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Was it always thus?

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Is it just me, or do most non-Fox viewers feel this way?

Yesterday the New York Times released a story about the genius’s tax returns from the eighties. Turns out that he lost billions of dollars and the returns emit a strong odor of fraud. I’m not saying it’s not worth reporting, but if you’d asked me to write down what one could expect from his tax returns, I don’t think I’d have guessed wrong.

This is a pattern with Trump. Nothing surprises even the casual observer, never mind the political junkie. Consider this description of two Pulitzer Prize winning stories:

The New York Times received the explanatory reporting prize for an 18-month investigation that revealed how the future president and his relatives avoided paying roughly half a billion dollars’ worth of taxes. The Wall Street Journal won the national reporting award for disclosing clandestine payoffs made by the president’s associates before the 2016 election to two women who had alleged affairs with Mr. Trump.

I’m not saying the prizes were undeserved, but on the other hand, both papers were just telling us what we already knew.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I believe there have been times when we’ve been surprised when politicians were exposed as venal, corrupt, or frauds. In those days, I’m pretty sure, an investigative reporter could uncover a truly shocking story. Nowadays the poor scribes are reduced to simply confirming what we already know.

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Shape of Things to Come

Thursday, May 2, 2019

This is interesting, I think, and bodes poorly for the Democratic presidential candidate, whoever it may be.

In today’s New York Times (the paper version), right next to the two articles about the Barr hearings, neither of which headlines the fact that he lied his way through his testimony, is an article about Joe Biden. It starts on page one, takes up the entirety of page 10, and extends onto page 11. It concerns allegations of a conflict of interest involving his son’s activities in the Ukraine, and is titled For Biden, a Ukraine Matter that Won’t Go Away. Not until you get to page 10 (and, really, who ever reads that far) does it become clear that this is a story being pushed by the Trumpies, which the Times, dutifully carrying water, has promoted to front page news.

So, I went on line to get a linkto the story (doing my duty as a blogger), in order to make point one of two I intend to make in this post: that the mainstream media is always ready to dutifully chase whatever way Republicans point while somehow ignoring Republican transgressions. Before the election, anyway, how often did the Timesmine the various conflicts of interests, criminal activities and frauds in which Trump engaged. Okay, I understand. There wasn’t room to print them next to all those stories about Hillary’s emails.

Point one made.

Before going on, let me relate what I found on-line. The title to the article has been changed for the on-line version. It reads: “Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions That Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies”. A little better anyway, though it might have been useful had the Times noted that nothing in the “questions” being promoted rises to the level of corruption in which the Trump family daily engages. But the damage was done in the print edition.

On to point two.

Someone near and dear to me has been repeatedly making the point that unless the Democrats pursue impeachment this is what we can expect from now until the election: the press chasing adverse stories about Democratic candidates like hounds chasing foxes while Trump escapes scrutiny since, after all, he’s just being Trump. Like this one, those stories will be invented, promoted, or blown out of proportion by Republicans, but it won’t matter. Like Hillary’s emails they will dominate the news. If we want to throw the dogs off the scent, we have to give them something else to chase, and a constant drumbeat of disclosures from impeachment hearings (they don’t actually ever have to hold a vote if they prefer) is part of what we need to do that.

Caveat: This doesn’t mean I’ve become a Joe Biden fan. I’m still convinced he’s the worst of the actually viable candidates.

UPDATE: I see digby came to the same conclusions I did. For once I got a post off before the big players.

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All together now

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

A few days ago my wife put this on the Local Resist Facebook page:

 

At this point this should be fairly non-controversial on our side of the great divide. I’m no fan of Joe Biden or Seth Moulton, and their ilk, but I’ll vote for any one of them if it’s the only way to get rid of Trump. Rather predictably the post drew a response from a (probable) Bernie dead ender. I won’t reproduce the unhinged rant here, but boiled down to its essence, it came down to this: rather than vote for someone who is not perfect, I will not vote at all. Another way to state it is that rather than vote for someone who is not perfect, I will cast a shadow vote for Trump.

I say he was a “probable” Bernie dead-ender not because he so identified, but because folks with this attitude tend to reside in that camp, though some are ready to de-camp to the Greens and waste their vote there.

These folks are doing us all a disservice, and they’re doing Bernie a disservice in particular. He wasn’t a Bernie dead-ender in 2016, as he campaigned for Hillary, and he isn’t now, as he’s taken the Indivisible Pledge (he was first) along with most of the other candidates. The likelihood is that they’ll all sign on in the near future. You can take the pledge too.

We really do need to pull together when the time comes. A health primary debate is more than worthwhile, as I believe that it will lead to a realization on the part of the Democratic establishment that it can no longer do business as usual. Whatever the outcome, we need to pull together. 

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History repeats in Massachusetts

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The Boston Globe is reportingtoday that several DAs in Massachusetts are joining a coalition of public defenders and others in a lawsuit seeking to “ halt immigration agents from making civil arrests at state courthouses”.

The suit and the general response in Massachusetts to the recent indictment of a state court judge for alleged “obstruction of justice” -and nothing is more ironical than a Trump appointed US Attorney indicting anyone for that particular crime- recalls the Massachusetts led resistance to the Fugitive Slave law in the 1850s. Back then the feds were arresting alleged escaped slaves who were not, because they were black, entitled to a jury trial or to testify in their own defense. Now they are lurking in courthouses seeking out “illegal” immigrants. As the suit notes, it has long been the policy in this country that a person is immune from civil arrest while they are attending court.

As in the 1850s, the feds will remain on the wrong side of this issue, at least until a certain stable genius is himself inside a prison cell. Hats off to the folks in Massachusetts who are reviving a noble state tradition. It would be good to see similar resistance here in Connecticut. 

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Blaming the victims

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Here in the United States we have a pronounced tendency to blame the victim for his or her woes. People are poor because they’re lazy, etc. This may or may not be a universal tendency. I know from my history that it was a commonplace attitude in Britain, where they not only blamed the poor for their poverty, but punished them for it. It’s something we practice in various and often subtle ways, which brings me to this articlein yesterday’s New York Times.

After languishing for a few years, support for teaching money-management skills to high school students has reignited, financial literacy advocates say. They attribute much of the newfound interest to worries about mushrooming student debt.

High school students “are asked to make a consequential decision,” said Annamaria Lusardi, founder and academic director of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at George Washington University’s School of Business. “Whether or not to go to college, and how to finance that decision.”

I’m sure a high school student can learn something useful from such courses, but they will do nothing to reduce the crushing burden of college debt, though they will provide yet another reason to blame the victims of our rigged system for becoming victims. After all, if they were given a course in financial literacy, and still got themselves into debt, whose fault is it but theirs? The fact that they have little if any practical choice in the matter is something we can then safely ignore.

When I was in college, a state university education ranged in cost from free in some states to pretty much negligible everywhere else. I went to a relatively elite private college, and despite my monetarily humble (widowed mother living on pensions and social security) background, I graduated from college with zero debt, and law school three years later owing a total of $1,800.00. When my own kids, not so long ago, were in college, we (now relatively affluent compared to my mother) were able to pay for the whole thing, and pay off their loans on their behalf. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t financially devastating. That was less than 20 years ago, and the cost of paying for the involved colleges has more than doubled since then. We’re in better financial shape now, but there’s no way we could do today what we were able to do then, particularly if, like the parents of most college age students, we were still paying a mortgage. For the sons and daughters of those less affluent than us, the problem is magnified. College debt would not be a problem if we funded our state universities and colleges as they should be funded and educated our children free of charge. Free state universities would also put downward pressure on tuition charges by private colleges. Make those changes, and today’s high school students wouldn’t have to make a decision about their futures based on their financial ability to fund the education they need to avoid being personally blamed for their inability to get a job somewhere other than Walmart.

The thinking behind this course requirement smacks of the blame the victim mentality I noted above. The underlying presumption is that it’s not a rigged system, designed to impose crushing debt on college students that’s to blame, it’s the students themselves for falling victim to that system.

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Hey Joe, how about apologizing to the rest of us?

Friday, April 26, 2019

Joe Biden, rightly anticipating some folks remembering, thought it would be a good idea to call Anita Hilland express his regrets for what she went through so many years ago, but not what he put her through. Joe was merely chair of the committee, how could he possibly prevent what happened to her? She didn’t view it as an apology, and clearly it wasn’t, because to this day Joe doesn’t see that he did anything wrong. 

Well, count me among those who think he owes her a real apology, but I don’t think he should stop there. He owes all of us an apology for letting Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court. Anyone with a lick of sense could see the man would be a disaster on the court, and Hill’s credible allegations (particularly if buttressed by the witnesses Biden refused to call) were more than a sufficient reason to send him packing. Remember, Biden was chair of the committee, and had almost total control of the process.

Biden will tell you that it was his job was to act as an honest broker in the interest of bipartisan comity. There was still a little of that comity hanging around back then, but, among other things, the Kavanaugh hearings showed that’s not the case anymore, nor was it very much the case back then. But there was enough to think that, if Thomas was rejected, the first Bush would have nominated a not so loony replacement.

Biden’s treatment of Hill may not disqualify him as a Democratic candidate for the presidency, but what should disqualify him is the fact that to this day he does not recognize, or will not admit, that those days when reasonable men (and only men) could sit down and hash out their differences are gone. He still believes that you can achieve things in a bipartisan fashion, in the face of mountains of evidence that the Republican Party has adopted a take no prisoners, make no compromises stand ever since Newt Gingrich sent the “moderates” into political exile. It boggles the mind that Biden still does not realize this. Among other things we could expect from his presidency is a return to those days when the Democrats bent over backward to secure some Republican buy-in to any measure they try to pass, thereby neutering whatever measures they actually do pass.

Here’s a bit from Crooks and Liarsthat I read after writing the first draft of this post, which I excerpt here merely as proof that I’m not alone in this analysis:

Handsome Joe has framed his candidacy as a run against Trumpism, with an inherent promise of a return to a bipartisan normal. It’s a premise built upon nostalgia for a time long past, and not entirely dissimilar to Comrade Trump’s own campaign slogan of making America great again. It will be interesting to see how two campaigns built on different visions of nostalgia work against each other.

But here’s the thing. Biden’s message doesn’t take into account that our problem is the Republicans; Trump (while a singular vile and corrupt individual) is the product of the Republican factory, which made the rise of American Nazis not just possible but inevitable. Trump’s racism and authoritarianism are the outcome of the Republicans morphing into a party of old, white, straight male, intolerant Xristians. The fascist Republican party will be around after Comrade Trump is long gone.

This Goat Rodeo cannot just be about personalities, it must be about fixing what is wrong, and while Trump himself might be the posterboy for everything wrong, America will not return to normal with his removal. The Republicans will not be bipartisan when the smoke clears. Amply be-chinned Mitch McConnell is already proclaiming that he will block every measure, Garland-style, if the Dems win.

I firmly believe that Biden’s front runner status will be a thing of the past once he’s actually in the game. I hope I’m right, because I also firmly believe he’s almost the worst candidate we could put up against Trump. As Exhibit 1 for that assertion, I submit the fact that so many Democratic beltway insiders think he’s our best hope. I would submit that in the case of our beltway insiders, past performance does guarantee future performance.

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Heather Somers takes a principled stand

Sunday, April 21, 2019

I haven’t had much luck getting letters published by the New London Day, so I thought I’d publish this one here. 

Readers of the Day might be interested to know that State Senator Heather Somers, who “represents” the people of the 18th District, in which I reside, recently cast one of only two negative votes against a bill that would require diaper changing tables in the restrooms in all newly constructed buildings.

It is a rare event nowadays when any bill attracts such widespread bipartisan support, but then, anyone who’s been a parent, even most Republicans, can appreciate the desirability of such a requirement, particularly in light of the negligible cost involved, as it applied only to new construction.

But not our Heather.

From what I am given to understand, Somers voted against the bill because she is against “overregulation”. Regulations are what we use when people who run businesses put profits before people. It started with regulations curtailing the free market practice of selling rotting meat to the public, which, by the way, the current Republican Administration in Washington, agreeing with the Somers philosophy, is seeking to curtail, proposing to put the rotten meat selling capitalists in charge of policing the slaughterhouse. Republicans are against regulations, except where those regulations have the effect of suppressing the vote or shoveling money toward the rich, in which case, they can’t get enough of them.

Heather has been blessed with a charmed political life. She has one outstanding talent: the ability to avoid taking a firm position on almost any issue while at the same time making it appear that she supports whatever side the listener happens to favor. She also is a favorite of the New London Day, which would never think to report on a vote such as the one above, and can always be counted on to look the other way when Somers casts a vote for which it would heap scorn on a Democratic. But, as the Day pointed out in a recent editorial, this makes perfect sense, because while we must count on Democrats to do the responsible thing, Republicans have the right to play politics with important issues, and, while it would be nice if they would do the right thing, it would be unfair to expect them to do so. 

Still, Heather has a lot of work ahead of her if she wants to hit the big time. Though Heather has proven herself to be in the top 1% on the callousness scale here in Connecticut, nationwide, she’s a piker. Preventing parents from having a place to change diapers really pales beside, for instance, claiming that critical care nurses spend their days playing cards. Still, you have to give Heather credit for trying, and, given enough time, she may up her game and qualify for national recognition.

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A Good Friday tradition

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Today is Good Friday, and as I’ve done each Good Friday for the past 13 or so years (yes, I’ve been producing this drivel that long) today I pass on a Good Friday lesson. It’s a lesson that this year of all years we must take to heart.

For…

Some things in life are bad (like the fact that Trump is president).
They can really make you mad.
Some things just make you swear and curse (like the fact that the entire Republican Party is composed of racists and Nazis.)
But when you’re chewing on life’s gristle…,

well, if you’ve been reading this blog faithfully, you know what comes next.

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Something on the bright side

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Let us take a few moments to appreciate a brief ray of sunshine in our otherwise cloudy times.

A few minutes ago I answered the call to come out with some other Groton Dems to support the strikers at our local Stop & Shop. I was wondering how the strike was going, and to what extent people were crossing the picket line. Groton is a union town, after all.

While I was there I saw no one enter or leave the store, except one guy who was possibly a scab.

The guy who runs Stop & Shop was there, in effigy, so to speak.

 

Dick Blumenthal came. He is apparently doing the rounds of stores throughout the state, and he said that there are empty parking lots all around, which is a good thing.

Here’s Dick with the workers, and another shot of him with our deputy town chair, Nancy Mello-Miller, and our esteemed Mayor, Patrice Granatosky.

 

I have made it a point to go to Stop & Shop in preference to its competitors precisely because it is unionized. I appreciate the irony in the fact that it is possible now to put pressure on Stop & Shop by shopping at the competition, all of whom are non-union, but you have to play with the hand that’s dealt you. Even in these Stop & Shopless days I will only go so far. I have never stepped foot in a Walmart, and I never will, unless and until it is unionized and the Walton siblings wear ashes and sackcloth as penance for their sins.

Anyway, it is a small but hopeful sign that people are staying away from Stop & Shop in droves. Who knows, maybe people are getting fed up with rising inequality, and they’re ready for a little solidarity. Miracles happen, even in this benighted country.

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You can’t get much more impeachable than this

Friday, April 12, 2019

When the genius first moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue I stated my intention of making note of each impeachable offense as it occurred. This proved impossible, since at the time I was a working person and couldn’t possibly keep up. My intentions were good. The spirit was willing, etc.

Anyway, it is only right and just that I make note of what must be the most blatant, out in the open impeachable offense every committed by the person holding the office Trump present holds:

Have we crossed over into impeachment territory yet? If reports from CNN are true, Donald Trump promised a pardon to the head of CBP if he broke the law by keeping asylum seekers out of the country.

CNN is reporting that during a visit to Calexico, California last week Trump told border agents to block asylum seekers from entering the United States, a violation of immigration law. It is obvious Trump knows this is illegal, because he promised the head of CBP, Kevin McAleenan, that if he ended up in jail for breaking the law, Trump would pardon him.

If true, and you know that it is, our so called President has ascended (from his personal baseline) to the level of a Mafia capo. Other presidents have engaged in cover ups, but he’s out in the open assuring his flunkeys that he’ll take care of them if they get caught committing the crimes he’s ordering them to commit. He’s not covering up, he’s engaging in criminal behavior out in the open. I guess he does believe in transparency after all.

It’s almost enough (well, no, it really isn’t) to make you feel sorry for Republicans like Lindsay Graham, who will now have to come up with reasons why it’s perfectly okay for a president to encourage criminal behavior with assurances that he’ll abuse the powers of his office by pardoning the malefactors. I’m sure Lindsay is up to it, though. I never was a McCain fan, but if I believed in ghosts I’d be sure that McCain would be starting to haunt Lindsay right about now.

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