After the week we had, it was nice to have a nice, boring weekend, where it was too hot to do much but chores around the house, the usual errands, a little shopping and the neighborhood block party. I brought Mark Bittman’s corn salad, which I recommend if you have a little mint growing in the yard, and who doesn’t? I hope your neighbors like it. I sat quietly (heat; 90 degrees) and looked around, trying to imagine who’s voting for Trump.
That’s what the events of last week did to me.
Later, we chatted with one of our closer-in neighbors, who told us a lively story about the time in 2004 she was cited for putting up a Kerry sign more than 30 days before the election. A neighbor — a neighbor who had an enormous sign in his own yard reading I SUPPORT PRESIDENT BUSH AND OUR TROOPS — complained. The police explained that his wasn’t political. She had an identical sign made reading I SUPPORT SENATOR KERRY AND OUR TROOPS, and then the ACLU was called. The sign ordinance was challenged and pitched, as they all are. Why do dunderheaded city councils allow these things to go through? If the first amendment protects any kind of speech, it’s political speech. This happened in Fort Wayne, too. City councils aren’t always the most forward-thinking governmental bodies.
Which reminds me, I was watching a Facebook thread about the local rules about putting out trash and garbage, and whether it’s OK for others to go through it, in search of treasure. The discussion was divided between the pro-picker community and those who found the idea simply reprehensible, and didn’t see why they should have to alter their behavior one little bit — such as, putting out trash close to the predictable pickup time — to keep bums and scrappers out of it. One argued forcefully for an ordinance banning the practice. I don’t need to tell you that in other forums, he’s a loud voice for Getting Government Out of Our Lives.
This is what the events of last week did to me.
And now a new week awaits. More heat ahead, slightly less oppressive, but not much. I may have to double down on swimming workouts until it passes. Here’s what was waiting for me on Friday:
The duck paddled around all the lanes as the lap swimmers did their thing. She was eating the bugs in the gutter. That’s Tim, the old coach/lifeguard. When he’s gone and I’m old, I’ll remember he taught me how to do the butterfly.
I don’t know how he’s voting. When he remarked on the sparse numbers at the workout Friday, I said maybe everyone was crouched, fearful, in their homes, after listening to Der Fuhrer the night before. No one smiled.
I guess they were feeing the strain, too.
So much to link to and comment on, really too much. Events are moving so quickly, why try to keep up. But I thought this piece summed things up nicely:
We noted four years ago the dysfunction of the Republican Party, arguing that its obstructionism, anti-intellectualism, and attacks on American institutions were making responsible governance impossible. The rise of Trump completes the script, confirming our thesis in explicit fashion.
Consider, as a sign of the party’s decadence, how quickly Bob Corker, a card-carrying member of the Republican Party elite — the center-right chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — caved in to this horribly miscast party standard-bearer. Trump’s campaign has been filled with statements whose ignorance and bombast have appalled the establishment. Then a ballyhooed foreign policy speech in late April was widely panned by experts across the foreign policy spectrum. (“A very odd mishmash”; “strident rhetoric [that] masked a lack of depth.”) Corker’s response? He praised “the broadness, the vision” of the speech.
Sigh. Bring on the Dems, and let’s see how their show goes.
jcburns said on July 25, 2016 at 12:16 am
Mmmm…corn salad. I can almost taste it.
41 chars
David C. said on July 25, 2016 at 6:13 am
We are starting to see a few Trump yard signs on our street and we still have a few Bernie signs. The people who have the Bernie signs are in their late 50s and older, so it looks like either their backs can’t take bending down to pull them up or Bernie dead enders aren’t limited to millennials.
296 chars
Linda said on July 25, 2016 at 6:17 am
I personally know lots of Trump voters. Most of them hate Clinton. Some explicitly want to Take America Back to the era when being white gave you an automatic leg up, and cops were unquestioned. Some are just conservatives who will back anybody not a Dem.
A lefty blogger usefully described the GOP as a failed state, and Trump as a warlord. Ironically, one of the big reasons they got to this condition was the free flow of campaign money, which Republicans four for. It has made everyone their own king or queen, with their own power base, beyond the discipline and control of a party. They need to be more moderate to get the White House back, but Congress is full of folks who main fear is of being primaries, and who have a personal career need to steer as far right as possible.
788 chars
alex said on July 25, 2016 at 6:21 am
I made stuffed green peppers from part of the abundant supply in my garden. Otherwise it was a weekend of entertaining out-of-town company and swimming at our favorite pristine-clean lake.
The Clinton/Kaine interview on 60 Minutes last night was marred by the constant interruption of advertisements that obliterated key parts of the interview. The ads didn’t even play all the way through; they just cut in for several seconds when the candidates were giving their answers. I half-suspect that someone at our local CBS affiliate was trying to sabotage it. The same didn’t happen last week with Trump and Pence, and I would have been annoyed if it had happened then too.
673 chars
adrianne said on July 25, 2016 at 7:10 am
The most important point about the DNC emails isn’t the revelation – doh! – that the Democratic establishment wanted Hillary to win. It’s that Russian hackers got hold of the emails and then dumped them to Wikileaks to try to influence the American election. Donald Trump really is the Manchurian candidate. Read Josh Marshall’s piece about all the links between Putin and the Trump campaign:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing
467 chars
beb said on July 25, 2016 at 7:47 am
Dang! Adrianne beat me to it. I wanted to post a link to that Josh Marshall article as well. I never could see why the Russians would hack the DNC but now I do. Trump isn’t just friendly with Putin, he’s beholden to him. And Putin is trying to put the screws to the US by encouraging the election of the one man most likely to kiss up to Russia. Trump as the Manchurian candidate is exactly right.
397 chars
Suzanne said on July 25, 2016 at 7:56 am
The Josh Marshall article. Wow. But would all of that make any difference to a Trump supporter? None that I know.
113 chars
ROGirl said on July 25, 2016 at 8:53 am
The idea of Trump as cult leader has been on my mind since last week. It seems like he will continue to exhort his followers to drink the toxic bilge that fuels his message and ratchet up the apocalyptic rhetoric.
213 chars
Peter said on July 25, 2016 at 8:57 am
I apologize if I found the following reference here and I’m just being an echo chamber, but I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw this tweet about Trump’s convention speech: “Jesus, Fidel, wrap it up already!”
208 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 8:57 am
There’s a related story on the front page of the NYT. Not clear that Trump supporters will buy it, but it’ll be hard to dismiss, especially in light of (1) the favorable comments Trump and Putin have made about each other, (2) efforts by the Trump campaign to soften language on Russia in the just-completed GOP platform, (3) Trump’s public statements questioning our treaty obligations under NATO, and (4) Paul Manafort’s ties to Viktor Poroschenko, the Ukrainian strongman who was deposed and is now in exile in Russia.
784 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 8:59 am
#%?€£¥! My kingdom for an edit button. The passage above looks stupid, but the link works.
94 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 9:02 am
Peter, I heard a related comment on one of yesterday’s news shows. Danielle Pletka, a conservative foreign policy talker, was asked if, in his speech, he came across as a commander-in-chief. She said, “Yes, the commander-in-chief of Russia.”
241 chars
A. Riley said on July 25, 2016 at 9:19 am
The Putin link — yikes, we’re getting into uncharted territory, paranoid cold-war thriller style.
The old KGB types must be rubbing their hands with glee. Look, comrade, look at what our puppet can do!
206 chars
Deborah said on July 25, 2016 at 9:26 am
Peter, that had me laughing out loud.
Thanks for the corn salad recipe link, Nancy, I need all the recipes I can find that contain mint, we have a ton of it. Anybody out there got another good one?
I was just remarking to my husband yesterday that I did not know a single soul personally who says they’re voting for Trump. Maybe that’s because I reside in 2 blue states, and I live in an echo chamber. I do sit around and speculate about people I don’t know well enough to talk to though. We went to the chamber music deal in Abiquiu yesterday, that we have season tickets to. I spent the whole time watching people for surreptitious signs of Trump support.
We are off to Little Bird’s Dr this morning for her first follow up visit after her surgery. She is hoping deparately that he will let her take off the hot, cumbersome splint she has had to wear day and night (except to shower). We have to drive 50 miles to the Dr’s office.
941 chars
BethB from Indiana said on July 25, 2016 at 10:15 am
Deborah, here is a link to mint chip ice cream posted at Pioneer Woman:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/mint-chip-ice-cream/
I hope the link is clickable. If it is not, just copy and paste.
Enjoy!
218 chars
Julie Robinson said on July 25, 2016 at 10:28 am
Oh, Deborah, I hope so too. My sister had to wear one for nine weeks when she broke her knee. Can you imagine?
It was the first weekend in eons that we didn’t have 1200 commitments, so even though we mostly did chores, it felt relaxed. We did take in dinner and a movie (Star Trek, wait for the DVD), and cooked not one but two corn recipes. For me, summer=sweet corn.
I suspect I know a lot of people who will vote for Trump, but I’ve blocked the worst of them on Facebook. I did have to do a beat down on our son, who posted “ding dong the witch is dead” about Debbie Wasserman Schultz. And then told him I loved him, and was grateful we weren’t arguing about Trump. My job as mom isn’t done if he’s a public misogynist, so I *had* to do it.
749 chars
St Bitch said on July 25, 2016 at 11:01 am
Bernie satisfied me on MTP with Chuck Todd yesterday…I’m laying my irritation to rest.
The DNC emails are disgusting…regardless of who authored or leaked them.
According to FiveThirtyEight/Nate Silver, if the election were held now, Trump would win.
270 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 11:15 am
The NYT says Clinton has a 68% chance of winning. Not sure that’s high enough for me to sleep well at night.
Lots of pretty graphs at this site.
366 chars
Heather said on July 25, 2016 at 11:17 am
I had an argument with a conservative on my FB feed the other day (who said she’s not voting at all) who said Trump couldn’t do all that much damage in four years and seemed to trust in our system of checks and balances. I was like, yeah, it must be comfortable with your head in that cool little hole underground.
314 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 11:17 am
Am fairly tired of Bernie supporters. Just heard a young protester say that the delegates must realize Clinton can’t win and nominate Bernie. Give it a rest, dear. It’s over.
174 chars
Julie Robinson said on July 25, 2016 at 11:24 am
Here’s a recipe for pasta and mint that just came into my email box, so I haven’t tried it: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11397-pasta-with-mint-and-parmesan?em_pos=large&emc=edit_ck_20160725&nl=cooking&nlid=71921294
It’s not over for our son. He dislikes the D’s now almost as much as the R’s, viewing both parties as corrupt and in need of reform. He’s still not buying my Supreme Court argument either. At least he will vote, since there are state and local issues he cares about.
502 chars
brian stouder said on July 25, 2016 at 11:34 am
Thinking about Kennedy/Vietnam*, and/or Bush-43/Iraq (and the rest of the middle east!), it is easy to see how consequential a wrong-turn is, in the one area a president has the most potential (for better or for worse): foreign policy/war
*and (according to my history day-by-day calendar!) 47 years ago today is when RN announced his “Vietnamization” plan, wherein American troops were drawn-down and RVN troops were to replace them
436 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 11:45 am
This the first conservative intellectual I’ve really seen finally face up to the idea that the Republican/conservative movement since Goldwater has been inextricably tied up in white identity politics (to put it politely.)
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12256510/republican-party-trump-avik-roy
295 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 12:10 pm
The thing about the BernieBusters is, it never seems to occur to them that other people might not want Bernie. When I say I agree with many things Bernie says, that doesn’t mean I want him as my candidate, or that I agree with his solutions, or that I agree with his priorities. They say Trump winning would be my fault for picking a flawed candidate, because they refuse to see their candidate as flawed. Arguing with them as become as bad as arguing with a tea-partier. Facts and logic are irrelevant; St. Bernie was their savior, and now St. Jill is the only hope to save their soul.
Voting isn’t about participating in their community, it’s expressing their superior morality and identity. So it doesn’t matter that POC would be disproportionately harmed by Trump, or that women by a conservative Supreme Court, they can’t sully themselves to help anyone else.
868 chars
Judybusy said on July 25, 2016 at 12:10 pm
Deborah, Thai green mango salad often has mint in it. That cuisine in general uses a lot of mint. You can google a basic recipe and add mint if not called for. The recipe I use is in an actual book, so can’t link to it. We’re having that salad tomorrow night along with pork laab in lettuce cups and a cucumber relish thing. Not a lot of cooking and many fresh flavors! Oh, and don’t forget about watermelon-mint-feta salad.
424 chars
Deborah said on July 25, 2016 at 12:19 pm
Sherri, excellent link, and your following comment about Bernie Busters is true of the far left in general. They seem to be tied to an ideology that they refuse to compromise even if it means they lose. We have far left friends in Chicago who do this all the time and they are always surprised when the nation doesn’t go their way. They practice tactics with no overall strategy for success. It’s weird to me that they haven’t learned from experience.
451 chars
alex said on July 25, 2016 at 12:22 pm
Deborah, here’s another winner from Mark Bittman and it’s one of my faves. I think it was a subject of discussion here a few years ago.
231 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 12:27 pm
Deborah, if you follow Nancy’s corn salad link and put “mint” into the search engine (with or without any of the filters they offer for type of recipe), you’ll get tons of great recipes.
186 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Whether it’s the far left or the libertarians or the mythical centrists, all the people who think they want to build up a third party are missing one superficial point and one fundamental point. The superficial point is that with our first past the post electoral college system, a third party can never do anything but be a spoiler, and all that does is make it harder to govern. The fundamental point is that they think they want a third party because they don’t fit in either party, but what that means is that not enough people agree with them and they aren’t willing to do the work to build coalitions. You can remain pure in your ideals, or you can accomplish things, which requires working with other people and respecting their ideals and goals and priorities, and even sometimes working with people you disagree with.
Yes, both parties are corrupt and in need of reform. That’s the normal state of affairs, because they are run by people. You want purity, enjoy sitting on the sideline letting other people decide things while you bitch about how wrong everything is. We won’t be putting you in charge anytime soon.
For all his complaining, Sanders was no babe in the woods. He knew exactly what he was getting into, and complaining about a rigged system was not because he was shocked or because it was true, it was because it benefited him.
1360 chars
BigHank53 said on July 25, 2016 at 12:35 pm
Another thing one can do with an excess of mint is to simply cut it and dry it. Mint tea is just dried mint leaves. Hang up the whole stem and break the leaves off after they’re dried.
184 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 12:36 pm
The thing about the BernieBusters is, it never seems to occur to them that other people might not want Bernie. . . . Facts and logic are irrelevant; St. Bernie was their savior, and now St. Jill is the only hope to save their soul.
Amen. They’re claiming corruption of democracy when, in fact, they are unwilling to accept the outcome of a democratic process that didn’t turn out the way they wanted.
Ed Rendell, former head of the DNC and former governor of Pennsylvania, was jon TV this AM saying that he thought that, although the DNC favored Clinton, their doing so didn’t make much difference. There just aren’t that many ways they can influence the vote.
Clinton beat Sanders by 4 million votes. She won ~350 delegates (pledged delegates, not superdelegates) more than he did. It’s not good that DNC staffers were thinking up questions that might be planted to embarrass him, but the idea that such a question or some variation in the schedule of debates would overcome that result is fairly implausible.
I like many things about Sanders, but frankly think it’s a bit rich that a man who was never a Democrat and had never done anything to build the Democratic Party or to support the campaigns of other Democrats, would suddenly decide to run as a Democrat. He and his supporters should be grateful that the American political system, including the Democratic Party, is as open as it is.
1414 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 12:42 pm
The Wikileaks DNC emails thing is getting all the press, but a far more dangerous Wikileaks drop of Turkish emails shows just how irresponsible Wikileaks has become.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zeynep-tufekci/wikileaks-erdogan-emails_b_11158792.html
254 chars
adrianne said on July 25, 2016 at 12:50 pm
Bernie would have made a terrible president. Very glad it’s Hillary. And yes, the Bernie bitter-enders are proving why he would have been a terrible president.
159 chars
Suzanne said on July 25, 2016 at 12:59 pm
I sometimes chiffonade (if that’s how it’s spelled) mint and put it with fresh fruit salad. I also found a good green bean recipe that takes some mint but I’ll have to look for it.
Stupidly planted mint in the flower bed a few years ago unaware of how it spreads. Oy! It’s everywhere!!
288 chars
Jakash said on July 25, 2016 at 1:01 pm
In June, Jill Stein tweeted that she took the “iSideWith quiz” and was a 99% match with Bernie. (Impressively, she was a 100% match with herself!) So, she said “Let’s keep the revolution going.” In the tweet, it shows that she was also a 91% match with Hillary, 63% with Gary Johnson and 41% with Rump. As MrJM, a witty Chicago tweetster of the first order, notes, “I’m just not willing to kill America over that 08%.” difference between Hillary and Bernie.
It’s disturbing that so many folks don’t understand that only one “revolution” has a chance of succeeding this year, and it’s the Orange one. Let’s see, go with the glass 91% full and the glass ceiling broken, or vote one’s “conscience” and usher in the Cheeto Fuhrer? It’s a toss-up, all right.
762 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 1:39 pm
Former Letterman fans might be interested in the the two videos at this site. They’re beautifully shot conversations with the writing and production staff of the show, many of whom worked with him for twenty or more years. They’re simply telling their stories. There’s nothing anyone needs to know here, but if you were a Dave fan, you might enjoy a few minutes of nostalgia.
448 chars
Charlotte said on July 25, 2016 at 1:43 pm
I use mint with parsley and coriander and garlic, chopped up, in most everything in the summer. Sometimes with chile. They’re all in my garden so I just go out, pick a handfull, chop them up and toss them on everything. Or throw them in a jar with some lemon juice, olive oil and yogurt (a little cumin too) for a kind of Indian green sauce.
And I stuff handfulls of fresh mint in my teapot in the morning with some green tea bags, and a chunk of candied ginger. Then drink that over ice all day.
I LOVE my mint. I put up jars of it dried for winter tea …
561 chars
MichaelG said on July 25, 2016 at 1:53 pm
I know a couple of people (three women, two commercial property management types and a lawyer) who say they are planning to vote for Trump. I thought about asking them why then decided I’d rather keep them as friends.
I recall that in 1980, when Carter and Reagan were running, the Iranian hostages were an issue. There was a bungled rescue attempt while Carter was POTUS and talks were nowhere. Suddenly when Reagan was elected the hostages were freed. Afterward there was talk that the Reagan people and the Iranians had made some kind of back room deal prior to the election. This would have involved non-g’ment people making a deal with a foreign government to jigger the election. Anyone remember that?
720 chars
Dorothy said on July 25, 2016 at 1:55 pm
Mint plants should come with a big ol’ warning label on them. I think most gardeners have made that mistake Suzanne, including me!
I have never really listened to much of anything Bernie Sanders spoke about, mostly because I could not get past that wild hair of his, and the fact that he just looked like someone too old to be President. Call me ignorant or prejudiced if you need to, but I can’t help feeling the way I feel. Like Jolene said @ 31, he became a Democrat when it suited his interests, not the country’s, and I read about other people who didn’t care for him, found him to be prickly and not easy to get along with, and rarely smiled or joked around. I look and think about the total package when I am trying to figure out how I feel about a person. Mrs. Clinton seems, to me, to be the much better suited person for the Presidency. She has vast experience in politics, Washington and the world since she was Secretary of State. She is a flawed person – each of us is – but to me she is the least flawed. I am excited about the possibilities of her being President, and I fervently hope she beats Trump by the largest landslide in history. I’m salivating thinking of how that SOB is going to look when he has to concede on election night.
1261 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 2:02 pm
Bernie Sanders is on TV promising the transformation of American society. Pretty sure most Americans don’t want to see their society transformed.
Just said we have to elect Clinton and Kaine. Much booing. Now telling them, “Brothers and sisters, we live in the real world.” More about the awfulness of Trump. Saying he will do everything he can to defeat them. Have to do the grunt work of campaigning. Need to run for office at every level. Closed with warm statement re wonderfulness of people he encountered in campaign, idea that this was the beginning of path to transformation they seek.
Was a pretty strong statement, actually. People became more receptive, but hardly enthusiastic. He’ll have another chance this evening to persuade them.
Just announced that DWS will not appear at all this evening. They don’t want to see her booed on national TV.
866 chars
Jolene said on July 25, 2016 at 2:09 pm
In paragraph 2 above, should say “defeat him”, not “defeat them.”
Also, I may not have made clear that Sanders was speaking to a room full of his supporters, not as part of the convention. He is, though, speaking to the convention tonight, as are Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Warren.
286 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 2:12 pm
Revolutions seldom occur without body counts. It’s the height of privilege to call for a revolution when you don’t expect to be part of the body count.
151 chars
adrianne said on July 25, 2016 at 2:26 pm
FYI, here was Lance Mannion’s Tweet on false equivalence between Bernie and Hillary campaigns: “Women online supporting HRC receive rape and death threats. Bernie guys get “condescended to”. Same difference.”
208 chars
Jakash said on July 25, 2016 at 2:40 pm
Swell analogy by Neil Steinberg in his column today, referring to Berners’ dangerous irrationality:
“It’s like refusing to let the fire department put out the blaze in your burning house because there is another, better fire department far away in a distant town.”
269 chars
Deborah said on July 25, 2016 at 2:44 pm
Thanks for the mint suggestions. Somebody planted mint in a planter at the condo building before we moved here to Santa Fe, there wasn’t much else planted, but this was something they could plant and then ignore and it would proliferate. It must not need much water, because there’s a lot of it.
Little Bird has to wear the splint for another whole week, and then after that she only has to wear it at night when she sleeps. We were both very disappointed, hoped it was going to come off for good today. I’m leaving for Chicago on Thursday but will be back in a week after that. Little Bird goes to the Dr again to check her progress when I’m back in town. We have a family reunion to attend in Rockford, IL this weekend so I’m back to the hot, humid Midwest for that.
771 chars
Heather said on July 25, 2016 at 3:19 pm
I always chop some fresh mint leaves into green salads as well.
Sherri, amen. As so many posts I have read have said, women and people of color are going to be the first people to suffer under Trump.
202 chars
alex said on July 25, 2016 at 3:32 pm
MichaelG at 38, I certainly do remember, and I’ve read some good articles over the years that suggest this wasn’t just some conspiracy theory but very likely happened. Not that any scandal will ever tarnish St. Ronnie’s luster.
227 chars
brian stouder said on July 25, 2016 at 3:44 pm
I voted for Ronald Wilson Reagan four times (including the primaries) – which is four more times than Oxy-Rush (for example) ever voted for him, and I loved they guy, back in the day.
It was early on when he took a bullet and lived, and that sealed the deal going forward.
But, looking back, he is certainly the worst president of my lifetime, bar none.
How quickly would the 2016 US Congress spring into impeachment proceedings, if it came out that President Obama was secretly selling weapons to the damned Iranians for cash – and then using the cash to secretly (and lavishly)fund a non-governmental irregular military force (similar to ISIL) that routinely killed Catholic nuns and priests (for example) amongst many others?
758 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 3:55 pm
On the corruption of the parties, I’m sure that MLK was well aware of how corrupt LBJ was. That didn’t stop him from working to get him elected vs. Goldwater and working with him on civil rights.
Julie, if your son is open to another viewpoint, you could point him to some storified tweets from an African American women from Texas who is very cogent on why she was with Hillary, not Bernie. This was written before Super Tuesday: https://storify.com/docrocktex26/how-bernie-sanders
486 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 4:37 pm
Marni Nixon has died: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/arts/music/marni-nixon-singer-soprano-dies-86.html
106 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 25, 2016 at 4:54 pm
If you have evangelical/traditionalist Christian friends who are leaning Trumpwards, you might want to share this link with them, and give ’em a bit before you point out “Putin is strongly supporting Trump in multiple known and some very plausible unverified ways…”
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2016/july/russia-ban-evangelism-effect.html
357 chars
beb said on July 25, 2016 at 4:58 pm
Sherri you do the best political analysis bar none.
51 chars
Scout said on July 25, 2016 at 5:37 pm
Scalzi’s post-mortem on the RNC. As usual, I found myself nodding my head while reading his remarks.
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/07/22/trump-and-the-convention-and-where-we-go-from-here/#comments
202 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 5:50 pm
Thanks, beb. I felt a little bad about hijacking comments today but I was annoyed.
82 chars
Scout said on July 25, 2016 at 6:03 pm
I second beb’s motion, Sherri. You write what I’m thinking in a way I never could, and you always offer insights I hadn’t even thought of. I think we are all fine with you “hijacking” the comments. Stay annoyed – we need the cheerleading now more than ever.
257 chars
David C. said on July 25, 2016 at 6:15 pm
Bernie is saying the right words, I’ll give him that. Now he has to hold rallies like he did during the primaries and I think he will. If the Sandersnistas say Hillary’s corruption got to him or whatever, there’s not much that can be done about that. Ideologues gotta ideologue. I don’t think this Russia thing is going to stay quiet and as much as RWNJs admire an authoritarian. I know before Jeane Kirkpatrick died and went to hell her position was authoritarian good, totalitarian bad and there is still a wide streak of that with the Rs.
541 chars
Judybusy said on July 25, 2016 at 6:55 pm
Add me to the list of Sherri fans. Hijack away!
47 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 8:13 pm
If you’re not watching the DNC and didn’t just see young Karla Ortiz speak, wait and look around, ’cause I’m sure it will be on the intertoobs soon. I wanted to hug her.
169 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 8:21 pm
Here’s Karla Ortiz. It was preceded by a clip of Karla in a group with Hillary telling her she was scared that her parents would be deported. http://www.snappytv.com/tc/2444539
176 chars
Bitter Scribe said on July 25, 2016 at 9:36 pm
God, that little girl was just heartrending.
44 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 25, 2016 at 9:54 pm
Why is Booker shouting like Trump?
34 chars
Sherri said on July 25, 2016 at 11:29 pm
FLOTUS wins the night. Incredible speech.
41 chars
jcburns said on July 25, 2016 at 11:33 pm
Prepare to go high. And go high. Followed by more going high.
61 chars
Deborah said on July 25, 2016 at 11:51 pm
I agree, Sherry, you are the best. I know you have a public service position now in your community but have you ever thought about running for some kind of elected office? I bet you’d do well.
192 chars
basset said on July 26, 2016 at 12:42 am
Didn’t watch any of it, went to a ball game instead. Nashville Sounds 12, Omaha Storm Chasers 5, read the CNN summary when I got home and that was enough. Dunno why the Omaha Royals ever changed their name, I liked the old one better.
236 chars
Sherri said on July 26, 2016 at 1:27 am
Deborah, it’s never been the right time for me before. I was close to running for school board when we lived in Mountain View, but about the time I was ready, we moved up here. It takes a while to get established and learn what you need to know in a new community. I don’t care about running for office just to run for office, I’m interested in finding a place that I can help. I’m really enjoying planning commission right now, but it’s possible that I might think about running for city council sometime down the road.
520 chars
Jolene said on July 26, 2016 at 2:09 am
“. It takes a while to get established and learn what you need to know . . .”
The GOP presidential candidate doesn’t seem to be burdened by this constraint. Just watched Sen. Al Franken chat w/ half a dozen MSNBC reporters. Was saying that, as a senator, he’s had a chance to see what it means to be president. Said “You have to react today to a problem you didn’t know you had yesterday.” Can only do if you understand the law, the structure of government and how to use it, have connections to other leaders and more. A good example is the Ebola epidemic, which came out of nowhere and was stopped. In part, by applying the resources of the CDC, NIH, USAID, and the US military.
Donald Trump doesn’t even know what those initials stand for.
749 chars
Dexter said on July 26, 2016 at 2:16 am
FLOTUS surely is taking the Benjamin Buttons treatment…she looks eight years younger…than she did in 2008.
I have made it clear I think Bush43 was a disaster, but his dad’s wife, Barbara, I always liked. One time Barbara Bush came to the Fort Wayne Coliseum for an awards presentation. It was for outstanding African American high schoolers, high achievers or something.
I worked in the factory with the mom of one of the smart kids, and she told me that she had happened to be seated on-stage beside Mrs. Bush. No big story here, just that my co-worker said Barbara Bush was funny, cracking wise about the horribly uncomfortable folding chairs and complaining how the mc was droning on, just like any other person would have done. My friend loved old Babs Bush after that night.
I was certain the nation would never see a worse president than Nixon. I truly hated Nixon, and vowed I’d spit on his grave some day. When I did drive past his grave-site, I didn’t even seek it out. The ensuing years had mellowed me, and we had survived Ronald Reagan by then. I was a low-ranking officer in my local union in those days, and man, did the UAW ever hate Reagan. Reagan was kind of a joke…then we found out he had had Alzheimer’s for the last part of his presidency. His bizarre claims he actually was in war were so crazy, I thought he should have been declared incompetent and removed from office, because he thought his war movies were part of his real life. He embarrassed the USA and in the eyes of the scientists Reagan was mad, and stupid. “Star Wars” was ridiculed by the scientific community. Never coulda happened. Grenada, Falklands, Central America…ring a bell?
So then in 2000 the election dragged on and on, and finally we got George Bush.
Many of you believe Harry S Truman was a humanitarian, but on his watch the genocide of two Japanese cities occurred. Most thought this scale of death would never happen. Then Bush43 unleashed hell on the populace of Baghdad and so far 1.4 million Iraqis have died. 2008 was hell for many, money and jobs gone, poof, and all under Bush43’s tenure. So now it’s just academic…George W. Bush, 43rd POTUS, was the worst.
I thought of you Monday, brianstouder. I was finishing my coffee in the commons room at the VA-Toledo, when to my table comes a dead ringer for Abraham Lincoln. This guy …wow. I mean his stature, his nose, face, hair, beard…I was so stunned. I had just finished and was leaving but now I wish I would have talked to him a bit. I thought snapping a photo would have been rude.
This Lincoln= the man I saw.
http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Abraham_Lincoln_head_on_shoulders_photo_portrait.jpg
2743 chars
basset said on July 26, 2016 at 8:14 am
Dexter, I’m not defending nuking cities but the “scale of death” would have been a hell of a lot more, and many if them ours, if we’d had to invade Japan. Mrs. B’s father was on a troopship headed that way when the first bomb was dropped, you can imagine his take on it.
271 chars
brian stouder said on July 26, 2016 at 11:12 am
Dex – the last Abe I saw was in full regalia (stove-pipe hat & all) was in downtown Fort.
I was on a school bus (must have been after the Three Rivers Festival parade, and I was with Wayne High School’s band and flag corps), and there he was, with an icy-cold bottle of Diet Pepsi in his hand!
From what I’ve read about his digestion, that would have been a bad call, probably
386 chars
Jolene said on July 26, 2016 at 12:19 pm
Dexter, you (and others) might be interested in this profile of Barbara Bush by Marjorie Williams. It was originally published in Vanity Fair during his campaign against Bill Clinton. The article is an insightful character study with lots of detail about her life, her marriage, and her role in GHWB’s political career.
Williams was a terrific writer who died much too young. In this brief essay, her husband talks about the challenge of promoting her book after she died.
659 chars
brian stouder said on July 26, 2016 at 12:20 pm
A far-flung OID (Only in Detroit) story for ya –
http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/07/24/uss-detroit-completes-trials-navy-jnd-orig-vstan.cnn
150 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 26, 2016 at 12:22 pm
Unlike on my own FB feed, most of you don’t need reasons to get past the sighs and vote for Hillary — but if you’re struggling with that question, I have to say I find this speech from 19-frickin’-69 to be oddly reassuring. She has had, since her United Methodist youth group days, a clear coherent and consistent vision of what she wants to be about, and you can trace it from here to nearly fifty years later . . . when on Thursday it would delight me if she would re-use some of those closing lines of poetry in her address to the DNC accepting the nomination.
http://www.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/archives/1969commencement/studentspeech
652 chars
alex said on July 26, 2016 at 12:24 pm
Some edifying reading from Neil Steinberg today. And some trippy stuff to look at too. Might want to light up a J first.
181 chars
Jolene said on July 26, 2016 at 12:25 pm
Here’s Williams’s book, which I highly recommend. It’s a collection of profiles of Washington figures, and more personal pieces about family and her experiences after she became ill.
377 chars
Deborah said on July 26, 2016 at 12:38 pm
After I got home from Abiquiu last night I watched the FLOTUS speech online and WOW was it a barn burner. I’m really going to miss her as the First Lady, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of her in the years to come. I was weepy through a lot of it.
Part of my weepyness might have been because we found out last night that one of our former neighbors in Abiquiu died a few months ago. He and his wife had moved to Arizona because he had developed a heart condition and they wanted to be near a good hospital, Abiquiu is fairly remote. This guy seemed fit as a fiddle before his condition hit, he was my age, 65. He died of a series of strokes though, which is not surprising because he had a short trigger, it didn’t take much to get him riled up. If jays tried to get into his bird feeder, he’d get out his Glock and shoot them. He was a rabid Republican, but he was a hoot, very funny and had great parties. He was a Vietnam vet, had seen the worst of it and we often thought he probably suffered from PTSD. I was sorry to hear that he was no longer with us.
1065 chars
Dexter said on July 26, 2016 at 1:05 pm
So…proof, what goes around, comes around…Stroh’s Beer is back, being brewed in a craft house somewhere in Detroit. Production ceased end of ’84, start of ’85. Now, it’s back home. Fire-brewing kettles? Betcha not.
Stroh’s became a regional crappy beer, brewed in the old Evansville brewery by giant Heileman. Now, back home.
Stroh, Indiana, was founded by the same Stroh family of brew-fame. They stayed afloat during prohibition by making ice cream.
Nance, beb…is Stroh’s ice cream still in your supermarket freezer sections?
545 chars
Sherri said on July 26, 2016 at 1:37 pm
Jeff(tmmo), those of us who don’t have to get past the sighs know about that speech and have seen that path, which is why we have trouble with the demonization. I’m glad you found that speech!
Bernie gave a good speech last night, a full-throated endorsement of Hillary. I couldn’t have asked for better. Most of the hecklers in the audience had even settled down by the evening, except for a few during Booker’s speech and some diehards during Warren’s speech. From what I read, it was mostly a small group in the California delegation, and I suspect that will be taken care of.
I do feel the Sandernistas pain. They aren’t the first people to put their heart and soul into a losing campaign. I’ve shed tears over losing an election myself. The world wasn’t waiting for me to get over it, though, so I picked myself up and started working on the next thing. That failed; what could we do next to to move forward?
And if the far left ever wants to attract African Americans, heckling Elijah Cummings is not a great way to start. If you want a movement, you need allies.
1080 chars
Bob (Not Greene) said on July 26, 2016 at 2:07 pm
I think the Dems handled last night as well as could be expected (except maybe for the Paul Simon deal), giving the Bernie diehards their moment in the spotlight and hammering home the point that while Bernie didn’t win, they as a movement largely did through the party’s final platform. The chanting during Corey Booker’s speech and Elizabeth Warren’s speech was annoying and dumb, but it also seemed halfhearted and quickly hushed. And I’m glad Sarah Silverman took some wind out of those sails as well.
The placement of Michelle Obama in the program was perfect. There was no one who was going to interrupt that speech, and it appeared to be a moment of coalescence that largely remained intact for the rest of the night. Bernie hit all the right notes, and he was as clear as he could be about where any reasonable look at the political landscape should lead you.
If there are still dead-enders after that, then those were people Hillary was never going to get anyway, and frankly I think their numbers are few.
1022 chars
brian stouder said on July 26, 2016 at 2:23 pm
What Bob(NG) said!
18 chars
Jolene said on July 26, 2016 at 2:31 pm
The number of Sanders dead-enders may be small, but booing the speakers (including the pastor who said the opening prayer!) is nonetheless rude and insulting–not to mention juvenile. And those being interviewed on TV are not exactly distinguishing themselves with the quality of their arguments. Someone said on Twitter last night that it didn’t appear that, after the convention, they’d be returning to jobs at the Jet Propulsion Lab.
436 chars
Sherri said on July 26, 2016 at 2:46 pm
The dead-enders and the media both need each other; a Bernie supporter who is voting for Hillary is pretty boring, while dead-enders are nuts in their own special ways. Norman Solomon seems to be the ring-leader of the dead-enders; he’s a California delegate who was trying to organize an alternative candidate to Tim Kaine. That seems to have stalled, because he says the DNC didn’t get him the paperwork in time.
Very few of these people are or were or ever will be Democrats. The Sanders campaign’s lack of organization and the long narrative of the rigged process meant that by the time you got to the end in California, there were going to be delegates picked who were not interested in anything but disruption.
I especially like the video I saw of a Bernie Buster yesterday (outside, not a delegate) screaming “If Trump wins, it’s not my fault! I’m voting my conscience!” as she stomped off.
905 chars
Jolene said on July 26, 2016 at 3:30 pm
I’ve heard many comments about the inexperience of these delegates. Last night, Mark Shields noted that Bernie started out at 5% in public opinion polls and that, in such circumstances, you’re not going to be able to recruit delegates who have lots of experience in party politics.
Yes, to the idea that the media needs the conflict narratives the Bernie Busters generate. And it’s so lazy. Just stick a microphone in front of anyone who is willing to talk. And who is more willing to talk than an aggrieved activist?
There are so many other possibilities. They could do stories about how delegates are recruited and selected around the country. They could present delegate profiles–oldest, youngest, urban, rural, immigrants, former Republicans, people who have worked to promote gender equality, whatever. They could do features on issues: What exactly, is the TPP? Why do so many Democrats oppose a treaty that President Obama supports? I’m sure there are lots of possibilities.
988 chars
Judybusy said on July 26, 2016 at 3:49 pm
Jolene, I so agree with you. I often wish coverage was more about substantive issues rather than the horse-race aspect of the elections. I actually turn off most election coverage–even on NPR–because it’s so shallow.
218 chars