The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Is Chuck Grassley just McConnell's Glitch?

    While Senator Grassley appears to be the big dog on the front porch stiffing the President's pick for Supreme Court Justice, he may come out on the short end of the stick before this nomination runs its course. Blocking a moderate, well qualified nominee may turn out to be the wrong strategy in that when Republicans realize that Merrick Garland might be the best option compared to all the other scenarios, Grassley is going to look like a limp corn dog for his initial subservient blanket obstruction. He surrendered his authority without the remotest of factual arguments. Has he even tangentially referred to what might be the desires of the citizens of Iowa?

    hollywhitman's picture

    Flint Water: Too Little, Too Late

    The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has been going on a lot longer than people have been hearing about it. The residents of Flint had been drinking contaminated water for well over a year before any one even bothered to hear them out, let alone try and fix the problem.

    Richard Day's picture

    PAST SINS

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I had this dream again.
    I forgot so much during the last decades.
    I  found this counselor and I used to come to see him.
    He was a soft kind of guy.
    And I would tell him all my sins.
    Anyway he would hire me as an attorney from time to time.

    I cannot even recall the reason for this representation.

    Souljahing On

    Bill Clinton let loose on some rather rude protesters, and perhaps rightly a number of people came to his defense, even noting that it's a shame the Sista Souljah moments have passed.

    But it's still a huge shame we have haven't passed our police brutality moments. It's still a shame we haven't risen past either economic injustice or entrenched racial divisions. Bill, ever wily, seemed to realize you don't win by skipping over the next generation without becoming irrelevant, even if you're right.

    Thank God ......or Bernie

    “Sure I will,” he said, when pressed by CBS News’ Charlie Rose in an interview. “Look, as I said a million times, I think the idea of a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for this country. I will do everything in my power and work as hard as I can to make sure that that does not happen. And if Secretary Clinton is the nominee, I will certainly support her.”

     

     

    Bernie's best . . . but

    Bernie Sanders is my favorite politician. Among U.S. Senators, it's likely my views align a little more closely with those of Elizabeth Warren and possibly Sherrod Brown (more on this in a moment). But Bernie's the one with the guts to take on the corrupt Clinton cabal and the neo-liberal Democratic establishment. For this, he deserves ever-lasting credit.

    CVille Dem's picture

    The Moral Dilemma Discussed

    Years ago I took a psychology course at The George Washington University, where I also worked.  One of the exercises, which will be recognized by anyone who has ever taken a Psych course, is one called "moral Dilemmas."  In case you haven't taken such a course, I will give you a couple of examples:

    Super-D's: Better Late to the Altar

    Charles Blow makes a good suggestion today in his Op-Ed, that the perceived injustice of Superdelegates can be toned down by having them commit later in the election cycle, say max 2 weeks before Iowa - e.g. after they've had a chance to hear new contenders.

    Candy Mountain

    I had a morning epiphany thinking about the petulant Veruca Salt-like "I want it now, Daddy!" demand for a miraculous transformation to all renewables overnight. No upheaval, clean seamless replacement of the most entrenched global industry we have.

    So Happy To Have Found DogBlog!

    Hi everybody, I am as excited as a greyhound running after a bus to have found this vital community of interested canine-carers. Dogs are everything to me.  I have seven of them, eight if you count them all. These are the kinds:

    NY: If She Can Make It There...

    There's been some backseat driving and criticism and suggested panic for Hillary abandoning Wisconsin to campaign in New York. But seemingly lost in this analysis is the pretty obvious - the schedule:

                                 Dels Super Total

    Apr 5   Wisconsin        86  10  96     Open primary

    The Next Revolution

    The biggest damage to America's wealth was a combination of Bush's tax cuts/rebate to the wealthy combined with a cheap dollar to spur exports despite our lower competitiveness. I watched my dollar savings and salary cut more than a half in the currency where I live. So in the 90's we had a strong dollar and still held up exports, a sign of competitive products and services. Now we compete with commodity bullshit and dump our stuff around the world to keep our balance sheet up.

    2016 election. I sat down with Samuel Glick.

     

    Just call me Sammy.

    Thanks. You've had a long career first in Hollywood and now in politics. I'm interested in your views on this election and the candidates, Cruz in particular, but also Trump and the others.

    I didn't have two careers, just different audiences. You feed them what they want. They changed, not me. Politicians don't change, the times change. We've seen both Trump and Cruz before. Neither Trump nor Cruz experienced poverty but they're similar to the self made men from the early 1900's.

    Richard Day's picture

    LIFE AINT THAT BAD!

    Seany tells me that he is tooooo tooooooo loud, with his children.

    He confesses in his beer, as it were. hahahah

    I make light of this behavioral problem since my Father was way more loud than I ever was.

    And yet his mother will contend that I was way, way, tooooo, toooo loud.

    Progress, not perfection is what I say!

    Bernie or Bust?

    The "Bernie or Bust!" movement asks Sanders supporters to commit to vote for only Bernie in the general election. If he's not on the ballot in November, busters say they won't vote for President or will write in Bernie's name even though this could lead to the election of "il Duce" Donald Trump or Torquemada Ted Cruz. I am not a buster, although I certainly understand the movement's appeal.

    Bernie States vs Hillary States

    Happened to run across this map of Medicaid obstructionist states, and humorously thought of the orange belts that Hillary controls (e.g. the Southeast) and the orange ones Bernie controls (the Rockies/Central Plains & Maine). Waiting to see who owns Wisconsin (hear Scott Walker's shopping a VP slot around in exchange for endorsement, though that's on the Reptard side).

    Hillary won Arizona

    When we get Utah and Idaho  I'll post that here.

    Trump won Arizona. There are unofficial rumors that Cruz is doing well in Utah.A fact is that Cruz won the most Mormon  county in Arizona according to  538  and that may be an indicator of his performance in Utah.

    In Utah  Sanders has a wide lead over Hill. And I'm going to bed.

    jollyroger's picture

    HRC to AIPAC, BDS to pressure Israel? antisemitism!

    In a speech that (not surprisingly) left a tiny escape hatch of ambiguity, Hillary attacked the entirely peaceful and historically legitimate tactic of bringing to bear the moral and economic suasion of withholding commercial relationships, divesting investment holdings,and expressing outspoken condemnation in the hope of ending the current apartheid regime in occupied Palestine.

    Richard Day's picture

    ERASE FEDERAL EDUCATIONAL DIRECTIVES

    Keith Meyers just lambasted Kansas.

    He did a fine job!

    Dissonant Thoughts about Banks and Drones

    Correct me if I am wrong but the largest under touched elephant in the room during this election cycle has been the global economy.

    The GOP used to be all in your face about this kind of thing but the complete collapse and reboot of the banks after 2008 has them singing at a higher octave. A significant chunk of their previous coalition dissociated themselves from the idea that the party has their best interest in mind. The Libertarians have been overrun by the Nativists. More is involved than banks but imagine the world where the coalition just marched on forever or longer than it did.

    A Look on the Bright Side

    In the Internet Era, we see changes happening faster than ever, more impressive, bigger impact than in any other era in history. Except for the late 1800's when suddenly steam gave way to electricity, lights, refrigeration, modern medicine, mass global immigration and the falling of borders everywhere. (followed shortly by modern nationalism and modern warfare, and whoops, back up went the gates).

    The post-War period brought decolonization from East Asia to the Subcontinent to the Mideast to Africa to Latin America, a period nicely bookmarked by Mandela's release from prison in 1990 - similarly marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union's Communism. 45 years of transition and recovery across most of the world.

    jollyroger's picture

    Superdelegate jiu- jitsu

    There's blood coming outta the ears in Hillary headquarters...

    white death encircles the Donald

    The Donald appears to be particularly favored by voters who live in counties that correlate with higher rates of death for middle aged whites, fewer numbers of college degree holders, and high losses of manufacturing jobs---this, according to an article in WaPo by Jeff Guo, "Death predicts whether people vote for Donald Trump."  Guo entwines his own research with the recent research by Case/Deaton indicating an increase in the death rate of middle aged whites. While all of this research, imo, is tentative, two things seem evident: 1) a huge segment of middle aged whites are in poor health and relatively poorer economic circumstances and 2) the Donald has a message which is resonating with this "group". I question whether either of the Democratic candidates has a grasp of endangered middle aged Whites, and whether this group  could help defeat Democrats this year. Even more importantly, I wonder what the solution is for people who I now see every day in rural Texas and those I grew up with in a small mill town in Ohio.

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