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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
June 19, 2023
There’s more – much more – but you get the idea.
Those who have studied Barr’s long career in public life – he served in the same job he now holds during George H.W. Bush’s administration – suggest that Barr is not putty in Trump’s hands, but that the relationship is actually best understood the other way around.
more...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/17/politics/bill-barr-donald-trump-attorney-general/index.html
Sanctimonious Bill Barr
is making me ill. He'll bloviate to anyone who will listen how flawed the orange menace is but had a huge hand in allowing him to continue mucking up our country.
I'm waiting for someone to point this out, but so far, crickets.
Here's a gem from 2020...
How Bill Barr has enabled Donald Trump’s darkest instincts
Chris Cillizza
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 9:55 AM EDT, Fri September 18, 2020
President Donald Trump has spent his presidency looking for a co-commiserator, someone who carries the same conspiratorial and cynical view of the government and those who work within its massive bureaucracy. In Attorney General Bill Barr, he has finally found him.
snip//
Of governors resisting full reopenings of their states amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Barr said this: “You know, putting a national lockdown, stay-at-home orders, is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.”
Yes, you read that right. He compared state elected officials taking precautions to protect their citizenry from a virus that has killed almost 200,000 Americans to slavery. [shakes head]
While Barr’s speech on Wednesday is the most stark evidence of just how much he has bought into the Trumpian view of the world (or maybe has always shared it), his actions since being appointed Trump’s top cop in February 2019 demonstrate in no uncertain terms that he is perfectly comfortable being Trump’s enforcer.
Consider:
* Barr, at Trump’s behest, launched what is known as the Durham probe – an investigation into whether there was any wrongdoing within the FBI during its counter-intelligence investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
* Barr has suggested publicly that foreign governments could send thousands of fake ballots to voters in 2020 – echoing Trump’s insistence that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, despite no actual evidence to back up that claim.
* According to The New York Times, Barr asked federal prosecutors whether Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan could be charged for her unwillingness to break up protests in her city and pushed for possible sedition charge against people protesting racial injustice around the country.
* Barr has asked that the Justice Department be allowed to take over Trump’s defense in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a woman who has accused Trump of sexual assault.
* Barr has suggested publicly that foreign governments could send thousands of fake ballots to voters in 2020 – echoing Trump’s insistence that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, despite no actual evidence to back up that claim.
* According to The New York Times, Barr asked federal prosecutors whether Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan could be charged for her unwillingness to break up protests in her city and pushed for possible sedition charge against people protesting racial injustice around the country.
* Barr has asked that the Justice Department be allowed to take over Trump’s defense in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a woman who has accused Trump of sexual assault.
There’s more – much more – but you get the idea.
Those who have studied Barr’s long career in public life – he served in the same job he now holds during George H.W. Bush’s administration – suggest that Barr is not putty in Trump’s hands, but that the relationship is actually best understood the other way around.
more...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/17/politics/bill-barr-donald-trump-attorney-general/index.html
June 18, 2023
Donald Trump and the promise of participatory violence
Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 12:00:11p EDT
By Mark Sumner
From the time he made the most ridiculous entrance in political history, riding down a golden escalator to spew an almost unbroken stream of anti-immigrant rhetoric, one part of the appeal of Donald Trump has been clear: He’s a racist. A misogynist. An unfettered narcissist whose wealth and connections have allowed him to cheat contractors, defraud investors, insult whoever he chooses, endanger workers, and sexually assault women.
He’s so crude he’ll talk about the size of his daughter’s breasts in a radio interview. So heartless he’ll make his disdain for prisoners of war and Gold Star parents into a campaign plank. So brazen he’ll tell obvious lies, tell a different lie five minutes later, then deny what he said on camera in front of an audience.
Trump is an unrepentant bully. That alone is enough to make him appealing to many, for the same reason third-grade bullies have henchmen.
But it’s not the big pull. The big pull, the thing that turned Trump from a clown on a gaudy yellow staircase into a nightmare in the White House, is that he holds out the same offer to his followers that he enjoys: the promise of cruelty without consequence.
snip//
Trump himself keeps complaining that if the government can come after him, they can come after anyone, and in a way that's true: If Trump has to pay, then his promise to his supporters falls apart. Only by seeing that Trump receives punishment on the scale of anyone else charged with the same crimes can his supporters be convinced that their bully can’t protect them. That the next pardon won’t have their name on it. That eventually, everyone has to pay for their actions.
That lesson had better be taught. It had better be clear. And it had better be soon.
Donald Trump and the promise of participatory violence
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/17/2175861/-Donald-Trump-and-the-promise-of-participatory-violenceDonald Trump and the promise of participatory violence
Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 12:00:11p EDT
By Mark Sumner
From the time he made the most ridiculous entrance in political history, riding down a golden escalator to spew an almost unbroken stream of anti-immigrant rhetoric, one part of the appeal of Donald Trump has been clear: He’s a racist. A misogynist. An unfettered narcissist whose wealth and connections have allowed him to cheat contractors, defraud investors, insult whoever he chooses, endanger workers, and sexually assault women.
He’s so crude he’ll talk about the size of his daughter’s breasts in a radio interview. So heartless he’ll make his disdain for prisoners of war and Gold Star parents into a campaign plank. So brazen he’ll tell obvious lies, tell a different lie five minutes later, then deny what he said on camera in front of an audience.
Trump is an unrepentant bully. That alone is enough to make him appealing to many, for the same reason third-grade bullies have henchmen.
But it’s not the big pull. The big pull, the thing that turned Trump from a clown on a gaudy yellow staircase into a nightmare in the White House, is that he holds out the same offer to his followers that he enjoys: the promise of cruelty without consequence.
snip//
Trump himself keeps complaining that if the government can come after him, they can come after anyone, and in a way that's true: If Trump has to pay, then his promise to his supporters falls apart. Only by seeing that Trump receives punishment on the scale of anyone else charged with the same crimes can his supporters be convinced that their bully can’t protect them. That the next pardon won’t have their name on it. That eventually, everyone has to pay for their actions.
That lesson had better be taught. It had better be clear. And it had better be soon.
June 18, 2023
Republicans Plan To Capitalize on Trump’s Criminality for Decades
by Heather Digby Parton | June 18, 2023 - 6:37am
— from Salon
It stands to reason that once the Republicans succeeded in corrupting the Supreme Court confirmation process to pack it with far right justices they would turn their attention to the Justice Department. What good is having a partisan High Court, after all, if the Justice Department (DOJ) is going to refuse to do the bidding of whatever Republican is in the White House? If you want to truly corrupt a democracy you need to do it holistically to ensure that all the levers of power are working together.
It's been a long time coming but it looks like Republicans believe they've finally found their moment. They're now openly announcing their intention to discard all the rules and norms that have governed the arms-length relationship between the president and the DOJ for the past 50 years. Donald Trump made that clear in his speech at his Bedminster Golf Club on Tuesday night:
snip//
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the new MAGA establishment, led by coup conspirator Jeffrey Clark and Russell Vought, Trump administration director of Office of Management and Budget (and Freedom Caucus guru) has some big plans:
snip//
The fact is that the Republican Party's alleged hostility to the "Deep State" is nothing more than a set-up to co-opt state power for themselves. They've chafed under the rules and regulations that preclude them from behaving like crooks and liars such as Richard Nixon and Donald Trump for the last 50 years. They don't want to get rid of the "Deep State," they just want to get rid of all the impediments to using it the way they believe it's meant to be used: against their political enemies. Trump's flagrant criminality has perversely given them exactly the excuse they need to do it.
Republicans Plan To Capitalize on Trump's Criminality for Decades
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/heather-digby-parton/106653/republicans-plan-to-capitalize-on-trump-s-criminality-for-decadesRepublicans Plan To Capitalize on Trump’s Criminality for Decades
by Heather Digby Parton | June 18, 2023 - 6:37am
— from Salon
It stands to reason that once the Republicans succeeded in corrupting the Supreme Court confirmation process to pack it with far right justices they would turn their attention to the Justice Department. What good is having a partisan High Court, after all, if the Justice Department (DOJ) is going to refuse to do the bidding of whatever Republican is in the White House? If you want to truly corrupt a democracy you need to do it holistically to ensure that all the levers of power are working together.
It's been a long time coming but it looks like Republicans believe they've finally found their moment. They're now openly announcing their intention to discard all the rules and norms that have governed the arms-length relationship between the president and the DOJ for the past 50 years. Donald Trump made that clear in his speech at his Bedminster Golf Club on Tuesday night:
snip//
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the new MAGA establishment, led by coup conspirator Jeffrey Clark and Russell Vought, Trump administration director of Office of Management and Budget (and Freedom Caucus guru) has some big plans:
Mr. Clark and Mr. Vought are promoting a legal rationale that would fundamentally change the way presidents interact with the Justice Department. They argue that U.S. presidents should not keep federal law enforcement at arm's length but instead should treat the Justice Department no differently than any other cabinet agency.
They are condemning Mr. Biden and Democrats for what they claim is the politicization of the justice system, but at the same time pushing an intellectual framework that a future Republican president might use to justify directing individual law enforcement investigations.
They are condemning Mr. Biden and Democrats for what they claim is the politicization of the justice system, but at the same time pushing an intellectual framework that a future Republican president might use to justify directing individual law enforcement investigations.
snip//
The fact is that the Republican Party's alleged hostility to the "Deep State" is nothing more than a set-up to co-opt state power for themselves. They've chafed under the rules and regulations that preclude them from behaving like crooks and liars such as Richard Nixon and Donald Trump for the last 50 years. They don't want to get rid of the "Deep State," they just want to get rid of all the impediments to using it the way they believe it's meant to be used: against their political enemies. Trump's flagrant criminality has perversely given them exactly the excuse they need to do it.
June 17, 2023
Biden Is Having A Very Productive Presidency, And This Win On Drug Prices Shows Why
It's hard to see and hard to explain, but those reforms on medication costs that Democrats passed last year are starting to take effect.
Jonathan Cohn
Jun 16, 2023, 05:38 PM EDT
If you want to understand why the Biden administration gets so little credit for its accomplishments ― and why, perhaps, it deserves to get a little more ― pay attention to a little-noticed policy announcement from last Friday.
The announcement was a list of 43 prescription drugs that are covered by Medicare and whose prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation. The list included relatively well-known drugs like Humira, which treats a variety of inflammatory conditions, plus some more obscure medications like Leukine, which helps cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy stave off infection.
Until recently, such price hikes would have simply meant higher costs for the Medicare program ― and for individual seniors paying out of pocket. Or, to put it more bluntly, American taxpayers as well as American consumers were at the complete mercy of the drug industry’s pricing.
But that’s not how things work anymore, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act ― you know, the law that President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress spent more than a year debating before finally enacting it in August 2022 and that almost everybody seems to have forgotten about since.
A big focus of the IRA is lowering prescription drug costs, and one way it does that is by penalizing drug companies that hike prices faster than the rate of inflation. The 43 drugs on last week’s list all met that criteria. Because of that, manufacturers will have to give some money back to the federal government, effectively helping to fund Medicare costs.
snip//
But however incremental, however obscure or difficult to explain, these sorts of changes are what progress actually looks like in American politics. They’re going to make a tangible difference to a lot of people. It’s just a question of who is paying attention.
Biden Is Having A Very Productive Presidency, And This Win On Drug Prices Shows Why
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-prescription-drug-savings_n_648ca35be4b0756ff86459a3Biden Is Having A Very Productive Presidency, And This Win On Drug Prices Shows Why
It's hard to see and hard to explain, but those reforms on medication costs that Democrats passed last year are starting to take effect.
Jonathan Cohn
Jun 16, 2023, 05:38 PM EDT
If you want to understand why the Biden administration gets so little credit for its accomplishments ― and why, perhaps, it deserves to get a little more ― pay attention to a little-noticed policy announcement from last Friday.
The announcement was a list of 43 prescription drugs that are covered by Medicare and whose prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation. The list included relatively well-known drugs like Humira, which treats a variety of inflammatory conditions, plus some more obscure medications like Leukine, which helps cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy stave off infection.
Until recently, such price hikes would have simply meant higher costs for the Medicare program ― and for individual seniors paying out of pocket. Or, to put it more bluntly, American taxpayers as well as American consumers were at the complete mercy of the drug industry’s pricing.
But that’s not how things work anymore, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act ― you know, the law that President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress spent more than a year debating before finally enacting it in August 2022 and that almost everybody seems to have forgotten about since.
A big focus of the IRA is lowering prescription drug costs, and one way it does that is by penalizing drug companies that hike prices faster than the rate of inflation. The 43 drugs on last week’s list all met that criteria. Because of that, manufacturers will have to give some money back to the federal government, effectively helping to fund Medicare costs.
snip//
But however incremental, however obscure or difficult to explain, these sorts of changes are what progress actually looks like in American politics. They’re going to make a tangible difference to a lot of people. It’s just a question of who is paying attention.
June 16, 2023
Joe Biden is the Columbo of politics
Thursday, June 15, 2023 at 8:42:08a EDT
The Columbo Fandom Wiki describes one of my favorite TV detectives like this: “Columbo is a disheveled, shabbily dressed, seemingly slow-witted police detective whose fumbling, overly polite manner makes him an unlikely choice to solve any crimes, least of all murder. However, he is actually a brilliant detective with an eye for minute details and the ability to piece together seemingly unrelated incidents and information to solve crimes.”
Columbo’s most famous strength as a detective is his gift for getting people to underestimate him. But that strength alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Columbo is also an excellent judge of human character and behavior. He usually hones in on his prime suspect right from the beginning, but spends a lot of energy smokescreening his initial clarity about who-almost-certainly-dunnit.
Often, however, Columbo’s relationship with the prime suspect shifts about halfway through each episode. At this point Columbo begins tightening his orbit around his suspect, showing up at inconvenient times, still professing to only be looking for some missing tidbit of information that would help tie up a loose end, but by now we know that Columbo and the suspect both know that he’s not going to stop dogging their heels. At this point Columbo’s biggest asset is no longer his ability to get people to underestimate him, but rather his relentless drive to keep adding pieces of evidence that narrow the baddie’s options until they’ve all run out. Finally, Columbo’s arrests almost always involve an exhausted and exasperated suspect who has surrendered peacefully to the lieutenant. (There’s only one episode out of 69 in which he fires a gun.)
Alas, Peter Falk has gone on to the World to Come (as my tradition refers to the mystery that awaits us after death). But a living incarnation of Falk’s most enduring character walks among us today. It’s President Biden.
Joe_Biden_48554137807_cropped.jpg
No, Joe is not a detective. He’s also not a shabby dresser. But he is really good at getting the things he wants done in one of the hardest jobs there is to do that. And he has done a lot of it by sticking to his well-practiced routines, which include his excellent ability to manage the political assets he has available and maximize achievement within the system as it exists. He is also a keen judge of political probabilities and timing, which makes him very good at knowing when the opposition’s bluster can’t be backed up by actual power, or even when it’s a good time to get something unpopular but necessary done versus when it isn’t. Add in his talent for reading other people, including their motives and their personal tendencies, and you end up with the guy who just talked Kevin McCarthy into raising the debt ceiling and negotiating a budget deal for next year in exchange for commitments that protect something like 90 percent of the major federal investments that Biden fought for and won during the last Congress.
Joe Biden does not have the glowing star power of Obama or Bill Clinton in his prime. He also, thank goodness, doesn’t have the authoritarian strong-man star power that Trump has and that DeSantis wants to have. Biden rarely gives memorable speeches, and when he does speak he occasionally stutters, mumbles, pauses oddly, or makes minor mix-ups of details that have to be corrected later. While he certainly cuts a fine figure of an active 80 year old man - slim, tall, and confident in a sharp suit, he isn’t a magnetic personality. He is warm, intelligent, sincere, and at times pugnacioius, optimistic, or inspiring. In person I’ll bet he listens well and makes people feel seen and heard - he has those gifts. But he’s not fascinated with himself or his unique claim to fame - he’s more grandpa than celebrity - and those qualities too are part of his sometimes surprising appeal.
Biden also doesn’t react to the day to day or week to week media speculation factory, as they wonder out loud why he hasn’t already said or done this or that. (On the left, that started out with “why hasn’t he already shut Joe Manchin down and forced him to vote the right way,” and pivoted to “why did he pick Merrick Garland who is going too slow with prosecuting Trump” to “why hasn’t he already said he’s going to invoke the 14th Amendment and ignore McCarthy?”) Instead, he keeps his cards close to his vest and focuses with his team on correctly analyzing the politics involved in whatever the major issue at hand is. When it was getting the first big bills passed that dramatically increased federal spending on badly needed infrastructure, social investments, and climate policy, he let the media and the pundits of right and left stew and speculate about “what the heck he was doing” trying to get past the hurdles that Manchin and Sinema were putting in the way. And yet, in the end, he got most of it all passed. With McCarthy, he let an ever widening group of his supporters and detractors speculate that he was caving in to the House Freedom Caucus radicals, or else that he didn’t seem to know what he was doing. Behind closed doors, in the negotiation rooms, he clearly knew what he was doing, and he got a result that I still find amazing.
As a public speaker, Biden is a bit shlubby, and sometimes a little slow and deliberate in how he talks and moves. Behind the less-than-perfect orator is a person who works incredibly hard and brings deep wisdom about how Washington works to bear on getting important laws passed and repositioning the country to be: better able to avoid ecological and economic disaster; fairer to working people and professional people who aren’t rich; and better positioned to compete with China and thwart Russia’s authoritarian ambitions. He is frequently underestimated, and I think that’s part of why he is successful in this role.
There’s something else worth saying about his public speaking, because even through his goofs and awkward moments will continue to fuel SNL skits, the truth is that he also has some important public speaking gifts. When he goes into full campaigning mode, we’ll see more of his public speaking strengths re-emerge. He has them, and he’s good at using them within the context of whipping up support for his vision and his proposals and repeating well-crafted messages a zillion times. That may not be the most gripping thing to watch once you’ve seen it a bunch of times, but repetition is effective and so is self-confidence, which Biden has in abundance. He’ll be underestimated as a public speaker, and he’ll campaign like a pro who knows how to say things plainly, show empathy, and show that he’s on your side.
I would love it if just once there could be a moment in which Biden would begin to amble out of a room filled with Republican Congressional leaders in some future policy negotiation in which he has once again bested them but before they fully realize it. As he begins to cross the threshhold, he stops, raises up one finger and looks partway back over his shoulder, and says to them, “Oh, just one more thing…”
Joe Biden is the Columbo of politics
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/15/2175527/-Joe-Biden-is-the-Columbo-of-politicsJoe Biden is the Columbo of politics
Thursday, June 15, 2023 at 8:42:08a EDT
The Columbo Fandom Wiki describes one of my favorite TV detectives like this: “Columbo is a disheveled, shabbily dressed, seemingly slow-witted police detective whose fumbling, overly polite manner makes him an unlikely choice to solve any crimes, least of all murder. However, he is actually a brilliant detective with an eye for minute details and the ability to piece together seemingly unrelated incidents and information to solve crimes.”
Columbo’s most famous strength as a detective is his gift for getting people to underestimate him. But that strength alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Columbo is also an excellent judge of human character and behavior. He usually hones in on his prime suspect right from the beginning, but spends a lot of energy smokescreening his initial clarity about who-almost-certainly-dunnit.
Often, however, Columbo’s relationship with the prime suspect shifts about halfway through each episode. At this point Columbo begins tightening his orbit around his suspect, showing up at inconvenient times, still professing to only be looking for some missing tidbit of information that would help tie up a loose end, but by now we know that Columbo and the suspect both know that he’s not going to stop dogging their heels. At this point Columbo’s biggest asset is no longer his ability to get people to underestimate him, but rather his relentless drive to keep adding pieces of evidence that narrow the baddie’s options until they’ve all run out. Finally, Columbo’s arrests almost always involve an exhausted and exasperated suspect who has surrendered peacefully to the lieutenant. (There’s only one episode out of 69 in which he fires a gun.)
Alas, Peter Falk has gone on to the World to Come (as my tradition refers to the mystery that awaits us after death). But a living incarnation of Falk’s most enduring character walks among us today. It’s President Biden.
Joe_Biden_48554137807_cropped.jpg
No, Joe is not a detective. He’s also not a shabby dresser. But he is really good at getting the things he wants done in one of the hardest jobs there is to do that. And he has done a lot of it by sticking to his well-practiced routines, which include his excellent ability to manage the political assets he has available and maximize achievement within the system as it exists. He is also a keen judge of political probabilities and timing, which makes him very good at knowing when the opposition’s bluster can’t be backed up by actual power, or even when it’s a good time to get something unpopular but necessary done versus when it isn’t. Add in his talent for reading other people, including their motives and their personal tendencies, and you end up with the guy who just talked Kevin McCarthy into raising the debt ceiling and negotiating a budget deal for next year in exchange for commitments that protect something like 90 percent of the major federal investments that Biden fought for and won during the last Congress.
Joe Biden does not have the glowing star power of Obama or Bill Clinton in his prime. He also, thank goodness, doesn’t have the authoritarian strong-man star power that Trump has and that DeSantis wants to have. Biden rarely gives memorable speeches, and when he does speak he occasionally stutters, mumbles, pauses oddly, or makes minor mix-ups of details that have to be corrected later. While he certainly cuts a fine figure of an active 80 year old man - slim, tall, and confident in a sharp suit, he isn’t a magnetic personality. He is warm, intelligent, sincere, and at times pugnacioius, optimistic, or inspiring. In person I’ll bet he listens well and makes people feel seen and heard - he has those gifts. But he’s not fascinated with himself or his unique claim to fame - he’s more grandpa than celebrity - and those qualities too are part of his sometimes surprising appeal.
Biden also doesn’t react to the day to day or week to week media speculation factory, as they wonder out loud why he hasn’t already said or done this or that. (On the left, that started out with “why hasn’t he already shut Joe Manchin down and forced him to vote the right way,” and pivoted to “why did he pick Merrick Garland who is going too slow with prosecuting Trump” to “why hasn’t he already said he’s going to invoke the 14th Amendment and ignore McCarthy?”) Instead, he keeps his cards close to his vest and focuses with his team on correctly analyzing the politics involved in whatever the major issue at hand is. When it was getting the first big bills passed that dramatically increased federal spending on badly needed infrastructure, social investments, and climate policy, he let the media and the pundits of right and left stew and speculate about “what the heck he was doing” trying to get past the hurdles that Manchin and Sinema were putting in the way. And yet, in the end, he got most of it all passed. With McCarthy, he let an ever widening group of his supporters and detractors speculate that he was caving in to the House Freedom Caucus radicals, or else that he didn’t seem to know what he was doing. Behind closed doors, in the negotiation rooms, he clearly knew what he was doing, and he got a result that I still find amazing.
As a public speaker, Biden is a bit shlubby, and sometimes a little slow and deliberate in how he talks and moves. Behind the less-than-perfect orator is a person who works incredibly hard and brings deep wisdom about how Washington works to bear on getting important laws passed and repositioning the country to be: better able to avoid ecological and economic disaster; fairer to working people and professional people who aren’t rich; and better positioned to compete with China and thwart Russia’s authoritarian ambitions. He is frequently underestimated, and I think that’s part of why he is successful in this role.
There’s something else worth saying about his public speaking, because even through his goofs and awkward moments will continue to fuel SNL skits, the truth is that he also has some important public speaking gifts. When he goes into full campaigning mode, we’ll see more of his public speaking strengths re-emerge. He has them, and he’s good at using them within the context of whipping up support for his vision and his proposals and repeating well-crafted messages a zillion times. That may not be the most gripping thing to watch once you’ve seen it a bunch of times, but repetition is effective and so is self-confidence, which Biden has in abundance. He’ll be underestimated as a public speaker, and he’ll campaign like a pro who knows how to say things plainly, show empathy, and show that he’s on your side.
I would love it if just once there could be a moment in which Biden would begin to amble out of a room filled with Republican Congressional leaders in some future policy negotiation in which he has once again bested them but before they fully realize it. As he begins to cross the threshhold, he stops, raises up one finger and looks partway back over his shoulder, and says to them, “Oh, just one more thing…”
June 16, 2023
Democrats Are From Mars, Republicans Are From God Knows Where
by Steven Day | June 16, 2023 - 6:36am
snip//
Sadly, there is nothing surprising about any of this. As I have said before, for “the far right, cruelty is more than a means to achieving a policy goal—it is often the goal itself. Cruelty for cruelty’s sake—directed against ‘the other,’ a variable collection of liberals, immigrants, and minority groups. It has become the substance, even the soul, of today’s far right. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the far right from the rest of the political right on this score.”
So, yes, Democrats are from Mars and Republicans are from God knows where. But wherever Republicans hail from we know it is a blackboard sort of world, where reality is easily erased and replaced with whatever they want it to be—a reality in which Donald Trump won the last election and Ivermectin is a wonder drug.
The problem is this new reality they’ve drawn on the blackboard is an extraordinarily ugly place—a world no sane person would want to visit. It’s a place where nearly all immigrants are rapists and murderers, where transgender teens can simply be ordered to make themselves something other than who they are, and where teachers, instead of trying to educate children, are actually indoctrinating them into a deviant lifestyle. This is a place where compassion is weakness, tolerance is naïveté, ignorance is strength, and a functioning democracy is expendable.
And the problem isn’t that the GOP base wants to live in such a world. It’s that they want to force the rest of us to do the same.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Democrats Are From Mars, Republicans Are From God Knows Where
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/steven-day/106627/democrats-are-from-mars-republicans-are-from-god-knows-whereDemocrats Are From Mars, Republicans Are From God Knows Where
by Steven Day | June 16, 2023 - 6:36am
snip//
Sadly, there is nothing surprising about any of this. As I have said before, for “the far right, cruelty is more than a means to achieving a policy goal—it is often the goal itself. Cruelty for cruelty’s sake—directed against ‘the other,’ a variable collection of liberals, immigrants, and minority groups. It has become the substance, even the soul, of today’s far right. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the far right from the rest of the political right on this score.”
So, yes, Democrats are from Mars and Republicans are from God knows where. But wherever Republicans hail from we know it is a blackboard sort of world, where reality is easily erased and replaced with whatever they want it to be—a reality in which Donald Trump won the last election and Ivermectin is a wonder drug.
The problem is this new reality they’ve drawn on the blackboard is an extraordinarily ugly place—a world no sane person would want to visit. It’s a place where nearly all immigrants are rapists and murderers, where transgender teens can simply be ordered to make themselves something other than who they are, and where teachers, instead of trying to educate children, are actually indoctrinating them into a deviant lifestyle. This is a place where compassion is weakness, tolerance is naïveté, ignorance is strength, and a functioning democracy is expendable.
And the problem isn’t that the GOP base wants to live in such a world. It’s that they want to force the rest of us to do the same.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
June 15, 2023
Former Fox Executive: Is It Time for the FCC to Take a Close Look at Rupert Murdoch’s Licenses?
QUESTION OF CHARACTER
A judge found Fox News knowingly broadcast fake news. Will the feds do anything about it?
Preston Padden
Published Jun. 14, 2023 7:35PM ET
snip//
False news has consequences. Despite all the factual information available to the contrary, millions of Americans, including Fox viewers, believe that the 2020 election was stolen. The rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were chanting “Stop the Steal.”
To the best of my knowledge, the FCC never before has been confronted with a judicial holding that a broadcast licensee knowingly and repeatedly presented false news. It is hard to imagine an issue that more directly impacts a broadcast licensee’s character qualifications. Can anyone imagine Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, or Tom Brokaw (and their bosses Bill Paley, Tom Murphy and Jack Welch) knowingly and repeatedly presenting false news? It simply is unimaginable.
So, the issue at hand is: Should the FCC review Fox’s character qualifications to remain a steward of the public airwaves?
Just asking the question.
Preston Padden served in multiple executive roles at Fox; as president of the ABC Television Network; and as executive vice president of The Walt Disney Company
Former Fox Executive: Is It Time for the FCC to Take a Close Look at Rupert Murdoch's Licenses?
https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-fox-executive-preston-padden-on-the-fcc-and-rupert-murdochs-licenses?ref=homeFormer Fox Executive: Is It Time for the FCC to Take a Close Look at Rupert Murdoch’s Licenses?
QUESTION OF CHARACTER
A judge found Fox News knowingly broadcast fake news. Will the feds do anything about it?
Preston Padden
Published Jun. 14, 2023 7:35PM ET
snip//
False news has consequences. Despite all the factual information available to the contrary, millions of Americans, including Fox viewers, believe that the 2020 election was stolen. The rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were chanting “Stop the Steal.”
To the best of my knowledge, the FCC never before has been confronted with a judicial holding that a broadcast licensee knowingly and repeatedly presented false news. It is hard to imagine an issue that more directly impacts a broadcast licensee’s character qualifications. Can anyone imagine Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, or Tom Brokaw (and their bosses Bill Paley, Tom Murphy and Jack Welch) knowingly and repeatedly presenting false news? It simply is unimaginable.
So, the issue at hand is: Should the FCC review Fox’s character qualifications to remain a steward of the public airwaves?
Just asking the question.
Preston Padden served in multiple executive roles at Fox; as president of the ABC Television Network; and as executive vice president of The Walt Disney Company
June 15, 2023
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
6/14/2023
Get in the Fucking Game on Trump's Indictment, Democrats
snip//
This isn't that hard: Talk about the fucking crimes. That's it. Talk about the crimes. Talk about how fucked this all was when it comes to national security. Ask if people feel okay about nuclear secrets laying around the bathroom of a country club that was infiltrated by spies. Ask if they feel safe with that happening. Keep shoving this up the fucking asses of any Republicans who defend it. We're not talking about a love letter from Kim Jong Un. We're talking about documents that say, "Oh, hey, here's where the US is weak, enemies, so you can probably blow shit up here." And ask what kind of fucking asshole does this shit and what kind of assholes say it's all fine. Get angry about it, Democratic leaders. Let the public know that Trump's accused of doing something really shitty and harmful and he's pretty much admitted that he did it.
Right now, according to one poll, 63% of independents think the indictment is a serious matter. As the narratives develop around the case and around Trump, if the main one those voters hear is from the GOP crime-enablers, it could have an effect on the pudding-brained independents whose whims seem to shift from election to election. Democrats can get them on board by making clear that you can ally with the criminals or you can ally with the ones who believe that you shouldn't put the nation at risk. There's a window of time to accomplish this, and Democrats have gotta jump on the messaging train.
We keep pretending that all this shit is normal because Trump and his spokeworms get away with saying it. No, it's not normal for a president to just take whatever the fuck they want when they leave. Trump keeps lying about it. Last night, he told the Bedminster zombies and plague rats, "Hillary Clinton took hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of furniture, china, flatware, rugs, and more from the White House and she wasn’t prosecuted. How about that one? She took the furniture and the china." The Clintons weren't prosecuted for the $190,000 in gifts and other things they took because they either returned them or they paid for them in a settlement of the issue. In other words, it's the complete opposite of Trump and the documents.
But these stories and Trump's telling of them become accepted as fact, no matter how many fact checks there are. That often happens because Democrats try to be decent or upstanding or what the fuck ever when they should be laying it on the line and creating the narrative instead of responding to it and certainly instead of being silent.
The Rude Pundit: Get in the Fucking Game on Trump's Indictment, Democrats
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2023/06/get-in-fucking-game-on-trumps.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
6/14/2023
Get in the Fucking Game on Trump's Indictment, Democrats
snip//
This isn't that hard: Talk about the fucking crimes. That's it. Talk about the crimes. Talk about how fucked this all was when it comes to national security. Ask if people feel okay about nuclear secrets laying around the bathroom of a country club that was infiltrated by spies. Ask if they feel safe with that happening. Keep shoving this up the fucking asses of any Republicans who defend it. We're not talking about a love letter from Kim Jong Un. We're talking about documents that say, "Oh, hey, here's where the US is weak, enemies, so you can probably blow shit up here." And ask what kind of fucking asshole does this shit and what kind of assholes say it's all fine. Get angry about it, Democratic leaders. Let the public know that Trump's accused of doing something really shitty and harmful and he's pretty much admitted that he did it.
Right now, according to one poll, 63% of independents think the indictment is a serious matter. As the narratives develop around the case and around Trump, if the main one those voters hear is from the GOP crime-enablers, it could have an effect on the pudding-brained independents whose whims seem to shift from election to election. Democrats can get them on board by making clear that you can ally with the criminals or you can ally with the ones who believe that you shouldn't put the nation at risk. There's a window of time to accomplish this, and Democrats have gotta jump on the messaging train.
We keep pretending that all this shit is normal because Trump and his spokeworms get away with saying it. No, it's not normal for a president to just take whatever the fuck they want when they leave. Trump keeps lying about it. Last night, he told the Bedminster zombies and plague rats, "Hillary Clinton took hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of furniture, china, flatware, rugs, and more from the White House and she wasn’t prosecuted. How about that one? She took the furniture and the china." The Clintons weren't prosecuted for the $190,000 in gifts and other things they took because they either returned them or they paid for them in a settlement of the issue. In other words, it's the complete opposite of Trump and the documents.
But these stories and Trump's telling of them become accepted as fact, no matter how many fact checks there are. That often happens because Democrats try to be decent or upstanding or what the fuck ever when they should be laying it on the line and creating the narrative instead of responding to it and certainly instead of being silent.
June 15, 2023
New York Times makes 'MOMENTOUS' blunder covering Trump's arrest
Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 1:32:14p EDT
By Hunter
On Tuesday, for the very first time in the nation's history, a former president of the United States was arrested for stealing classified national security secrets, hiding them from government officials, and obstructing government efforts to get them back.
It is an astonishing, unprecedented news event. It tops Nixon's corruption by a wide stretch if measured by the total harm done. Damage to national security is undoubtedly enormous, and the details of that damage are likely to be hidden from the public for years. There are still documents missing.
How do you handle such an unprecedented betrayal of the public trust? How do you cover a story about a former president being arrested on Espionage Act charges?
If you are The New York Times, you do this.
https://twitter.com/markmobility/status/1668965160713703429
"MOMENTOUS SCENE IN MIAMI AS TRUMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY" is the headline, and it takes no imagination at all to imagine Donald Trump himself writing that out. The headline-important news is that Trump pleaded "NOT GUILTY," as if there was any damn question that he would do otherwise. The headline-important takeaway is that it was a "MOMENTOUS SCENE" as Trump pled not guilty, with "MOMENTOUS" being a word more often associated with headlines about war-ending victory parades, not a dozen-car motorcade threading through Miami to be met by perhaps a 100 gawking boosters and about as many members of the press.
All of it illustrated with a front-page picture that doesn't show the motorcade or crowd or arrest or any of it, but instead shows Trump stepping down from a flag-adorned plane that many or most observers might think is Air Force One. It's not, of course. It's Trump's private jet, and he painted it that way on purpose.
This is a newspaper front page that Donald Trump will hang on a Mar-a-Lago wall. It is the Truth Social version of events. The man attempted a coup, roused a crowd to attack the U.S. Capitol, and made off with some of the nation's most closely guarded secrets so that he could sort through them in Mar-a-Lago and in Bedminster at his leisure, and the actual New York Times believes the takeaway story to be the momentous scene of him pleading not guilty.
The alleged top editors in the country have to try very, very hard to be this bad at their jobs. What would have been their second choice, if "Trump descending from Not Air Force One" had been unavailable? Would they have gone with him hugging a flag? Waving from a balcony?
While the Times attempts to convince us that the most important story of the day was the sheer spectacle of Trump being met with dozens of supporters as he walked into the courthouse to be booked, the more explicitly fascist media is looking to stir up political violence rather than abide by Trump being held accountable for actual federal crimes.
https://twitter.com/sbg1/status/1668785629495271427
The Fox News board and executive suites really will not be happy until they have stoked mass domestic terrorism against Republicanism's enemies. From one hoax to the next, on and on, all of it meant to make their audience believe that America's elections are illegitimate, its democracy has already fallen, and that its elected government is tyrannical. A viewer could hardly come to any conclusion other than that violence was needed, with Fox News talking heads insisting that every nonviolent answer will only be swept aside by the supposed corruption of their enemies.
The man stole nuclear and national defense secrets and put them in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom, and the Times is agog at the visuals of it all while Fox believes charging him for doing it is evidence of incipient dictatorship. We are all seriously boned if this is the state of our so-called "press."
New York Times makes 'MOMENTOUS' blunder covering Trump's arrest
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/14/2175369/-The-New-York-Times-covers-Donald-Trump-s-arrest-by-boosting-TrumpNew York Times makes 'MOMENTOUS' blunder covering Trump's arrest
Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 1:32:14p EDT
By Hunter
On Tuesday, for the very first time in the nation's history, a former president of the United States was arrested for stealing classified national security secrets, hiding them from government officials, and obstructing government efforts to get them back.
It is an astonishing, unprecedented news event. It tops Nixon's corruption by a wide stretch if measured by the total harm done. Damage to national security is undoubtedly enormous, and the details of that damage are likely to be hidden from the public for years. There are still documents missing.
How do you handle such an unprecedented betrayal of the public trust? How do you cover a story about a former president being arrested on Espionage Act charges?
If you are The New York Times, you do this.
https://twitter.com/markmobility/status/1668965160713703429
"MOMENTOUS SCENE IN MIAMI AS TRUMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY" is the headline, and it takes no imagination at all to imagine Donald Trump himself writing that out. The headline-important news is that Trump pleaded "NOT GUILTY," as if there was any damn question that he would do otherwise. The headline-important takeaway is that it was a "MOMENTOUS SCENE" as Trump pled not guilty, with "MOMENTOUS" being a word more often associated with headlines about war-ending victory parades, not a dozen-car motorcade threading through Miami to be met by perhaps a 100 gawking boosters and about as many members of the press.
All of it illustrated with a front-page picture that doesn't show the motorcade or crowd or arrest or any of it, but instead shows Trump stepping down from a flag-adorned plane that many or most observers might think is Air Force One. It's not, of course. It's Trump's private jet, and he painted it that way on purpose.
This is a newspaper front page that Donald Trump will hang on a Mar-a-Lago wall. It is the Truth Social version of events. The man attempted a coup, roused a crowd to attack the U.S. Capitol, and made off with some of the nation's most closely guarded secrets so that he could sort through them in Mar-a-Lago and in Bedminster at his leisure, and the actual New York Times believes the takeaway story to be the momentous scene of him pleading not guilty.
The alleged top editors in the country have to try very, very hard to be this bad at their jobs. What would have been their second choice, if "Trump descending from Not Air Force One" had been unavailable? Would they have gone with him hugging a flag? Waving from a balcony?
While the Times attempts to convince us that the most important story of the day was the sheer spectacle of Trump being met with dozens of supporters as he walked into the courthouse to be booked, the more explicitly fascist media is looking to stir up political violence rather than abide by Trump being held accountable for actual federal crimes.
https://twitter.com/sbg1/status/1668785629495271427
The Fox News board and executive suites really will not be happy until they have stoked mass domestic terrorism against Republicanism's enemies. From one hoax to the next, on and on, all of it meant to make their audience believe that America's elections are illegitimate, its democracy has already fallen, and that its elected government is tyrannical. A viewer could hardly come to any conclusion other than that violence was needed, with Fox News talking heads insisting that every nonviolent answer will only be swept aside by the supposed corruption of their enemies.
The man stole nuclear and national defense secrets and put them in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom, and the Times is agog at the visuals of it all while Fox believes charging him for doing it is evidence of incipient dictatorship. We are all seriously boned if this is the state of our so-called "press."
June 13, 2023
Stop saying Classified Documents and start saying Nuclear Secrets
Monday, June 12, 2023 at 7:00:07p EDT
by oscarsmom
Watching Trump and his Republican groupies twist themselves into knots trying to find a way to wave their magic wands and make Donald Trump great again is making me nauseous, and it’s not just from my head spinning. He knows—they know—that literally half of the country will listen to anything they say, buy whatever they have to sell, and excuse literally any crime that TFG commits. Less than half of Americans out there even agree that he should have been indicted! Are you freaking kidding me? What disturbing universe do we find ourselves in?
Anyway, when you’re dealing with irrational people, you sometimes have to fight fire with fire. Use arguments that have both a rational and an emotional effect. My recommendation is that both Democrats and right-thinking journalists start replacing the phrase, “Classified documents” with “Nuclear Secrets” when they are discussing the latest Trump indictments. This strategy has many advantages:
1) It immediately calls to mind the gravity of the situation. Can you imagine if more journalists started asking the Lindsey Grahams and Jim Jordans of the world to go on the record answering the question, “Is it ok for Donald Trump or any other person to own nuclear secrets?”
2) It makes it a LOT harder for the denialists to deny. Imagine the contortionist act they’ll have to pull to deny that TFG actually DID take such documents with him, and left them lying around Mar-a-Lago for all passing spies to see. Instead of arguing about whether it’s important, it’s suddenly about provable facts: did he take them, and what were they.
3) Perhaps most important of all, it undercuts the whole false equivalency case they are putting out there. Right now they are winning the “They do it too!” argument. “Equal treatment for everyone!” they howl. But most people, even rabid Republicans, while they might think that Hillary/Biden/Pence might have taken classified documents, they do not think that they intentionally purloined nuclear secrets.
Need I add, it is demonstrably TRUE? The indictment alleges that proof exists that at least some of the documents Trump walked out with dealt with “details about U.S. nuclear weapons, the nuclear capabilities of a foreign country and the military activities or capabilities of other countries.”
Do I think the cult members on the other side will suddenly change their tune? Hardly. There are WAY too many people out there that are beyond help. But with any luck we can start putting a wedge between the crazies and the people that might actually care a wee bit about national security.
Stop saying Classified Documents and start saying Nuclear Secrets
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/12/2174984/-Stop-saying-Classified-Documents-and-start-saying-Nuclear-SecretsStop saying Classified Documents and start saying Nuclear Secrets
Monday, June 12, 2023 at 7:00:07p EDT
by oscarsmom
Watching Trump and his Republican groupies twist themselves into knots trying to find a way to wave their magic wands and make Donald Trump great again is making me nauseous, and it’s not just from my head spinning. He knows—they know—that literally half of the country will listen to anything they say, buy whatever they have to sell, and excuse literally any crime that TFG commits. Less than half of Americans out there even agree that he should have been indicted! Are you freaking kidding me? What disturbing universe do we find ourselves in?
Anyway, when you’re dealing with irrational people, you sometimes have to fight fire with fire. Use arguments that have both a rational and an emotional effect. My recommendation is that both Democrats and right-thinking journalists start replacing the phrase, “Classified documents” with “Nuclear Secrets” when they are discussing the latest Trump indictments. This strategy has many advantages:
1) It immediately calls to mind the gravity of the situation. Can you imagine if more journalists started asking the Lindsey Grahams and Jim Jordans of the world to go on the record answering the question, “Is it ok for Donald Trump or any other person to own nuclear secrets?”
2) It makes it a LOT harder for the denialists to deny. Imagine the contortionist act they’ll have to pull to deny that TFG actually DID take such documents with him, and left them lying around Mar-a-Lago for all passing spies to see. Instead of arguing about whether it’s important, it’s suddenly about provable facts: did he take them, and what were they.
3) Perhaps most important of all, it undercuts the whole false equivalency case they are putting out there. Right now they are winning the “They do it too!” argument. “Equal treatment for everyone!” they howl. But most people, even rabid Republicans, while they might think that Hillary/Biden/Pence might have taken classified documents, they do not think that they intentionally purloined nuclear secrets.
Need I add, it is demonstrably TRUE? The indictment alleges that proof exists that at least some of the documents Trump walked out with dealt with “details about U.S. nuclear weapons, the nuclear capabilities of a foreign country and the military activities or capabilities of other countries.”
Do I think the cult members on the other side will suddenly change their tune? Hardly. There are WAY too many people out there that are beyond help. But with any luck we can start putting a wedge between the crazies and the people that might actually care a wee bit about national security.
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