You don't fight fascism because you're going to win. You fight fascism because it is fascist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
quote unquote: Jean-Paul Sartre
You don't fight fascism because you're going to win. You fight fascism because it is fascist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
quote unquote
Executive earmark: Instead of a wall, it would be "far cheaper to erect a 50-foot concrete statue of a middle finger and point it towards Latin America." -- Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Tx)
A bizarre law is overcrowding California's public schools
In California, traditional neighborhood schools are forced to give space to charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated. This is causing all kinds of headaches for students and parents.
Is Bernie Sanders an empty suit?
Many in the Hillary Clinton camp continue to allow their bitterness over the loss to Donald Trump to misdirect their anger at Bernie Sanders. Especially nonsensical is the charge that the Vermonter, despite having been elected and reelected numerous times as mayor, Member of the House and U.S. Senator, is a "failed politician."
Serving in Congress is largely a matter of compromise and influence. To measure Sanders' record you would need to include such factors as his ability to work with the opposition to get things done (to take an example going back to his ealiest days in office, coordinating with the business community to revitalize the lakefront as the socialist mayor of Burlington); his effectiveness in the House; the committee leadership positions he has been trusted with by the Senate Democratic caucus and the fact that the DSCC (led by Sen. Chuck Schumer at the time) protected his reelection to the Senate from challenge by a nominal Democratic opponent; and his founding and chairing of the congressional Progressive Caucus. Most significant -- and most galling to the party establishment -- is that he has helped to move the Democratic Party away from neoliberalism and toward more traditional liberal/progressive policies and proposals.
Inconvenient facts:
Nobody in congress has gotten more amendments passed than Bernie Sanders. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.
California Democrats to Dianne Feinstein: "Good work on Trump. Now come home."
Okay. I'm one who applauded: "Dianne Feinstein is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore."
But the thundering hosannas for her releasing of the Fusion GPS testimony have begun to drown out reality.
Sen. Feinstein's action was admirable. If she had not done it, she would have been complicit in the blatant lying of Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham. But she is far from being the Second Coming of FDR.
She has been the strongest Democratic proponent in the Senate of the security state, she has dependably supported the Long War, and she has carried water for corporate and financial interests throughout her career, as when she voted for the bill that repealed Glass-Steagall’s banking reforms (California's other U.S. Senator, Barbara Boxer, voted nay). After decades in office, she is out of step. left behind by her increasingly liberal constituency; even with the advantages of incumbency in a blue state, she is only getting about 40% in support of her reelection campaign.
You have to ask yourself why at 84 she is running at all. My guess is that the party poobahs, realizing that if she retires the seat will almost certainly fall into the hands of a progressive, have decided that she remains their best hope to hold the seat for the donors; she will almost certainly be one of the two standing candidates after the primary (out-of-staters may not know that in California the general election is a run-off between the top two primary vote-getters, even if they are from the same party or no party at all), and Democratic leaders are betting she will get enough Democratic and all Republican votes to win (the other candidate will be a Democrat to her left -- there is no other kind; the GOP is not a factor at the state level in California); then, after a year or two, she will step down and the new governor, presumably Gavin Newsom, a Democrat in any case, will appoint a reliable supporter of business-as-usual.
Sen. Feinstein deserves all credit for unilaterally releasing the transcript of Glenn Simpson's testimony before her committee, and I hope she continues to hold Grassley's and Graham's feet to the fire.
When you think about it, though, this would be a perfect moment to retire. The primary will be bitter and divisive, and since experience suggests there is every likelihood that the poobahs have it wrong anyway, possibly pointless:
Instead, for the good of the nation, she could go out as Fighting Dianne Feinstein, spending her final days of service battling the criminalized GOP (as she is doing in taking a lead in rejecting Trump's off-shore drilling scam and supporting the Dreamers). What an honorable way to go.
Extra credit:
> The Republicans Fake Investigation by Glenn R. Simpson and Peter Fritsch (New York Times)
> Sen. Dianne Feinstein Releases Full Testimony From Co-Founder of Firm Behind Russia Dossier by Molly Olmstead (Slate)
> The full text of Glenn Simpson's interview before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 2017/08/22 (PDF)
> Dianne Feinstein survived childhood abuse, assassination attempts, and a brutal fight with the CIA. Now it’s time to take on Trump: The Lioness in Winter by Gail Sheehy (Mother Jones)
> In a rare meeting, the Democratic senator finds little common ground with hometown activists: Dianne Feinstein Town Hall Shows Why She’s a Conservative by San Francisco Standards by Matt Tinoco (Mother Jones)
> California's feverish political moment creates opportunity for a Feinstein challenge — or a few by Seema Mehta and Melanie Mason (Los Angeles Times)
> Kevin de León, president of the California Senate, is challenging the longtime senator next year, creating a dilemma for the party's 2020 hopefuls: The Democrats’ Dianne Feinstein Problem by David Dayen (New Republic)<br />
> Alison Hartson announced she's running for U.S. Senate: New liberal challenger to Sen. Dianne Feinstein launches bid on 'The Young Turks' by Sarah D. Wire (Los Angeles Times)
Some choice
Who was right, George Orwell or Aldous Huxley?
"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.
"Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.
"As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny 'failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.' In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure.
"In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us." -- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (Penguin).
Our civil polity is in free fall
Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. ... Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. -- Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 1852(AP/January 4, 2021) President-elect Oprah Winfrey, with Vice President-elect Ellen DeGeneres, appeared in the White House press room Monday afternoon to announce the first appointments to the new cabinet. The soon-to-be Commander in Chief had special praise for Secretary of State nominee Rachel Raye, who was in attendance, saying she "is the right person to cook up a new foreign policy" for the nation.
Other designees on hand included Treasury Secretary Suze Orman, Attorney General Judge Judy Sheindlin, Labor Secretary Phil "Dr. Phil" McGraw, Commerce Secretary Stacy London, HUD Secretary Mehmet “Dr. Oz” Oz, and Surgeon General Jenny McCarthy.
In an attempt heal some hurt feelings from a hard-fought campaign, Dwayne "The Rock " Johnson will take over at Defense. In a surprise move, Bob Greene, who had been expected to be Surgeon General, has been named special advisor to the President; he will share an office with the already appointed Gayle King, and is expected to work closely with Chief of Staff Steve Harvey. Meryl Streep, an early backer of the president-elect's run for office, will be the new U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St James. Mark Cuban will be sent to Finland.
In a separate briefing, Press Secretary Kanye West announced that the Secret Service had to call in all available agents because of the crush of citizens seeking selfies and autographs.
[Note to The Hill: Just took an informal poll of Democrats on prospect of Oprah presidential run. Couldn't find a single one that could be described as "thrilled." Prospect of President Winfrey thrills Dems by Amie Parnes (The Hill)]
"An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought." -- Simon Cameron *
Happy days are here again
Really psyched about the people's uprising in Tehran and the Persian countryside. Hope we don't miss the opportunity to lend a hand in Iran like we did in Iraq, Libya and Syria.
Goodbye, good luck, and good riddance:
"Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the longest-serving GOP senator in U.S. history, is retiring at the end of his term."
The rate and severity of shootings are accelerating.
"The deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history came in October, when a gunman pent up in a Las Vegas hotel tower showered gunfire on concertgoers across the street, leaving 59 people dead and more than 500 others injured. A month later, a man opened fire on churchgoers in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26. There were dozens of smaller-scale events this year. The Gun Violence Archive reports more than 14,000 people were killed and over 29,000 were injured in mass shootings in 2017. That might make it the worst year on record."
(The map shown here does not include incidents after October 2.)
Resolution
I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair
I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair
I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair
And send him on his way
Walk him out
Dry him out
Push him out
Fly him out
And send him on his way!
Written by R. Rodgers, O. Hammerstein II
quote unquote: James Baldwin
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. -- James Baldwin
The Long War
As we live in a state of endless, undeclared war, it behooves us to remember the wise words of one the Founders:
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” – James Madison
Demockracy
Money buys elections. The media covers the horse race, not the issues, and routinely deems threats to the status quo "unelectable." There is no party discipline. Gerrymandering and voter suppression are rampant. The Electoral College devalues some votes and enhances others. A vote in one state for the U.S. Senate is worth 100 times what the same vote is worth in another. Judges sit for life. The operatives of money and power routinely rotate in and out of legislative and executive positions, enriching themselves and their cohort as they go. Huge amounts of public wealth are transferred continuously to private hands and trillions of dollars are spent in secret. Wars are conducted without following constitutional procedures.
Sometimes cynicism just can't catch a break.
How frustrated must be Kirsten Gillibrand. She throws Al Franken under the bus, the one to the high road, and the press still praises Kamala Harris as the "new face" of the party.
If it's not nailed down, privatize it.
The FCC voted in a 3-2 party-line vote to end net neutrality, despite overwhelming bipartisan and public support for it.
Net neutrality is now officially on life support. Here’s what happens next. by Aja Romano (VOX)
Trump has his "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" moment:
"USA Today published a brutal editorial Tuesday after President Donald Trump smeared Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) by saying she 'would do anything' for campaign contributions. 'A president who’d all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama’s presidential library or to shine George W. Bush’s shoes,'” USA Today’s Editorial Board wrote, adding Trump was clearly suggesting Gillibrand would trade sexual favors for campaign donations. The board added that Trump is a 'uniquely awful' person with 'sickening behavior.' His tweet was a new low for a president redefining rock bottom, they wrote. -- USA Today Calls Trump Unfit To Clean Obama's Toilets In Scathing Editorial (Yahoo News).
Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom? by The Editorial Board (USA Today)
Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom? by The Editorial Board (USA Today)
????
The Democratic leadership constantly promotes the benefit of parsing evils. How come that lesser-evil thing doesn't doesn't favor Al Franken when measured against Donald Trump, Roy Moore and the other actual criminals peppered throughout the governing class?
Fair's fair
According to Axios, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer “said he was the victim of a fake news hit on Tuesday, and has turned over to Capitol Police a document that purports to detail lurid sexual harassment accusations by a former staffer.” The former staffer said she “did not author the document, that none of the charges ring true, and that her signature was forged.”
But he has been accused.
Under current Democratic Party operating procedures that means he must resign immediately.
But he has been accused.
Under current Democratic Party operating procedures that means he must resign immediately.
D.J. Trump: Not Living Up to His Full Potential
If Donald Trump knew anything about history, he'd realize that he could go so much bigger than merely reversing Barack Obama's executive orders. Think how pleased his supporters and enablers would be if he revoked the Emancipation Proclamation, say, or gave Alaska back to the Russians.
This Christmas, sit him at the kids' table 'til he learns to behave
The New York Times says, “[p]eople close to him estimate that Trump spends at least four hours a day, and sometimes as much as twice that, in front of a television, sometimes with the volume muted, marinating in the no-holds-barred wars of cable news and eager to fire back,” just like your crazy uncle.
The Head of Government
“Trump Loves Showing Off The White House Bathrooms” -- Newsweek headline
The Long History of the Conservative Fixation With Bathrooms by Nancy LeTourneau (Washington Monthly)
The Long History of the Conservative Fixation With Bathrooms by Nancy LeTourneau (Washington Monthly)
Giving cynicism a bad name
The Republicans' embrace of Roy Moore is no more cynical than the Democrats' lynching of Al Franken. If Moore wins, the GOP Senators can righteously refuse to seat him, confident the Republican governor will replace him with another member of the tribe. If they let Democrat Doug Jones win, on the other hand, they're stuck with him for at least six years. Does anyone really think Al Franken would have been shoved out the door if the governor of Minnesota was other than a Democrat? (Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand may have made a tactical in trying to jumpstart her presidential campaign by shoving out the popular Franken. Political activists have long memories).
Unfinished business
"American exceptionalism" and "American greatness" are propaganda slogans deployed to discourage thinking. We have our good qualities and our bad. We need to concentrate on making the United States a better country, however great it is or isn't already.
We are a loose cannon in world politics. We waste resources on military adventures. Too many of our people have no place to sleep and not enough to eat. That we don't have universally affordable health care is tragic. Our education system was, should be, and no longer is the best in the world. Our infrastructure 50 years ago was second to none and hasn't been maintained since.
We have a lot of work to do.
We are a loose cannon in world politics. We waste resources on military adventures. Too many of our people have no place to sleep and not enough to eat. That we don't have universally affordable health care is tragic. Our education system was, should be, and no longer is the best in the world. Our infrastructure 50 years ago was second to none and hasn't been maintained since.
We have a lot of work to do.
Does being a Democrat mean anything?
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) is reportedly under consideration for Energy and Interior secretary, as is Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa). Whether the Democrats allow their numbers in the Senate to be reduced so carelessly will provide another measure of how serious they are about thwarting GOP ambitions.
Evidence so far: Not serious.
Evidence so far: Not serious.
quote unquote: James Madison
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, a well-armed and well-regulated militia being the best security of a free country; but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.” -- James Madison, first draft of the Second Amendment, before it was mangled in committee.
From your mouth to...um, that's all I've got.
In a headline, evidence of just how deluded the left is:
"Al Franken resigns, setting precedent for Donald Trump and Roy Moore."
From the Logo File:
There is no adjectival form of the word integrity. One is needed. I propose integrous (as opposed to integritous or integrious, both less euphonious). You may not find need of it often, but on the rare occasions you stumble upon someone behaving integrously, by all means use it. Intregrous behavior should extolled wherever it turns up.
You're Not Thinking Big Enough
If Donald Trump knew anything about history he'd be aiming so much higher than merely reversing Barack Obama's executive orders. Think how he'd please his supporters and enablers if he revoked the Emancipation Proclamation, say, or gave Alaska back to the Russians.
On Us
The problems we face as a nation are much bigger than, as most Democrats see it, "this horrible Republican President and Congress."
Distorted spending decisions, selective application of free market economic policies and militarized foreign policy pursued by both parties over the last 30+ years are what fueled the anger that permitted "this horrible Republican President" to ascend, but it is the permanent conservative majority in Congress, made up of both Republicans and Democrats, that has sent this country into its long, slow decline.
The one positive of the Donald Trump presidency is that it has ripped the happy face off the deadly fiction of American exceptionalism.
Electing in 2020 another personable and integrous but unimpassioned abettor of the best and the brightest, such as Barack Obama, won't be nearly up to the job of bringing about the fundamental changes needed (we mustn't allow ourselves to forget that the number of poor and the number of wars increased under the last president). It will require a radicalized congress and an aggressively pro-change executive to fix what ails us, to get us back on the difficult path toward economic and social justice. We must either accomplish a radical course correction or resign ourselves to further decline.
“Well, Doctor," Ben Franklin was asked outside Independence Hall on the final day of deliberations, "what have we got -- a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic," he replied, "if you can keep it.”
It's on us to keep it.
Extra credit:
>>Thirty years ago, the old deal that held US society together started to unwind, with social cohesion sacrificed to greed. Was it an inevitable process – or was it engineered by self-interested elites?: Decline and fall: how American society unravelled by George Packer (The Guardian)
>>Domestic and global trends suggest that in 2025, now just 8 years from now, the American century could all be over except for the shouting: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire by Alfred W. McCoy (Tom Dispatch)
>>Austerity is riskier than stimulus. The Big Question on the Economy: Is This Really Full Employment? by J.W. Mason (Roosevelt Institute)
>>What went wrong and what comes next?: Capitalism in Crisis by Mark Blyth (Foreign Affairs) >>Putting community needs at the center of society rather than those of the individual: An Economic Alternative to Exploitative Free Market Capitalism by Thomas Hedges (Truthdig)
Distorted spending decisions, selective application of free market economic policies and militarized foreign policy pursued by both parties over the last 30+ years are what fueled the anger that permitted "this horrible Republican President" to ascend, but it is the permanent conservative majority in Congress, made up of both Republicans and Democrats, that has sent this country into its long, slow decline.
The one positive of the Donald Trump presidency is that it has ripped the happy face off the deadly fiction of American exceptionalism.
Electing in 2020 another personable and integrous but unimpassioned abettor of the best and the brightest, such as Barack Obama, won't be nearly up to the job of bringing about the fundamental changes needed (we mustn't allow ourselves to forget that the number of poor and the number of wars increased under the last president). It will require a radicalized congress and an aggressively pro-change executive to fix what ails us, to get us back on the difficult path toward economic and social justice. We must either accomplish a radical course correction or resign ourselves to further decline.
“Well, Doctor," Ben Franklin was asked outside Independence Hall on the final day of deliberations, "what have we got -- a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic," he replied, "if you can keep it.”
It's on us to keep it.
Extra credit:
>>Thirty years ago, the old deal that held US society together started to unwind, with social cohesion sacrificed to greed. Was it an inevitable process – or was it engineered by self-interested elites?: Decline and fall: how American society unravelled by George Packer (The Guardian)
>>Domestic and global trends suggest that in 2025, now just 8 years from now, the American century could all be over except for the shouting: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire by Alfred W. McCoy (Tom Dispatch)
>>Austerity is riskier than stimulus. The Big Question on the Economy: Is This Really Full Employment? by J.W. Mason (Roosevelt Institute)
>>What went wrong and what comes next?: Capitalism in Crisis by Mark Blyth (Foreign Affairs) >>Putting community needs at the center of society rather than those of the individual: An Economic Alternative to Exploitative Free Market Capitalism by Thomas Hedges (Truthdig)
Climate change
The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and UnabridgedSome say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
–Robert Frost
Don't feel bad, CNN. Izzy Stone never got invited to the White House Christmas Party, either
"Sarah Sanders Gleeful That CNN Won’t Be A Guest At White House Christmas Party" (HuffPost headline).
quote unquote: Teddy Roosevelt
As conservatives and neoliberals continue their subversion of progressive taxation, it's worth remembering words on the subject
by the well-known socialist, Teddy Roosevelt:
"We grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well used. It is not even enough that it should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community.... The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size, acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and … a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate." -- Theodore Roosevelt, the "New Nationalism" speech, delivered 1910/08/31 at the dedication of the John Brown Memorial Park in Osawatomie, Kansas.
Better late than never
Wouldn't this seem like a swell time for the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, and often described as an international bill of rights for women? Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.
Blue State Blues
Looking toward 2018, here are the top scorers in the California Republican delegation on "How often a member votes in line with Trump's position":
David Valadao (CA-21) 98.1%; Stephen Knight (CA-25) 98.1%; Mimi Walters (CA-45) 98.1%; Jeff Denham (CA-10) 98.1%; Ken Calvert (CA-42) 98.1%; Paul Cook (CA-8) 98.1%; Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) 98.1%; Doug LaMalfa (CA-1), 98.1%; Devin Nunes (CA-22) 98%; Ed Royce (CA-39) 96.2%; Darrell Issa (CA-49) 96.2%; Dana Rohrabacker (CA-48) 92.5%; and Tom McClintock 88.7%.
By comparison, of the six members of the House that vote least with Trump (at 9.4% of the time) -- a list that includes Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison (the Progressive Caucus chairs), Bonnie Watson Coleman and Adriano Espaillat -- two, Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, are from California (source: Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight).
David Valadao (CA-21) 98.1%; Stephen Knight (CA-25) 98.1%; Mimi Walters (CA-45) 98.1%; Jeff Denham (CA-10) 98.1%; Ken Calvert (CA-42) 98.1%; Paul Cook (CA-8) 98.1%; Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) 98.1%; Doug LaMalfa (CA-1), 98.1%; Devin Nunes (CA-22) 98%; Ed Royce (CA-39) 96.2%; Darrell Issa (CA-49) 96.2%; Dana Rohrabacker (CA-48) 92.5%; and Tom McClintock 88.7%.
By comparison, of the six members of the House that vote least with Trump (at 9.4% of the time) -- a list that includes Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison (the Progressive Caucus chairs), Bonnie Watson Coleman and Adriano Espaillat -- two, Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, are from California (source: Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight).
The neologist
There is no adjectival form of the word integrity. One is needed.
I propose integrous (as opposed to integritous or integrious, neither of which is as euphonious).
You may not find need of it often, but on the rare occasions you stumble upon someone behaving integrously, by all means use it.
Intregrous behavior should be extolled wherever it crops up.
I propose integrous (as opposed to integritous or integrious, neither of which is as euphonious).
You may not find need of it often, but on the rare occasions you stumble upon someone behaving integrously, by all means use it.
Intregrous behavior should be extolled wherever it crops up.
How far would you get on $13.63 an hour?
In California, defining a low-wage worker as one earning less than $13.63 hour in 2014, this is how the state's employment profile looked:
From the "Sure. Why Not?" Desk:
The Norfolk, Va., city council is due to decide on granting easements for a natural gas pipeline that would run under the city's drinking water reservoir, the Virginian-Pilot reports. No room for Murphy's Law there.
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