From our overstocked archives
Sam Smith, 1994 - I was recently described in an otherwise kind article in Washington’s City Paper as a "political gadfly." This was neither the first time nor will it be the last. It has happened to me so often that I was able to tell the writer where the word came from (a fly that bites and annoys cattle). In fact, it has happened to me so often that I once had a dinghy called the Gadfly.
Gadflies are only barely further along in the evolutionary chain of things than maggots and slugs. They are frequently found resting placidly on a pile of excrement. As my readers well know, I never am at rest sitting on a pile of shit.
Being called a gadfly is a little like being bitten by one. It’s also, notes Jon Rowe, like Ralph Nader being called a "self-styled consumer advocate." Where, Rowe wonders, does one go to get a license to become an properly appointed consumer advocate? To the Washington Post Style Section?
People in Washington who call other people gadflies tend to be either players or people who wish they were. A player is someone trying to be Assistant Secretary of HUD, someone who represents a major polluter and claims to practice environmental law, someone who is paid large sums of money to shout down Eleanor Clift on national TV or who pays large sums of money to get politicians to wrestle with -- and ultimately defeat -- their own conscience.
Players are annoyed by gadflies because they won’t play according to the players’ rules. On the other hand, gadflies don’t clutter up the bureaucracy making dull speeches, and they don’t create toxic waste sites or corrupt the political system. They tend to eat Mr. Tyson’s chicken rather than fly on his planes. And at the end of the day, they have less explaining to do to their children.
Players tend to be quite insecure which is why they need such an elaborate support system, including the Washingtonian magazine, the Gridiron Dinner, the Washington Post Style section and the Diane Rehm Show. Players consider themselves serious; gadflies not.
Russell Baker, a serious man, addressed this matter best in a column in which he pointed out the difference between being serious and being solemn. Baker observed that children are almost always serious, but that they start to lose the trait in adolescence. Washington is the capital of solemnity and few of its elite are truly serious.
Gadflies, on the other hand, are usually serious. A gadfly tends to be someone with ideas, energy and a modicum of talent but who lacks a PR firm, ghostwriter and a proper flair for networking. A gadfly is someone who actually wants to get something done, but often can’t -- largely because of all the players in the way.
EF Schumacher once said, "We must do what we conceive to be the right thing, and not bother our heads or burden our souls with whether we are going to be successful. Because if we don't do the right thing, we'll be doing the wrong thing, and we will just be part of the disease, and not a part of the cure."
Gadflies would agree. They think for themselves. But in Washington thought is something players purchase, just like they purchase gas, condoms or political access. People who think are considered part of the service industry with commensurate compensation and social regard.
When gadflies feel like using a bovine analogy, they think of themselves as mavericks -- animals whose only sin has been to wander off from their colleagues. They also, as they say in Texas, drink upstream from the herd, which if you know anything about cattle is not a bad idea.
Take a run-of-the-mill gadfly such as myself and then some average players -- say the editorial board the Washington Post -- and compare their records over a couple of decades. The gadfly approach to freeways, urban policy, Vietnam, the environment and Bill Clinton will, I think, hold up pretty well. The problem gadflies face is not that they are irrelevant or wrong but that their timing is a bit off. The FBI used to categorize members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade as "premature anti-fascists." Similarly, many gadflies are just moderates of an age that has not yet arrived.
February 1, 2016
Word
I've decided to skip 'holistic.' I don't know what it means, and I don't want to know. That may seem extreme, but I followed the same strategy toward 'Gestalt' and the Twist, and lived to tell the tale. - Calvin Trillan
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January 31, 2016
Obama gets a little tougher on Israel
Global Research - In a step towards joining an Israel boycott, the U.S. is now requiring goods originating from the West Bank (also known as Judea and Samaria) to be labeled separately from products from the rest of Israel, following the European Union’s crackdown on products from the disputed territories.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has issued new mandates requiring that West Bank products not be marked “Israel,” citing a notice from the year 1997 that offers such instructions.
The memo from DHS, titled, “West Bank Country of Origin Marking Requirements,” reads:
“The purpose of this message is to provide guidance to the trade community regarding the country of origin marking requirements for goods that are manufactured in the West Bank.”
According to the instructions, “It is not acceptable to mark” goods from the West Bank as having been from “Israel,” “Made in Israel,” or from “Occupied Territories-Israel.”
In its statement, U.S. Customs threatens: “Goods that are erroneously marked as products of Israel will be subject to an enforcement action carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
“Goods entering the United States must conform to the U.S. marking statute and regulations promulgated thereunder,” the statement adds.
Groups advocating “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” (BDS) against Israel have demanded separate labeling of Israeli goods from the West Bank and the Golan Heights as a step toward a total boycott of Israeli products.
Elizabeth Warren: Corporate criminals go free
Elizabeth Warren, Portside - "Corporate criminals routinely escape meaningful prosecution for their misconduct." This is the damning verdict of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) report. Described as "the first in an annual series on enforcement," the 12-page booklet "highlights 20 of the most egregious civil and criminal cases during the past year in which federal settlements failed to require meaningful accountability to deter future wrongdoing and to protect taxpayers and families," according to a press statement from Warren's office.
A few things they didn't tell you about Flint's water
Michael Moore, Ecowatch - A few months after Gov. Snyder removed Flint from the clean fresh water
we had been drinking for decades, the brass from General Motors went to
him and complained that the Flint River water was causing their car
parts to corrode when being washed on the assembly line. The governor
was appalled to hear that GM property was being damaged, so he jumped
through a number of hoops and quietly spent $440,000 to hook GM back up
to the Lake Huron water, while keeping the rest of Flint on the Flint
River water. Which means that while the children in Flint were drinking
lead-filled water, there was one—and only one—address in Flint that got
clean water: the GM factory.
Federal law requires that water systems which are sent through lead pipes must contain an additive that seals the lead into the pipe and prevents it from leaching into the water. Someone at the beginning suggested to the governor that they add this anti-corrosive element to the water coming out of the Flint River. “How much would that cost?” came the question. “$100 a day for three months,” was the answer. I guess that was too much, so, in order to save $9,000, the state government said f*** it—and as a result the state may now end up having to pay upwards of $1.5 billion to fix the mess.
Every homeowner in Flint is stuck with a house that’s now worth nothing. That’s a total home value of $2.4 billion down the economic drain. People in Flint, one of the poorest cities in the U.S., don’t have much to their name, and for many their only asset is their home.
Snyder’s chief of staff throughout the two years of Flint’s poisoning, Dennis Muchmore, was intimately involved in all the decisions regarding Flint. His wife is Deb Muchmore, who just happens to be the spokesperson in Michigan for the Nestle Company—the largest owner of private water sources in the State of Michigan. Nestle has been repeatedly sued in northern Michigan for the 200 gallons of fresh water per minute it sucks from out of the ground and bottles for sale as their Ice Mountain brand of bottled spring water.
More
Federal law requires that water systems which are sent through lead pipes must contain an additive that seals the lead into the pipe and prevents it from leaching into the water. Someone at the beginning suggested to the governor that they add this anti-corrosive element to the water coming out of the Flint River. “How much would that cost?” came the question. “$100 a day for three months,” was the answer. I guess that was too much, so, in order to save $9,000, the state government said f*** it—and as a result the state may now end up having to pay upwards of $1.5 billion to fix the mess.
Every homeowner in Flint is stuck with a house that’s now worth nothing. That’s a total home value of $2.4 billion down the economic drain. People in Flint, one of the poorest cities in the U.S., don’t have much to their name, and for many their only asset is their home.
Snyder’s chief of staff throughout the two years of Flint’s poisoning, Dennis Muchmore, was intimately involved in all the decisions regarding Flint. His wife is Deb Muchmore, who just happens to be the spokesperson in Michigan for the Nestle Company—the largest owner of private water sources in the State of Michigan. Nestle has been repeatedly sued in northern Michigan for the 200 gallons of fresh water per minute it sucks from out of the ground and bottles for sale as their Ice Mountain brand of bottled spring water.
More
The Clintons' war against black power
Corey Robin, Salon - It may be a generational thing—I was born in 1967—but this is what Hillary and Bill Clinton will always mean to me: Sister Souljah, Ricky Ray Rector, welfare reform, and the crime bill. And beyond—really, behind—all that, the desperate desire to win over white voters by declaring to the American electorate: We are not the Party of Jesse Jackson, we are not the Rainbow Coalition.
Many of the liberal journalists who are supporting Hillary Clinton’s candidacy are too young to remember what the Clintons did to American politics and the Democratic Party in the 1990s. But even journalists who are old enough seem to have forgotten just how much the Clintons’ national ascendancy was premised on the repudiation of black voters and black interests. This was a move that was both inspired and applauded by a small but influential group of Beltway journalists and party strategists, who believed making the Democrats a white middle-class party was the only path back to the White House after wandering for 12 years in the Republican wilderness.
But for me, it’s as vivid as yesterday. I still remember Clinton pollster Stanley Greenberg’s American Prospect article, which claimed that the Democrats were “too identified with minorities and special interests to speak for average Americans.” Black people not being average Americans, you see. This article, American Prospect co-editor Paul Starr proudly proclaimed last year, is “widely recognized for its influence on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign” in 1992. Starr, incidentally, just penned a defense in Politico of Hillary Clinton as the only serious Democratic candidate.
Many of the liberal journalists who are supporting Hillary Clinton’s candidacy are too young to remember what the Clintons did to American politics and the Democratic Party in the 1990s. But even journalists who are old enough seem to have forgotten just how much the Clintons’ national ascendancy was premised on the repudiation of black voters and black interests. This was a move that was both inspired and applauded by a small but influential group of Beltway journalists and party strategists, who believed making the Democrats a white middle-class party was the only path back to the White House after wandering for 12 years in the Republican wilderness.
But for me, it’s as vivid as yesterday. I still remember Clinton pollster Stanley Greenberg’s American Prospect article, which claimed that the Democrats were “too identified with minorities and special interests to speak for average Americans.” Black people not being average Americans, you see. This article, American Prospect co-editor Paul Starr proudly proclaimed last year, is “widely recognized for its influence on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign” in 1992. Starr, incidentally, just penned a defense in Politico of Hillary Clinton as the only serious Democratic candidate.
The religious sin lost by the wayside
Nathan Schneider, American Magazine - In centuries past, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all shared an anxious opposition to usury. Sometimes “usury” meant any kind of interest-charging on loans, sometimes just lending under especially unjust terms. But in any case, these traditions regarded finance as an activity of supreme moral concern, one rife with opportunities for the abuse of power and unjust accumulations of wealth. Imagine bishops worrying about adjustable-rate mortgages the way they worry about abortion. That is the kind of concern we’re talking about.
Jacques le Goff’s pithy book Your Money or Your Life reconstructs the tenor of medieval attitudes. “Usurious profit from money,” Pope Leo I (d. 461) held, “is the death of the soul.” The French theologian Jacques de Vitry warned lenders that “the amount of money they receive from usury corresponds to the amount of wood sent to hell to burn them.” In some cases the vitriol was a form of anti-Judaism, since Jews often held a monopoly on lending to Christians. But Jews themselves denounced usury just as strenuously in dealings with one another.
St. Thomas Aquinas, representing the scholarly consensus of the 13th century, argued on the one hand that usury “leads to inequality which is contrary to justice.” Charging interest on money, further, is contrary to nature; “This is to sell what does not exist.” Interest-charging severs the economy from actual production or people’s actual needs.
Centuries of clerical coziness with financiers made such denunciations less and less convenient. As the modern period progressed, concern about usury faded, then all but disappeared. Some tried to justify interest theologically, but mainly the shift was a matter of omission. The influential economist Msgr. John Ryan began his pamphlet The Church and Interest-Taking (1910) by stressing, “The Church has never admitted the justice of interest whether on money or on capital, but has merely tolerated the institution.”
We now regard lending as principally a technocratic province of economics, computerized markets and swashbuckling self-interest. Even government regulators tend to be once-and-future bankers, as if no one else could or should be concerned with the matter. The result is a financial system whose most serious risks are borne by the most vulnerable. Foreclosure, eviction and eventual homelessness are part of a tolerable business model. Through international debt, lenders dictate policy to debtor governments with little oversight from the people who will be expected to obey. And, as Aquinas warned, financiers lavish on themselves money from out of thin air. These are moral problems, but without a concept of usury it can be hard to see that. It is hard to imagine a jubilee.
Pope Francis, for his part, spoke of usury against poorer countries when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly last year. And in Rome, at a general audience in 2014, he said: “When a family doesn’t have enough to eat because it has to pay off loans to usurers, this isn’t Christian. It’s not human.” As he began the Jubilee Year in Advent, he called for world leaders to forgive crippling debts or renegotiate them under more humane terms. For him, the meaning of jubilee remains rooted in its most ancient, tangible form.
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Jacques le Goff’s pithy book Your Money or Your Life reconstructs the tenor of medieval attitudes. “Usurious profit from money,” Pope Leo I (d. 461) held, “is the death of the soul.” The French theologian Jacques de Vitry warned lenders that “the amount of money they receive from usury corresponds to the amount of wood sent to hell to burn them.” In some cases the vitriol was a form of anti-Judaism, since Jews often held a monopoly on lending to Christians. But Jews themselves denounced usury just as strenuously in dealings with one another.
St. Thomas Aquinas, representing the scholarly consensus of the 13th century, argued on the one hand that usury “leads to inequality which is contrary to justice.” Charging interest on money, further, is contrary to nature; “This is to sell what does not exist.” Interest-charging severs the economy from actual production or people’s actual needs.
Centuries of clerical coziness with financiers made such denunciations less and less convenient. As the modern period progressed, concern about usury faded, then all but disappeared. Some tried to justify interest theologically, but mainly the shift was a matter of omission. The influential economist Msgr. John Ryan began his pamphlet The Church and Interest-Taking (1910) by stressing, “The Church has never admitted the justice of interest whether on money or on capital, but has merely tolerated the institution.”
We now regard lending as principally a technocratic province of economics, computerized markets and swashbuckling self-interest. Even government regulators tend to be once-and-future bankers, as if no one else could or should be concerned with the matter. The result is a financial system whose most serious risks are borne by the most vulnerable. Foreclosure, eviction and eventual homelessness are part of a tolerable business model. Through international debt, lenders dictate policy to debtor governments with little oversight from the people who will be expected to obey. And, as Aquinas warned, financiers lavish on themselves money from out of thin air. These are moral problems, but without a concept of usury it can be hard to see that. It is hard to imagine a jubilee.
Pope Francis, for his part, spoke of usury against poorer countries when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly last year. And in Rome, at a general audience in 2014, he said: “When a family doesn’t have enough to eat because it has to pay off loans to usurers, this isn’t Christian. It’s not human.” As he began the Jubilee Year in Advent, he called for world leaders to forgive crippling debts or renegotiate them under more humane terms. For him, the meaning of jubilee remains rooted in its most ancient, tangible form.
MORE
Great moments in the theater
Futility Closet
Edward Falconer’s Oonagh, or, The Lovers of Lismona opened one evening in 1866 at half-past seven. By midnight most of the audience had left; by two o’clock in the morning only a few sleeping critics were still there. At three o’clock the stage crew brought the curtain down with the action still in progress and the play was taken off.
— The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre, 2013
Italian government covers up art for Iranian presidential visit
Artnet - https://news.artnet.com/art-world/italy-iran-statue-censorship-416405Italian political and cultural commentators have come out in droves to bash the Italian government's censorship of nude classical Roman statues; reportedly to avoid offending Iranian president Hassan Rouhani during a state visit.
Rouhani was visiting Rome as part of his tour to meet European leaders to discuss various international business deals, after economic sanctions against Iran were lifted. The two leaders met at the Capitoline Museum for a joint press conference on Monday, where many member of the press in attendance noted that the nude statues on view in the museum had been encased in white, wooden boxes.
The New York Times pointed out that the encounter was always likely to result in a culture clash given Iran's culture of Islamic conservatism contrasted against Italy's Roman Catholic and secular society reputed for its indulgence.
However this assumption didn't stop the Italian media from speculating over who was responsible for the censorship of the artworks. Some reported the cover-up was requested by the Iranian delegation, whilst others blamed Italian government officials.
Massimo Gramellini of the Turin-based newspaper La Stampa accused the Renzi government of compromising Italy's secular values in exchange for lucrative contracts. According to the journalist's column, the statues were covered to stop the Iranian president from suffering “hormonal shock and rip up the freshly signed contracts with our Italian industries."
Rouhani was visiting Rome as part of his tour to meet European leaders to discuss various international business deals, after economic sanctions against Iran were lifted. The two leaders met at the Capitoline Museum for a joint press conference on Monday, where many member of the press in attendance noted that the nude statues on view in the museum had been encased in white, wooden boxes.
The New York Times pointed out that the encounter was always likely to result in a culture clash given Iran's culture of Islamic conservatism contrasted against Italy's Roman Catholic and secular society reputed for its indulgence.
However this assumption didn't stop the Italian media from speculating over who was responsible for the censorship of the artworks. Some reported the cover-up was requested by the Iranian delegation, whilst others blamed Italian government officials.
Massimo Gramellini of the Turin-based newspaper La Stampa accused the Renzi government of compromising Italy's secular values in exchange for lucrative contracts. According to the journalist's column, the statues were covered to stop the Iranian president from suffering “hormonal shock and rip up the freshly signed contracts with our Italian industries."
A conversation with God
From our overstocked archives
Sam Smith, 2004 - Encouraged by our presidential candidates I decided to also try to have a conversation with the Father Almighty. I got through without any trouble
SAM - Hey Pops, this is Sam down on earth just checking in.
GOD - Good to hear from you. I get so tired of those suck-ups at the Christian Coalition and the Republican National Committee. Like I told them, the deal was I work six days, take the next day off, and then get at least three millennia in comp time.
But, no, they keep calling me and saying stuff like "You're with us if we take down Fallujah, right?" and I tell them they're on their own but then they run it through the spin cycle and the next thing I know I got a bunch of dead or angry Muslims on my hands.
SAM - Got any thoughts on the race?
GOD - Well, I wish that Shilling guy wouldn't give me so much credit for his pitches in the World Series. I mean, where does that leave me with those born-agains on the Cards and the Yankees? I try to be fair, you know, but everyone keeps insisting I'm their God and then using it as an excuse to beat the shit out of somebody else. Besides, I've been a Red Sox fan since at least 1932 and it hasn't done them much good until now.
SAM - I didn't know you used language like that.
GOD - Where do you think Howard Stern learned it? I'm God to all people, after all, not just to George Bush.
SAM - I was actually asking about the presidential race.
GOD - Oh that one. Well, I got to say I'm pretty disappointed in how you all are handling your democracy. Kind of wished I had thought of that one a little earlier myself, but then when Tommy Jefferson and the gang came along I had real hopes that the earth might work out better than it seemed. Now it's only two centuries later and you folks are about to blow the whole deal. I don't believe in messing with things, but I did try to warn them with those Florida hurricanes and all. I guess I was too subtle. I'd hate to think I'd have to come back down there but I'm getting pretty pissed. . .
SAM - Sounds like you're backing John Kerry.
GOD - Well, I'm tempted but my basic rule is create and then stand back. But it's me damn tough, especially when you've got that Bush guy taking my name in vain every chance he gets and talking about sanctity of life and then going out killing a whole bunch of people. Thing I want to know is why does the sanctity of life expire after only nine months? It should have a longer warranty than that.
SAM - So you got anything less than an endorsement, say like a suggestion?
GOD - Me yes, here's my tip for swing states: vote Kerry and then gain absolution by voting for every Green elsewhere on the ticket. It's that old Catholic trick: sin and then say a few Hail Marys. I like those Catholics because they still sin. The trouble with the born-agains like Bush is that they think they're always right because they claim I said so. Never said no such thing. Ever heard of Bush admitting he was wrong after he found Jesus? I mean, my me, if that was the case I could close down this place and move to Texas. You don't need two heavens.
SAM - Didn't know you were a Green.
GOD - Well, I got to admit I prefer folks who try to do my will over those who claim I blessed them and then do whatever they want. Remember my man Frankie over at Assisi? He said, always preach the gospel and if necessary use words.
It was like I was telling my son the other day: you know, if you go back on earth you might want to think about registering Green. And he says, but Dad, I thought Bush was the Big Christian. And I said, my me, if Bush had been born in that manger instead of you he would have had cut some Enron type deal with Pontius Pilate, privatized miracles, outsourced charity, and give a big tax deduction to crucifix manufacturers.
SAM - Well, this is quite a different take on the election than I've been hearing from certain Catholic bishops and members of the Christian right.
GOD - So you think I'm going to go to all the trouble to create a world and then pass on my opinions through the likes of some pompous priest, Pat Robertson, or George Bush? I am the almighty after all. I don't have to use charlatans to get my word out. Hell, I'd rather use Jessica Simpson as my emissary.
SAM - Well, that raises a whole new issue, but I've taken enough of your time.
GOD - No problem, mate. Just answer me one question
SAM - Sure
GOD - I thought you didn't believe in me so how come we're having this conversation?
SAM - Well, you know what they say about us journalists. We'll do anything for a story.
GOD - Okay, but don't go soft on me. I get so tired of talking with phony true believers. Especially the ones who give big tax cuts to the rich and bomb the hell out of people they don't like.
SAM - If you want I could get you a list of states with same day registration
GOD - You tempt me but I think I'll stay here and wait to see how it all comes out..
Sam Smith, 2004 - Encouraged by our presidential candidates I decided to also try to have a conversation with the Father Almighty. I got through without any trouble
SAM - Hey Pops, this is Sam down on earth just checking in.
GOD - Good to hear from you. I get so tired of those suck-ups at the Christian Coalition and the Republican National Committee. Like I told them, the deal was I work six days, take the next day off, and then get at least three millennia in comp time.
But, no, they keep calling me and saying stuff like "You're with us if we take down Fallujah, right?" and I tell them they're on their own but then they run it through the spin cycle and the next thing I know I got a bunch of dead or angry Muslims on my hands.
SAM - Got any thoughts on the race?
GOD - Well, I wish that Shilling guy wouldn't give me so much credit for his pitches in the World Series. I mean, where does that leave me with those born-agains on the Cards and the Yankees? I try to be fair, you know, but everyone keeps insisting I'm their God and then using it as an excuse to beat the shit out of somebody else. Besides, I've been a Red Sox fan since at least 1932 and it hasn't done them much good until now.
SAM - I didn't know you used language like that.
GOD - Where do you think Howard Stern learned it? I'm God to all people, after all, not just to George Bush.
SAM - I was actually asking about the presidential race.
GOD - Oh that one. Well, I got to say I'm pretty disappointed in how you all are handling your democracy. Kind of wished I had thought of that one a little earlier myself, but then when Tommy Jefferson and the gang came along I had real hopes that the earth might work out better than it seemed. Now it's only two centuries later and you folks are about to blow the whole deal. I don't believe in messing with things, but I did try to warn them with those Florida hurricanes and all. I guess I was too subtle. I'd hate to think I'd have to come back down there but I'm getting pretty pissed. . .
SAM - Sounds like you're backing John Kerry.
GOD - Well, I'm tempted but my basic rule is create and then stand back. But it's me damn tough, especially when you've got that Bush guy taking my name in vain every chance he gets and talking about sanctity of life and then going out killing a whole bunch of people. Thing I want to know is why does the sanctity of life expire after only nine months? It should have a longer warranty than that.
SAM - So you got anything less than an endorsement, say like a suggestion?
GOD - Me yes, here's my tip for swing states: vote Kerry and then gain absolution by voting for every Green elsewhere on the ticket. It's that old Catholic trick: sin and then say a few Hail Marys. I like those Catholics because they still sin. The trouble with the born-agains like Bush is that they think they're always right because they claim I said so. Never said no such thing. Ever heard of Bush admitting he was wrong after he found Jesus? I mean, my me, if that was the case I could close down this place and move to Texas. You don't need two heavens.
SAM - Didn't know you were a Green.
GOD - Well, I got to admit I prefer folks who try to do my will over those who claim I blessed them and then do whatever they want. Remember my man Frankie over at Assisi? He said, always preach the gospel and if necessary use words.
It was like I was telling my son the other day: you know, if you go back on earth you might want to think about registering Green. And he says, but Dad, I thought Bush was the Big Christian. And I said, my me, if Bush had been born in that manger instead of you he would have had cut some Enron type deal with Pontius Pilate, privatized miracles, outsourced charity, and give a big tax deduction to crucifix manufacturers.
SAM - Well, this is quite a different take on the election than I've been hearing from certain Catholic bishops and members of the Christian right.
GOD - So you think I'm going to go to all the trouble to create a world and then pass on my opinions through the likes of some pompous priest, Pat Robertson, or George Bush? I am the almighty after all. I don't have to use charlatans to get my word out. Hell, I'd rather use Jessica Simpson as my emissary.
SAM - Well, that raises a whole new issue, but I've taken enough of your time.
GOD - No problem, mate. Just answer me one question
SAM - Sure
GOD - I thought you didn't believe in me so how come we're having this conversation?
SAM - Well, you know what they say about us journalists. We'll do anything for a story.
GOD - Okay, but don't go soft on me. I get so tired of talking with phony true believers. Especially the ones who give big tax cuts to the rich and bomb the hell out of people they don't like.
SAM - If you want I could get you a list of states with same day registration
GOD - You tempt me but I think I'll stay here and wait to see how it all comes out..
Word
When women understand that governments and religions are human inventions; that bibles, prayer-books, catechisms, and encyclical letters are all emanations from the brains of man, they will no longer be oppressed by the injunctions that come to them with the divine authority of 'Thus sayeth the Lord.' - Elizabeth Cady Stanton
January 30, 2016
If you think ISIS is bad
Sam Smith - Watching the Republican presidential candidates go a bit berserk over ISIS during their last debate brought to mind something that is rarely mentioned by the corporate media: ISIS is roughly 1/12 the size of America's active ground forces, hardly a surprising reaction to a decade and a half of American invasion of the Mid East during which somewhere between one and two million citizens of the area have been killed.
It also occurred to me how fortunate we were not to have people like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in power during the Vietnam War as we would probably still be fighting it. Incidentally, ISIS is about 6% the size of the active North Vietnamese Army.
It also occurred to me how fortunate we were not to have people like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in power during the Vietnam War as we would probably still be fighting it. Incidentally, ISIS is about 6% the size of the active North Vietnamese Army.
A hidden economy in the Civil War
Futility Closet
During the American Civil War, enemy soldiers would sometimes meet to barter. Tobacco was hard to get in the North, and coffee was scarce in the South, so, where it could be done safely, soldiers would meet between the lines to trade. In some cases this was done across distances. If a river or lake separated the lines, a tiny boat would be laden with commodities and sent to the other side, where it would be unloaded and filled with exchange cargoes, as agreed on by shouting and signaling across the water. On the Rappahannock early in 1863 a group of New Jersey soldiers received a shipment “by miniature boat six inches long.” It carried this note:
(From Bell I. Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union, 1952.)
During the American Civil War, enemy soldiers would sometimes meet to barter. Tobacco was hard to get in the North, and coffee was scarce in the South, so, where it could be done safely, soldiers would meet between the lines to trade. In some cases this was done across distances. If a river or lake separated the lines, a tiny boat would be laden with commodities and sent to the other side, where it would be unloaded and filled with exchange cargoes, as agreed on by shouting and signaling across the water. On the Rappahannock early in 1863 a group of New Jersey soldiers received a shipment “by miniature boat six inches long.” It carried this note:
Gents U.S. ArmyAlfred S. Roe, who served in a New York artillery unit, recalled that near Petersburg in the winter of 1864, “a certain canine of strictly impartial sentiments” was “taught to respond to a whistle from either side. Thus with a can of coffee suspended from his neck he would amble over to the Johnnies, and when they had replaced coffee with tobacco he would return in obedience to Union signals, intent only on the food reward both sides gave him.”
We send you some tobacco by our Packet. Send us some coffee in return. Also a deck of cards if you have them, and we will send you more tobacco. Send us any late papers if you have them.
Jas. O. Parker
Co. H. 17th Regt. Miss. Vols.
(From Bell I. Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union, 1952.)
The American oligarchy began well before Citizens United
More support for our thesis that the First American Republic collapsed in the 1980s and that we have been living under a post-constituional oligarchic adhocracy since then.
Robert Reich, Truthdig - How badly is political power concentrated in America among the very wealthy? A study published in the fall of 2014 by two of America’s most respected political scientists, Princeton professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern’s Benjamin Page, suggests it’s extremely concentrated.
Gilens and Page undertook a detailed analysis of 1,799 policy issues, seeking to determine the relative influence on them of economic elites, business groups, mass-based interest groups and average citizens. Their conclusion was dramatic: “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.” Instead, Gilens and Page found that lawmakers respond almost exclusively to the moneyed interests – those with the most lobbying prowess and deepest pockets to bankroll campaigns.
I find it particularly sobering that Gilens and Page’s data came from the period 1981 to 2002. That was before the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United opinion, which opened the floodgates to big money in politics, and before the explosion of Super Pacs and secretive “dark money” whose sources do not have to be disclosed by campaigns. It stands to reason that if average Americans had a “near-zero” impact on public policy then, the influence of average Americans is now zero.
Robert Reich, Truthdig - How badly is political power concentrated in America among the very wealthy? A study published in the fall of 2014 by two of America’s most respected political scientists, Princeton professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern’s Benjamin Page, suggests it’s extremely concentrated.
Gilens and Page undertook a detailed analysis of 1,799 policy issues, seeking to determine the relative influence on them of economic elites, business groups, mass-based interest groups and average citizens. Their conclusion was dramatic: “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.” Instead, Gilens and Page found that lawmakers respond almost exclusively to the moneyed interests – those with the most lobbying prowess and deepest pockets to bankroll campaigns.
I find it particularly sobering that Gilens and Page’s data came from the period 1981 to 2002. That was before the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United opinion, which opened the floodgates to big money in politics, and before the explosion of Super Pacs and secretive “dark money” whose sources do not have to be disclosed by campaigns. It stands to reason that if average Americans had a “near-zero” impact on public policy then, the influence of average Americans is now zero.
Drought causes 25% drop in South African corn production
Bloomberg - South Africa, the largest corn producer on the [African] continent, will probably reap the smallest harvest since 2007 this year after the country suffered the lowest rainfall since records began because of the global El Nino weather pattern.
Prices for white corn, used to make a staple food known as pap, rose to a record Jan. 21 as dry weather hurt supply. South Africa will probably need to import about 970,000 tons of corn in the year to April and 5 million tons of corn in the following 12 months as rainfall declined to the least since at least 1904, according to Grain SA, the biggest farm lobby.
Prices for white corn, used to make a staple food known as pap, rose to a record Jan. 21 as dry weather hurt supply. South Africa will probably need to import about 970,000 tons of corn in the year to April and 5 million tons of corn in the following 12 months as rainfall declined to the least since at least 1904, according to Grain SA, the biggest farm lobby.
Deartment of Good Stuff; American Notes
American
notes
- NEWS
Entropy updates - ESSAYS
- Finding new homes for the moral and the decent
- Brain drain: the hazards of grad school politics
- Normalizing
failure
The war that never ended - When wrong becomes the norm
- The collapse of the First American Republic
- The end of treason
- Top Rot
- Love
of trains
Elite emmigration - American beconing a corporate colony
- How to get along with other Americans
- What's new with me
- Backing off of hate
- Coming of age with "On the Road"
- Eternal fundamentals of leadership (Rev. 8/14/11)
- Football and American empire
- Why hip is no longer hip
- In technocracy we trust
- Freedom as a local option
- What's a humanities?
- Global dumbing: the politics of entropy
- Practicing anthropology without a license
- The war of the terrified
- Factories
of fame
Notes on the end of the First American Republic - Notes from a lousy time
- Why everything's so hard today
- Quiet
storm: blowin' in the wind of cultural decay
On the care and feeding of theories - Learning from Orwell & Mussolini
- How minorities change America
Dealing with myths
From our overstocked archives
Sam Smith, 2006 Having been an anthropology major, I don't get as riled up about mythology in public life as many in the media and politics. Myths can be helpful, benign, sad, or deadly but mostly they're there to fill the empty places in reality.
Sometimes myths are carried on the backs of famous people because the reality isn't powerful enough to do the job. A classic case involves the death of Dr Charles Drew, the famous black surgeon.
It is widely told that Drew, then 46, died in North Carolina in 1950 following a car accident for which he was unable to get treatment at a white hospital and had to be transported to a much more distant black hospital, wasting critical treatment time.
But the Annals of American Survey notes:
"The authoritative work by historian Spencie Love entitled, One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles Drew, described how the myth has been cultivated because of the time and place of Dr. Drew's death and serves as an unfortunate filler between living memory and written history. True enough, a 23-year-old black World War II veteran by the name Maltheus Avery was critically injured in an auto crash on December 1, 1950, exactly 8 months after Dr. Drew's death. He was a student at North Carolina A&T, a husband, and a father of a small child. Like Dr. Drew, he was treated initially at Alamance General Hospital. He was transferred to Duke University Hospital and subsequently turned away because they had exhausted their supply of beds for black patients. Mr. Avery would die shortly after arrival at Lincoln Hospital, Durham, North Carolina's black facility. Spencie Love's book discusses how the story of the lesser-known Maltheus Avery confronted the circumstances of the death of the more prominent Dr. Drew, and thus a myth was born."
Something similar was at work in the black response to the OJ Simpson case. To many blacks, Simpson was carrying the mythic weight of decades of ethnic abuse under the justice system. In a column at the time for Pacific News Service, a black journalist, Dennis Schatzman, outlined some of the black context for the Simpson trial:
We tend to get very self-righteous when dealing with other people's myths but very tolerant about our own. Thus a conference dedicated to spreading doubt about the Holocaust is an outrage but a generation of teaching Americans fabrications about the economy in the name of robber baron capitalism is perfectly fine even if it has done infinitely more damage than an anti-Holocaust conference.
The Holocaust conference was a mythological alternative to doing what many participants would like to do but can't: invade and destroy Israel. Defeat is a prime breeding ground of myth.
America's view of the Holocaust is filled with its own myths. Such as the one that redefines Nazism and the European conflict primarily by its anti-Semitic manifestations, safely exempting us from considering the changes in German governance that led to these manifestations, changes that are becoming uncomfortably familiar in America.
And it is missing important stories, stories like the one Richard Rubenstein tells in the Cunning of History about a Hungarian Jewish emissary meeting with Lord Moyne, the British High Commissioner in Egypt in 1944 and suggesting that the Nazis might be willing to save one million Hungarian Jews in return for military supplies. Lord Moyne's reply: "What shall I do with those million Jews? Where shall I put them?" Writes Rubenstein: "The British government was by no means adverse to the 'final solution' as long as the Germans did most of the work. " For both countries, it had become a bureaucratic problem, one that Rubenstein suggests we understand "as the expression of some of the most profound tendencies of Western civilization in the 20th century."
And this one from the Village Voice:
In my book, Why Bother, I discussed a less contentious example of myths at work:
Mythology soars when a culture is under threat or in great isolation. Might the fact that the U.S. hasn't talked with Iran for 27 years have anything to do with the latter's current treatment of the Holocaust?
And what changes this? I have argued that if you want to bring peace in the Israeli-Palestine conflict you just put a few Wal-Marts. Thus you would rid the area of both feuding cultures and replace them with Wal-Mart customers.
The theory behind this is more serious than it appears. People get on better when there is something more important going on than what it is that divides them. Thus, despite all the talk about cultural diversity in liberal circles and on campuses, the places where you are most likely to find people of different ethnic backgrounds mixing well include shopping malls, the military, sports teams and ethnic restaurants. Key to the relationship is the fact that everyone thinks they're getting something out of the deal.
The same principle would work in foreign policy. The best way to deal with a harmful myth is to eliminate the anger, isolation and other problems that caused it to thrive in the first place. You replace them with a deal that works well for everyone.
These myths are not the problem; they are just good warning signs of the problem. Solve the problem and you'll get much better myths.
Sam Smith, 2006 Having been an anthropology major, I don't get as riled up about mythology in public life as many in the media and politics. Myths can be helpful, benign, sad, or deadly but mostly they're there to fill the empty places in reality.
Sometimes myths are carried on the backs of famous people because the reality isn't powerful enough to do the job. A classic case involves the death of Dr Charles Drew, the famous black surgeon.
It is widely told that Drew, then 46, died in North Carolina in 1950 following a car accident for which he was unable to get treatment at a white hospital and had to be transported to a much more distant black hospital, wasting critical treatment time.
But the Annals of American Survey notes:
"The authoritative work by historian Spencie Love entitled, One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles Drew, described how the myth has been cultivated because of the time and place of Dr. Drew's death and serves as an unfortunate filler between living memory and written history. True enough, a 23-year-old black World War II veteran by the name Maltheus Avery was critically injured in an auto crash on December 1, 1950, exactly 8 months after Dr. Drew's death. He was a student at North Carolina A&T, a husband, and a father of a small child. Like Dr. Drew, he was treated initially at Alamance General Hospital. He was transferred to Duke University Hospital and subsequently turned away because they had exhausted their supply of beds for black patients. Mr. Avery would die shortly after arrival at Lincoln Hospital, Durham, North Carolina's black facility. Spencie Love's book discusses how the story of the lesser-known Maltheus Avery confronted the circumstances of the death of the more prominent Dr. Drew, and thus a myth was born."
Something similar was at work in the black response to the OJ Simpson case. To many blacks, Simpson was carrying the mythic weight of decades of ethnic abuse under the justice system. In a column at the time for Pacific News Service, a black journalist, Dennis Schatzman, outlined some of the black context for the Simpson trial:
Just last year, Olympic long jumper and track coach Al Joyner was handcuffed and harassed in a LAPD traffic incident. He has settled out of court for $250,000.These examples would be rejected as irrelevant by the average lawyer or journalist but in fact OJ Simpson's case served as the mythic translation of stories never allowed to be told. The stories that should have been on CNN but weren't. Everything was true except the names, times and places. In Washington, they do something similar when stories can't be told; they write a novel.
A few years earlier, former baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan was "handcuffed and arrested at the Los Angeles airport because police believed that Morgan 'fit the profile of a drug dealer.'" He also got a settlement of $250,000.
Before that, former LA Laker forward Jamal Wilkes was stopped by the police, handcuffed and thrown to the pavement.
A black man was recently given a 25-year to life sentence for stealing a slice of pizza from a young white boy.
In 1992, a mentally troubled black man was shot and killed by LA sheriff's deputies while causing a disturbance in front of his mother's house. Neighbors say they saw a deputy plant a weapon by the body.
Simpson case detective Mark Fuhrman was accused of planting a weapon at the side of a robbery suspect back in 1988. The LAPD recently settled for an undisclosed amount.
In North Carolina, Daryl Hunt still languishes in jail for the 1984 rape and murder of a white newspaper reporter, even though DNA tests say it was not possible.
We tend to get very self-righteous when dealing with other people's myths but very tolerant about our own. Thus a conference dedicated to spreading doubt about the Holocaust is an outrage but a generation of teaching Americans fabrications about the economy in the name of robber baron capitalism is perfectly fine even if it has done infinitely more damage than an anti-Holocaust conference.
The Holocaust conference was a mythological alternative to doing what many participants would like to do but can't: invade and destroy Israel. Defeat is a prime breeding ground of myth.
America's view of the Holocaust is filled with its own myths. Such as the one that redefines Nazism and the European conflict primarily by its anti-Semitic manifestations, safely exempting us from considering the changes in German governance that led to these manifestations, changes that are becoming uncomfortably familiar in America.
And it is missing important stories, stories like the one Richard Rubenstein tells in the Cunning of History about a Hungarian Jewish emissary meeting with Lord Moyne, the British High Commissioner in Egypt in 1944 and suggesting that the Nazis might be willing to save one million Hungarian Jews in return for military supplies. Lord Moyne's reply: "What shall I do with those million Jews? Where shall I put them?" Writes Rubenstein: "The British government was by no means adverse to the 'final solution' as long as the Germans did most of the work. " For both countries, it had become a bureaucratic problem, one that Rubenstein suggests we understand "as the expression of some of the most profound tendencies of Western civilization in the 20th century."
And this one from the Village Voice:
The infamous Auschwitz tattoo began as an IBM number. And now it's been revealed that IBM machines were actually based at the infamous concentration-camp complex. . . The new revelation of IBM technology in the Auschwitz area constitutes a final link in the chain of documentation surrounding Big Blue's vast enterprise in Nazi-occupied Poland, supervised at first directly from its New York headquarters, and later through its Geneva office. . . IBM spokesman Carol Makovich didn't respond to repeated telephone calls. In the past, when asked about IBM's Polish subsidiary's involvement with the Nazis, Makovich has said, "IBM does not have much information about this period." When a Reuters reporter asked about Poland, Makovich said, "We are a technology company, we are not historians."These stories make the Holocaust more complex than we would like it to be.
In my book, Why Bother, I discussed a less contentious example of myths at work:
Consider, for example, the Ojibwa, described by Brian Morris in Anthropology of the Self. These Indians, a group of nomadic hunters and fishers living east of Lake Winnipeg, "do not make any categorical or sharply defined differentiation between myth and reality, or between dreaming and the waking state; neither can any hard or fast line be drawn between humans and animals. . . . A bear is an animal which unlike humans hibernates during the winter, but in specific circumstances it may be interpreted as a human sorcerer. . . . The four winds are thought of not only as animate by the Ojibwa, but are categorized as persons."Bad as this sounds, though, you will probably get along better in New York or Chicago with a loss of meaning, state of narcissism, or overflowing self-actualization than if you try to escape your angst by acting like the Ojibwa. In the Big Apple, to lack a sharply defined differentiation between myth and reality, between dreaming and the waking state; or between humans and animals, risks not only ridicule but actual legal sanctions. Even in a culture that celebrates the power of the individual, the restraints on that individualism are substantial and we, like peoples everywhere, go about our daily business regarding them as largely normal."
Not only may a culture define the four winds as persons under certain circumstances, it may also define a slave or someone from another tribe as not a person at all. Nonetheless the slave or the outsider really exist so at some level are treated as a person anyway. Hence people in such societies may trade goods with the stranger or attempt to convert the slave to Christianity even though they are not considered human. Or the society may try to quantify such anomalies as Americans did when they declared a black legally equal to three-fifths of a white person. Or it may create a hierarchy as Aristotle did when he confidently declared that "the deliberative faculty in the soul is not present at all in a slave: in a female is present but ineffective, in a child present but undeveloped." Or it may declare that "all men are created equal" but really mean only white male property owners. Or it may fight a revolution for liberty but leave women as chattel. Or the culture can painfully change such values over two centuries and still have to go repeatedly to court to fight over what was really meant by the change. . .
Here is how anthropologist Morris describes his own western culture: "It is individualistic, and has a relatively inflated concern with the self which in extremes gives rise to anxiety, to a sense that there is a loss of meaning in contemporary life, to a state of narcissism, and to an emphasis in popular psychology on 'self actualization.' "
Mythology soars when a culture is under threat or in great isolation. Might the fact that the U.S. hasn't talked with Iran for 27 years have anything to do with the latter's current treatment of the Holocaust?
And what changes this? I have argued that if you want to bring peace in the Israeli-Palestine conflict you just put a few Wal-Marts. Thus you would rid the area of both feuding cultures and replace them with Wal-Mart customers.
The theory behind this is more serious than it appears. People get on better when there is something more important going on than what it is that divides them. Thus, despite all the talk about cultural diversity in liberal circles and on campuses, the places where you are most likely to find people of different ethnic backgrounds mixing well include shopping malls, the military, sports teams and ethnic restaurants. Key to the relationship is the fact that everyone thinks they're getting something out of the deal.
The same principle would work in foreign policy. The best way to deal with a harmful myth is to eliminate the anger, isolation and other problems that caused it to thrive in the first place. You replace them with a deal that works well for everyone.
These myths are not the problem; they are just good warning signs of the problem. Solve the problem and you'll get much better myths.
Word
The whole problem with the world is that fools & fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. - Bertrand Russell
January 29, 2016
Morning Line
Based
on the moving average of recent polls:
- National race would be a toss up with Bloomberg, Clinton & Trump but Clinton would win in a three way race with Bloomberg and Cruz
- In Iowa Trump leads Cruz by 5 and Clinton and Sanders in a statistical tie
- In New Hampshire Trump leads by 19 and Sanders ahead by 12
Private firm union membership down to 11%
CNS - The percentage of American wage and salary workers who belonged to a
union was only 11.1 percent in 2015, but the percentage of union members
who worked for government was 48.9 percent, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “The
union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were
members of unions--was 11.1 percent in 2015, unchanged from 2014,” the
BLS said.
90% of industry caused air pollution comes from 5% of plants
Rural Blog - A small minority of industrial facilities are responsible for the majority of air pollution generated by the industry, says a study published in Environmental Research Letters.
The study, which examined industrial emissions at about 16,000 industrial facilities—excluding power plants—"found that '90 percent of toxic concentration present in the study area is generated by only 809 (about 5 percent) of facilities.' The highest polluting facilities were also more likely to be located in proximity to poor and minority neighborhoods."
The study, which examined industrial emissions at about 16,000 industrial facilities—excluding power plants—"found that '90 percent of toxic concentration present in the study area is generated by only 809 (about 5 percent) of facilities.' The highest polluting facilities were also more likely to be located in proximity to poor and minority neighborhoods."
More evidence of liberals' turning over the working class to the right
Huffington Post - Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO union federation, just spent five weeks canvassing in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas, focusing on likely voters who live outside the city and have household incomes at or below $75,000 (read: white and working class).
Of the entire Democratic and Republican fields, the most popular single candidate was Donald Trump -- and it wasn't even close. Thirty-eight percent of people who had already made up their minds said they wanted to vote for the Republican real estate magnate. The candidate with the next highest share was Democrat Hillary Clinton, with 22 percent.
Trump's haul was more than the rest of the GOP field combined, which was 22 percent. Democratic candidate and Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders rang up 12 percent of decided voters. The Clinton and Sanders shares, when combined, came out roughly equal to Trump's.
A third of the Trump supporters were so loyal that they claimed they would not vote for another candidate if Trump were not the nominee. Not surprisingly, "personality" was a greater factor than policy issues for many Trump backers. Almost half of the Trump contingent said they liked him particularly because he speaks his mind.
And that would partly explain this troubling finding for Democrats: One in four people who identified as Democrats said they were backing Trump.
The good news for Democrats and the rest of the Republican field was that a slight majority of 53 percent said they still hadn't settled on a candidate. As Working America put it in their paper, "key white-working class voters have not made up their minds yet in the 2016 presidential race, but of those who have, Donald Trump is the strongest choice."
Of the entire Democratic and Republican fields, the most popular single candidate was Donald Trump -- and it wasn't even close. Thirty-eight percent of people who had already made up their minds said they wanted to vote for the Republican real estate magnate. The candidate with the next highest share was Democrat Hillary Clinton, with 22 percent.
Trump's haul was more than the rest of the GOP field combined, which was 22 percent. Democratic candidate and Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders rang up 12 percent of decided voters. The Clinton and Sanders shares, when combined, came out roughly equal to Trump's.
A third of the Trump supporters were so loyal that they claimed they would not vote for another candidate if Trump were not the nominee. Not surprisingly, "personality" was a greater factor than policy issues for many Trump backers. Almost half of the Trump contingent said they liked him particularly because he speaks his mind.
And that would partly explain this troubling finding for Democrats: One in four people who identified as Democrats said they were backing Trump.
The good news for Democrats and the rest of the Republican field was that a slight majority of 53 percent said they still hadn't settled on a candidate. As Working America put it in their paper, "key white-working class voters have not made up their minds yet in the 2016 presidential race, but of those who have, Donald Trump is the strongest choice."
Fox News says Trump sought $5 million to appear in debate
Bribe - Money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust - Merriam Webster Dictionary
Chicago Tribune - Fox News Channel accused Donald Trump of asking the network for a $5 million donation as a "quid pro quo" in return for Trump's promise to appear in Thursday night's Republican debate, as an extraordinary feud between the right's best-known media platform and the Republican party's presidential front-runner overshadowed the last debate before the Iowa caucuses.
"Roger Ailes had three brief conversations with Donald Trump on Thursday about possibly appearing at the debate - there were not multiple calls placed by Ailes to Trump," Fox News said in a statement released to the media.
"In the course of those conversations, we acknowledged his concerns about a satirical observation we made in order to quell the attacks on Megyn Kelly, and prevent her from being smeared any further. Furthermore, Trump offered to appear at the debate upon the condition that Fox News contribute $5 million to his charities. We explained that was not possible and we could not engage in a quid pro quo, nor could any money change hands for any reason.
Chicago Tribune - Fox News Channel accused Donald Trump of asking the network for a $5 million donation as a "quid pro quo" in return for Trump's promise to appear in Thursday night's Republican debate, as an extraordinary feud between the right's best-known media platform and the Republican party's presidential front-runner overshadowed the last debate before the Iowa caucuses.
"Roger Ailes had three brief conversations with Donald Trump on Thursday about possibly appearing at the debate - there were not multiple calls placed by Ailes to Trump," Fox News said in a statement released to the media.
"In the course of those conversations, we acknowledged his concerns about a satirical observation we made in order to quell the attacks on Megyn Kelly, and prevent her from being smeared any further. Furthermore, Trump offered to appear at the debate upon the condition that Fox News contribute $5 million to his charities. We explained that was not possible and we could not engage in a quid pro quo, nor could any money change hands for any reason.
At least Ted Cruz isn't his father
Politicalo - Rafael Cruz recently returned to “Breitbart News Daily,” where he had previously warned that the public school system was a part of a communist plan to “brainwash” kids to hate America. Cruz, the father of presidential candidate Ted Cruz, once again issued a dire warning to listeners, alleging that the Supreme Court may soon do away with American principles and that President Obama is bringing in ISIS to the U.S. through the refugee resettlement program. “The decay, the deterioration of America in the last seven years has been at an accelerated pace,” he said. “We are seeing the destruction of America before our very eyes.”
“What many people don’t understand,” Cruz senior continued, “is the fact that Obamacare was actually put in place to act as a bridge for ISIS terrorists. A bridge that’s supposed to enable them to come here illegally and pose as doctors who allegedly want to help. And that’s not surprising, considering the fact that fewer and fewer doctors in our country are actually Caucasian, which is something Obama is well aware of, hence Obamacare as his weapon of choice. Do you understand what I’m saying? Our president is actually helping terrorists come to this country and not only that, he has created a permanent way for them to be able to wreak havoc all across America.”
“What many people don’t understand,” Cruz senior continued, “is the fact that Obamacare was actually put in place to act as a bridge for ISIS terrorists. A bridge that’s supposed to enable them to come here illegally and pose as doctors who allegedly want to help. And that’s not surprising, considering the fact that fewer and fewer doctors in our country are actually Caucasian, which is something Obama is well aware of, hence Obamacare as his weapon of choice. Do you understand what I’m saying? Our president is actually helping terrorists come to this country and not only that, he has created a permanent way for them to be able to wreak havoc all across America.”
Ten publishers control 47% of online news traffic
Media Post - Overall, the top 10 publishers -- together owning around 60 news sites -- account for 47% of total online traffic to news content last year, with the next-biggest 140 publishers accounting for most of the other half, SimilarWeb found.
The biggest online news publisher for the U.S. audience was MSN, owner of MSN.com, with just over 27 billion combined page views across mobile and desktop, followed by Disney Media Networks, owner of ESPN and ABC News, with 25.9 billion.
Time Warner, owner of CNN and Bleacher Report, had 14.8 billion, followed by Yahoo with 10.3 billion, and Time, Inc. with 10.2 billion.
A bit further down the totem poll were CBS Corp., owner of Cnet.com, with 9.9 billion combined page views; NBC Universal, with 9.5 billion; Matt Drudge, with 8.5 billion; Advance Publications, with 8 billion; and Fox Entertainment Group, owner of Fox News, with 7.9 billion.
Turning to specific publications, MSN.com accounted for all of MSN’s traffic, again with 27 billion page views, followed by ESPN.go.com, with 23 billion; CNN.com, with 8.8 billion; Drudge Report, accounting for all of Matt Drudge’s traffic at 8.5 billion; Buzzfeed.com, at 6.8 billion; Foxnews.com, at 6.9 billion; NYtimes.com, with 6.3 billion; News.yahoo.com, at 6 billion; Cnet.com, at 5.2 billion; and Huffingtonpost.com, at 4.3 billion.
The biggest online news publisher for the U.S. audience was MSN, owner of MSN.com, with just over 27 billion combined page views across mobile and desktop, followed by Disney Media Networks, owner of ESPN and ABC News, with 25.9 billion.
Time Warner, owner of CNN and Bleacher Report, had 14.8 billion, followed by Yahoo with 10.3 billion, and Time, Inc. with 10.2 billion.
A bit further down the totem poll were CBS Corp., owner of Cnet.com, with 9.9 billion combined page views; NBC Universal, with 9.5 billion; Matt Drudge, with 8.5 billion; Advance Publications, with 8 billion; and Fox Entertainment Group, owner of Fox News, with 7.9 billion.
Turning to specific publications, MSN.com accounted for all of MSN’s traffic, again with 27 billion page views, followed by ESPN.go.com, with 23 billion; CNN.com, with 8.8 billion; Drudge Report, accounting for all of Matt Drudge’s traffic at 8.5 billion; Buzzfeed.com, at 6.8 billion; Foxnews.com, at 6.9 billion; NYtimes.com, with 6.3 billion; News.yahoo.com, at 6 billion; Cnet.com, at 5.2 billion; and Huffingtonpost.com, at 4.3 billion.
A dynasty of Clinton disasters?
NY Daily News, Jan 26 - The private invite to Chelsea Clinton’s Wednesday night fund-raiser, to be held at a swanky Upper East Side residence, reads that it’s in support of her mother’s 2016 presidential bid. But some of the big spenders plunking down the big bucks to attend say Chelsea’s future in politics has been the talk of her campaign rallies.
“You’re seeing the beginning of Chelsea Clinton preparing to run,” says a donor who attended Chelsea’s rally at Dr. Paul Boskind’s Midtown home last week, where “limited availability guest” entry started at $250 and $2,700 “champion” tickets included a photo with Chelsea. Our insider says: “A dynasty is on the way.”
The former first daughter, 35, has not been shy about her political ambitions, though where she’d begin her career in politics is anyone’s guess. Last March, Chelsea reportedly told Sky News that she’d “absolutely" consider seeking office.
“You’re seeing the beginning of Chelsea Clinton preparing to run,” says a donor who attended Chelsea’s rally at Dr. Paul Boskind’s Midtown home last week, where “limited availability guest” entry started at $250 and $2,700 “champion” tickets included a photo with Chelsea. Our insider says: “A dynasty is on the way.”
The former first daughter, 35, has not been shy about her political ambitions, though where she’d begin her career in politics is anyone’s guess. Last March, Chelsea reportedly told Sky News that she’d “absolutely" consider seeking office.
Potomac playground
From our overstocked archives
Sam Smith, 2006 - Phil Hart said the Senate was a place that did things 20 years after it should have. The same could be said of much of the rest of Washington. In fact the yet-to-be accomplished U.S.-Iranian negotiations are now at 27 years and still counting.
The common presumption is that such tardiness is a function of politics. In fact, it is more a product of culture, a culture founded on infantile presumptions about the proper image one should present. Thus you find grown men walking around the Pentagon with rows of ribbons on their uniformed chests to remind everyone of their purported accomplishments. You have ex-preppies plotting invasions against small countries to prove their machismo. You have graduates of Yale and Princeton, whose daddies - as LBJ said - wouldn't let them into the stock brokerage firm - figuring out the best way to torture people for the CIA. You have drones from business and law schools trained to think that certainty is an adequate substitute for competence. You have journalists getting big bucks for the privilege of sitting through endless, newsless White House briefings and flying off with the president to his ranch. And you have experts at think tanks trading arcane knowledge apparently unaware that their resulting decisions might affect real people.
Although there are far more women engaged in this charade than was formerly the case, the culture is primarily based on childish male notions of strength and prowess. The women who get to the top in such a culture often do so because they emulate its values rather than offering an alternative, witness the cruel capitalism of Margaret Thatcher, the indifference of Madeleine Albright to the deaths caused by Iraqi sanctions, or the heartless aggression of Condoleezza Rice.
We don't read about this or hear about it because the mass media is a fulltime participant in this never consummated ritual of manhood that our politics have become. In tribal times, the ritual would have been followed by manhood. In Washington, the ritual never ends.
The costs can be enormous. The Vietnam War, for example, was driven in part by Harvard faculty members trying to prove their virility. Over the last fifty years, a narcissistic establishment absorbed in its self-image and indifferent to its consequences, has destroyed constitutional government, made the United States hated around the world and done so much damage to the environment that two major scientists recently suggested that we better plan to find ourselves another planet.
The immediate problem is Iraq, now so much a mess that they had to call in a commission, which is to say some adults. As Representative Frank Wolfe put it, "there's almost a biblical thing about wise elderly people. . . I mean, Sandra Day O'Connor is not looking for another job. So they can speak truth."
In other words, to do in Washington what you're supposed to do, you have to be retired.
What's missing here is rational adulthood. What's lacking is a town that attracts those still full of energy but mature enough to put away childish things and moral enough to serve their land ahead of themselves. Instead we have a city overflowing with those whose egos and ambitions are trapped in almost teenage garb.
And so we have to wait 27 years for anyone to dare to suggest that it might be wise to talk with Iran. That's not a thoughtful issue for discussion on NPR or the News Hour. That's a matter for a therapist.
Sam Smith, 2006 - Phil Hart said the Senate was a place that did things 20 years after it should have. The same could be said of much of the rest of Washington. In fact the yet-to-be accomplished U.S.-Iranian negotiations are now at 27 years and still counting.
The common presumption is that such tardiness is a function of politics. In fact, it is more a product of culture, a culture founded on infantile presumptions about the proper image one should present. Thus you find grown men walking around the Pentagon with rows of ribbons on their uniformed chests to remind everyone of their purported accomplishments. You have ex-preppies plotting invasions against small countries to prove their machismo. You have graduates of Yale and Princeton, whose daddies - as LBJ said - wouldn't let them into the stock brokerage firm - figuring out the best way to torture people for the CIA. You have drones from business and law schools trained to think that certainty is an adequate substitute for competence. You have journalists getting big bucks for the privilege of sitting through endless, newsless White House briefings and flying off with the president to his ranch. And you have experts at think tanks trading arcane knowledge apparently unaware that their resulting decisions might affect real people.
Although there are far more women engaged in this charade than was formerly the case, the culture is primarily based on childish male notions of strength and prowess. The women who get to the top in such a culture often do so because they emulate its values rather than offering an alternative, witness the cruel capitalism of Margaret Thatcher, the indifference of Madeleine Albright to the deaths caused by Iraqi sanctions, or the heartless aggression of Condoleezza Rice.
We don't read about this or hear about it because the mass media is a fulltime participant in this never consummated ritual of manhood that our politics have become. In tribal times, the ritual would have been followed by manhood. In Washington, the ritual never ends.
The costs can be enormous. The Vietnam War, for example, was driven in part by Harvard faculty members trying to prove their virility. Over the last fifty years, a narcissistic establishment absorbed in its self-image and indifferent to its consequences, has destroyed constitutional government, made the United States hated around the world and done so much damage to the environment that two major scientists recently suggested that we better plan to find ourselves another planet.
The immediate problem is Iraq, now so much a mess that they had to call in a commission, which is to say some adults. As Representative Frank Wolfe put it, "there's almost a biblical thing about wise elderly people. . . I mean, Sandra Day O'Connor is not looking for another job. So they can speak truth."
In other words, to do in Washington what you're supposed to do, you have to be retired.
What's missing here is rational adulthood. What's lacking is a town that attracts those still full of energy but mature enough to put away childish things and moral enough to serve their land ahead of themselves. Instead we have a city overflowing with those whose egos and ambitions are trapped in almost teenage garb.
And so we have to wait 27 years for anyone to dare to suggest that it might be wise to talk with Iran. That's not a thoughtful issue for discussion on NPR or the News Hour. That's a matter for a therapist.
Department of Good Stuff: An American Agenda
January 28, 2016
Infrequently asked questions
I'm all for the life hereafter, but do I really have to spend eternity with Marco Rubio? - Sam Smith
Passings; Buddy Cianci
Providence mayor's office
Buddy Cianci, former
long-time mayor of Providence RI and federal prison inmate for nearly five years has
passed at the age of 74. He will share his place in urban history with the
complex likes of James Curley, Richard Daley, and Marion Barry.
Buddy Cianci - Just remember, the toe you step
on today may be connected to the ass you're kissing tomorrow
ABC News, 2015 - A
portrait of former mayor and two-time felon Buddy Cianci was unveiled at
[Providence] City Hall... "It's not the first time I've been framed,"
Cianci cracked to an overflow crowd of cheering supporters. Cianci, who spent 21 years in office and is the city's
longest-serving mayor,...Cianci was forced from office twice, first in 1984,
when he pleaded no contest to assaulting a man with a fireplace log, an ashtray
and a lit cigarette. His second administration ended in 2002 with a 4 1/2-year
federal prison term for racketeering conspiracy. He attempted a comeback bid
for mayor as an independent last year but lost to Jorge Elorza, a Democrat and
political novice.
Ryan
Holeywell, Governing, 2011 - Governing caught up with former Providence
mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, who just released his new book, Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted
Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a
Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale.
Cianci started his career as a prosecutor who tried cases
involving organized crime. That spotlight helped catapult him into politics,
where he was elected to the mayoralty as a Republican, despite the
overwhelmingly Democratic makeup of the city. Cianci, who served as mayor from
1975 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 2002, is recognized for having helped
launch the transformation of the city by revitalizing its downtown, promoting
its arts district, and championing historic preservation.
Cianci is equally known for his legal troubles. In 1984, he
was found guilty of assaulting a friend whom Cianci believed was having an
affair with his wife. Though Cianci didn’t do time in prison, the conviction
cost him his job – temporarily. Cianci made a comeback, but he would again find
himself in hot water. In 2001, a grand jury indicted Cianci and others in his
administration on a slew of corruption charges. His conviction on a single
count -- racketeering conspiracy -- put Cianci in prison for more than four
years.
Governing: One of
the most interesting parts of the book is when you discuss the role of
patronage in politics, and how it’s something that’s sort of built into the
system. How did you use patronage?
Cianci: When I
first ran I was a Republican in a Democratic city. I won because the Democrats
were fighting. How I won was taking the disgruntled Democrats and bringing them
into my fold.
I was a Republican in 1974. That was like being Ayatollah
Khomeini at the American Legion Convention. I knew the Republican Party didn’t
have the kind of base I needed to win. I had to make arrangements with
disgruntled Democrats…
You’re always looking for something, whether it’s a job for
their kid in the summer, a job for their relative. And by the way, there’s nothing wrong with
patronage if someone’s qualified. It’s not a dirty word. Your jobs are the
currency of politics – except for [actual] currency, of course.
Governing: In the
book, you write that you hadn’t set foot in city hall until you registered to
be on the ballot. Why did you run?
Cianci: I was an
assistant attorney general. I was prosecuting cases. I made a name for myself.
Basically, I didn’t like what was going on in the city. I ran for office
because I felt like I could make a difference. People say that all the time. It
was also the fun of it all and the challenge of it. You get into it, and you
start enjoying it. You start meeting people. You get that ego building.
Sometimes you start believing your own press clippings. That’s where you get
into trouble.
Governing: In the
book you reveal you did a lot of things for purely political purposes,
including your stance on abortion, your choice of political party, and even
staying in your marriage as long as you did. After 20 years, did you ever get
sick of putting on an act?
Cianci: If it was
an act, I stayed on Broadway longer than My Fair Lady. I never got tired of it
because every day is different in office. There are different problems you
confront
Governing:
There’s a part of the book where you describe your battle with the sanitation
workers, which famously resulted in your hiring outside contractors to do the
job and having to place armed cops on the trucks to ensure their safety. You
were taking on public employee unions before it was in vogue.
Cianci: Today, we
have these mayors who are wonks. They’re Kennedy School of Government guys. The
big problem with guys today, they appoint a committee for everything, and
they’re wonkish. They don’t teach snow removal at the Kennedy School of
Government. When you are at the local level, there’s no Democratic way to plow
snow or a Republican way to build a home for the elderly. It’s [about] getting
it through, getting it done.
Governing: How
were you treated in prison? Did your status make you a target or help you win
friends?
Cianci: I never
had one bad incident. My position gave me celebrity status, in a sense. The bad
part is, because you’re a high-profile guy, they make sure you have a job
that’s high-profile like cleaning floors in the mess hall and washing dishes.
Everyone has to go through the mess hall, and they see me washing pots and
pans.
Providence City Hall
David
Freedlander, Daily Beast - In the Museum of American Political
Scandals, if it ever gets built, there will be exhibits on Bill Clinton and
Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner and Larry “Wide Stance” Craig and Marion
Barry. And there should be an entire wing dedicated to The Buddy Cianci Story…
Cianci made ads that look now like ‘70s police procedurals.
“Take a good look at the face on your TV screen,” the ads intoned, labeling
Cianci “The Anti-Corruption Candidate.”
His tenure ended when Cianci, who had a reputation as one of
Providence’s most active ladies’ men, summoned to his home a friend he thought
was having an affair with his ex-wife. (Both denied it.) Over the course of
three hours, Cianci poured liquor on the man, threw an ashtray at him, punched
him repeatedly, burned him with a lit cigarette, and threatened him with a
fireplace log while demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars of payoff.
“I saw a lunatic, simply stated,” the victim, a contractor
from nearby Bristol, told police. Facing a long prison sentence, Cianci pleaded
no contest to the charge in order to avoid jail time, and was forced to step
down.
As Providence blossomed into a Seattle of the East in the
‘90s, with its brick-building stock getting converted into lofts for the
postgrad art-school set, Cianci again reigned as its crown prince, in a
whirlwind of parades and ribbon cuttings and school graduations. “I’d attend
the opening of an envelope,” he says now. He was out on the town nearly every
night, pulling up in his limo, breezing past lines of waiting diners to hold
court at the choicest tables, leaving without paying. “The cost of doing
business,” one restauranteur told a Cianci biographer.
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