Among the various CIA documents Wikileaks has released recently is instructions for how covert operatives can handle aggressive screeners at airports.
I’ve not read the document in detail yet (it’s a PDF at the link), but it seems to me that it has some useful hints for travelers.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t say much about dealing with the increasingly out of control ICE & CPB agents in the US, but it is good general primer on how to avoid that body cavity search.
New record sees woman make it to 9.05am before hearing word ‘Brexit’
Opening ‘graph:
Mary Fisher forgot to turn the radio on after getting up at 7.30am and opted to listen to music on her commute, thus avoiding the B-word for a euphoric 95 minutes.
Look at the bright side: On our side of the pond, we have Trump, which is much worse than Brexit.
Have some Martha and Muffins:
Theresa May has officially begun the Brexit process:
Theresa May has told parliament that she accepts Brexit will carry consequences for the UK, as a letter delivered to Brussels began a two-year countdown to Britain’s departure from the EU.
The prime minister made a speech on triggering article 50 minutes after the European council president, Donald Tusk, confirmed he had received notification. He declared that “the UK has delivered Brexit” nine months after a bruising referendum campaign.“We understand that there will be consequences for the UK of leaving the EU. We know that we will lose influence over the rules that affect the European economy. We know that UK companies that trade with the EU will have to align with rules agreed by institutions of which we are no longer a part, just as we do in other overseas markets. We accept that,” she said.
A number of MPs congratulated the prime minister on the tone of her letter to Tusk, which stressed Britain’s commitment to the continent as a close friend and ally. But others accused her of issuing a “blatant threat” to withdraw security cooperation if the EU27 fail to deliver on a trade agreement. The letter suggests that the government hopes to roll the separate issues together, claiming no deal will mean WTO rules but also that “our cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened”. May’s spokesman repeatedly insisted placing security and trade relations alongside each other in the letter to Tusk was not intended as a threat. “It’s a simple statement of fact that if we leave the EU without a deal, then the arrangements we have as part of our EU membership will lapse,” he said.
This is going to be a bumpy ride.
The expectations on the British side are somewhat self contradictory, and there are elements of the EU establishment (and not just Wolfgang Schäuble) who want to make the UK an abject lesson for anyone else who is considering either an EU or Euro zone exit.
This is going to be nasty divorce ugly.
Trump doesn’t need to subvert American institutions to achieve his goals, because they are already powerful tools of oppression.
I’m not sure that I agree, but it is rather wonderfully evocative.
Matt Bruenig details the professional history of Chelsea Clinton, and it is a miasma and nepotism.
If she runs for office, and it is clear that Hillary, at least, wants her to continue in the “family business”, her entry in politics would be a disaster:
Rumors are that Chelsea Clinton is gearing up to run for office. This is troubling news insofar as it might keep the Clinton machine and its hangers-on in politics. It also seems like a questionable idea insofar as Clinton is a nepotist legacy case whose whole career to this point has been hopping from one dodgy patronage job to another, not exactly the ideal image for the Democratic Party.
McKinsey (2003–2006)
After graduating high school, Chelsea goes to Stanford and gets a degree in history and then goes to Oxford and gets a degree in international relations. So far, so banal.
But after Oxford, Chelsea Clinton signed up with McKinsey, a consulting company known as an elite business training corps. She was the youngest in her class, hired at the same rank as those with M.B.A. degrees. Her interview was more like a conversation, said D. Ronald Daniel, a senior partner. “That’s why she was a good consultant, because we are professional question-askers and professional listeners,” Mr. Daniel said. — New York Times
Despite having no background in business, statistics, or any other related field, Chelsea gets hired by McKinsey straight out of Oxford alongside elite business school graduates. The interview process for that was “more like a conversation.”
It goes on from there, and it’s an exercise in corrosive nepotism, including a gig with NBC that boils down to “$26,724 for each minute she subsequently appeared on air” and I agree with Breunig’s final conclusion:
You could not put together a more unappealing force in the world than what Chelsea Clinton represents, personally or politically.
It doesn’t make her a bad person, but it makes any entry into electoral politics by her an unmitigated catastrophe.
It turns out that the DEA data mines your travel data to see if it is worth it to steal your money:
Federal drug agents regularly mine Americans’ travel information to profile people who might be ferrying money for narcotics traffickers — though they almost never use what they learn to make arrests or build criminal cases.
Instead, that targeting has helped the Drug Enforcement Administration seize a small fortune in cash.
DEA agents have profiled passengers on Amtrak trains and nearly every major U.S. airline, drawing on reports from a network of travel-industry informants that extends from ticket counters to back offices, a USA TODAY investigation has found. Agents assigned to airports and train stations singled out passengers for questioning or searches for reasons as seemingly benign as traveling one-way to California or having paid for a ticket in cash.
The DEA surveillance is separate from the vast and widely-known anti-terrorism apparatus that now surrounds air travel, which is rarely used for routine law enforcement. It has been carried out largely without the airlines’ knowledge.
It is a lucrative endeavor, and one that remains largely unknown outside the drug agency. DEA units assigned to patrol 15 of the nation’s busiest airports seized more than $209 million in cash from at least 5,200 people over the past decade after concluding the money was linked to drug trafficking, according to Justice Department records. Most of the money was passed on to local police departments that lend officers to assist the drug agency.
“They count on this as part of the budget,” said Louis Weiss, a former supervisor of the DEA group assigned to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “Basically, you’ve got to feed the monster.”
There may be times that seizure is justified, but by allowing those executing the seizures to keep the money for themselves, they end up becoming little more than mobsters running a protection racket.
Don’t say you weren’t warned: Miele went full Internet-of-Things with a network-connected dishwasher, gave it a web server, and now finds itself on the wrong end of a security bug report – and it’s accused of ignoring the warning.
The utterly predictable vulnerability advisory on the Full Disclosure mailing list details CVE-2017-7240 – aka “Miele Professional PG 8528 – Web Server Directory Traversal.” This is the builtin web server that’s used to remotely control the glassware-cleaning machine from a browser.
“The corresponding embedded Web server ‘PST10 WebServer’ typically listens to port 80 and is prone to a directory traversal attack, therefore an unauthenticated attacker may be able to exploit this issue to access sensitive information to aide in subsequent attacks,” reads the notice, dated Friday.
………
And because Miele is an appliance company and not a pure-play IT company, it doesn’t have a process for reporting or fixing security bugs. The researcher who noticed the dishwasher’s web server vuln – Jens Regel of German company Schneider-Wulf – complains that Miele never responded when he contacted the biz with his findings; he says his first contact was made in November 2016.
Appliance makers: stop trying to connect stuff to networks, you’re no good at it.
I would also add, regulators need to police this stuff, and civil liability law needs to be rewritten to ensure that the manufacturers, and perhaps senior management are explicitly liable for this crap, including punitively harsh mandatory penalties.
If copyright trolls can threaten 6 figure judgements against people’s kids who Bit Torrent a Nickelback song,* then these manufacturers need to face at least that much jeopardy.
*I will note, if your kids are downloading Nickelback, I do think that a visit from Child Protective Services (CPS) might be in order, because, well, it’s f%$#ing Nickelback.
The former Barack Obama, and Max Baucus, aide is Jim Messina, who played a pivotal role in close lining even the remotest possibility of single payer or a public option, as well as steering the negotiations towards Baucus, who made a complete hash of the negotiations, and made the bill far worse as a result.
I am not suggesting that you not donate to Will Leaverton, who is having a very rough time dealing with pancreatitis, I am suggesting that you might want to find a way make Messina feel as badly about his role in the current state of affairs as is possible.
Patents vs economic growth
But it does appear that there is a negative correlation between the number of patents and economic growth:
Recently I discussed a paper by David Autor, David Dorn, Gordon Hanson, Gary P. Pisano and Pian Shu. The paper noted that as competition from China increased, innovation by US firms, measured by patent output, decreased. I believe the result, but started to wonder… are patents a good measure of innovation? Do patents drive economic growth?
I don’t know how to measure innovation, but I can look at the relationship between patents and economic growth. We being by looking at patents per capita. I found patent data going back to 1840, and population to 1850. The graph below shows patents per capita beginning in 1850. (All data sources provided at the end of this post.)………
If it kind of looks to you like patents are not driving economic growth, well, it kind of looks like that to me too. In fact, if anything, the lines seem to be more negatively than positively correlated. In years where there are more patents, the subsequent growth rate in real GDP for capita over a ten year period seems to go down. Conversely, fewer patents in one year seem to be associated with more growth over the next ten years.
This is not a surprise.
Patents are increasingly an instrument for extracting monopoly rents with no meaning productive activity, as such they are increasingly parasitic.
Last Thursday, prosecutors announced that Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is facing new criminal charges in the fatal October 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month on 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm—one count, apparently, for each bullet he fired at McDonald. Van Dyke had previously been indicted on charges of first-degree murder and misconduct in office. Special prosecutor Joseph McMahon filed the new indictment—which included the original charges—to replace the first one.
“I’ve never seen charges shot by shot,” says former Cook County prosecutor Robert Milan.
All of which begs a few questions: Why would prosecutors charge Van Dyke separately for each bullet he fired? How common are these kinds of charges in shooting cases? And how likely is it that a jury will buy the argument that Van Dyke committed 16 separate felonies?
To get some answers, I reached out to Robert Milan, previously the No. 2 prosecutor in the state’s attorney’s office for Cook County, which includes Chicago. Milan has personally tried more than 100 shooting cases, he says, and “I’ve never seen charges shot by shot.”
Prosecutors, he says, may have filed the aggravated assault charges to preempt the defense’s inevitable argument that Van Dyke had the authority to use deadly force to protect himself and others, or to prevent McDonald—who was wielding a knife and had reportedly attempted to break into cars—from committing a violent felony.
Jurors would consider the battery charges in addition to (not in place of) first-degree murder. So prosecutors could ask the judge to instruct the jury to consider Van Dyke’s self-defense claim only for the bullets he fired before McDonald fell to the ground, on the grounds that the claim no longer applied after McDonald was down.
“If Van Dyke gets the total defense instruction for the entire act, I’m sure prosecutors are concerned that it covers all 16 shots,” Milan said. But “if the judge buys it, and Van Dyke doesn’t get that instruction, then that defense goes flying out the window for those shots. I really think that’s what they’re doing here.”
I’m not sure that I approve of this strategy, but I DO approve of the enthusiasm.
Generally, when prosecutors have to prosecute a bad cop, they run as weak ass cases that seem to be designed to acquit cops.
That this prosecutor is serious about getting a conviction is a most welcome change.
First, I used SMS Backup and Restore to save the SMS messages.
Then I viewed the XML file generated in Firefox, using the following style sheets I downloaded for a threaded view. (Direct link)
If you put the contents of the zip file in the same directory as the xml file.
It would would then show up on Firefox as this:
At this point, I thought that it was there, but I was wrong.
Basically, there was no way for me to get it out.
It did not copy and paste properly, and so I knew that the information was there, I just didn’t know how to extract it to a blog post.
It turns out that if I use the link with the style sheets from above, there is one that generates a table in Firefox, and I can cut and past into an excel table, and there it is, with the sender, date, and content, whcih means that I can use my (not particularly) mad skillz at Excel text manipulation to generate the html code which set my stuff flush right, his flush left, added avatars, and had different background colors.
It also means that reordering texts to better reflect the order of the conversation (latency is a bitch)is easier: Just insert a blank row, move the row there, and delete the now blank row.
Purists out there may object to my abuse of the table tag, which you can see on my earlier post if you look at the html code.
All in all, it comes pretty close to the way that it looks on my phone.
Still, it is a remarkably fugly way to do things, but fugly is what I do.
Except for the massaging necessary to convert the SMS texts, the only changes are to manually add the single MMS post, scroll down for Bibi’s hair dye, which was a picture of the hair disaster, and bowdlerizing some swear words.
There are some exchanges that are a bit confusing, because things get a bit temporally dislocated because of the lag between sending and receiving a message and the time to actually thumb type/Swype a response.
Charlie and I worked to clarify this as much as possible.
I have put it after the break, because it would otherwise it would push everything else off the page.
Click thru, particularly if you are reading this through Facebook.
I think that you will find it amusing:
 Charles: Are you going to want my opinion on Mike Pence’s speech?03/26/2017 7:46 PM |
 Me: Yes03/26/2017 7:47 PM |
| Charles: Are you going to watch it from home? 03/26/2017 7:48 PM |
| Me: God no 03/26/2017 7:48 PM |
| Charles: Lulz 03/26/2017 7:50 PM |
| Charles: DC Mayor was here. She said “suport DC statehood”. I’m like yeah fam. 03/26/2017 7:56 PM |
| Me: Why does she want DC to be a steak? I’m thinking it’s more of a souffle. 03/26/2017 7:57 PM |
| Charles: fam 03/26/2017 7:58 PM |
| Me: Fam? 03/26/2017 7:58 PM |
| Charles: Bad joke fam 03/26/2017 8:00 PM |
| Charles: They have Stephen Harper speaking 03/26/2017 9:03 PM |
| Me: That must be terrifying 03/26/2017 9:04 PM |
| Charles: Meh. Considering Pence will be here, I’m not afraid yet. 03/26/2017 9:06 PM |
| Charles: He’s mostly talking foreign policy. I.e. not being scary 03/26/2017 9:09 PM |
| Me: It’s his soulless eyes that are terrifying 03/26/2017 9:10 PM |
| Charles: Lulz 03/26/2017 9:15 PM |
| Charles: True, Trudeau’s eyes are better. 03/26/2017 9:16 PM |
| Me: His are so dreamy 03/26/2017 9:16 PM |
| Charles: Lilian Pinkus’s voice sounds like a cross between Sarah Palin and Jennifer Granholm 03/26/2017 9:22 PM |
| Me: The horror. 03/26/2017 9:22 PM |
| Charles: HE’S HERE 03/26/2017 9:23 PM |
| Me: Just think of him as a cartoon villain. He already looks like one. 03/26/2017 9:24 PM |
| Charles: THE BOND VILLAIN OF THE HOUR 03/26/2017 9:24 PM |
| Charles: That was Kaine. Pence looks like a Bond villain 03/26/2017 9:24 PM |
| Me: You are correct, sir. 03/26/2017 9:25 PM |
| Me: I may use our text exchange on out blog. 03/26/2017 9:25 PM |
| Charles: K 03/26/2017 9:25 PM |
| Charles: He’s just talking about his previous support for Israel rn. 03/26/2017 9:26 PM |
| Charles: “From the bottom of my heart, thank you”, the bottom of his cold, lifeless heart 03/26/2017 9:27 PM |
| Me: Lulz 03/26/2017 9:27 PM |
| Charles: Oh and he condemned the vandalism of cemetaries, which I appreciate 03/26/2017 9:27 PM |
| Charles: A friend says: “Can he stop sucking Trump’s dick?” 03/26/2017 9:28 PM |
| Me: You are killing your old man here! Need oxygen 03/26/2017 9:28 PM |
| Charles: He’s mostly just talking up trump a saying “hey we support israel” 03/26/2017 9:29 PM |
| Charles: This is relatively nebulous honestly 03/26/2017 9:30 PM |
| Charles: Finding as many ways as possible to say he supports Israel 03/26/2017 9:30 PM |
| Charles: “After decades of simply talking about it”, something about the embassy, but I thought he was talking about his own speech. 03/26/2017 9:33 PM |
| Charles: Besides moving the embassy, nothing really of policy so far beyond “we support israel” 03/26/2017 9:34 PM |
| Charles: Ok, now talking about increased military spending. That is a policy point. 03/26/2017 9:35 PM |
| Charles: “This administration has put Iran on notice”, also a policy point I guess 03/26/2017 9:37 PM |
| Charles: Someone held up a Trump sign. Hun, the election is over. 03/26/2017 9:38 PM |
| Charles: Talking about a visit to dachau now 03/26/2017 9:38 PM |
| Charles: Also I should have brought a gay pride flag 03/26/2017 9:39 PM |
| Me: Lol 03/26/2017 9:39 PM |
| Charles: Ok, he just delivered an excelent line 03/26/2017 9:39 PM |
| Me: Do tell 03/26/2017 9:40 PM |
| Charles: He was talking with a holocaust survivor, the survivor was telling the story, and ended by saying, “and then, the Americans came.” 03/26/2017 9:40 PM |
| Charles: Speech just ended 03/26/2017 9:46 PM |
| Charles: So, the story his, he visited Dachau, met up with a survivor, 03/26/2017 9:47 PM |
| Charles: The survivor described to him everyone dying around him, one by one, 03/26/2017 9:47 PM |
| Charles: “And then, the Americans came” 03/26/2017 9:47 PM |
| Charles: Excellent line, best part of the speech. 03/26/2017 9:48 PM |
| Me: So, are you done for the evening? 03/26/2017 10:08 PM |
| Charles: Yup 03/26/2017 10:28 PM |
| Charles: Bibi dyed his hair 03/27/2017 9:15 AM |
| Me: Send a picture 03/27/2017 9:15 AM |
Charles:  03/27/2017 9:17 AM |
| Me: Who does he think that he is fooling? 03/27/2017 9:19 AM |
| Charles: Lulz 03/27/2017 9:20 AM |
| Charles: Paul Begala is speaking 03/27/2017 9:29 AM |
| Me: He’s not a liberal, he just plays one on TV. 03/27/2017 9:29 AM |
| Charles: He says he’s a lifelong supporter of progressive politics, and he helped Bill Clinton’s campaign. One or the other, sir. 03/27/2017 9:31 AM |
| Me: Lulz 03/27/2017 9:31 AM |
| Charles: He used the term protip 03/27/2017 9:32 AM |
| Charles: Oh and then he praised Israel’s socialized healthcare, which I very much appreciate. 03/27/2017 9:33 AM |
| Charles: Can we get some of that socialized medicine over here? 03/27/2017 9:34 AM |
| Me: What fore protip mean? 03/27/2017 9:35 AM |
| Charles: He was trying to internet lingo 03/27/2017 9:35 AM |
| Me: So, what does it mean? 03/27/2017 9:36 AM |
| Charles: It means “here’s a tip from me, I have experience.” 03/27/2017 9:40 AM |
| Charles: They have Chaim Hertzog’s son speaking, he’s p cool. 03/27/2017 9:54 AM |
| Charles: Oh, forgot to tell you. Yesterday I asked a question at one of the pannels 03/27/2017 10:09 AM |
| Me: What was the question? 03/27/2017 10:09 AM |
| Charles: It was on middle east policy, and I asked the panelists, who were discussing removing Assad how they thought we should deal with the resulting power vacuum. 03/27/2017 10:11 AM |
| Charles: One of the panelists seemed to understand what I was getting at, the other was more hawkish. 03/27/2017 10:12 AM |
| Me: You should have said, “Like the disaster in Libya,” to clarify. 03/27/2017 10:35 AM |
| Charles: TRUE 03/27/2017 10:46 AM |
| Charles: Wany your help with something 03/27/2017 11:27 AM |
| Charles: *want 03/27/2017 11:28 AM |
| Me: Proceed 03/27/2017 11:28 AM |
| Charles: AIPAC is lobbying for sanctions on Iran for non nuclear actions, I.e. Missile tests, syria, hezbola 03/27/2017 11:30 AM |
| Me: Yes 03/27/2017 11:30 AM |
| Charles: They say these non nuclear sanctions would not violate the JCPOA 03/27/2017 11:30 AM |
| Charles: Someone else said the text of the JCPOA specifically precludes such sanctions (the nature of the agreement notwithstanding) 03/27/2017 11:31 AM |
| Charles: Can you help me find a source about this? 03/27/2017 11:32 AM |
| Me: It has a wiki page 03/27/2017 11:32 AM |
| Charles: It doesn’t have it on there 03/27/2017 11:32 AM |
| Me: It does mention there that Iranian sources say that the extension of sanctions would breach the deal. 03/27/2017 11:35 AM |
| Charles: Extension of what sanctions? 03/27/2017 11:36 AM |
| Me: The nuclear sanctions. There is a bulk in congress to do so. 03/27/2017 11:37 AM |
| Charles: Does that apply to new non-nuclear related sanctions? 03/27/2017 11:38 AM |
| Charles: So new non nuclear sanctions are fine? 03/27/2017 11:39 AM |
| Me: I’m looking. 03/27/2017 11:39 AM |
| Charles: Imo if they don’t violate the agreement, I’m for them. 03/27/2017 11:40 AM |
| Charles: https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-jcpoa-should-be-maintained-and-reinforced-with-a-broad-regional-strategy/ this source claims such sanctions are fine. 03/27/2017 11:42 AM |
| Me: I an fairly certain that Iran & Russia both believe that new sanctions violate the JCPOA. Look at the EU position. 03/27/2017 11:43 AM |
| Charles: So it’s a matter of dispute then? 03/27/2017 11:44 AM |
| Me: Yes, but Brookings is VERY hawkish, and not a reliable source. 03/27/2017 11:48 AM |
| Charles: Ok. I’m having a great deal of trouble finding very many sources. 03/27/2017 11:49 AM |
| Charles: Do you have a source on the EU position? 03/27/2017 11:50 AM |
| Me: The EU is trying to keep Trump from monkey wrenching the deal. 03/27/2017 11:51 AM |
| Me: https://financialtribune.com/articles/national/60708/eu-seeks-to-bolster-iran-nuclear-deal 03/27/2017 11:51 AM |
| Charles: I get the argument of a slippery slope, but I do think missile testing and Hezbolah funding is worthy of sanctions 03/27/2017 11:53 AM |
| Me: Iran will never stop finding Hezbollah. Defending the Shia community is something that they would continue even if they became a democracy. 03/27/2017 11:55 AM |
| Charles: Right but the point is hezbolah’s attacks on israel 03/27/2017 11:56 AM |
| Me: It’s like the French defending French culture and language around the world. 03/27/2017 11:57 AM |
| Charles: ? 03/27/2017 11:57 AM |
| Me: Iran defending Shiia is like the French position. It is a position held with near unanimity across the political spectrum. 03/27/2017 11:59 AM |
| Charles: I don’t see the equivalence 03/27/2017 11:59 AM |
| Me: I am saying that this is an existential position of that society 03/27/2017 12:07 PM |
| Charles: What about the other actions? 03/27/2017 12:11 PM |
| Me: The missile tests are not a violation of the MTCR, and they have a right to develop such weapons. 03/27/2017 12:13 PM |
| Charles: Fai6 03/27/2017 12:13 PM |
| Charles: *fair 03/27/2017 12:14 PM |
| Me: Also, they have launched civilian satellites as early as 2009. 03/27/2017 12:15 PM |
| Me: The U.S. position is that any weapons development by governments it deems an adversary are illegal. I call this bullsh%$. 03/27/2017 12:16 PM |
| Me: Also understand that many of their developments are about deterring the U.S., not threatening Israel. 03/27/2017 12:20 PM |
| Charles: I see 03/27/2017 12:53 PM |
| Charles: Btw, look up hr 1221, I find it interesting 03/27/2017 12:54 PM |
“Explanation:
H.R 1221 Sets up a fund promoting peaceful coexistence and person to person dialogue between individual Israelis and Palestinians.”
| Charles: The three lobbying things AIPAC is doing is funding for israel aid, sanctions on iran, and fighting bds 03/27/2017 1:01 PM |
| Charles: I want to ask if I can lobby for hr 1221 03/27/2017 1:01 PM |
| Charles: I’d rather lobby for hr 1221 03/27/2017 1:01 PM |
| Me: Seems like an innocuous bill, but I’m sure that Trump will turn it into something corrupt. 03/27/2017 1:03 PM |
| Charles: Maybe also the bds thing but mostly hr 1221 03/27/2017 1:04 PM |
| Me: BTW, it appears that AIPAC funded attacks on J-Street by Islamaphobe nut Frank Gaffney last year. 03/27/2017 1:11 PM |
| Charles: I’m sorry what. Link? 03/27/2017 1:12 PM |
| Charles: Seriously I need to hear this 03/27/2017 1:13 PM |
| Me: http://lobelog.com/did-aipac-help-fund-attack-ad-by-islamophobic-group-on-j-street/ 03/27/2017 1:12 PM |
| Me: J-street is liberal equivalent of AIPAC 03/27/2017 1:13 PM |
| Me: SENT LINK 03/27/2017 1:13 PM |
| Charles: I know about j street 03/27/2017 1:15 PM |
| Charles: Yes I saw, I’m reading and I’m upset 03/27/2017 1:16 PM |
| Me: Better to know now 03/27/2017 1:16 PM |
| Charles: Yes 03/27/2017 1:17 PM |
| Charles: Geez you are persuasive 03/27/2017 1:18 PM |
| Charles: Except with your pessimism on hr 1221 03/27/2017 1:18 PM |
| Me: Never underestimate the ability of conservatives to subvert good intentions. 03/27/2017 1:18 PM |
| Me: Yeah, I’m a bit of a cynic. 03/27/2017 1:19 PM |
| Charles: Lulz wait that’s depressing 03/27/2017 1:24 PM |
| Charles: To be clear, I still disagree with your assessment of hezbolah 03/27/2017 1:36 PM |
| Charles: But I understand why there’s probably a perception of needing to do that. 03/27/2017 1:37 PM |
| Me: I think that Hezbollah is primarily a terrorist organisation with a Shia political party rump. 03/27/2017 1:37 PM |
| Charles: So basically, the uk view? 03/27/2017 1:38 PM |
| Me: But Iran will always support them, because it is part of the great game being played between Sunni and Shia for over a millennium. 03/27/2017 1:39 PM |
| Me: I should note that Hezbollah also does a better job of provisioning services than does the central Lebanese government does. 03/27/2017 1:40 PM |
| Me: That fact is a major source of their power. 03/27/2017 1:41 PM |
| Charles: The way a lot of this conflict is framed here, it’s like saying shia islam is the problem 03/27/2017 1:45 PM |
| Charles: With the situation over there, I fear that vew could lead to genocide. 03/27/2017 1:45 PM |
| Me: Because AIPAC is close with the House of Saud these days. 03/27/2017 1:46 PM |
| Charles: Yeah I’m glad I’ve come here, but I prob won’t attend again. 03/27/2017 1:56 PM |
| Me: Why not? You are collecting valuable intelligence. 03/27/2017 1:57 PM |
| Charles: That’s why I’m glad I came. But I’d rather not come again. 03/27/2017 1:58 PM |
| Me: Also understand the value of developing social connections to assholes. 03/27/2017 1:59 PM |
| Charles: Outweighed by the fact that they are assholes. Although most of the people are nice. 03/27/2017 2:01 PM |
| Me: Also, if you want to be politically active, being friendly to jerks is required. 03/27/2017 2:03 PM |
| Charles: Ugh 03/27/2017 2:06 PM |
| Me: Welcome to reality 03/27/2017 2:06 PM |
| Charles: Nikki Haley is about to speak 03/27/2017 4:56 PM |
| Me: Oh joy 03/27/2017 4:56 PM |
| Charles: And here she is 03/27/2017 4:57 PM |
| Charles: The crowd loves her 03/27/2017 4:59 PM |
| Charles: She’s vastly oversimplifying the Iran deal rn 03/27/2017 5:02 PM |
| Me: Well she is dumb as a post 03/27/2017 5:03 PM |
| Charles: This is an interview btw 03/27/2017 5:03 PM |
| Charles: “I wanted to make sure that the United states started leading again” 03/27/2017 5:04 PM |
| Charles: Most of what she’s saying, besides the lran deal, I have no issue with tbh. It’s pretty inocuous. 03/27/2017 5:05 PM |
| Charles: K then 03/27/2017 5:06 PM |
| Charles: The crowd is eating this up. 03/27/2017 5:06 PM |
| Charles: “I don’t know who it was” who wrote the report calling Israel an apartheid state. You should prob know that hun. 03/27/2017 5:08 PM |
| Me: Like I Said; dumb as a post. 03/27/2017 5:09 PM |
| Charles: Like I think she forgot who it was. 03/27/2017 5:10 PM |
| Charles: But damn if the crowd doesn’t love her. 03/27/2017 5:10 PM |
| Me: And what does this say about the crowd m 03/27/2017 5:11 PM |
| Charles: I don’t like giving ovations to people like her. 03/27/2017 5:14 PM |
Me: 
Re: Ovations |
| Charles: OK PAUL RYAN IS HERE 03/27/2017 5:17 PM |
| Charles: (1/2) “what happened to that turn table thing from last year? I really liked it. Sometimes it seems like politicians talk in circles, last year with the stage w 03/27/2017 5:19 PM |
| Charles: (2/2) e actually had that.” 03/27/2017 5:19 PM |
| Charles: “thanks to all the young people here” no prob bro, now can you not try to ruin our healthcare again 03/27/2017 5:20 PM |
| Me: .lol 03/27/2017 5:20 PM |
| Charles: He’s talking about his trip to israel, talking about the cool stuff. 03/27/2017 5:20 PM |
| Charles: Universal healthcare was not one of the things he mentioned 03/27/2017 5:21 PM |
| Charles: And now talking about the strength of the US Israel relationship. I agree with that but I’ve heard heard it ad nauseum 03/27/2017 5:22 PM |
#REF!
| Charles: Under no uncertain terms. 03/27/2017 5:22 PM |
| Charles: Wow, I was wondering when someone would be candid here. 03/27/2017 5:22 PM |
| Charles: Now onto the iran deal 03/27/2017 5:22 PM |
| Charles: “an unmitigated disaster” 03/27/2017 5:23 PM |
| Charles: Cool story bro 03/27/2017 5:23 PM |
| Me: Dude, you are writing some amazing stuff here. 03/27/2017 5:24 PM |
| Charles: “I think it is time we rigorously enforce this deal and hold iran accountable when they violate” I thought you didn’t like the deal 03/27/2017 5:24 PM |
| Charles: And calling for more sanctions 03/27/2017 5:24 PM |
| Charles: Saying Iran is basically wholey responsible for the problems in the middle east (hun no) 03/27/2017 5:26 PM |
| Charles: Oh snap 03/27/2017 5:27 PM |
| Me: What did he just say 03/27/2017 5:28 PM |
#REF!
| Charles: Honey no that is one step removed from all out war. 03/27/2017 5:28 PM |
| Me: What? 03/27/2017 5:28 PM |
| Me: If he called for a blockade, that is technically an act of war. 03/27/2017 5:28 PM |
| Charles: Also talking about stopping iranian airlines from delivering weapons. Hope that doesn’t involve shooting another one down? 03/27/2017 5:29 PM |
| Charles: He proposed putting the iranian revolutionary guard on the list o 03/27/2017 5:30 PM |
| Charles: of terrorist groups 03/27/2017 5:31 PM |
| Me: It does, and without a Security Council mandate, it is illegal. 03/27/2017 5:30 PM |
| Charles: …oh sh%$ 03/27/2017 5:32 PM |
| Charles: Ok now he’s talking about BDS 03/27/2017 5:32 PM |
| Charles: Same speil, I’ve heard it ad nauseum, I agree with it but I’m tired of hearing it 03/27/2017 5:33 PM |
| Charles: Ok, I don’t know if he was proposing a blockade, but he said we needed to work to stop the airlines from delivering weapons 03/27/2017 5:33 PM |
| Charles: And saying israel shouldn’t negotiate with hamas. I understand the sentiment, but it’s problematic to peace talks. 03/27/2017 5:33 PM |
| Charles: Because he just said they should negotiate when the unity government includes hamas 03/27/2017 5:34 PM |
| Charles: Is that proposing a blockade? 03/27/2017 5:34 PM |
| Me: It’s awfully close 03/27/2017 5:34 PM |
| Charles: And now he’s talking the vandalism and bomb threats. 03/27/2017 5:35 PM |
| Charles: “These attacks on Jewish Americans are vile and they are disgusting.” 03/27/2017 5:35 PM |
| Charles: And summarizing 03/27/2017 5:35 PM |
| Me: Yeah, but the bomb threats were made by an Israeli. 03/27/2017 5:36 PM |
| Charles: I want to go back to the hotel 03/27/2017 5:36 PM |
| Charles: He’s done. Bye Mr. Smurfeyes 03/27/2017 5:37 PM |
| Me: Charlie Pierce calls him the “Zombie eyed granny starver” 03/27/2017 5:38 PM |
| Charles: And now we have McCarthy and whatshisname 03/27/2017 5:39 PM |
| Me: Joe McCarthy is dead 03/27/2017 5:39 PM |
| Charles: The minority whip 03/27/2017 5:39 PM |
| Charles: It’s another interview 03/27/2017 5:39 PM |
| Charles: Not that McCarthy, Kevin 03/27/2017 5:40 PM |
| Me: D’oh! 03/27/2017 5:41 PM |
| Charles: “We’ll debate a lot, but we’re still friends” 03/27/2017 5:42 PM |
| Charles: You know, I’ve heard a lot of politicians say that over the past two days and idk if I believe it 03/27/2017 5:41 PM |
| Charles: Steny Hoyer is the other guy 03/27/2017 5:42 PM |
| Charles: They’re the cosponsors of the iran sanctions. 03/27/2017 5:42 PM |
| Me: Hoyer is f%$#ing useless 03/27/2017 5:43 PM |
| Me: I get the sense that your texting me is preserving a modicum of your sanity. 03/27/2017 5:42 PM |
| Charles: Dad, why else whould I be texting you at a time like this? 03/27/2017 5:44 PM |
| Me: Glad that I can be of assistance. 03/27/2017 5:44 PM |
| Charles: I’m not even paying attention atm 03/27/2017 5:45 PM |
| Charles: I wanna go home 03/27/2017 5:45 PM |
| Charles: No other country has spent more (on rockets) without trying to develop a nuclear weapon” 03/27/2017 5:46 PM |
| Charles: Well I mean yes but alot of that spending was space exploration hun 03/27/2017 5:46 PM |
| Charles: I wanna go home 03/27/2017 5:46 PM |
| Me: That which does not kill you makes you stronger. 03/27/2017 5:46 PM |
| Charles: I don’t even care about meeting congresspeople, they suck anyway. 03/27/2017 5:47 PM |
| Me: Ironic that I am quoting the Nazi’s favorite philosopher. 03/27/2017 5:47 PM |
| Me: In the words of Gold 5, “Stay on target.” 03/27/2017 5:48 PM |
| Me: Of course Gold 5 got shot down. 03/27/2017 5:49 PM |
| Charles: The person who said the spending thing was mccarthy btw 03/27/2017 5:58 PM |
| Charles: Here’s Grace Nepolitano 03/27/2017 5:59 PM |
| Me: Is this Janet’s kid? 03/27/2017 5:59 PM |
| Charles: Did you send me the “joe mccarthy is dead” txt twice? 03/27/2017 6:00 PM |
| Charles: Idk but she’s off stage now 03/27/2017 6:00 PM |
| Me: I don’t think so 03/27/2017 6:00 PM |
| Charles: Our texts are getting mixed up 03/27/2017 6:01 PM |
| Charles: Gold 5? 03/27/2017 6:02 PM |
| Me: Star Wars, the original. 03/27/2017 6:03 PM |
| Charles: You need to be more specific about what you mean 03/27/2017 6:05 PM |
| Charles: Lior is asking me for origami help. 03/27/2017 6:04 PM |
| Me: Lior? 03/27/2017 6:04 PM |
| Charles: One of the shinshinim (israeli student here for a year) on the trip with us. 03/27/2017 6:06 PM |
| Me: You said that you were helping Lior with orgami.. Who s are they? 03/27/2017 6:06 PM |
| Charles: Lior is one of the shinshinim 03/27/2017 6:07 PM |
| Charles: Did you not get the text? 03/27/2017 6:08 PM |
| Me: What is a shinshinim? 03/27/2017 6:07 PM |
| Charles: I just said 03/27/2017 6:07 PM |
| Me: A girl or a guy? 03/27/2017 6:08 PM |
| Me: Latency issues 03/27/2017 6:08 PM |
| Charles: She’s a high schol graduate here in the us for a year 03/27/2017 6:10 PM |
| Me: I will try not to squee, but she likes you. 03/27/2017 6:10 PM |
| Charles: OH IT’S TIM KAINE 03/27/2017 6:06 PM |
| Charles: PLAY YOUR HARMONICA 03/27/2017 6:06 PM |
| Charles: Also all Tim Kaine did was introduce a dance program. I am disappoint. 03/27/2017 6:11 PM |
| Me: If Tim Kaine was dancing, I’m glassy that I didn’t see it. 03/27/2017 6:11 PM |
| Charles: He didn’t dance. He just introduced a video about a dance program. 03/27/2017 6:12 PM |
| Charles: Take me home. Please. 03/27/2017 6:13 PM |
| Charles: Tell Uncle Steve I wish I was at J-Street too. 03/27/2017 7:03 PM |
| Me: .ok 03/27/2017 7:04 PM |
| Charles: So, the iranian revolutionary guard is basically iran’s military? 03/27/2017 8:33 PM |
| Me: It’s also a major political force as well as a major economic player in the local economy. 03/27/2017 8:34 PM |
| Me: It is at best a small portion of Iran’s military. 03/27/2017 8:34 PM |
| Charles: Ok 03/27/2017 8:35 PM |
| Charles: If it was declared a terrorist group, what do ou think the fallout would be? 03/27/2017 8:35 PM |
| Me: It would get ugly really fast. 03/27/2017 8:36 PM |
| Charles: Ugly as in possible war? 03/27/2017 8:52 PM |
| Me: Ugly as in as in blowing up the nuclear agreement with the EU telling us to go Cheney themselves. It is worse than a Crime. It is a mistake. 03/27/2017 8:55 PM |
| Charles: Oh and this is an existing proposal by Trump. 03/27/2017 8:57 PM |
| Me: Actually, I think that it is more from the congressional hawks than Trump. 03/27/2017 8:58 PM |
| Charles: Either way it was an existing proposal 03/27/2017 9:03 PM |
| Me: It’s been floating around for some time. 03/27/2017 9:04 PM |
| Me: I talked with Natalie, and she said that your should exchange numbers with Lior. I agree. 03/27/2017 11:05 PM |
| Charles: Are you f%$#ing serious. Stop 03/27/2017 11:06 PM |
| Me: I asked Nat first. 03/27/2017 11:06 PM |
| Charles: Besides we’ve all been shipping her with the other person from israel. 03/27/2017 11:09 PM |
| Me: I’m taking being a texting buddy 03/27/2017 11:09 PM |
| Me: How you doing otherwise? 03/27/2017 11:07 PM |
| Me: It’s just for texting. 03/27/2017 11:07 PM |
| Charles: I’m doing fine. Ready to go home tomorrow 03/27/2017 11:07 PM |
| Me: I tot it was Wednesday 03/27/2017 11:07 PM |
| Charles: No, I’m home tomorrow afternoon 03/27/2017 11:08 PM |
| Me: Last night, I went upstairs to shout at you to go to bed. 03/27/2017 11:09 PM |
| Charles: Lulz 03/27/2017 11:10 PM |
| Me: Should I do this tonight too? 03/27/2017 11:10 PM |
| Charles: Go ahead 03/27/2017 11:11 PM |
| Charles: Mitch McConnel is speaking now 03/28/2017 8:12 AM |
| Charles: I’ve never seen this species of turtle up close 03/28/2017 8:13 AM |
| Charles: “And of course, thanks to all the Kentuckian’s here with us” 7 people cheer. 03/28/2017 8:13 AM |
| Me: Lol 03/28/2017 8:14 AM |
| Charles: And we begin with the standard Iran deal spiel. 03/28/2017 8:14 AM |
| Charles: He’s talking about obama because potatos 03/28/2017 8:15 AM |
| Me: Potatoes? 03/28/2017 8:15 AM |
| Charles: Criticizing trying to close gitmo because screw due process 03/28/2017 8:15 AM |
| Charles: Potatos as in I don’t know 03/28/2017 8:15 AM |
| Charles: Criticizing leaving Irag and Afganistan because I don’t know tbh 03/28/2017 8:16 AM |
| Me: Tbh? 03/28/2017 8:16 AM |
| Charles: To be honest 03/28/2017 8:17 AM |
| Charles: Now talking about shia fighter like shia is equivalent to a terrorist group 03/28/2017 8:17 AM |
| Charles: “shia proxies” you mean shia muslims? 03/28/2017 8:18 AM |
| Charles: Iran, blah blah blah 03/28/2017 8:18 AM |
| Charles: Saying Withdrawing from Iraq caused Al Quada to become Isis (wrong) 03/28/2017 8:19 AM |
| Charles: Coughed once 03/28/2017 8:19 AM |
| Charles: Talking about standing with israel. 03/28/2017 8:20 AM |
| Me: The core of Daesh were Sunni tribesmen trained by Petraeus during the surge. 03/28/2017 8:21 AM |
| Charles: Oh rlly? 03/28/2017 8:22 AM |
| Charles: I will say this is much more substantive than the other speeches. So there’s that 03/28/2017 8:22 AM |
| Me: Yes. That’s why they could use captured complex military equipment supplied by the U.S. so quickly. We trained them. 03/28/2017 8:23 AM |
| Charles: Man we are f%$ing dumb 03/28/2017 8:24 AM |
| Me: We are a blind stupid giant 03/28/2017 8:25 AM |
| Charles: “We must use all elements, all elements of our power” does that include was becuase I don’t like that 03/28/2017 8:25 AM |
| Charles: OH HE SAID VIS A VIS 03/28/2017 8:25 AM |
| Charles: You know he’s smart when he uses big words 03/28/2017 8:26 AM |
| Me: Yes, that includes direct military force 03/28/2017 8:26 AM |
| Charles: Ok he’s in no uncertain terms proposing military action. Like direct action 03/28/2017 8:26 AM |
| Me: Vis is a small word 03/28/2017 8:27 AM |
| Charles: It’s a smart word (sarcasm) 03/28/2017 8:27 AM |
| Charles: You know, maybe I don’t like turtles all that much. 03/28/2017 8:28 AM |
| Charles: This one’s kinda gung ho nuts 03/28/2017 8:28 AM |
| Me: Your grandmother lived turtles 03/28/2017 8:28 AM |
| Me: Loved 03/28/2017 8:28 AM |
| Charles: And he’s done 03/28/2017 8:29 AM |
| Charles: The turtle returns to the shell 03/28/2017 8:30 AM |
| Me: At one point we had 12 turtles, 3 cats, and 2 iguanas 03/28/2017 8:30 AM |
| Charles: Chuck Schumer is speaking 03/28/2017 8:31 AM |
| Me: I can smell the hhypocrisy all the way out here in Baltimore 03/28/2017 8:32 AM |
| Charles: A woman told him that he was the bravest me#ber of congress because he wore a yarmulka 03/28/2017 8:32 AM |
| Charles: He said thank you, but this is not a yarmulka 03/28/2017 8:32 AM |
| Me: He wears a hair piece then? 03/28/2017 8:33 AM |
| Charles: No, he was pointing to his bald spot 03/28/2017 8:34 AM |
| Charles: He mentioned his highschool and more people cheered than the number from kentucky 03/28/2017 8:35 AM |
| Charles: Ok most of this is about how israel is great. I’m down with that, but not much policy 03/28/2017 8:36 AM |
| Charles: Talk of antisemitism in Europe 03/28/2017 8:38 AM |
| Charles: And of antisemitic vandalism and neo-nazi violence 03/28/2017 8:39 AM |
| Charles: And bomb threats 03/28/2017 8:39 AM |
| Me: How about the antisemitism of the alt right? 03/28/2017 8:39 AM |
| Charles: “regardless of the culprit’s religion or nationality” 03/28/2017 8:40 AM |
| Charles: He specifically said far right, so close enough I guess 03/28/2017 8:40 AM |
| Charles: He’s focusing on the combat of antisemitism, I like this 03/28/2017 8:41 AM |
| Charles: And now on the antisemitism of BDS 03/28/2017 8:43 AM |
| Charles: I’m enjoying this one tbh 03/28/2017 8:45 AM |
| Charles: “we must support sanctions against iran’s ICBM program” I mean they did launch satelites. 03/28/2017 8:51 AM |
| Charles: Ok, he’s done now. I enjoyed most of that 03/28/2017 8:54 AM |
| Charles: And now, Nancy Pelosi 03/28/2017 8:54 AM |
| Charles: “We love you Nancy” someone yelled 03/28/2017 8:55 AM |
| Me: Gawd 03/28/2017 8:55 AM |
| Charles: More people from san diego than kentucky, poor turtle 03/28/2017 8:56 AM |
| Me: Pelosi it’s a Baltimore native 03/28/2017 8:56 AM |
| Charles: I know. 03/28/2017 8:57 AM |
| Me: Daughter of Tommy Dellisandro 03/28/2017 8:57 AM |
| Charles: She’s naming different places to get cheers 03/28/2017 8:58 AM |
| Me: Lame 03/28/2017 8:58 AM |
| Charles: “Anybody here from california” many cheers 03/28/2017 8:59 AM |
| Charles: “My native state of maryland” ayyy fam 03/28/2017 8:59 AM |
| Charles: Meh 03/28/2017 8:59 AM |
| Charles: This speech isn’t very engaging. 03/28/2017 8:59 AM |
| Charles: “Let’s here it for my grandchildren” 03/28/2017 9:00 AM |
| Charles: Talking aboout the power of immigrants, cool. 03/28/2017 9:02 AM |
| Charles: She h 03/28/2017 9:05 AM |
| Charles: I’m honestly kinda bored. I agree with much of what she’s saying, but the presentation is boring. 03/28/2017 9:06 AM |
| Me: Welcome to the Democratic party 03/28/2017 9:07 AM |
| Charles: And she’s done 03/28/2017 9:14 AM |
| Charles: Ugh can we go lobbying yet, I want to see dutch ruppersburger 03/28/2017 9:16 AM |
| Charles: Should I speak up if I disagree with something? 03/28/2017 11:21 AM |
| Me: Yes 03/28/2017 11:22 AM |
| Me: What is the issue 03/28/2017 11:23 AM |
| Charles: The UN does have resolutions against Iran’s ballistic missiles btw 03/28/2017 11:24 AM |
| Charles: But I still am wary of sanctions atm 03/28/2017 11:25 AM |
| Me: The U.N. security council, or the general assembly? 03/28/2017 11:26 AM |
| Charles: Council 03/28/2017 11:26 AM |
| Me: The people who want immediate sanctions are interested primarily in creating a causus belli 03/28/2017 11:27 AM |
| Charles: Causus belli? 03/28/2017 11:28 AM |
| Me: Justification for war 03/28/2017 11:28 AM |
| Charles: Geez 03/28/2017 11:29 AM |
| Me: There are elements of the U.S. government who have been trying to get into a shooting war with Iran for decades. 03/28/2017 11:31 AM |
| Me: SecDef Mattis is one of them. 03/28/2017 11:32 AM |
| Charles: If I want to speak to someone in my own capacity, how do I do that? 03/28/2017 11:34 AM |
| Charles: Well I spoke to sarbanes, got nervous and forgot to mention hr1221. But I mentioned the csb to him so hey that was cool. 03/28/2017 11:47 AM |
| Me: Csb? 03/28/2017 11:48 AM |
| Charles: Chemical saftety board. Dad ffs I’ve been on and on about it. 03/28/2017 11:49 AM |
| Me: I was thinking Israel, Sorry 03/28/2017 11:50 AM |
| Charles: Well sarbanes seems to be against eliminiating the csb so that’s good. 03/28/2017 11:57 AM |
| Charles: I took the last slice of chocolate cake from the congressional cafeteria 03/28/2017 12:06 PM |
| Me: Good for you. 03/28/2017 12:06 PM |
| Me: Short form: Updated U.N. resolution adopted w/JCPOA probably not violated. Language was “shall not” is now “is called upon not to”. Euro accept this 03/28/2017 12:49 PM |
| Me: http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/02/03/513229839/did-irans-ballistic-missile-test-violate-a-u-n-resolution 03/28/2017 12:49 PM |
| Charles: I see. 03/28/2017 12:49 PM |
| Me: The U.S. is alone in this interpretation of missile tests 03/28/2017 12:50 PM |
| Charles: I actually already read that link 03/28/2017 12:50 PM |
| Charles: DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER ASKED ABOUT MY HAT 03/28/2017 1:45 PM |
| Charles: HOLY WHAT TODAY IS THE STRANGEST DAY 03/28/2017 1:46 PM |
| Charles: Oh and I did remember to tell him about hr 1221 03/28/2017 1:47 PM |
| Me: What weirdness happened this time? 03/28/2017 1:51 PM |
| Charles: He asked about my hat 03/28/2017 1:52 PM |
| Me: The duct tape blindfold? 03/28/2017 1:53 PM |
| Me: Who is he? 03/28/2017 1:53 PM |
| Charles: Dutch Ruppersberger is our representative 03/28/2017 1:54 PM |
| Me: He will remember your hat, though. 03/28/2017 1:55 PM |
| Charles: I hope so. Today is a good day. 03/28/2017 1:56 PM |
| Me: Better than yesterday? 03/28/2017 2:01 PM |
| Charles: Yes 03/28/2017 2:02 PM |
| Me: Make any new friends m 03/28/2017 2:02 PM |
| Charles: Does our rep count? 03/28/2017 2:03 PM |
| Me: Nope. You are a constituent, not a friend. 03/28/2017 2:03 PM |
| Me: I was actually wondering about other attendees. 03/28/2017 2:04 PM |
| Me: Text me when you’re headed home. 03/28/2017 2:52 PM |
| Charles: Ok, will be heading out soon 03/28/2017 2:55 PM |
I am referring to the now-shuttered Democratic Leadership Council, which declared war on the poor and allied itself with Wall Street and the Koch Brothers.
The DLC still exists, of course, it’s just renamed itself the “Third Way” while promulgating the same cruel and parsimonious policies:
Stringer Bell had a problem. On HBO’s show “The Wire,” the rather learned kingpin was concerned that the drugs his gang sold on the streets of West Baltimore were too weak, which jeopardized their control of the streets. So, in a memorable scene, Bell, who was taking economics courses at a community college, asked his instructor, “What are the options if you have an inferior product in an aggressive marketplace?” The instructor offered him some prescient advice, mentioning how WorldCom (now MCI Inc.) once faced a similar problem.
“The company was linked to one of the largest fraud cases in history,” he said. “So, they decided to change the name.”
………
The world of politics and ideas is an especially aggressive marketplace. Here, so-called centrist “New Democrats” adopted a very similar approach. For many years, Democrats proudly associated themselves with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a powerful group founded in the 1980s that sought to build a Democratic Party “liberated” from labor and grounded in “support for free market and free trade economics … an end to the politics of ‘entitlement’ [and] a rejection of affirmative action.”
At the height of its power the DLC was the dominant force in the party, boasting President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as its acolytes. But like Bell’s weak narcotics, the DLC, which supported the Iraq War and received money from the likes of the Koch Brothers, soon became a tainted brand. Long before 2011, when the organization dissolved, the DLC label hung around politicians like a scarlet letter. Even President Obama publicly distanced himself from the organization in 2004 as he ascended as a national figure.
So, eager to maintain power and influence, New Democrats did what Stringer Bell ended up doing. They changed the name.So, eager to maintain power and influence, New Democrats did what Stringer Bell ended up doing. They changed the name.
………
Now, as Democrats face an existential crisis in the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump, these fundamentally conservative organizations, armed with millions in corporate donations, are working with a renewed aggressiveness in the public sphere. They are attempting to convince the party to shun its base and further embrace the so-called “vital center,” and the corporatism that has long defined these groups.If Third Way succeeds, the Democrats will leave an opening for right-wing “populism” to thrive long after the Trump presidency. If this happens, Americans will increasingly (and correctly) see Democrats as a party run by the establishment, and serving the interests of its donors, rather than the working class. This is why progressive activists are fighting hard to rid the party of Democrats who embrace this agenda.
These are folks are saying that “Now is the time for unity,” and that no meaningful changes need to be made to both the structure and the policy of the Democratic Party.
Labor and the working man need to get more than lip-service, Wall Street needs to be kicked to the curb, and the corrupt and incompetent political consultants need to find new work.
Marcie “Emptywheel” Wheeler gives us a bright side to the Trump administration:
I have a confession.
There’s something I like about the Trump Administration.
It’s the way that his unpopularity taints long-standing policies or practices or beliefs, making people aware of and opposed to them in a way they weren’t when the same policies or beliefs were widely held under George Bush or Barack Obama. Many, though not all, of these policies or beliefs were embraced unquestioningly by centrists or even avowed leftists.
I’ve been keeping a running list in my mind, which I’ll begin to lay out here (I guess I’ll update it as I remember more).
- Expansive surveillance
- The presumption of regularity, by which courts and the public assume the Executive Branch operates in good faith and from evidence
- Denigration of immigrants
- Denigration of Muslims
- Denigration health insurance
As an example, Obama deported a huge number of people. But now that Trump has expanded that same practice, it has been made visible and delegitimized.
In short, Trump has made things that should always have been criticized are now being far more widely so.
It’s true. Obama’s war on whistle-blowers is unprecedented, he was the deportation president, he terrorized half a dozen with drone strikes, and he expanded surveillance beyond Dick Cheney’s wildest dreams.
The so-called left never had an objection to what Obama was doing, but now, even the far right is wondering about things like the surveillance state.
Obama normalized a lot of bad things, and now Trump is abnormalizing those same excesses.
It’s kind of like watching your mother-in-law going over a cliff in your brand new car.
POLL: Did Vice President Pence deserve the ‘Working for Women’ award?” Salon.
Judy B: “No more than Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.”
I don’t mean the fictitious family* profiled, I am reserving my opprobrium for the reporter who has asked us to feel the pain and deprivation of a family getting by on just $½ million a year.
You see, they only have about 7½ grand a year free and clear after:
Let’s also note that the reporter ignores The deductiblity of:
Which would lower their tax burden by something on the order of $40K/year.
Also, their biggest expense, the mortgage would likely be half that if we stopped letting mobsters and corrupt politicians launder their money through real estate deals, which inflates real estate prices.
Still, even after all that fiscal incompetence, this fictional family has $140 a week mad money.
Not so bad.
To quote Marie Antoinette’s last words, “I’m sorry operator, I’ve been cut off.”
*We need to have sympathy for this family, because they are fictitious, a condition effecting thousands of families around the world.†
†Please give generously to the Fictitious Family Relief Fund. They are funding research on making the sufferers of this condition real.‡
‡At this point, they can only exist in virtual reality.
JFK on Education at Vanderbilt University, 1963.
It seems particularly apropos:
H/t CZ @ SP
My son was one of two teens at our synagogue who were given to the opportunity to go the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) conference.
We dropped him off at the bus at 7:00am this morning
We’ve had some text message exchanges, and they have been a complete hoot. (We share our pinko proclivities)
I would appreciate hints on how to best extract an archive of Android text messages to a usable format, please respond.
Tomi Lahren won’t be appearing on Glenn Beck’s multiplatform network, TheBlaze, anymore.
Sources say Lahren — who was suspended last week after flip-flopping on abortion and declaring herself pro-choice — has been banned permanently.
“Glenn is reminding the world of his conservative principles by sidelining Tomi after she insulted conservatives by calling them hypocrites,” one Beck insider told me.
Gone before even her first wrinkle. (She’s 24)
That’s gotta hurt.