and signed by more than 200 business leaders, environmental advocates and other experts, various groups warned against Gov. Jeff Landry's plans to transform the state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.... Environmentalists say that the new governor's actions could hobble the agency just as its work is most needed. The moves come as other right-leaning states are also cutting back on climate goals and even references to climate change."
Texas. Robert Downen & Renzo Downey of the Texas Tribune: "Republican Party of Texas delegates voted Saturday on a platform that called for new laws to require the Bible to be taught in public schools and a constitutional amendment that would require statewide elected leaders to win the popular vote in a majority of Texas counties. Other proposed planks of the 50-page platform included proclamations that 'abortion is not healthcare it is homicide'; that gender-transition treatment for children is 'child abuse'; calls to reverse recent name changes to military bases and 'publicly honor the southern heroes'; support for declaring gold and silver as legal tender; and demands that the U.S. government disclose 'all pertinent information and knowledge' of UFOs. The party hopes to finalize its platform on Wednesday, after Saturday's votes on each proposal are tabulated." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: I suppose the UFO thing wouldn't be so bad -- until you consider that it would not be there but for the tinfoil-hat vote.
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Israel/Palestine, et al. CNN's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "At least 35 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a camp for displaced people in Rafah on Sunday, according to Gazan authorities. The Israeli military claimed it struck a Hamas compound in the area, killing two senior officials from the militant group. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and parts of central Israel on Sunday after rockets were fired at the city for the first time in months, according to the Israeli military. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.... Israel's government is facing an unprecedented level of diplomatic pressure over its war in Gaza, while also dealing with dissent at home. The Rafah strike comes days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the city." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates Monday are here.
News Ledes
New York Times: "More than 2,000 people were buried alive in the landslide that smothered a Papua New Guinea village and work camp on Friday in the country's remote northern highlands, the authorities told the United Nations on Monday."
New York Times: "More than 600,000 customers across 13 states from Texas to Pennsylvania had no power early Monday morning, after powerful storms and tornadoes over the weekend left at least 18 people dead."
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Reader Comments (11)
Ruth Ben-Ghiat
"Denial about Donald Trump is deeper than ever
Authoritarians have often told us what they are going to do, but people have rarely believed them.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who incited a violent insurrection in January 2021 to try and remain in office illegally after he lost the 2020 election, has been clear about what kind of president he intends to be if he returns to the White House in January 2025.
Yet it seems that so many in America are treating this election as politics as usual. Primaries, caucuses and other events proceed, even as the Republican nominee refuses to commit to accepting lawful election results if he is not the victor. And most of the GOP still embraces the false reality that Trump won the 2020 election as well.
This surreal situation reflects both an information deficit and a disinformation surfeit."
Rebekah Sanderlin in the The Fayetteville Observer
"Army spouse: Trump’s callous insult of military not forgotten this Memorial Day"
Marie,
Memorial Day came into being as a day of remembrance, and so it is fitting that we not forget what a craven, egotistical disgrace of a human being is the former President, and a blot on the nation’s history that such a foul creature ever held that office. To ensure his ascension once again, knowing full well—not suspecting—what a disgusting, abhorrent thing he is would forever erase our ability to show that we, as a people, are able to learn from history, from our past mistakes.
Thinking of history, it’s worth remembering how abysmally ignorant that fat fuck is of our own backstory, how we got here, and why, and the history of this day is a perfect opportunity to recall not just his ignorance of our past, but his thought process for our future.
Memorial Day began as Decoration Day, a day for honoring those who died in the Civil War, all those “suckers”, as Trump would have it. His own understanding of that conflict is as stupid as it is dangerous. He once lectured Americans that Andrew Jackson was very unhappy with the Civil War, which began years after he was dead and buried. He also suggested, as he does about pretty much everything, that it wouldn’t have happened had he been president back then, assuring everyone that a “deal” could have been made to avoid this most costly conflict.
Sure. Maybe. But it would have to have been a deal similar to the one the founders made to assure the support of southern slave states in ratifying the constitution: the continuation of the practice of enslaving other human beings for economic advancement.
Sure, a deal could have been made, but it would have required a commitment to allow thd South to maintain—and grow—its slave population. Some deal. But to an amoral, transactional “deal maker” like Trump, perfectly acceptable. In his mind, there is no reason to stand up for certain values, no need to be a “sucker” if you can work a deal and go home to count your money made by blissfully selling out our most cherished moral beliefs. If you have no moral beliefs, it’s easy.
It’s the Trump Way. And it’s what our future will be if he slithers back into the White House.
So thanks for the reminder of what this evil shit thinks of the reason for this day.
Have been thinking of those "suckers" who voluntarily donned uniforms to protect their country and families and lost so much as a result.
Memorial Day has long been a mixed bag of feeling for me, probably because my early adult years coincided with Vietnam, a war I have never believed should have been fought and because of that have always seen a "sucker" element in those who bought the government's appeals to patriotism and anti-Communism and chose to enlist to fight what seemed to me a manufactured enemy.
I knew people who died there, young high school classmates who did not have the education to understand what was happening or the means to avoid the war if they did. If they were drafted, it was tragic; if they volunteered, and some did, it was tragically senseless. If they didn't die, most of the young men who came back were never the same, and they were not new and improved version of their younger selves.
By the time Bush II came around with his naive saber rattling in the Mideast I was long primed with a heavy dose of warranted skepticism. If all you have is a hammer....and Iraq was a handy nail. We have not nearly recovered from that disaster. More pointless death and destruction and more reasons for millions of people around the globe to question America's intentions.
So..."suckers?" Yes, unfeeling as it sounds, in a way. Suckers in a way that brings tears at the immense waste.
And to the degree that we all let these things happen we're all suckers for buying the same crap again and again.
Thanks, everybody, for some good anti-war sentiments. Because it is always robed in patriotic garb, it is easy to fall for it. Back in the day, even as we lost our best, it was thought treasonous to consider that maybe wars weren't the best vehicles for success as a nation. The anti-war vote didn't matter to politicians. Even now, guilt makes people think that wars are necessary-- for someone else's kids. Shrub became unpopular, but his ideas seem to be catching on with the right again. It was okay to be in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all Biden's fault for a chaotic exit set up by another "president" or two. Now they are in full fury against Ukraine's needs, even though our arch-enemy Russia invaded, and now Putin is revered.
These people are bigoted, insane and unable to think beyond their selfish noses. Texas doesn't deserve thinking about. I feel bad for people stuck there, but those NOT stuck there are, for all intents and purposes, hopeless. People forget but TexaSS ran the schoool curriculums in this country for years-- nothing new except it is no longer limited to influencing school children.
Happy rainy Memorial Day. The summer stretches ahead. Let us try to enjoy its promise, but not forget what else lies in front of us.
Jeanne -
As someone who (at least for the current time) continues to choose to live in this state of insanely nutty politicians, I can remain optimistic that this repugnant party platform will finally bring out voters that have been absent the last few decades (assuming they aren't prevented from voting, of course) and vote out the most extreme politicians. I like this city where a large majority voted for Biden in 2020 and only 5% of my more immediate neighbors voted for that monster in 2020.
If the republican party gains even more support come November, I hear the Northeast is nice! Rhode Island, maybe, or Massachusetts. Any recommendations? Spain? Portugal? Costa Rica?
NYT Extremely Detailed Map of the 2020 Election
Ken Burns on Donald
Laura: I appreciate and love your optimism. Let us hope that those of us in possession of our faculties but are not marinating in the "news" every day can somehow influence those who are also people of hope and care and in possession of their faculties. It seems that most of us are depending on those who are not insane bigots to vote and concentrate on the future, as given in our present. I always feel better when I read comments here and at Esquire, that those writing are probably my age or slightly younger (that would be everyone--) will be able to communicate with the younger crowd the importance of the vote and support on the blue side. There are millions on the red side. But we don't know and love them. (Honestly, I never will.) Hope is blue. Hope is confidence and resistance.
RAS,
Ken Burns is exactly correct, but way too nice. Trump may be an opioid for some, but he’s strychnine for everyone and everything else.
Trump speaks at the Tomb of the Unknown Grifter.
So, you know, he tried. Right? He was a fraud, a con man, a liar, a grifter. But not as good as he could have been. Not as good as me. He could have conned thousands more, could have picked thousands more pockets, maybe millions. But gone too soon. By the way, I’ve opened a Go Fund Me page for his family. It’ll go to me, but one day I’ll figure out who he was and help his family, so give til it hurts, okay?
NYTimes: Trump mum about Putin’s Bounties for killing American and NATO Soldiers
4 years ago, soon after Memorial Day 2020, we learned of the Ginormous Orange Pustule’s treasonous acceptance of His Master Putin’s bounties on our soldiers. This is one of a thousand reasons my head wants to explode in anger at him and all those supporting him.