Excuses, excuses. Insert your favorite here, as all are true: I’ve been busy I’ve been tired I’ve been listless it’s been cold it’s going to be colder and now? NOW? I’m getting sick. Just a cold, but I don’t get them often, so it feels like ebola.
Also, I’m the self-pitying sort. But you all know that.
But people? Any day you can wake up to the news of Roger Stone’s indictment is a pretty good day.
I’m disappointed in the CNN-exclusive video, however. I wanted to see him frog-marched out in his Hugh Hefner smoking jacket and bunny slippers, but I guess you take what you get.
I’m going to suck down some Dayquil and prepare for the day. A longer read today, for the weekend:
My friend Bill, retired but a storyteller to the bone, crafts a great one in the course of retirement-editing the Dearborn Historian, a quarterly published by the city of Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit. Locals and the better-informed may know it as the home of Ford Motor Co., and the longtime home of its founder, Henry Ford. People who know their history know Ford was an anti-Semite, as well, a common prejudice for his time.
Anyway, 2019 is the 100-year anniversary of Ford’s purchase of the Dearborn Independent, a failing weekly newspaper, which he then transformed into an amplifier of his beliefs. This passage, early on, amazed me:
In 1931, two years before he became the German chancellor, Adolf Hitler gave an interview to a Detroit News reporter in his Munich office, which featured a large portrait of Ford over the desk of the future führer. The reporter asked about the photo.
“I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration,” Hitler told the News.
What makes this relevant today is this wrinkle: Ford and his confederates published the Independent’s contents in three books, known collectively as “The International Jew.” And they did so without copyright, so anyone could republish them. And they did, and do, to this day. Ford’s name and ideas (which he almost certainly didn’t write himself) turn up time and again on white-nationalist websites like Stormfront, and “The International Jew” is still in print and available for purchase via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, et al.
It’s a good read, on the longer side but not that bad. Take you half an hour, tops.
Oh, and one more by me, after I attended a press conference featuring John Sinclair, a Detroit radical from back in the day. Was going for a certain Talk of the Town voice here; don’t know if I succeeded.
On to the Dayquil. Fortunately, I have this to read and chortle over:
Republican senators clashed with one another and confronted Vice President Pence inside a private luncheon on Thursday, as anger hit a boiling point over the longest government shutdown in history.
“This is your fault,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at one point, according to two Republicans who attended the lunch and witnessed the exchange.
“Are you suggesting I’m enjoying this?” McConnell snapped back, according to the people who attended the lunch.
And this. OK, gotta scoot. Good weekends, all.
basset said on January 25, 2019 at 9:39 am
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NKbt3a8UJW0
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Jeff Borden said on January 25, 2019 at 10:02 am
Roger Stone is a truly terrible, loathesome creep. . .a professional ratfucker who has upended and ruined many a life. . .so naturally he was an adviser to the Orange King. If I wasn’t in the midst of a dry January purge, I might consider a celebratory Bloody Mary this morning.
I wonder how the tattoo on Stone’s back will play with the other prison inmates?
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Bitter Scribe said on January 25, 2019 at 10:04 am
Man, what was it with Henry Ford and Jews? Most virulent anti-Semites in my experience fall into three categories: losers, snobs or religious fanatics (or some combination thereof). Ford was no loser, he came from a humble background, and I never heard that he was particularly religious. So what was his problem?
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nancy said on January 25, 2019 at 10:40 am
He was also a Michigan farm boy, as well as a overnight-sensation businessman who needed to deal with banks and bankers. It’s easy, if you are relatively unsophisticated, to blame bankers for your business problems. And bankers, in his world, or Jews.
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Jeff Borden said on January 25, 2019 at 11:34 am
Henry Ford’s aversion to Jews led him to advocate for the “square dance,” which he saw as an antidote to jazz he believed was created by Jews.
https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/
Neil Steinberg wrote about it, too.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/steinberg-henry-ford-americas-hateful-square-dance-instructor/
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ROGirl said on January 25, 2019 at 11:51 am
A book called “Henry Ford and the Jews,” by Neil Baldwin, provides a comprehensive narrative of the extent of his anti-Semitism. A lot of Jews wouldn’t buy Ford’s because of it.
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Jeff Borden said on January 25, 2019 at 12:00 pm
I still know some Jews who won’t buy German cars. . .especially Mercedes Benzes. (Hitler’s ride of choice.) And I understand why.
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susan said on January 25, 2019 at 12:08 pm
such as my dad. Nor VWs, obviously. Nor Japanese cars. (But he did love those Canon cameras…)
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Jakash said on January 25, 2019 at 12:19 pm
Gotta say “It’s a good read, on the longer side but not that bad. Take you half an hour, tops.” coming directly after the paragraph about “The International Jew” kinda threw me. Of course, you were linking to your friend’s article, not the book!
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Jakash said on January 25, 2019 at 12:34 pm
Since my father fought in the Pacific in WWII, I’ve focused my antipathy toward Japanese cars, which hasn’t been easy, given their quality and all the family members and friends who own one. I’d never have guessed that GM and Ford would abandon sedans before I abandoned them. Somehow, like Susan’s dad, I haven’t been able to maintain my grudge successfully when it comes to electronics. D’oh! “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself.” Sadly, “I am large, I contain multitudes” has more to do with beers than my philosophy…
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Deborah said on January 25, 2019 at 1:23 pm
I had no idea that people still held it against the Japanese and the Germans, I can maybe understand the generation that lived through WW2 but still today? My MIL went to art school in Hamburg right before the war started. Her father was German and sent her over there to study art even though he had come over to study art at the Art Institute in Chicago as a young man. She actually heard Hitler speak once, she got out just in time. We took her back to Germany in the 90s, that was the first time I’d been there, I had a strange feeling at first when I would see older people, thinking about what they must have thought back in the day about all of those horrific events.
Roger Stone is such an asshole, and unfortunately the guy gets great pleasure out of being called that too.
I gave up on the dry January, too much traveling.
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Julie Robinson said on January 25, 2019 at 1:26 pm
Are we holding companies liable now for what their ancestors’ countries did? How far back are we going? I’ve got family who came from half a dozen different places; I’m sure if we look hard enough one of them worked for a company that did something heinous. Let’s examine them, admit them and make proper apology and restitution, and make sure it couldn’t happen again. After that, move on.
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susan said on January 25, 2019 at 2:05 pm
Julie – Well, my dad was in the navy, stationed in the North Pacific “theatre” during WW II, too close to Japanese conflicts. After the War, he could no more buy a Japanese car than a VW. The image of der führer driving around in a Beetle was too much for him to forget. It was something about the cars, though. He loved Hasselblad and Canon, and Japanese electronics.
(He didn’t drink beer, as does Jakash…)
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Jakash said on January 25, 2019 at 2:36 pm
I’ve already conceded that I’m not consistent about it, and certainly one goes down quite a rabbit hole if one attempts to evaluate the background behind every purchase one makes. Mainly, I’ve just always thought that the rationale behind buying American cars to benefit those building them was significant, though I well understand that there hasn’t been such a thing as a 100% American car for a long time. Clearly, this puts me at odds with many, both here at nn.c, and most everywhere else.
Luckily for me (not for my waistline,) the U. S. currently produces the greatest variety of great beer anywhere in the world, which was not the case when I began sampling it! : )
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Deggjr said on January 25, 2019 at 2:39 pm
When the situation is of mild importance I like phrase “Detailed excuse upon request only”.
Oddly enough I’ve never gotten a request.
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Sherri said on January 25, 2019 at 2:53 pm
Given our own country’s failure to reckon with our history of genocide and slavery, I have a hard time claiming the moral high ground over Germany and Japan. At least they have attempted to deal with their pasts.
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Heather said on January 25, 2019 at 3:03 pm
So many companies, including car companies, are multinational these days. A lot of Japanese and German cars/components are made at places that employ Americans, no?
Also: the gov’t is back open! The master negotiator totally caved. People’s livelihoods and safety jeopardized for over a month for literally nothing.
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Deborah said on January 25, 2019 at 3:08 pm
It’s 6° in Chicago right now, high of 8° expected, -11° windchill, this morning it was -23° windchill. Our windows were completely fogged up with ice on the inside (still are). It’s not cold in our place though, in fact it’s a bit too warm for my liking.
I had to go to the dentist this morning, my front tooth that I hurt when I fell a couple of months ago is still OK, it doesn’t hurt to bite on it but it’s extremely sensitive to cold now so I have to make sure my mouth is closed when I’m outside. The reason I had to go to the dentist today though wasn’t because of that. I had a crown on one of my molars come loose, I had a root canal about 25 years ago so it held up pretty well I guess. The dentist just took the crown and post out, cleaned it up and re-cemented it. Hopefully it will last the rest of my life. Otherwise I’ll just have what’s left of that tooth under the crown extracted and be done with it. I hate going to the dentist.
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Deborah said on January 25, 2019 at 3:18 pm
Weird, I don’t know what happened, the degree symbol showed up properly when I typed it in the box?
Also, I see now that Heather commented about the opening of the government. Not surprised since what happened this morning, Trump wants to change the subject, desperately.
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LAMary said on January 25, 2019 at 4:25 pm
Roger Stone has a picture of Nixon tattooed on his back.
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David C. said on January 25, 2019 at 4:28 pm
Trump blinked and the MAGAts are pissed. Time to nuke up a bag of popcorn.
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jcburns said on January 25, 2019 at 4:45 pm
It’s a unicode thing, Deborah. There’s a difference between ° and º. One is the unicode ‘degree symbol’ and one is the unicode ‘masculine ordinal indicator.’
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Dave said on January 25, 2019 at 4:48 pm
My uncle was a WWII Army vet, went through the South Pacific, and it was a wonder to my dad when my aunt talked him into buying a Toyota Camry, which was the last car they purchased.
I swear, some days I just think I’m leaving Facebook forever when I read some of the posts that acquaintances or extended family members post. Today would be one of those days.
Deborah, it looks like ° to me, unless you had already gone back and edited it.
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Julie Robinson said on January 25, 2019 at 4:58 pm
Probably jc’s quiet work.
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Deborah said on January 25, 2019 at 5:01 pm
I think I know what I did wrong now when I tried to make the degree symbol, but it didn’t show up differently when I typed it in the box. 0° vs 0º, the first one I did with the iPad screen keyboard and the second one I did with the add-on keyboard.
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Jakash said on January 25, 2019 at 5:21 pm
Heather @ 16,
Yes. To both halves of your comment. : )
As for the shutdown — popcorn, indeed, David C.:
https://twitter.com/goldengateblond/status/1088894127293399040
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Suzanne said on January 25, 2019 at 5:33 pm
Gotta admit I am enjoying that tRump got spanked by Pelosi and she wasn’t even using a rolled up magazine.
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Colleen said on January 25, 2019 at 9:08 pm
But what is a foreign car? My Subaru was built in Lafayette Indiana.
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ROGirl said on January 26, 2019 at 9:21 am
The automotive industry is thoroughly global. Every car on the road today contains parts made by suppliers from all over the world. Every car manufacturer has assembly plants all over the world. I work for a Japanese part supplier in Michigan. Our plants in Ohio and Tennessee build parts for Honda and Nissan respectively. We also have plants in Mexico that provide components for our parts.
I bought a Toyota that’s built in Kentucky.
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David C. said on January 26, 2019 at 10:03 am
Car content is really complicated. My Hyundai Sonata is about half Korean content and a third US/Canadian. That doesn’t count final assembly labor content, just parts. Final assembly is in Montgomery, Alabama. So if you count final assembly labor, it’s probably around 50-50. So my Hyundai is arguably more American than a Buick Envision which is assembled in China with about 60% Chinese content. Like ROGirl said, it’s a thoroughly globalized industry. Anyone who thinks they’re going to put that cat back in the bag is nuts.
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Mark P said on January 26, 2019 at 11:07 am
Sherri @15 — Right on! As you say, we have not only failed to reckon with our treatment of the American Indians, we have failed to reckon with slavery and racial discrimination — to this day. And, as I have said before, it’s the defining characteristic of American culture.
The Tappet Brothers (Tom and Ray Magliozzi, sadly no longer on the radio) had a good comment about buying “foreign” cars made in the US. They said that as long as American workers were being paid, they didn’t care whether the top executives were American, Japanese, or whatever. The top executives are going to make big money no matter what; it’s labor we need to worry about.
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Sherri said on January 26, 2019 at 11:10 am
Everything is part of a global supply chain now. Even the clothes on your back likely came from materials grown (or created) in one country, turned into cloth in another, and made into clothing in a third. The only thing that will undo the global supply chain is if something disrupts container shipping.
Bringing back manufacturing jobs to America isn’t going to restore the Rust Belt, because in the absence of strong unions and government regulation, those jobs are not going to have the pay or have the security that the earlier incarnation had. If we had strong unions and government regulation supportive of labor, the jobs we currently have could be jobs that support a middle class life.
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Mark P said on January 26, 2019 at 11:17 am
Unfortunately, lack of support for labor is another characteristic of American culture.
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Connie said on January 26, 2019 at 12:08 pm
We buy American, currently a Chevy Cruze and Traverse. Oh, and my husband is from Flint. I know the engine of my Cruze was made in Germany. I guess my goal is to keep the profits in my own country.
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David C. said on January 26, 2019 at 12:54 pm
Capital is probably more globalized than the supply chain, so salaries are much more important to an economy than profits.
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Julie Robinson said on January 26, 2019 at 2:55 pm
Sherri is so right about manufacturing without unions, especially in “right to work” states like Indiana. A young man we know was working at a local factory and getting crap pay, dangerous conditions, and mandatory overtime in combination with rotating shifts, including weekends. He wanted to take college classes and go to church on Sundays but had no control over his schedule.
Now he’s at Costco, and says it’s the best place he’s ever worked. Pay isn’t high, but benefits are wonderful and they give him time off for school and worship. Our son worked there for awhile and I can confirm the benefits. Even part-timers can buy health insurance for something like $10/pay period.
Of course, there aren’t many Costcos out there. There are lots of Walmarts.
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Jakash said on January 26, 2019 at 3:19 pm
While there have been lots of good points made about globalization with regard to cars, both the profits question and the union angle still apply, it seems to me. YMMV — well, obviously does vary — as I’ve read that only 13% of car buyers base their decision on buying an “American” (in nameplate, at any rate) car. Maybe if I lived in Georgetown, Kentucky or Marysville, Ohio, I’d feel differently. There’s a lot of talk about the disappearance of unions — this is one area in which one can support them.
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Diane said on January 26, 2019 at 6:19 pm
The opening of a Costco here several years back was one the the best things to happen in our little valley. I now buy everything I can there. It has let me reduce my visits to the (closer) Wal-Mart from semi-regular to maybe 3 times a year! Along with employee benefits, their pricing and quality is much better. I can live without great variety in selection for that.
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Jakash said on January 27, 2019 at 1:19 pm
At 2 days old, this is now ancient history, of course, but I’m still enjoying the Chess Master’s recent fiasco. I also liked several of the memes in the comments to this post…
“Art of the Deal’s ‘No Way a Concession’ Negotiating Trick…
TRUMP: Five billion for the Wall!
PELOSI: Nothing.
TRUMP: Ur, how about a substantial down payment?
PELOSI: Nothing.
TRUMP: An Olive Garden gift card?
PELOSI: Nothing.
TRUMP: OK, deal! Nothing. I win!!!!!”
https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/1088963902560526338
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John said on January 27, 2019 at 1:30 pm
Appropriately, ‘The International Jew’ in paperback is 666 pages long.
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Deborah said on January 27, 2019 at 2:35 pm
This is a good (and funny) reading of the Mueller indictment against Roger Stone https://mobile.twitter.com/baratunde/status/1088874477600030721
I found this through a retweet by Neal Katyal, the former US acting solicitor general. I love Katyal, he’s smart as a whip, often on MSNBC.
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Sherri said on January 27, 2019 at 3:28 pm
So, with Kamala Harris announcing for president, evidently some people are trying to stir up shit because 20 years ago she dated Willie Brown while he was still married and he appointed her to some commissions.
Does anyone outside California know who Willie Brown is? Does anyone in California under the age of 40?
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beb said on January 27, 2019 at 3:54 pm
Willie Brown? All I know (saw a picture) is that he’s a black man. It’s an airhorn to all the racists out there. (Dog whistles as too quiet)
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Brandon said on January 27, 2019 at 5:09 pm
Does anyone outside California know who Willie Brown is?
I do. Flamboyant, bon vivant mayor of San Francisco during the tech boom–and bust. Appeared in The Princess Diaries.
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Sherri said on January 27, 2019 at 7:04 pm
The only reason Willie Brown was mayor of San Francisco was because term limits forced him out of the California Assembly. Were it not for term limits, he might still be the speaker of the Assembly. His power in the legislature was a big reason that term limits came about.
But he termed out of the Assembly back in 1995, and hasn’t held office of any kind in years. And yes, he’s black, but Kamala Harris isn’t white, so I’m not sure that’s the issue. It just seems weird to use Willie Brown as a scandal.
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Dexter Friend said on January 27, 2019 at 7:11 pm
U.A.W. summer school, Indiana U., Bloomington, 1980…a class instructor lecturing us about the foreign car invasion hurting out union, told us that when we encounter a Japanese or German car , we should “run them off the road.” I swear, those were his words. A few years before that, a U.A.W. department head in Detroit encouraged us to go ahead and buy a Japanese car to pressure the Big Three into putting some quality into the fucking junk Detroit was putting out there, such as the infamous K-Cars from Chrysler Corporation. In ’77 I bought a Honda CVCC hatchback from Don Ayres in Fort Wayne. My co-workers had much to say to me…and did shit like turning my car sideways in the parking lot so I was stuck there until the cars beside me moved. It was a U.A.W. factory. I drive and buy whatever I want, figuring the fucking junk I can afford won’t kill my old union, who doesn’t even send me the monthly magazine anymore. Nobody really gives a damn about anything anyway.
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Dave said on January 27, 2019 at 8:11 pm
In the 80’s, when we were living in Lima, OH, the Ford workers in the plant there made anyone driving anything not a Ford product, park as far away from the entry door as possible, Dexter. I don’t know of any malicious vandalism but the handful of people I knew who worked there, mostly neighbors, all had Fords.
When you mentioned Willie Brown, I thought great, perhaps flamboyant, dresser, California politician. I didn’t know he was ever mayor of SF.
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brian stouder said on January 27, 2019 at 9:01 pm
Dex – the only brand-new car I’ve ever bought (to this point) was a 1981 Dodge Aries K-Car. It was a manual 4-speed 2-door, and – truly – an absolute piece of junk.
But, Lee Iacoca!! Jilted by Ford; savior of Chrysler; inventer of the Mustang (or some such).
Live and learn, eh?
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Eric Zorn said on January 28, 2019 at 5:09 pm
I loves me the `Quils, Day and Ny’ — they don’t shorten colds but they dull the symptoms and make colds easier to endure.
Want to speak up for square dancing, though. Henry Ford’s role in the development of square dancing and its associated forms of traditional American social dance — contra dancing, barn dancing and so on — has been greatly exaggerated in a perverse effort to slime the activity. Other people and other organizations were far more influential. And when I say there is no cannibalism in square dancing, absolutely none, I mean there is a certain amount.
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