Jay Inslee and Fear Itself: Bucking the Immigrant Bashing Tide

I admire Maggie Hassan and will vote for her to be rid of Kelly Ayotte, but I am disappointed in her announcement pandering to the fears of Granite Staters saying she thinks we ought to halt immigration from Syria "for now."

This morning I heard the governor of the state of Washington, Jay Inslee talking about why he announced he hoped his state would continue to welcome immigrants/refugees from Syria.

As he pointed out, it's not up to the states to manage immigration: Once the immigrant passes into the USA, he can go anywhere. So, when the governor of Alabama says he would tolerate a zero percent chance the immigrant might harm an Alabaman, this is ridiculous, because he has no say in the matter and no way to prevent the Syrian from cross his state line--his proclamation is clearly only to say to his state citizens, "I care so much for your safety, I'll not take any chances with it." So much posturing, no effect.

One might think all the posturing harmless, but Governor Inslee pointed out there is a moral hazard. He mentioned the Japanese who were thrown into concentration camps on the very island on which he lives off Seattle, during the Second World War, whose sons were fighting for the USA in Italy while their parents were incarcerated in America. He said Franklin Roosevelt, who said we have nothing to fear but fear itself, unreasoning fear was guilty of acceding to the hysteria following Pearl Harbor and we should regret that decision every day, even today. 

He also pointed out that the Syrian refugee who has been fingerprinted, DNA analyzed, checked out every way we know how is a lot less of a risk than the guy who hops on a plane from Paris on a tourist visa, a man who has gone through very little evaluation at all.  If we are really worried about preventing the next terrorist from setting foot in the country, we'd be looking at tourists--but that would cost a lot of American hotels and tourist related companies money, so we won't do it. We'll simply make life more miserable for Syrians in miserable refugee camps.

The fact is, we are as vulnerable to the next terrorist attack as we are to the next bank heist, to the next lunatic with a gun who decides to shoot up a kindergarten.  Crazies will find a way. We can work hard to catch some in our net before they do their damage and we can succeed, but we cannot succeed 100% of the time.

Governor Inslee sounded this morning like that rarest of politicians, a thoughtful, honorable man. 

Policing For Profit in Pagedale, MO: Kafka Lives

If ever there were a American dystopian story of sinister corruption embedded into government it is not a story involving the President or Congress but of local government and local police:  It is that vicious  little town of Pagedale, Missouri.

An editorial in today's New York Times describes a little hell hole of a place, at least for Black citizens, in which the town sends out its police as cynical tax agents, issuing tickets for not having a screen on your front door, for crossing on the wrong side of a crosswalk, for having a front yard barbecue except on specific holidays, for driving while Black, for any number of gottcha infractions, some not even written into the actual code of city law, and then when the ticket is issued, to be sure the fine is not paid on time, they hold court only twice a month at 6 PM, just when hard working men and women are headed off to their second jobs. 

Is it any wonder the local Black population is seething?  They are the cash cows for the Pagedale police and courts. 

Why this travesty? Because little towns like Pagedale are so small they cannot support a police department with a tax base--so the solution is to make the poor and the struggling provide that tax base through fines for you-name-it and to create Kangaroo courts which engender nothing but rage and resentment from the local citizenry. If King George III had conjured up anything this egregious, the American Revolution would have happened much sooner and with no loyalists left to speak for him.

Once again, our free press has shown a spotlight on a festering wound. Police, judges, city officials all in on the game, as the Times notes. 

And the most appalling thing is these local police, local judges and mayors probably don't even see themselves as evil.  One can only imagine them shrugging and smiling and excusing this Kafkaesque poor excuse for local government as business. Just playing the game and trying to get by best we can. If we ruin the lives of a few score of local Blacks, well, all they had to do was to obey the law as we wrote it and disguised it and promulgated it and they'd have stayed out of trouble, until, that is, we could figure out a way to put them back into trouble, so we could collect our pound of flesh.

We may have to add Missouri to that hallowed pantheon of Arizona, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.  Nice group, that.

How Stupid Are Americans: The Donald Wants to Know

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
--H.L. Menken

"Because he wrote a book and in the book he said terrible things about himself. He said that he's pathological and that he's got basically pathological disease. Now he wrote this, I guess before he was running for office or thought that he was running for office, and I don't want a person that's got pathological disease. I don't want it." 
--The Donald


So the Donald went on a 90 minute rant in which he expressed incredulity that Ben Carson could be beating him in the polls, sounding for all the world like Jon Lovett of past Saturday Night Live looking in the camera, playing Michael Dukakis saying of George H.W. Bush, "I can't believe this guy is beating me."

The Donald frothed on about Dr. Carson's "pathological disease."  The Donald reminds us, "That's a serious statement when you say you have a 'pathological disease.' Because, as I understand it, you can't really cure it. But he said he has a pathological disease." 

The problem, of course is, the Donald really does not understand it.  The Donald has never bothered to look up the definition of "pathological" which simply means "not normal, of or pertaining to a disease process."  You would think he'd have staff for this.

Then he goes on to elucidate how he investigates facts and what he thinks constitutes a process of gaining understanding:  "I mean, he wrote it. I didn't write it...But those are pretty tough charges. And they were written by him himself, you know? The pathological stuff was written. That's very serious, pathological disease. I didn't read the book, but he wrote it."

So now the Donald is making reference to something very disturbing and significant which is contained in a book he admits he has never read. One might think, if it is something important you might want to open the covers of the book and actually, perhaps read it yourself. But then, it's not really clear the Donald knows how to read, which could be a problem for a President who gets lots of briefing books to read, although, I suppose they could do them as illustrated books with lots of drawings and big print and maybe audio DVDs.

Mr. Carson, of course, is trying to defend himself against questions about a close and long term friend of his, who was convicted of defrauding medical insurance. Apparently, in the past, Dr. Carson has said people and company executives who defraud insurance companies over bogus claims should be in jail, but when his friend plead guilty to just that crime Dr. Carson said his friend did not deserve to be sent to jail and when his surrogate tried to explain why it was necessary to jail people unless they happened to be friends of Dr. Carson, the answer was: Well, when you have a personal relationship, you can see things more deeply and draw on your Christian instincts to forgive, or words to that effect.  

One does wonder how stupid Dr. Carson thinks the American public is, but it is the height of irony that Donald Trump, is complaining about American politicians soaring in the polls after saying stupid things.

But best of all is Chris Christie, who I heard this morning say that President Obama is responsible for deteriorating race relations since he took office. As if race relations have actually deteriorated. As if racial tensions because of the actions of  local white police being videoed shooting Black citizens in cold blood is Mr. Obama's fault. 

Well, actually, Mr. Christie says, the police are shooting because they don't think the President has their back so, well, what would you do? If you are out there all alone, well you pull your gun and start shooting at anything Black that moves. That's only reasonable. 
 The thing about Chris Christie is he is manifestly not stupid.  But here is a guy who was not responsible for backing up traffic from the George Washington Bridge to Tea Neck,New Jersey as payback to the mayor of Tea Neck for not endorsing him, but of course, Mr. Christie said you cannot lay that at my door because, I'm only governor, I can't control everything that happens in my state.  
Mr. Obama, of course, should bear full responsibility for racist frat boys smearing feces in the shape of a Swastika in a college dorm. But I can tell you, if any of those motorists trapped on the New Jersey roads got all road ragey and leaped out of their cars, the New Jersey State troopers would have known I'd have their backs and they could have pulled out their Glock 9's and shot any Black people. 
 But they would never have shot any Italian Americans. And you know, I'm still bummed they canceled "The Sopranos" 'cause I learned so much from that show about leadership. Really, Tony was a model. 

It must be a sign of age, but as I run on my treadmill and watch Morning Joe and Morning Express--not even Fox--and as I drive to work listening to NPR listening to "experts" I find myself thinking: 90% of everything I'm hearing is bogus, wrong, or simply stupid.  I mean they have this brother and sister act on Morning Joe, and the sister, whose primary qualification for being on morning TV seems to be her great hair, which is blonde and really cut well, is asking some former general or CIA official about a conversation he's had with Ben Carson about foreign policy and this expert says he thinks Ben Carson has a lot to learn about ISIS and terrorist threats and the blonde sister host raises an eyebrow as if she's just heard Ben Carson himself admit to having been an axe murderer when he was 19 and again during medical school and she says, "Wow, well I didn't expect that!" 

The other thing is they never play more than a few seconds of sound bites or video clips of exactly what anyone said, Donald Trump or anyone else, because, of course what is important is not what the politician actually said but what is important is what the star of the news broadcast says about what he said or what the expert guest says about that clip.  So, how stupid do the guys running these shows think the American public is?  You be the judge.

Maybe the Donald is on to something.

Republican Shtick

A shtick is a comedy routine often assoicated with a particular comedian, so Don Rickles, Jerry Lewis, Joanne Rivers all had a shtick. Stand up comedians, like Chris Rock, Jay Leno perfect their lines at local clubs before taking them national or to big venues.

Last night, the most prepared practitioner was Ted Cruz, who was ready to try out his line that the IRS code has more words in it than the Bible, pause, wait for applause, and none of them (the IRS words) are as good as what's in the Bible.

This was clearly crafted to appeal to the evangelicals who are currently enthralled by Ben Carson. See, I can play that Jesus card, the Bible thumping thing, too!

It worked well in Milwaukee. The crowd loved it. Take that to Iowa. Or maybe, it came from Iowa where he tried it out first.


Then there was the Donald who was confronted by Ohio governor Kasich (can't spell that name.) The governor said the idea of rounding up and deporting 11 million immigrants while their children sobbed was ridiculous and not an adult proposal. To which the Donald replied he had built a corporation worth billions of dollars and he didn't need to take that from that guy at the end of the stage, who doesn't have enough poll numbers to rate being placed at the center. 

Which got thunderous applause. Give it to him Donald. You are winning. There will be so much winning when the Donald gets to the Oval Office.  And anyone who criticizes the Donald, I'll have you know, had better had established his street cred by having a corporation which makes billions or he can just shut up. 

I really love Republican debates. They just know how to not be whimps, to play to the better angels of our national character. The better angels--that phrase was made famous by that first Republican. You remember that guy: Abraham Lincoln.

What would Honest Abe think to see his nominative heirs performing today?

Bibi and the Power of Parable

Happened to catch Bibi Netanyahu on CNN this morning and he told a wonderful, revealing story about trying to explain the virtues of a "free market" capitalist economy to the Israeli people, who had grown up in a semi-socialist state. Of course, Jews have a reputation in America and Europe as shrewd businessmen, but here the Prime Minister of Israel was faced with a Jewish population isolated from the business world, or so he claimed.

His story concerned his first day of training in the Israeli paratroopers (thus reminding his audience of his military creds) and the captain lined up all the recruits facing him and he said, "We will do a race, but this race is going to be made more interesting. Look to your right. Lift the man to your right on your back."  Bibi is not a big man, and the man to his right was a third again his side. The next man was even smaller than Bibi and he had to heft a man twice his side and the next man was a huge guy and he lifted a small man on is back. Then the whistle blew. Bibi staggered forward, barely able to cross the finish line. The small man with the huge burden collapsed at the starting line but the big man with the small man on his back took off like a rocket and streaked across the finish line.

Now, I'm thinking, oh, I know where this is going: It says that some of us have a heavier burden than others, in life. Some are born into poverty, some into poverty and ignorance, while others are relatively advantaged, unburdened and they are likely to streak ahead of others, and likely these guys will believe they deserve their winning because they are so superior, the Donald Trumps.

But n I had forgotten Bibi is, at heart, a Republican. The burden turned out to be, you guessed it: the government and taxes. So the big man unburdened by a heavy tax load soars ahead, while the little guy, carrying big government on his back collapses. 

Of course, his audience, an affluent Republican American audience, loved it. Just unburden us from the government and we'll all roar ahead, unleash the animal energies of a free market economy by lowering taxes.

Nobody mentioned the experience in Kansas, where the governor made just that argument and cut income taxes and Kansas has been in trouble ever since, sinking beneath a sea of red ink, unable to provide even the most basic government services. No animal energies surfaced to save the day.  The economy in Kansas has plummeted into recession where its more heavily taxed neighbors have made steady recoveries. 

Like all the privileged, advantaged set, Bibi argues we'd all be just fine if it weren't for the burden of carrying the government on our backs, when the truth is just the opposite is true: When the government provides stimulus, as Paul Krugman keeps reminding us, everyone does better, including the rich who so decry government spending. 

And, of course, the bigger lie is the myth of "free market capitalist economy."  We have capitalist markets in America but we do not have anything close to a  "free market" as the government subsidies big farming, big oil, big coal and big every business. It's just the little guy who isn't subsidized and who is told he ought to be working harder and then, once he mobilizes his animal energies, he'll be as rich as Donald Trump.

Thomas Nast: The Real Burden 

The game is rigged, as Bernie Sanders has pointed out. Banks too big to fail can charge ahead full of animal energies, never fearing  a fall because they are too big to fail and they know it and the government will bail them out. That's not free markets. That's crony capitalism, which the Republican party has recently decided is a bad thing, and they decry this, all the while taking the money which flows from crony capitalism, all the way to the bank.

Ted Cruz: No Atheist Is Fit To Serve

Start Every Day with a Prayer

You Want to Be Lied To?  Ask the man about his religion.

And I want to warn everyone in the press and all the voters out there, if you demand expressions of religious faith from politicians, you are just begging to be lied to. They won't all lie to you but a lot of them will. And it will be the easiest lie they ever had to tell to get your votes. So, every day until the end of this campaign, I'll answer any question anyone has on government, But if you have a question on religion, please go to church."
--Arnold Vinick, West Wing


In one of it's typically prescient moments, in the the West Wing's sixth season is a confrontation at the end of an episode called, "In God We Trust" where the Republican presidential nominee, Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) responds to a question about whether or not he will attend a church meeting to which he's been invited and this Republican, who knows where his base is, but who can no longer tolerate the hypocrisy, finally commits a "gaffe" which is to say he tells the truth as he sees it, that when politicians start talking about religious faith, they lie.

This episode aired 10 years ago, but like so much of West Wing, it is eerily current.

Yesterday, Ted Cruz said that no atheist is qualified to be President and furthermore every President ought to begin his day with prayer.

There are other little examples of God being imposed on our secular state:  our pledge of allegiance contains the phrase "Under God"  which it did not have originally.  The "under God" part was added at the height of the McCarthy Red Scare, when everyone was eager to be fighting Godless Communism.

The whole pledge of allegiance thing started in the 1870's as "patriotism" following the Civil War started to fade and school kids were in control of adults so it was in school kids learned a pledge.  Things really got rolling in the early 1940's, during World War II when WASP America distrusted Orientals who might prefer Imperial Japan or German Americans, so we had kids doing the American "Zeig! Heil!" in their classrooms.

Zeig! Heil! America! USA! USA! Oh, puke.

Easy patriotism, learned in school. Later, with all the Hitler youth holding out their arms straight, we went to putting the hand over the heart, as Herr Hitler had pre-empted the straight arm salute.

With all the examples of religion causing havoc in the world, of irrational, rabid belief causing people to kill and destroy, one would think the dangers of introducing religion into our putatively secular society would be obvious, but no, not in the Bible Belt where people cling to their guns and their religion, as Obama was honest enough to observe, and he rued the day he was that honest. 

The only politician I can imagine with the guts to say what Arnold Vinick said is Bernie Sanders, who is just irascible enough to sputter in his best Lewis Black tone, "You want to be lied to? You want to really be played?  Just demand your political leaders profess their undying love of God, and you'll get just exactly what you deserve!"

The Donald: The New Yogi

"If you would listen to Sara Murray, you would think there were three people standing in the atrium of Trump Tower. Either she's a very unemotional person or she's not a very good reporter."
--Donald Trump from Politico

I loved Yogi Berra.  He said things which resonated with me:  "Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical."  I knew exactly what he was talking about.

But The Donald may eventually rise to that level as well. Just consider his take on a reporter, Sara Murray, who was present at a book signing and apparently, in The Donald's estimation she underestimated the number of people present for this important event. 

"She's either a very unemotional person or she's not a very good reporter."
So if she were more emotional she would have got closer to the correct number?
Now this is a revelation, for me at least. I always thought of numbers as the essence of objectivity over emotion. You can think a crowd is big because you react emotionally to the image of its size, but if you want to hew to accuracy, you simply report a number. 

Thinking more deeply, perhaps she said it was a small crowd but she missed the emotional vibe of a very enthusiastic crowd. I'll have to find exactly what she said, but that two sentences taken as they are presented present a wonderful opportunity to look into the mind of someone who wants to be our next President.

Here is the conversation I imagine could have been, if only Yogi were still alive: I can just see the two of them sitting on Yogi's porch in New Jersey, beers in hand, feet up,  thinking big thoughts about the world and just sharing wisdom and insights:

Yogi:  You can observe a lot by just watching
Donald: They [ISIS] just built a hotel in Syria. Can you believe this?  They built a hotel. When I have to build a hotel, I pay interest. They don't have to pay interest, because they took the oil that, when we left Iraq, I said we should've taken."


Yogi: You wouldn't have won, if we'd beaten you.
Donald:  Hillary Clinton was the worst Secretary of State in the history of the United States. There's never been a Secretary of State so bad as Hillary. The world blew up around us. We lost everything, including all relationships. There wasn't one good thing that came out of that administration or her being Secretary of State.
You don't even have to like Hillary to know that's not true. 


[Editor's note:  Who knew the Secretary of State controlled world events?]


Yogi:  Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.
Donald: When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

[Editor's note: Well, that last sentence--now I feel much better.]

Yogi:  I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
Donald: The U.S. will invite El Chapo, the Mexcan drug lord who just escaped prison, to become a U.S. citizen because our "leaders" can't say no.!

Wow! El Chapo a U.S. citizen! Maybe he'll run for President on the Republican ticket! Wouldn't you like to see him on the stage with The Donald. 
The Donald would give him such a dressing down! The Donald would beat him, and make it look easy. It would be such a winning for the The Donald. 
I know he'll make America great again, and we'll all be winners.