Imagine screwing up on the job so much that you get the money and no longer have to work

Former Senator from Nebraska finished his first of four years as president of University of Florida and decided to call it quits under the fig leaf to take care of his family, but continue with his million dollar a year compensation as President emeritus. This week it came out that he spent $1.3 million in catering in that truncated university presidency that is 3 times what the previous president spent on average for the 8 years prior to the pandemic. Failing up is once again not for the everyman, just the few people who are the ones that are intrinsically worthy because they are members of the elite. Why are they worthy to be members of the elite, they are the ones who given the station in life where failing up is tolerated, of course. This circular logic is the underpinning of the satirical term meritocracy when coined by Michael Young's The Rise of the Meritocracy, but that term has lost lost all of its intended meaning and now is the sincere definition of deserving of one's position because of effort. 

French center allies themselves with French left, instead copying a winning strategy US Dems surrender to MAGA fascists

From NPR:

But in the month between the dissolution and Sunday’s vote, a coalition of left-wing parties and Macron’s own Ensemble movement struck a series of local “hold your nose” deals, whereby whoever was most likely to defeat the National Rally candidate would get the full support of the other party. The deal was called the “Republican Front,” after the 1936 pact between communists, socialists and others to keep the far right out of power.

###

What likelihood of centrists coming to the left to prevent Trump election? I would venture a guess that most within the political consultant industrial complex would rather lose to Trump rather than win with popular policies that are at the detriment of their patrons in the donor class. In 2020, Florida voted overwhelming for an increase of the state minimum wage but Biden who had white papers supporting increasing the federal minimum wage and tying it to inflation didn't campaign on it to make his name synonymous with increasing the minimum wage law losing the state by nearly 10%. A 30% swing of the same voters were lost because employers and Wall Street are vehemently opposed to increasing the floor of what working people get for their labor. This is but one glaring example of how the centrist neoliberal Democrats would rather lose than win with progressives/Leftists. 

The US is very likely to see a second dose of a Trump administration, but this time there will be far more prepared, far more sycophantic, toadies and as often is the case personnel beats policy. 

It's bigger than Trump

"People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children."
Richard Cohen November 11, 2013

“It’s not about Donald Trump.” Wrong. It’s about nothing else.
Richard Cohen May 28, 2018

Richard Cohen is both wrong, and latently racist. The same sentiment that propelled Trump into the White House, held by a minority of Americans, will still be there and over represented in GOP primaries, thereby extremely disproportionately represented in government as well after Trump is out of the White House. So there has to be a movement beyond the individual or it will evaporate after the storm passes.

The dead enders who still support Trump, despite the obvious history of financial crimes of money laundering and very likely public corruption of both domestic quid pro quo bribery through Michael Cohen or the connections to foreign government and profits from the which are unconstitutional as per the emolument clause, are still going to affect elections and public policy for America in the future. Indisputable evidence will likely come from Republican special counsel Mueller, which will be disputed by the dead-enders. What would Richard Cohen have us do with them? Just repress our gag reflex? The policies that are implemented by Trump's administration will still be implemented by a Pence administration, it's not like there will be a 'come to Jesus' moment and the Republicans will be interested in policy that helps the poor, and working class more than the wealthy and well-connected (the Democrats are also in want of this same 'come to Jesus' moment). Mark Cuban is right that Trump is not the end all, be all of what Democrats need to focus on in the next 2 and half years, whatever they need to do has to continue even after Trump is removed from office or runs out his term.

Fake News Isn't Anything New

In 2004, I was working in Ohio for a Get-Out-The-Vote organization called America Coming Together. One day while going to door-to-door in a trailer park in Licking County (forgot which town, but not the unique interaction with the voter) I spoke with a man who wasn't that concerned about the upcoming presidential election as he was concerned about the "newspaper" reporting about Bill Clinton having been caught having yet another affair. I was astonished, then I asked what newspaper broke the story (I had already checked the New York Times, Columbus Dispatch, and the Newark Advocate (OH) earlier that day and even if they had been scooped they all would've reported on the news outlet that broke the story). The man told me to wait while he fetched the "newspaper". When he returned he showed me the frontpage headline of the Weekly World News, right there next there most recent update to Batboy.

I pointed out that just as there is no Batboy, I don't think Bill Clinton had been caught in another affair, he simply replied "That's what they say happened" oblivious to clear objective truth that facts was not what the Weekly World News deals with. I didn't change his mind, and he probably thought that I didn't really know how the world works, that the Illumnati and the Masons rigged the world for some unknown purposes and that the scandals brought from the weekly tabloids are the only real source of news unlike those boring endless articles brought by wire service reporters distributed by the likes of the Columbus Dispatch.

Humans want to be distracted, we want the world to be simple, and would love if it were clear cut good vs evil and without any nuance; but the world is full of grey and gradations. There are no explicit bad guys or good guys, the Vietnam War didn't pit the "good capitalists" against the "evil communists" there was good and evil on both sides. The Spanish American War was kicked off by the U.S.S. Maine blowing up, presumably by some Spanish royalist, there again it was framed as "good democracy" versus "evil monarchy". In both instances whether 50 years ago or 115 years ago the spark of the war was fake news, the U.S.S. Maine was not blown up by any Spanish ne'erdo-well, nor was the North Vietnamese attacking American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, the sensationalism of the moment carried our nation off to war either to impose American Imperialism or Capitalism around the world.

Currently we have a president that regurgitates statements from the most sensationalist news outlet of our time in pithy 140 character bites via Twitter or from the podium of speeches. Without much (or any) reflection, the Republican president decides over dinner to send Seal Team 6 into Yemen and doesn't even think it's worth his time to be in the situation room while the operation occurs, he still declares it a success after the fact despite the lack of planning that certainly contributed to the death of Chief Special Warfare Officer William “Ryan” Owens in Yemen and the deaths of upwards of 30 non-combatants including 8-year old Nawar "Nora" Anwar al-Awlaki, daughter of American born Anwar al-Awlaki who was killed by an American drone strike in 2011. Nora al-Awlaki was just as American as Alberta Canada born Senator Ted Cruz and was killed without any due process or even any thorough planning by the commander in chief.

Americans have already died because too many people willfully refuse to critically think about the world, and challenge whatever feels truthful to them or as The Colbert Report famously declared in 2006 "that truthiness is more important than the Truth". We need to accept that our emotions are meaningless, and our opinions if unchanging despite new information are harmful if not fatal to ourselves. It's distraction to read whole cloth falsehoods that give you the impression of being let in on a secret, but it's no means a harmless distraction. Ignoring the harm and refusing to accept reality will come home to roost as it did in the aftermath of the Spanish American War where the souls of American servicemen were lost as they committed heinous crimes against their fellow humans in Philippines or the 50,000 servicemen who gave their lives in the Vietnam War just so they could drink Coca-Cola and eat McDonald's which they ended up doing anyway. The individual that is convinced of a lie, will be more willing to suffer through harm than suffer through the shame of being hoodwinked by the lie.

Journalists Seem To be Confused By Whether Or Not Trump Has Actually Purged Lobbyists

Both of these headlines can't be true.

Washington Post: Lobbyists are still involved in Trump team, despite the president-elect’s pledge to remove their influence

Trump: Lobbyists should stay

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/18/lobbyists-remain-involved-in-trump-transition-despite-pledge-to-remove-their-influence-2/

Politico: Lobbyists leave Trump transition team after new ethics rule

Trump: Lobbyists Should Go

http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/11/lobbyists-leave-trump-transition-team-ethics-rule-231641

2017: President Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Sanders

There are many of those that voted for Senator Sanders and continue to #FeelTheBern, those that support him with the most passion have transitioned to #BernieOrBust. Susan Sarandon has intimated that it may be better for liberals to oppose a Trump presidency than try to get revolutionary change from a second Clinton Presidency.

"Well, you know, some people feel Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately," Sarandon told MSNBC journalist Chris Hayes. "If he gets in, then things will really explode." 

I could not disagree more, there is nothing scarier than the thought of the sociopath buffoon being inaugurated to highest office in the land and at the helm of the ship of state. But Sarandon, and other #BernieOrBust people could angle for a much better solution that will end up providing avid support for Clinton's election from even those that today swears to never hold their nose to vote for Clinton for their myriad of reasons: Clinton formally endorses Sanders to become the next Senate Majority Leader if the Democrats take back the Senate in 2016.

She could twist the arms of those Democratic Senators that had endorsed her, to commit to electing Sanders and not Chuck Schumer to become the majority leader if the Democrats win back the Senate in the general elections. Sanders would be committed to campaign for US Senate candidates in an effort to take back the senate (his advantage with independents would be welcomed to any candidate challenging a Republican) while at the same time it would allow Clinton to select whomever she felt best suited her to be her Vice President (a position that if Sanders was offered would become limited to only what the constitution provides breaking ties in the Senate and checking if the president was still alive).

Though Chuck Schumer would hate the possibility of having the Democratic Socialist rank over him, calls for party unity would be disingenuous if there isn't any actual attempt to corral those #BernieOrBust folks. Party unity is paramount to assure that Trump will be denied the White House, and as Barack Obama said in the commencement speech at  Howard University

And democracy requires compromise, even when you are 100 percent right.  This is hard to explain sometimes.  You can be completely right, and you still are going to have to engage folks who disagree with you.  If you think that the only way forward is to be as uncompromising as possible, you will feel good about yourself, you will enjoy a certain moral purity, but you’re not going to get what you want.

Even if the intended target was the Sanders supporters who were dead-enders, the exact same logic could be directed towards the establishment and Clinton campaign that are reluctant if not adamantly rejecting to compromise what she will promise to earn the votes of those who do not wish to see a double-down of business-as-usual from yet another Clinton presidency. Yes even if you have won all the primaries, with assistance of mainstream media, and with the political and economic elites cheerleading you, 45% of the people is not something can be ignored even if you are 100% right. So the Clinton campaign should not continue to ignore those millions of voters that didn't vote for her, and instead seek out a means to genuinely earn their vote in November.

My proposal of setting up Sanders as the Senate majority leader seems eloquent and with nothing lost by Clinton, that is if she really is a "progressive that gets things done". A Democratic controlled Senate would allow her to accomplish all the things that she wanted to, and if it were blocked by the House it would be a great fulcrum in the mid-terms to win the House as well. Sanders would sufficiently placated no longer jockeying for the presidency and be given real influence in the Senate to affect national policy.

The only downside I could imagine is that the neoliberal Clintonistas, though giving all the lip service in the world otherwise, are not liberals and therefore would not want a liberal lion in charge of the Senate. This is very likely true, and undercuts any argument to those that want to bolt from the party establishment for not being liberal enough, to stick it out because "we in the establishment are just about deliver on some really progressive things".

Trump visits the homes of grassroots supporters

Donald J. Trump, leading Republican presidential candidate, decided to meet some of his most ardent supporters and active grassroots leaders. "Yeah, this going to be the greatest thing that happened in their lives" said the real estate magnate come outsider politician. The decision to interact with the "amzing people, who are 'making America great again'" came about because Trump wanted a real demonstration of how much he is loved, after proposing he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and not lose one vote, interacting with his fan base would demonstrate exactly that.

Upon meeting the first Trump super-fan, Mrs. Cathy Felcher of Beaverton, OR it was difficult for Mr. Trump to hide his discomfort in her modest 3 bedroom 1 bath home. Mrs. Felcher was over the moon about "our next president right here, in my living room", which she repeatedly so often and with such gusto it was as if she said it often enough and believed it enough it would deliver 270 electoral votes and the GOP nomination just from sheer will.

Mr. Trump, visibly regretted this campaign stunt almost immediately. When he walked into the house with a handful of press in tow, he involuntarily cocked his eyebrow at the furniture from Target and the kids school bags that cluttered the entryway. Mrs. Felcher led the Mr. Trump and his half dozen reporters into the living room pointing out the desk with the e-Machines desktop computer is "where the magic hapens". That all of her volunteer hours have started right there. Mr. Trump asked in response "You can work out here with the TV, that's great."

Mrs. Felcher offered Mr. Trump and the reporters iced tea or coal, which politely turned down. Trump, perceiving that he should make a statement for the press simply turned to them and stated "This what America is all about, despite struggling Ms. Felcher has taken it upon herself to do what's needed. I want to thank her for her tremendous efforts, I know that she is really going appreciate all the winning we are going to do, both here in Oregon and when we win in November."

Mrs. Felcher made a slight and meek attempt at correcting Mr. Trump regarding being called 'Ms.' instead of 'Mrs.' but Trump effortlessly plowed through and decided to go on to the next event and jumped back into his Suburban with the pair of trailing 15-person passenger vans.

Next week Trump plans on visiting a volunteer who serves as Connecticut state leader, Chuck Gossamer. Let's all hope that his station in life is more tolerable to Mr. Trump than Mrs. Felcher's.

Dick Cheney is more responsible for #ParisAttacks than Saddam Hussein was for 9/11

Cheney is more responsible for November 13th Paris Attacks
than Saddam Hussein was for September 11th Attacks

Back in 2003, the Bush administration was biting at the bit to invade Iraq, even repeatedly conflating Iraq with the September 11th attacks. This push to invade the Baathist dictatorship that up until their invasion into Kuwait, the US counted as one of its regional allies, was spearheaded by the individuals that called themselves Project for a New American Century (PNAC) in 1997 which called for wholesale regime change in places that had significant energy resources. That wasn't explicitly stated but the countries that were targeted all had proven petroleum reserves or natural gas deposits, so not too far fetched of me to extrapolate that conclusion. It was however explicitly stated that the New American Century would come at the barrel of a gun and not some 'mamby-pamby' diplomacy, the priority of the military would become the ultimate view for American foreign affairs according to PNAC

Anyhow, PNAC members included Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, Elliott Abrams, Bill Bennett, Jeb Bush, and future Vice President and heavy of the Bush administration Dick Cheney. To go over the laundry list of things that lead up the catastrophe that was the Iraq invasion and subsequent occupation is tedious, so I will forgo that and presume that you know that Dick Cheney had considerable influence in pushing for the invasion of Iraq and regime change there. A lot of the persuasive arguments made by the administration was tying the Hussein regime with the 9/11 terrorist attacks from such questionable sources as informant "Curveball" who provided information about Iraqi weapons program under duress of a mock execution, and after the fact was revealed to be whole cloth lies that were known to be lies by both the US and UK governments. One of the governments advocating against invading Iraq was the French, whose Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said "we believe that military intervention would be the worst solution" and he was right it turned out. The French also refused to allow UK and US to use French airspace to their airforces for the invasion, which received derision by the "Freedom Fries" crowd and those conservatives that poured out French wine to demonstrate how much they disagree with the French.

Then the Iraq invasion happened, the Baathist party members were removed from the military (which was nearly all officers and plenty of enlisted), the civil government was in disarray as Shia and Sunni started taking revenge on each other and the Kurds sought out as much autonomy and independence as they could squeeze out of the government in Baghdad and allowed by the US military setting up a long term occupation. After eight years of war, insurrection, indiscriminate violence, and massive loss of lives mostly by Iraqi civilians, the Sunni insurgency became well trained and nearly professional but due to the demographics could not hold much territory in the Shia dominated region. The Iraqi army, and national police were defenders of the nation only by name, when de facto they were quite parochial in their responsibilities. When the US formally departed in the fall of 2011, the Iraq Civil War had gotten into full swing. From the Iraq Civil War and the Arab Spring Uprising in neighboring Syria ISIS/ISIL/Daesh arose, and it would be difficult to say that the Iraq Civil War would have occurred without the American invasion and occupation thereby the offshoot of ISIS would never have been born without the American invasion. Without Dick Cheney and other PNAC members pushing for a military invasion of Iraq, there would have been no ISIS attack on Paris this past weekend.

I admit that this an indirect path of responsibility, but Cheney is far more culpable of the Paris terrorist attacks than Saddam Hussein who had no foreknowledge nor any connection with al Queda before or after September 11th of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Questions Not Asked In the CNBC GOP Debate

Q: Mr. Trump, you threw out Jose Ramos for asking a question out of turn, that question was how would remove 11 million human beings from the country?

Q: Dr. Carson, you described that the Holocaust could have been avoided had the Jews of Europe only had access to guns. In a scenario where 11 million individuals are being forcibly removed from the country, and they have access to guns wouldn't this bring about your imagined scenario to life in modern America?

Q: Ms. Fiorina, you were fired from HP with much fanfare and a golden parachute, then lost a landslide election in California, are simply failing upwards in your run for president?

Q: Governor Bush, your family's reputation and name is seen as your greatest asset, and yet other than fundraisers you have not utilized your brother the lone living 2 term Republican president. If his electoral success and his presidency is not to be emulated why not, if it is then why not campaign with your brother?

Q: Governor Christie, has your bi-partisan success with a Democratic controlled state legislature was entirely based on your negotiating skills why did your political appointees and underlings carry out political retribution (for example the George Washington Bridge traffic study and Sandy Recovery funds being withheld)? If they did all of this without your consent or knowledge, how is the American public supposed to be confident that you could lead or have knowledge of what is going on within the Federal government?

Q: Senator Rubio, early in your Senate career it was reported that you problems with personal finances, purchasing luxury cars and a $80,000 boat, all awhile covering expenses with Florida Republican Party funds and credit cards. Why should the American people believe that you would be a good steward of the public treasury when you have troubled personal finances?

Q: Senator Cruz, if President Obama were born in Kenya and not Hawaii, in your opinion would that negate his claim to being a legitimate president? If so why would still be eligible to become president being born in Canada to an American mother and non-American father (just as Obama parentage is)?

Q: Governor Huckabee, the U.S. Constitution explicitly states there can not be any religious tests and the 1st Amendment states that the government shall not establish a religion. How do square this with your stated belief that America is a Christian nation and that religious freedom can mean that elected officials can ignore law if it conflicts with sincerely held beliefs (such Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis)?

Q: Senator Rand Paul, is Edward Snowden a patriot that committed a crime for the greater good of informing the American public or merely a criminal that stole classified materials and weakened national security?

Q: Governor Pataki, Governor Gilmore, Senator Santorum, etc al, when are you going to drop out of the race?

Common Core: If Obama is against it will conservatives be for it?

Conservatives are against Common Core because it represents a top-down takeover of schools and in essence a national curriculum for schools that traditionally have been locally controlled since time immemorial.

Liberals oppose Common Core because it is often used as a cudgel against the teachers' union and along with non-unionized charter schools are able to break the backs of collective bargaining for one of the largest (by membership) unions in the country. Common Core also is a commodization of children's education that are in turn  seen as profit centers for private testing companies like Pearson, and parents don't appreciate their kids being turned into products.

So now the Obama administration has admitted that there is currently too much of an emphasis on testing, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said “But I can’t tell you how many conversations I’m in with educators who are understandably stressed and concerned about an overemphasis on testing in some places and how much time testing and test prep are taking from instruction.” Quite the reversal on testing. Now that Common Core in most forms will be tampered down, and remove the force of law of implementing Common Core nationwide, will conservatives applaud the move or simply reject it out of hand because of it's coming from Obama? The teachers' union has already declared this a minor victory, will liberals relent in criticizing the watered down version of Common Core and continue to redress their concerns about testing only now towards their state capitols instead?



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/obama-administration-calls-for-limits-on-testing-in-schools.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

4 time declared bankruptcy Trump, may make unkempt promise to support GOP nominee.

“I don’t make commitments and break them,” Mr. Trump said after speaking at an event here hosted by local chambers of commerce. If he violates the contract, he said, “they should sue. I would go before the court and say, ‘I’m guilty.’ ”

This is a patently false statement by the Donald, since bankruptcies are intrinsically a violation of a contract, and were he truthful he would have to admit that if it suited him, he retains the right to run as a independent candidate regardless of any stated "commitment" he has made otherwise. The loophole that he most likely will use to justify his independent presidential run is the caveat that the RNC will treat him fair, whatever that is supposed to mean. Subjective determination of fair treatment is in the eye of the beholder, and Trump can easily rationalize going back on his word just as he went back on his word with creditors and investors each of the 4 times Donald Trump filed for bankruptcy.

Insensitive #BlueLivesMatter NYPD Fundraiser Held On Anniversary Of Mike Brown's Death

What were the Staten Island Yankees supposed to do, wait till there was a day that didn't have an unarmed black person die at the hands of law enforcement? There simply no day that that doesn't occur.



http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150810/st-george/si-yankees-hold-blue-lives-matter-day-on-anniversary-of-mike-browns-death

#LoveWins

deBlasio Over Delivers To NYPD, Undercuts His Promise To Voters

http://gothamist.com/2015/06/23/de_blasio_cops_budget.php

In deBlasio's 2013 campaign there were implicit promises made regarding police reform and an implicit promise with Dante deBlasio being the face of the most effective campaign ad, that Bill deBlasio would be a mayor that understands and empathize with people of color. His recent turn around on policing and a double down on Commissioner Bratton's and PBA President Pat Lynch's desire to turn the city's open society (nearly anarchistic culture) into a police state with unchallengeable and criticism-free police officers.

In a democratic and free society, the individuals not only has a right to challenge authorities but an obligation to constructively criticize authority and those that implement the policies that were supposed to the will of the people in the first place. If the people demand that the local constables harrass and bully their youth, then constables should follow that course. On the other hand if the only the privileged want the unprivileged to be harassed indiscriminately the unprivileged have the right to redressed their concerns to their government through their elected representatives, which is the intrinsic campaign promise deBlasio ran and won with in 2013.

deBlasio may be campaigning nationally on a income inequality message, but this most recent reversal is undercutting whatever progressive cred he may have had as a candidate. I would also want to remind everyone that it was deBlasio and his campaign manager Emma Wolfe that strong armed robbed the WFP nomination on behest of Cuomo despite never intending to hold Cuomo to his promise to deliver the State Senate back into Democratic control; as Cuomo had already promised Senate Majority leader that he would retain the Senate chamber.

9 killed at black church by white terrorist

Nine Killed in Shooting at Charleston Church http://nyti.ms/1dLv95b

US Determined To Poke The Russian Bear

The American military seems to want to instigate an aggressive Russian response. When the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Warsaw was scrapped, the western democracies promised not to encroach on the Russian federation; within a decade NATO began including former Warsaw Pact nations and former Soviet Union Republics into the military alliance whose purpose of existing was to prevent Soviet domination.

The former Soviet Republics should have formed an independent mutual defense alliance that didn't rely on Russia nor the Western democracies. NATO, with its raison d'etre becoming obsolete, should have been scrapped along with its cold war nemesis the Warsaw Pact.

Rather than have peace through strength, NATO lead by American Chicken Hawks, are determined to have a pissing match with a belligerent nation in possession of thermonuclear weapons.

U.S. Poised to Put Heavy Weaponry in East Europe http://nyti.ms/1JQ73CE

2 Out of 3 Texas Cases Led To Mass Murder; The One that Had Zero Death Toll Is The Only Case With Police Tossing Citizens Like Rag Dolls.

Waco Texas saw a conclave of criminal biker gangs that led to the deaths of 9 people. The aftermath, the participants of the fatal brawl were calmly placed together and were free to use their cell phones; number of body slams by the arresting officers zero.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/18/us/texas-biker-gang-brawl-shooting/index.html

Teenager "borrowed" a pick up truck illegally packed a bunch of friends into flatbed of said truck drank alcohol to excess then got behind the wheel and killed 4 people from the inevitable underaged drunk driving accident; number of body slams by the arresting officers zero.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/05/us/texas-affluenza-teen/

Teenager hosts a pool party at her family's condo shared pool, 2 adults start a fight with teenagers (according to witnesses) and McKinney police officers arrive to bring "law and order" to the pool party well after the fight had been resolved and ended. Cpl. Casebolt runs through the dispersed crowd of invited party goers like bull in a China shop, eventually body slamming 15 year old girl to the sidewalk for no apparent reason. The same bikini clad girl can be seen wandering past the manic police officer confused to what was occurring earlier in the video. Some apologists have defended Cpl. Casebolt and claimed he was "endangered", because a ten year veteran police officer is no matched for a girl in a bathing suit.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/06/08/texas-pool-party-police-incident-cuomo-newday.cnn

THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH TEXAS AND IT TOTALLY NEEDS TO BE MESSED WITH.

Pataki, Revitalizing Republican Moderation?

Does Pataki have what it takes to forgo Iowa and South Carolina (with its far more socially conservative primary voters) and win a New Hampshire Republican primary? Certainly this strategy is far wiser than Giuliani's 2008 banking on Florida with it's expensive media markets compared to retail politics of New Hampshire to pivot to a path to nomination. The downside of course being that New Hampshire is going to be crowded with 20 or more presidential candidates also hoping that they can make a miracle out of better than expected results in the first primary of the nation.

Jeb Bush with enough dough to choke an elephant doesn't need to win New Hampshire just as his father and brother lost the state before him lost it and went on to garner the nomination. Pataki doesn't have that same war chest, and will absolutely need to win New Hampshire if he has any shot of remaining viable in later states' primaries. Of course Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, and others are also depending on New Hampshire for the same vault to lead the pack. Pataki doesn't have any other path to nomination other than an outright win in New Hampshire, unlike the others who could come in 2nd and build momentum from there.

Hilary Clinton being moderate (as in acceptable to big business) Democrat, can give populist rhetoric to win in the general but govern as a defender of the status quo. Pataki, may well be the better general election candidate with socially tolerant views and focus on common sense reforms of the government, but those general election assets are huge primary liabilities. Presidential elections cannot be jerrymandered like House districts and aren't going to be decided by paid advertising (since there is nearly unlimited earned media nationally) like in US Senate races, so the party that continues to pander to the angry white-man will find itself on the losing end of national elections. Pataki-esque moderation may be the GOP's saving grace, if they are willing to grab it.

George Pataki Adds a Socially Liberal Voice to the Race for the G.O.P. Nomination http://nyti.ms/1LLTB1f

Walter Scott Killed With Ironic Soundtrack, But That's "What's It Like"

From the dash cam just prior to the murder of Walter Scott, Everlast's "What It's Like" can be heard coming from Scott's car. The song, which in each verse has a parable of the downtrodden, could have an updated version that includes Walter Scott's own end. It could gone something like this:

Walter was toolin' around town in his whip
and having a warrant for his ass
All until the dead beat dad made a run,
then a uniformed thug drew his gun,
Law enforcement supposed to be getting child support,
how the hell is this supposed support Walter's son

Clearly I'm not even a proficient song lyricist, but you can get the idea how Walter Scott being in an impossible situation and suffering from poor life choices received wholly disproportionate punishment for those poor choices. Walter Scott should have been arrested, very likely have his car impounded and sold at auction to cover for the child support payments missed; but should absolutely still be alive to 'bitch and moan' about his situation and not six feet under.

Government Governing the Least Is Best; Except In Indiana

In the past couple of weeks the Indiana's Religious Freedom Reformation Act (RFRA) has shown a division not just between inclusionary liberals and exclusionary conservatives, but also among conservatives that hold to the principle of limited government and those who will toss the principle aside for the convenience of escaping civil liabilities of prejudicial business practices. The defenders of the Indiana RFRA, will point to the federal statute, or Connecticut statute (only being compared due to that state's governor barring of state travel to Indiana) that is similar in name but not spirit and differs in letter where it counts from the Indiana's RFRA variant. If the differences were innocuous as the defenders claim, then why wouldn't they protest against a redundant legislation? If the differences are innocuous then what is the purpose of the law, and why won't the limited government conservatives come out and chastise the Big Government conservatives? Is it not so, that the government that governs the least governs the best, or that only the least number of laws that are absolutely necessary should be passed and enforced? Where are the tri-corner hats claiming that the what happens between a customer and a business should stay between a customer and a business and no more bail outs for businesses reckless liabilities even if they were discriminatory business practices? Sec 9 of the Indiana RFRA clearly stated that an individual that was "substantially burdened or likely to be substantially burdened" could invoke their RFRA rights as a defense in any lawsuit or binding arbitration. The amended statute included clear anti-discrimination language, which in essence voids section 9 for being used as a defense in civil lawsuits making the whole legislative effort by Governor Mike Pence futile, so I ask again where are the small government conservatives pointing out the superfluous nature of the Indiana RFRA? Even if the liability shield for discriminatory businesses remained shouldn't the small government conservatives still have joined the big government liberals in protesting this law as unnecessary?

The reason why there isn't an open schism among conservatives regarding this social issue or a bevy other conservative social issues is that the conservative establishment knows that social issues are for the hoi polloi that are being hoodwinked by the big business to distract them so that they don't find common interest with the fellow wage slaves and demand a diffusion of power away from corporate boardrooms and back into family's living rooms. As Lyndon Johnson so aptly said fifty years ago "If you can convince the lowest white man that he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket." In this case, if you can convince a believer to be judgmental and prejudicial towards others he won't notice that his pockets are being picked clean by a supposedly fellow believer.