Take it to our graves
by digby
Seriously people. I don’t mean to sound hysterical. I’m not generally a hysterical person. But this is gut check time.
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"what digby sez..."
Month: July 2016
She’s just a cute comedienne, right?
by digby
There is one good thing about Trump’s candidacy. It’s clarifying. The outright racists and xenophobes supporting him are just letting it all hang out:
I like hearing CNN’s Fareed Zakaria ask in a thick Indian accent, “What kind of America do we want to return to?
Now, Australian Danielle Pletka says Trump sounds like a national leader “OF RUSSIA.” Pro Tip: Try to get Americans tell us what’s American.
That was Ann Coulter on twitter, by the way.
Both Zakaria and Pletka are Americans.
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Trump QOTD
by digby
“I think it’s so sad. He’s such a great guy. Roger is – I mean, what he’s done on television, is in the history of television, he’s gotta be placed in the top three, or four or five,” Trump said. “And that includes the founding of the major networks. So, it’s too bad. I’m sure it was friendly. I know Rupert [Murdoch]. He’s a great guy.”“Rupert has great respect for Roger and everything Roger’s done. But when you think about Roger Ailes, in the history of television, there’s really been almost no instances where something like this has been done,” he said.
What the hell?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2016
I just don’t know what to say about that. I guess the amount of applause for his speech is his new bragging point? I don’t get it.
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And yet another one says good-bye
by digby
A longtime Republican activist whose blog is called “GOPlifer” posted this yesterday, via Raw Story:
Yesterday I resigned my position in the York Township Republican Committeemen’s Organization. Below is the letter I sent to the chairman explaining my decision.
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Chairman Cuzzone:
We come together in political parties to magnify our influence. An organized representative institution can give weight to our will in ways we could not accomplish on our own. Working with others gives us power, but at the cost of constant, calculated compromise. No two people will agree on everything. There is no moral purity in politics.
If compromise is the key to healthy politics, how does one respond when compromise descends into complicity? To preserve a sense of our personal moral accountability we must each define boundaries. For those boundaries to have meaning we must have the courage to protect them, even when the cost is high.
Almost thirty years ago as a teenager in Texas, I attended my first county Republican convention. As a college student I met a young Rick Perry, fresh from his conversion to the GOP, as he was launching his first campaign for statewide office. Through Associated Republicans of Texas I contributed and volunteered for business-friendly Republican state and local candidates.
Here in DuPage County I’ve been a precinct committeeman since 2006. Door to door I’ve canvased my precinct in support of our candidates. Trudging through snow, using a drill to break the frozen ground, I posted signs for candidates on whom I pinned my hopes for better government. Among Illinois Republicans I found an organization that seemed to embody my hopes for the party nationally. Pragmatic, sensible, and focused on solid government, it seemed like a GOP Jurassic Park, where the sensible, reliable Republicans of old still roamed the landscape.
At the national level, the delusions necessary to sustain our Cold War coalition were becoming dangerous long before Donald Trump arrived. From tax policy to climate change, we have found ourselves less at odds with philosophical rivals than with the fundamentals of math, science and objective reality.
The Iraq War, the financial meltdown, the utter failure of supply-side theory, climate denial, and our strange pursuit of theocratic legislation have all been troubling. Yet it seemed that America’s party of commerce, trade, and pragmatism might still have time to sober up. Remaining engaged in the party implied a contribution to that renaissance, an investment in hope. Donald Trump has put an end to that hope.
From his fairy-tale wall to his schoolyard bullying and his flirtation with violent racists, Donald Trump offers America a singular narrative – a tale of cowards. Fearful people, convinced of our inadequacy, trembling before a world alight with imaginary threats, crave a demagogue. Neither party has ever elevated to this level a more toxic figure, one that calls forth the darkest elements of our national character.
With three decades invested in the Republican Party, there is a powerful temptation to shrug and soldier on. Despite the bold rhetoric, we all know Trump will lose. Why throw away a great personal investment over one bad nominee? Trump is not merely a poor candidate, but an indictment of our character. Preserving a party is not a morally defensible goal if that party has lost its legitimacy.
Watching Ronald Reagan as a boy, I recall how bold it was for him to declare ‘morning again’ in America. In a country menaced by Communism and burdened by a struggling economy, the audacity of Reagan’s optimism inspired a generation.
Fast-forward to our present leadership and the nature of our dilemma is clear. I watched Paul Ryan speak at Donald Trump’s convention the way a young child watches his father march off to prison. Thousands of Republican figures that loathe Donald Trump, understand the danger he represents, and privately hope he loses, are publicly declaring their support for him. In Illinois our local and state GOP organizations, faced with a choice, have decided on complicity.
Our leaders’ compromise preserves their personal capital at our collective cost. Their refusal to dissent robs all Republicans of moral cover. Evasion and cowardice has prevailed over conscience. We are now, and shall indefinitely remain, the Party of Donald Trump.
I will not contribute my name, my work, or my character to an utterly indefensible cause. No sensible adult demands moral purity from a political party, but conscience is meaningless without constraints. A party willing to lend its collective capital to Donald Trump has entered a compromise beyond any credible threshold of legitimacy. There is no redemption in being one of the “good Nazis.”
I hereby resign my position as a York Township Republican committeeman. My thirty-year tenure as a Republican is over.
Sincerely,
Chris Ladd
That is in keeping with my observations about what’s happening to the Republican party right now.
This is not normal folks. Longtime activists don’t leave the Republican party because they disagree with their candidate on some issues. They just don’t do that. They are very loyal soldiers. The fact that this is happened, and he is not the only one, and for the reasons its happening is a big deal.
It’s also a hopeful sign and I’m not being partisan. There will always be (at least) two parties in this country and it’s important that they both be healthy institutions that are dedicated to the basic ideals of democratic governance. The Republicans have gone off the rails in recent years and have become nihilistic obstructionists in a way that is dangerous enough that it’s produced this authoritarian demagogue as their nominee. It’s healthy that Republicans themselves see this and are brave enough to take public action.
The once and future leaders like Paul Ryan have tried to have it both ways and history will not be kind.
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Just your average field hospital in America
by Tom Sullivan
Patients wait in line for free health care at the Wise County fairgrounds.
Dentists and assistants work with headlamps and floor lights and under a large, open-sided event tent. There are no overhead lights, so lighting is bad. Power cables, air and water hoses snake across the open ground. There is a steady hum of generators and air compressors. A line of patients line up outside a barn for medical check-in. Others sit patiently in the wooden stands of horse arena, waiting for their numbers to be called. This is a county fairgrounds in southwest Virginia. It is the second day of the 17th annual Remote Area Medical (RAM) free clinic in the town of Wise. This is coal country, and the fairgrounds has been converted into a massive MASH unit.
Dentists consult under the big tent.
“Five-fifty and below,” a volunteer tells patients as they line up outside the barn. He asks to see their tickets. Over 1,300 got tickets before dawn on Friday. Eight-hundred more on Saturday. These are citizens who have fallen through the cracks of America’s for-profit health care system. Obamacare has not reached them. Poor mostly. Out of work. Laid off. Left behind.
At the 2011 clinic, a pregnant woman’s water broke. She didn’t want to leave and lose her place in line:
An ambulance standing by eventually took her to town in time to have her child in a hospital instead of an animal stall. The child might have been the first ever born at a RAM free clinic. But not without a number, joked one of RAM’s 1,700 volunteers.
Far from Washington’s “debt crisis” abstractions is another crisis, an American reality one cannot describe in words nor experience secondhand.
Stan Brock founded Knoxville-based RAM in 1985 to parachute mobile medical teams into remote areas of third-world countries. Now over 60 percent the patients RAM serves are in rural areas of the United States. Brock himself lives where he stores his supplies, in an old schoolhouse RAM rents from the city of Knoxville for $1 a year. Brock himself is reportedly penniless.
Those old enough might remember Brock from Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom.”
Although gas is cheaper, the patient parking lot looks less full that on my previous visits. License tags on cars (some filled with blankets and pillows) were from Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. (In the past, I’ve see tags from as far away as Michigan.) Perhaps because with so many volunteers, Friday’s efforts had processed many of those who arrived Thursday night to camp out in their cars and tents. The volunteer lot was full and overflowing to the other side of Hurricane Rd.
Wise County Virginia fairgrounds.
Inside the fairgrounds, state medical association trailers provide advanced diagnosis and treatment on site. Most of the treatment here is dental care not covered by most insurance policies (for those who have policies). There are lot of bad teeth here. A line of student volunteers clean and sterilize instruments just outside the big tent. They come from the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, students and staff, and the Virginia Dental Association Mission of Mercy. More church and community groups then one can count are here. The Lions Club makes glasses and provides free meals. Popup tents feature Zika virus prevention, circulation and diabetes checks. There are free books and free clothes. On this weekend in July, everything here is free.
Extractions are commonplace at the Wise clinic.
From minor surgery to dentures and more.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam visited on Friday. I met Derek Kitts there yesterday. Kitts, “a self-described Blue Dog Democrat,” is a 24-year army veteran running for Congress in Virginia’s 9th District. I met Sen. Tim Kaine at the RAM clinic in 2013. It is an annual pilgrimage for state leaders. McAuliffe was impressed with the efforts of the volunteers:
But I am equally saddened that this clinic is necessary.
For most of the men, women and children who come here each summer, it is the only medical attention they will receive.
They wait a year for the fairground to be transformed into a field hospital.
They line up at midnight.
And the wait is worth it. Indeed, the RAM clinic saves lives every year by providing critical care for high-risk pregnancies, heart attacks and even brain tumors.
Many of the clinic’s patients have jobs, but they earn too much to qualify for our current Medicaid system and too little to qualify for low-cost health insurance on the federal marketplace.
Some are disabled. Some can’t find work.
The tragedy of the RAM clinic is that we have the ability as Virginians to provide these people with high-quality health care year round — if we will accept federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage in our Commonwealth.
Government intransigence is a roadblock for Stan Brock as well. The eighty-ish Brock has a noticeable limp and uses a golf cart to get around the fairgrounds. He would take his health fair to more states, but is based in Tennessee because its reciprocity laws for volunteer medical staff are the most lenient. Thirteen states have changed their laws, Brock says. That allows RAM to set up clinics in their states. Oklahoma works just fine, he said. He has held clinics in Oklahoma City.
Remote Aree Medical (RAM) founder Stan Brock.
RAM held a large clinic in Los Angeles after California adjusted its law, according to Brock. “Arnold signed it”, he said meaning Gov. Schwarzenegger. But then someone found a way to “screw it up.” Medical boards erected new hoops — acceptance criteria, fingerprints, forms, registration, etc. Only four of his volunteers were willing to jump through all the new hoops. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle in Washington support a more uniform national set of standards for reciprocity, but then again many do not. “States rights,” he says.
Brock speaks with some of his patients.
Asked whether the parking lot indicated the crowd was down this year, Brock explained the trick is not to turn anyone away and to make sure they don’t have any more than about 200 left to treat on Sunday morning. So far this weekend they have not had to turn anyone away.
Brock had to pause speaking periodically because across the way at Becky’s Place, a yellow and white tent from the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, a guy with a loudspeaker was promoting a cervical cancer informational training about to happen. Come for the drawing, he said. “A $50 gift certificate from Walmart. And couldn’t we all use that?” How much medical care could you buy with it?
Aging gracefully (and not) – Older than Ireland **** & Absolutely Fabulous **½
By Dennis Hartley
Tell me, muse, of the storyteller who has been thrust to the edge of the world, both an infant and an ancient, and through him reveal everyman. With time, those who listened to me became my readers. They no longer sit in a circle, but rather sit apart. And one doesn’t know anything about the other. I’m an old man with a broken voice, but the tale still rises from the depths, and the mouth, slightly opened, repeats it as clearly, as powerfully. A liturgy for which no one needs to be initiated to the meaning of words and sentences – Wings of Desire, script by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke & Richard Reitinger
They say that with age, comes wisdom. Just don’t ask a centenarian to impart any, because they are likely to smack you right in the kisser. Not that there is even a hint of any violence in Alex Fegan and Garry Walsh’s documentary, Older than Ireland, but there appears to be consensus among their interviewees (all aged from 100-113 years) that the question they find to be most irksome is: “What’s your secret to living so long?”
But once that hurdle is cleared, Fegan and Walsh’s subjects have much to impart in this wonderfully entertaining (and ultimately moving) pastiche of the human experience. The wordplay of the film title refers to its release on the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising (the birth of the Irish Republic), and the fact that all interviewees were born beforehand.
These aren’t luminaries, just everyday folks. But everyone has a story to tell; particularly someone who can say they’ve seen everything from World War I to Snapchat during their lifetime. Yet this isn’t necessarily a dry history lesson, either. A collection of personal histories, perhaps; but instantly and universally relatable. From memories of a first kiss (or sneaking off for “a snoggle in the ditch”, as one woman amusingly recalls) to remembering tragedy and loss. Or contemplating the conundrum of outliving everybody who ever meant anything to you; once considered, do you really hope you’ll live to 100?
So turn off your personal devices for 80 minutes, watch this wondrous film and plug into humankind’s forgotten backup system: the Oral Tradition. You may not discover The Secret to Eternal Life (which I’m convinced has everything to do with “genetics”, considering the one interviewee always seen puffing away and another who says she’s “never eaten a vegetable in [her] life”), but you just may learn something about yourself.
The world has changed and strangely enough caught up with the Ab Fab women because in those days, it was shocking – women drinking too much, staying out, not caring, doing stuff like that. Social media didn’t exist. [ ] And now the world is much more sensitive. People take offence at the smallest things, which in those days were just funny. In the future, it’s going to be harder to write anything. – Joanna Lumley (in a Stylist interview)
While you may assume Ms. Lumley (above right), one of the stars of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is referring to the 1950s when she says “those days”, she is actually referring to the 1990s…which is when she originally assumed the character of “Patsy Stone” in the popular Britcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992-1996, later revived 2001-2004). The BBC series was the brainchild of brilliantly funny writer/actress Jennifer Saunders, casting herself as the other half of this fabulous duo, Edina Monsoon.
Edina is a PR agent, whose biggest client is Lulu (yes, that Lulu, who played herself to amusing effect in the TV series and reappears in the new film). Patsy is a magazine editor, and Edina’s BFF. While they both have “jobs” (in a manner of speaking), we rarely see them “working”, in the traditional sense. They expend most of their time cringingly attempting to ingratiate themselves with London’s hippest tastemakers, fashionistas, pop stars, and hottest actors/actresses du jour. For the most part, they’re snubbed (or ignored altogether). Yet they persevere, when not otherwise busy imbibing champagne and/or any drug they are within snorting distance of. Patsy, in particular, is always on the pull; usually for younger men (there’s a switch). Bad behavior all around.
Back to Lumley’s observations for a moment. I’m going to risk crucifixion here (won’t be the first time) and heartily concur with her point regarding the intersection of P.C. and Funny these days. Now, I’m a card-carryin’, tree-huggin’, NPR-listenin’ pinko lib’rul, and I fully understand the subjective nature of humor. But speaking as a lifelong comedy fan (and ex-standup performer myself), I remain a firm believer in the credo that in comedy, nothing is sacred. I don’t always agree with Bill Maher, but I’m with him 100% on his crusade to call out a new Bizarro World Hays Code from a portion of the Left that has even forced mainstream fixtures like Jerry Seinfeld to swear off playing college gigs.
In light of today’s techy climate for comedy, another principal character in Absolutely Fabulous, Edina’s daughter Saffron (played by Julia Sawalha, also reprising her original role in the film) almost seems a prescient creation on Saunders’ part. Saffron, who progressed from secondary school to university through the course of the original series, was really the only “adult” character in the household. Dour, disapproving, and very P.C. (long before the term became so de rigueur) she did her best to keep her mother in line (rarely succeeding, to her chagrin). So here you have the child lecturing the parent to get home at a decent hour, lay off the drugs, be more financially responsible, etc. Patsy, as Edina’s longtime chief enabler, views Saffron as a party-pooper (ergo her mortal enemy).
The show was not for all tastes; personally, I loved it. “Bad taste”, in the right hands, can make for some grand entertainment (John Waters’ oeuvre comes to mind). It was pretty outrageous, and very British; which is probably why we never saw an American remake (would never work anyway). In a roundabout way, it was also feminist-positive; and the world has in fact “caught up with the Ab Fab women”, as evidenced by the success of HBO’s Girls, plus a recent slew of Comedy Central originals like Inside Amy Schumer, Another Period, and Broad City (the latter program comes closest to Ab Fab in attitude).
And so it is that the big screen adaptation (written by Saunders and directed by Mandie Fletcher), despite being at least 20 years tardy to cash in on its TV legs, surprisingly manages to retain its original ethos without really seeming that anachronistic. That is not to say that you should expect it to be much deeper than a sitcom episode. Which it isn’t.
The plot, of course, is completely ridiculous; Edina and Patsy get a hot tip that supermodel Kate Moss has dumped her PR person, so they weasel their way into a chic soiree (which they naturally would never be invited to attend), and somehow the overly-enthusiastic Edina knocks Kate over a railing into the murky depths of the Thames. Assuming (along with fellow attendees) that she has just sent one of the world’s most famous models to a watery grave, Edina and Patsy panic and flee to the South of France.
Does hilarity ensue? I wouldn’t rank it with Some Like it Hot (which is cleverly referenced in the final scene), but it is colorful, campy, over-the-top, and yes, politically incorrect…but quite amusing. And perhaps it does have something to say about social media feeding frenzies and mob mentality. You may forget what you watched by the time you get back to your car, but it sure is fun while it lasts. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
More reviews at Den of Cinema
—Dennis Hartley
He is their voice
by digby
Finally, someone is speaking up for the oppressed:
Trump’s base, however, continues to be white men. An ABC News/Washington Post poll released early last month showed Trump with a huge 60 percent to 26 percent advantage among that demographic. It might not be enough for Trump to secure a general election victory — thanks to his unpopularity with others groups, Trump trailed Clinton overall in that same ABC poll — but it was enough to secure the Republican nomination.
During a CNN interview this morning, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) acknowledged the Trump phenomenon for what it is — identity politics for white men.
While opining about Trump’s RNC-closing speech, Duffy said, “There’s a viewpoint that says, ‘I can fight for minorities, and I can fight for women,’ and if you get that, you make up a vast majority of the voting block and you win. And white males have been left aside a little bit in the politics of who speaks to them.”
Duffy’s implication is that in Trump, white guys have finally found a candidate who speaks to their concerns.
They shall overcome some day.
This is the truth though. It’s at the heart of the whole anti-PC appeal of Trump. He’s the voice of the white people who believe that America belongs to them and that white men and the women who adore them are the ones who get to decide who’s in charge. It’s their choice as to who they allow to be here and participate. Democracy is challenging that view and they don’t like it.
Samantha Bee talked to few of these fine folks:
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Kasich says Trump will lose Ohio (heh)
by digby
If he has anything to do with it anyway:
“Ohio’s a snapshot of the country. People in Ohio want to see a positive agenda, a positive way to move forward,” Kasich told Philly.com, calling Trump a “divider.”
“My position is, I’d like to see Donald become a unifier and positive. We just have some fundamental disagreements including a few areas: trade, immigration, foreign policy,” he added.
Kasich, who mounted his own GOP presidential run, has not endorsed Trump, the Republican nominee for president. He did not attend last week’s Republican Nacional Convention in his home state.
“Without an endorsement, I thought it would be inappropriate for me to go in there and make some kind of a talk,” he said.
“There will be no way that I’m going to vote for Hillary Clinton. As for what I do in the end, I don’t know,” he added.
Also Trump casually dropped the idea of funding a Superpac against Cruz yesterday in his press conference yesterday and then a “source” (probably him) told Bloomberg he was going to fund one against Kasich too. I’m fairly sure Kasich heard about it.
And the problem for Trump — and the stupidity of picking a fight with him — is that Kasich opposing him means that he isn’t putting his political organization behind electing him. That matters a great deal for Trumpie because he has no organization of his own.
Trump picking fights with any members of the GOP at this late date is just — well, idiotic. He can’t build a real campaign. It’s too late. So he’s dependent on the existing party infrastructure. Some will help. But Ohio is pivotal, he should win it with Kasich at the helm and he just couldn’t get it done.
The alleged master of the “Art of the Deal” couldn’t get a deal with a fellow Republican politician. But I’m sure the leaders of Iran, China, Russia, ISIS etc are very impressed with his gigantic fingers and they’ll fall right into line.
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Get ready for the onslaught
by digby
Here’s what we can expect from the right wing as we go into the General Election:
It’s from this moment from a month or so ago when she turned to unexpectedly find someone with a microphone right up in her face. I’m pretty sure it was just a comic reaction but sure… she had a seizure. She’s old. Good thing that sprightly Donald Trump is around to pick up the pieces.
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