Past Into Future – E. L. Doctorow

There was sad news with the death of one of my favorite authors.   E. L. Doctorow has passed away at the age of 84.  No one was better at writing great fiction to reveal essential realities of life.  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/books/el-doctorow-author-of-historical-fiction-dies-at-84.html?_r=0

Many of his books were made into film, and even as wonderful as some of them were, people almost always said, “The book was better”.  He regularly mined the past to shine a bright light on the present.  The clip above is from the stage musical based on Ragtime.  Every one of the issues mentioned in the opening number set in 1904 are still part of today’s political confrontations.

RIP Mr. Doctorow.  You will be missed.

About Jamie

Retired Writer Editor - Loves Books, Musical Theater, politics for a good argument, genealogy, Scotland and owls
This entry was posted in Fiction, History, Literature, Politics, Trailmix and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

82 Responses to Past Into Future – E. L. Doctorow

  1. Tony says:

    The Trump swarm brings 162 pundits, according to HuffPost’s Sam Stein and Michael Calderone, opining on the Donald.
    screen capture of HuffPost front page

    Over four days, The Huffington Post found 162 people — rival presidential candidates, other politicians, strategists, analysts, journalists and former prisoners of war — have been asked to offer their take on Trump’s comment and/or how it will affect the 2016 primary. [HuffPost]
    http://www.taylormarsh.com/2015/07/the-trump-swarm/
    “THE MEDIA is obsessed, because Donald Trump is bringing ratings in a dull summer season. His political temperature fits the hot public mood at a time when activists are restless on both sides.

    Recently HuffPost announced they’d only cover Trump on their entertainment section. The article on “Trumpsessed!” can be found in the media section.

    Love him or hate him he’s an American original. How you define that depends on where you sit politically and how old you are, too. No one can say Donald Trump hasn’t hit a nerve with a segment of Republicans.

    Trump’s also crowded out the field of GOP candidates, including Jeb Bush, which just about reduced CNN’s Ana Navaro to tears as she waxed philosophical about the grave importance of the presidency and how Donald Trump is ruining it all. I thought she was going to cry. Earnestness is embarrassing when applied to politics.

    Speaking of Jeb, he came out to defend John McCain. Last time a military hero was under national attack was when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth went after John Kerry. Jeb backed Swift-boaters over a Silver Star recipient.

    Can’t wait for their debate.”

    Like

  2. rebelliousrenee says:

    I just read of Doctorow’s passing over on huffpo. I am truly saddened as he was one of my favorites also. R.I.P. E. L.

    Like

  3. rebelliousrenee says:

    “reduced CNN’s Ana Navaro to tears as she waxed philosophical about the grave importance of the presidency and how Donald Trump is ruining it all.”

    Ha… Ana needs to place the blame on the proper entity…. you know… what she’s a part of… the media. All this brou ha ha over one man is their creation. Hey Ana… tell your fellow minions to ignore the crap and to start taking the presidency seriously… they’re beginning to look like bigger chumps than trump.

    Like

  4. patd says:

    so where will the scotus come down on this gun owning issue – right to own and use handgun-firing drones? see cnn’s http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/21/us/gun-drone-connecticut/index.html for video.
    the supremes have to draw a line somewhere or we’re really in trouble.

    Like

  5. patd says:

    http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-episodes/skawjk/july-21–2015—barack-obama
    President Barack Obama sits down with Jon one last time to discuss having senioritis, his relationship with the media and how to engage young people in public service. (22:13)

    Like

  6. patd says:

    sorry for the length, but this could start a bit of firestorm fun on faux so wanted to quote as much as possible
    below from http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/07/21/appeals-court-tosses-blagojevich-prison-sentence/
    The judges vacated Blagojevich’s convictions on five charges that he tried to swap an appointment of Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to the president’s former Senate seat in exchange for any of a number of benefits for Blagojevich — from an appointment to Obama’s cabinet, to a high-paying private sector job, to setting up a well-funded non-profit that Blagojevich could oversee.
    The court said there was an error in the jury instructions for those counts.

    “A jury could have found that Blagojevich asked the President-elect for a private-sector job, or for funds that he could control, but the instructions permitted the jury to convict even if it found that his only request of Sen. Obama was for a position in the Cabinet. The instructions treated all proposals alike. We conclude, however, that they are legally different: a proposal to trade one public act for another, a form of logrolling, is fundamentally unlike the swap of an official act for a private payment,” the court wrote. “Because the instructions do not enable us to be sure that the jury found that Blagojevich offered to trade the appointment for a private salary after leaving the Governorship, these convictions cannot stand.”

    The court said trading one political appointment for another “is a common exercise in logrolling,” and could find no previous criminal convictions based on such actions. They also pointed to a famous deal supposedly struck by former California Governor Earl Warren, who — legend has it — threw his support behind Dwight Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election, in exchange for a nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court after Eisenhower won.

    “If the standard account is true both the President of the United States and the Chief Justice of the United States should have gone to prison,” the court wrote. “Yet although historians and political scientists have debated whether this deal was made, or whether if made was ethical (or politically unwise), no one to our knowledge has suggested that it violated the statutes involved in this case.”

    Like

  7. Pogo says:

    Wow! Those poll numbers that were released in the past few days really look good for the Donald and Hillary. But wait,

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-polls_55aee129e4b07af29d56c102?utm_hp_ref=entertainment&ir=Entertainment&section=entertainment

    President Giuliani and President Gephart, joined by President Lieberman say don’t take the early polls so seriously. Since 2004 exactly two candidates leading the polls in July the year before the election have gone on to win their party’s nomination (Kerry & Romney) and exactly none have won the election. Shrub may have led the ‘pugn polls in 2003 before the ’04 election, but it’s not in the article.

    Like

  8. Pogo says:

    The Onion shoots, and scores from downtown!

    http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/admit-it-you-people-want-see-how-far-goes-dont-you-50895

    Trump couldn’t have said it better.

    Like

  9. patd says:

    tony, purple in tampa, and all other fla tmrs, beware the ‘dilla! just saw this in bbc at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33628312
    Health officials in Florida are warning people to avoid contact with armadillos after a recent rise in leprosy cases linked to the armoured creatures.
    Florida officials have reported nine cases of leprosy already this year – double the normal rate.
    Armadillos are the only animal to carry leprosy, a bacterial disease that affects the skin and nerves.

    and cnn at http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/21/health/florida-leprosy-cases-armadillos-irpt/index.html
    Although the increase in leprosy cases is unusual, Joshi said it can also be attributed to Florida’s growing home development.
    “There is a clear reason why this is happening in Florida,” Joshi said. “New homes are being developed, and we are tearing down armadillos’ homes in the process. Now these creatures are coming out in the daytime, and the people who are getting exposed are those working outside.”

    Like

  10. Tony says:

    Why Netroots Nation Was Exactly the Right Place for a #BlackLivesMatter Protest

    ADELE M. STAN JULY 22, 2015
    When you’re not being heard by your own side, it’s time to make noise.
    http://prospect.org/article/why-netroots-nation-was-exactly-right-place-blacklivesmatter-protest

    Like

  11. since I live in California and saw Arnold Schwarzenegger get elected — I think the Donald could be elected. But I think he would not last in office –six months to resignation or the beginning of impeacement. He’s an idiot who would say shit that would make his own party turn on him

    Like

  12. well impeachment that is

    Like

  13. blueINdallas says:

    Trump is coming to the Tex-Mex border because…”they want to honor” him. Really, who talks like that about themselves? Out loud, I mean.

    The Onion has it right; I am one of those people who wants to see how far he can go.

    It’s not a good think to play a high-stakes game of chicken with the presidency, but I am enjoying it. You just couldn’t ask for more bizarrely hilarious stuff. You don’t even need SNL to mock this stuff.

    Like

  14. blueINdallas says:

    I’ve seen the ad to squash the Iran deal. I hope someone is listening. It’s a crappy, crappy deal…but it’s not because “Persians are great negotiators.” (Trump reminds me of Archie Bunker, some times.) Iran can not be trusted. We will get nothing out of this deal. Nothing. They are laughing at us for even trusting them enough to try to make a deal with them.

    Like

  15. blueINdallas says:

    I read an article that statedTrump is almost g’teed a place in the debates.
    Maybe he will make the rest of the field look less crazy, so maybe he will end up helping them.

    Like

  16. jacew2003 says:

    I am getting to the point where nothing written about Trump interests me. He is either a genuine dick or an entertainment joke gone bad. Either way he has long since outlived his 15 minutes of fame.
    The Donald needs to go now and go quietly.

    Like

  17. Jamie says:

    My whole attitude toward the Iran deal is what do we do instead? If we dump it, what do the allies do? What does Russia do? What does Israel do? Whatever it is, however imperfect, I just don’t see any alternative that isn’t worse.

    Like

  18. Jamie says:

    Would one of you newly minted “editors” like to write anything any time soon?

    Like

  19. blueINdallas says:

    Just watching the dash-can video of Sandra Bland’s traffic stop.

    Hey, my ex-boyfriend’s bro-in-law was a police officer and said that they could be jerks, so just follow orders. He basically said to be afraid of any interaction with police unless you are the one who called for help.

    She could’ve put out her cigarette like he asked. She could’ve have gotten out of the car peacefully after SHE caused things to escalate by refusing to put out her cigarette.

    The officer definitely escalated things very quickly from that point on, but if her family can’t see that she ended up in custody because of her own actions, they are blind. Grief-induced blindness, though. Her family is actually saying that they think she intended to be cooperative. I heard something completely different.

    I feel sorry for her family, but I have no sympathy for her after listening to the audio from the dash-cam. She was belligerent and got into a pissing contest with someone with a badge.

    He should lose his job, too, and they should have some sort of conflict training for officers if they don’t have it already.

    Like

    • Pogo says:

      I disagree. He pulled her over for failing to signal a lane change after he started following her. The stop was lawful, but marginal at best. OK, at that point, get her license and registration and write her a ticket. That’s all that should have happened. It was a trafficd stop for a very minor violation. But that wasn’t enough for him. She was upset and frustrated – and I would have been, too. The officer had no authority to require her to put out her cigarette. Everything appeared to escalate after she refused an unlawful demand by the officer. I lay this directly on the officer. He began the pulling and manhandling to get her our of her car when there was no justifiable reqason to do so. This was IMHO a poorly trained bully with a badge showing that HE was in control and he’d “light [her] up” if she didn’t submit to his bullying. I doubt that the internal review will agree with me, but then something like 2% of internal reviews (regarding use of deadly force at least) find fault with the officer.

      Like

      • Pogo says:

        BTW, according to Huffpo “Encinia has been has been put on desk duty for violating protocol in Bland’s arrest, officials have said.”

        http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sandra-bland-dashcam-video-edits_55af8c58e4b07af29d56d6d9?

        Like

      • Jamie says:

        I won’t necessarily play the “driving while black” card, but it sure was “driving while female”. The big ol’ man got his ego out of joint and being your basic bully in power decided she needed to be put in her place. The stop was marginal, the verbal interchange was over the top, the physical threat and jerking around was decidedly excessive and it all could have been brought to a peaceful conclusion inside of the first 15 minutes of traffic stop. Instead you have a dead woman whether she was depressed or not.

        Like

  20. patd says:

    jamie, you asked “My whole attitude toward the Iran deal is what do we do instead?”
    well, seems likely we go to war which is what the gopers and the media are pining for.
    and as for doubling down and continuing the sanctions? this from lannie davis at http://www.newsmax.com/LannyDavis/iran-nuclear-deal-sanctions/2015/07/23/id/658531/
    “….if the U.S. were to walk away from this deal, there is simply no evidence that the U.S. partners in the sanction regime in Europe, much less Russia and China, would re-impose the sanctions or permit the United Nations to do so.
    And, with a broadly effective sanctions regime unlikely if the U.S. walks away from the deal, does anyone really believe that the Iranian mullahs and hard-liners won’t recommit themselves to developing The Bomb sooner rather than later?”

    the other question is: is it likely and why would the other signatories go out on a limb and sign on/cooperate/coalition with us to anything ever, ever again

    Like

  21. whskyjack says:

    Blue, First, recognize the stop was a driving while black violation. A lane change violation , what did she do use her turn signal , cause nobody else does.
    It was Michael Brown all over again, A bull shit stop with the cop escalating the conflict rather than deescalating it and a person just getting tired of the routine.

    Jack

    Like

  22. patd says:

    bernie tried to warn us back in march: “GOP itching for war”
    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/bernie-sanders-iran-letter-war-115934.html

    and the prez said to the vfw tuesday “The same politicians and pundits that are so quick to reject the possibility of a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program are the same folks who were so quick to go to war in Iraq and said it would only take a few months,”
    http://news.yahoo.com/obama-likens-iran-deal-critics-iraq-war-jingoists-165554124.html

    Like

  23. patd says:

    kerry said it best on npr at http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/20/424735984/in-interview-with-npr-kerry-defends-iran-nuclear-deal-and-cuba-diplomacy
    On Iran, Kerry said if Congress failed to approve a nuclear deal with the country, the results would be disastrous. “I’m telling you, the U.S. will have lost all credibility,” Kerry told Inskeep. “We will not be in the hunt. And if we then decided to use military [after a deal fails], do you believe the United Nations will be with us? Do you think our European colleagues will support us? Not on your life.”

    Like

  24. whskyjack says:

    Iran, Is it a great deal? is it a crappie deal? Not informed enough to tell you and I doubt that all the big brains pontificating are either.
    But, it may be the best we can get. With te Iraq war debacle, Iran has become the dominate power in that part of the world. Sanction have forced the to develop their non oil economy so they have the potential to become a real powerhouse economically too. ( was a good piece on this on PR this morning.) So it easily could be take this agreement or deal with a much worse problem in the future.
    Jack

    Like

  25. whskyjack says:

    Take a week off and the weeds are taking over the world. It has been a wet summer so far. Better get out and tackle some of them before it gets hot.
    Jack

    Like

  26. Pogo says:

    From all I can glean about the Iran deal, it puts in place reductions of Iran’s current enrichment levels, lets IAEA inspect which is not in place now and eases sanctions if Iran complies. If they don’t, I expect sanctions from the US (at least) will be reinstated tout suite. Our frenemies involved in the negotiations and the UN Security Council unanimously approved the deal, and I am guessing they know more about the deal than our pols and press are telling us. Could it have been a stronger deal for us? I don’t know, but our history of negotiations with Iran is not good. The bottom line for me is that the sanctions in place up to now have not prevented Iran from doing what we claim they do w/r/t sponsoring terror, but as with Cuba, that the sanctions aren’t working does not matter to those arguing against a change in our approach. Absent this agreement are Russia and China going to keep sanctions in place? I believe the answer is “hell no.” Now you do the math.

    Like

  27. blueINdallas says:

    pogo – Not sure about the cigarette request, unless second-hand smoke in your work environment (wherever that happens to be) could justify his request.

    Officers can require you to exit the vehicle though, can’t they?

    I agree that it took very little for him to become a violent jerk. Pulling a stun gun on her and threatening her should be enough to get him off of the force permanently, at the very least. Can he be charged with anything?

    She could’ve put out the cigarette at the first request. She could’ve gotten out of the car at the first demand after refusing the put out the cigarette.
    She is not absolved from her part in this conflict. Based on what I heard, she was looking for a problem and she found it. I do feel sorry for her family, though.

    Jack – She was not stopped because she was black. I’m sure there were hundreds of other cars on the road whose drivers were not pulled over because they made no infractions. My ex’s bro-in-law advised me that I had not really been pulled over for having a burned-out bulb over my back plate, but for driving a crappy, old car in a nice neighborhood. However, there was a problem with the car, so that was on me. Had there been no problem, I was told I would’ve probably been followed to the town’s border.

    In Trumpy news, the border patrol is no longer “honoring” him, per their union. I think he’s still in his way to Laredo, though. Have you seen trumpyourcat on Instagram? Hilarious.

    Like

    • Pogo says:

      We’ll have to agree to disagree. Second hand smoke inhis work environment? As much as I hate smoking, even I don’t buy that. Looking for a problem? She was driving down the road. I’d say if either was looking for a problem, it was Encinia. He made sure there was a problem. I doubt that she was stopped because she was black. I doubt that she would have been treated as she was if she was a well turned out white woman or a male of any stripe. It’s the world we live in.

      Trump – going to Laredo. What a joke. And in the center ring….

      Like

  28. Consumer Alert
    NEVER use an alleged national florist called Wesley Berry
    giant rip-off. They claim to be local but it is nothing but an order taking service that rips you off
    according to local consumer agenices not only do they over charge but sometimes they don’t even bother to deliver

    Mr Cracker wanted to send flowers to his sise for her 90th birthday and he got rolled
    they have zero consumer assistance on an order they jacked up to almost 100 dllars

    Like

  29. Flatus says:

    For the record. I signal when I change lanes–especially important if someone is overtaking me from the rear. When I grew-up, good manners dictated that, in the interested of ticket avoidance, one would exit one’s vehicle to greet the officer adjacent to one’s front door. Now, that would probably be seen as being threatening. KumCho and I were stopped in ’97 while enroute to Columbia from St. Pete. I was caught by a trooper using radar going in the opposite direction. As soon as he beeped us, I looked at the speedometer and we were going 65 in a 55 zone. Rather than make him chase us down, I found a safe place to stop and waited for him.

    I opened the window, presented my license, etc., and apologized for speeding on his beat noting that there was very little traffic around. When he told me that I was going 71 in the 55 zone he must have seen the look of genuine surprise on my face. I told him what I thought my actual rate of speed was etc., and said I was totally surprised by the inaccuracy. The end result was a warning. Consider what it would have been if I had lit-up and started wafting smoke in his face while he was trying to do his job? And, when we got to the freeway where they had mile-markers, the speedometer on that car _was_ inaccurate.

    The poor woman is dead. It appears as if she was carrying a lot of baggage that she wasn’t sharing with her family. It’s a tragedy. It’s too damned bad she didn’t have the good manners and sense to put out the cigarette when the officer politely asked. I suspect even if she had never met the cop, she would have found ways to be terribly unhappy in life.

    Like

  30. whskyjack says:

    ” officer politely asked”
    I didn’t see anything polite about that officer. He was slapping a contempt of cop charge on an uppity n****r bitch. it is right there in the video, plain and simple. That woman should have never been in jail and it is time we start doing something about the overly aggressive ass hole police officers in this nation. It was inexcusable for it to have happened and even worse for her to have been held in jail. Which means the system in that town is as corrupt as the individual officer.

    Jack

    Like

    • Tony says:

      I so totally agree! Wow, i’ve watched the video 3 times, can’t do it again.. That poor woman was abused over and over.. In the first place , he said to her, you seem upset, why? Opened the door.. The officer should have given her the ticket and moved on.. Even though the stop was shameful, running up behind her, what would she do but pull over??? Oh and with a cop comming up behind so quickly, please anyone would be lucky to think to signal..

      Like

  31. patd says:

    “it is time we start doing something about the overly aggressive ass hole police officers in this nation”
    jack, like maybe funding the system to hire enough cops to adequately, safely and compassionately do the job rather than working too few spread thin overtime, with little sleep and at low salary. we should be recruiting better with more diversity, training and updating training, supplying each with the right equipment. our whole justice system from the cop on the beat to the judge in the seat to the jail guard to the parole worker is in the same sad shape as other parts of our basic infrastructure like poor schools, crumbling roads, bridges, poor water quality….

    Like

  32. blueINdallas says:

    flatus – Exactly. Take traffic stops seriously and be civil.

    patD – Yes, something needs to be done about out-of-control officers.
    I wonder if everyone could benefit from conflict resolution classes, but especially public servants.

    Trumpy used the border patrol union stopping the border tour to his advantage, saying that this came down from the top & DC doesn’t want people to know how bad things are on the border. To that point, the local news affiliate watched two guys being taken down early this morning. I’m more worried about drug runners using tunnels than a couple of guys making a run for it to take thankless jobs.

    Like

  33. Tony says:

    Poll Shows Most Americans Think Race Relations Are Bad
    By KEVIN SACK and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN

    Like

  34. Tony says:

    The GOP Plan to Stoke Anti-Gay Bigotry in 2016
    Michelangelo Signorile
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/the-gop-plan-to-stoke-ant_b_7856574.html

    Like

  35. Tony says:

    Jeb Bush Says We Should Phase Out Medicare
    He also praises Paul Ryan’s voucher approach.
    Arthur Delaney
    Jeffrey Young
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeb-bush-medicare_55b11e41e4b0a9b94853e9eb?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
    What an Asshole!

    Like

  36. jacew2003 says:

    Am thinking that articles like this are very frustrating to Jim Webb, probably to Craig as well.

    His low key approach to politics may simply not be the way to go. Hard to attract new voters when you are having problems hanging on to early supporters. Then again this is political punditry and little more.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jim-webb-losing-his-early-allies-with-his-quixotic-presidential-bid_55b13a85e4b08f57d5d40724?

    Like

    • Jamie says:

      With apologies to Craig, Mr. Webb may have a different, yet to be fulfilled approach, but what he is projecting is a lack of real interest in the process of campaigning. As such it conveys no real interest in the people he supposedly wants to govern. If the Presidency were an appointive position where only a highly informed crowd had the right to vote, then this approach might work. In today’s media world of highly connected but ill informed voters, he just isn’t breaking through as a viable candidate for POTUS but rather as the next Cabinet appointment by the next President.

      Like

      • Flatus says:

        So far, the high-point of his campaign, IMO, has been his response to GWB’s State of the Union.

        Like

  37. jacew2003 says:

    Jeb wants to do away with medi-care in favor of the Ryan voucher plan.

    You go Jeb! Sounds like a 40 state loser to me.

    Like

  38. patd says:

    from http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/07/23/wing-ding-organizers-question-webbs-iowa-committment/30597229/
    Some Iowans question whether Democrat Jim Webb’s decision to skip a big presidential forum signals he might be backing off making a serious bid here, but his aides say he is looking forward to a “vigourous campaign in Iowa.”

    Webb, a former U.S. senator from Virginia, is the only one of the five Democratic presidential candidates who isn’t coming to the Iowa Wing Ding, an annual fundraiser that’s expected to attract about 1,800 activists to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake on Aug. 14.

    “Someone needs to help him realize how damaging it is to his campaign if he alienates the Iowa caucuses,” Dean Genth, vice chairman of the Cerro Gordo County Democrats, told The Des Moines Register on Thursday.

    Genth, one of the organizers for the Wing Ding, said he hasn’t been able to get an RSVP one way or another from the Webb campaign, despite a series of “painful, lagging communications.”

    But Webb’s spokesman, Craig Crawford, told the Register on Wednesday that Webb wouldn’t be coming because the campaign “had another trip in the works for then, which is firming up.”

    Like

  39. patd says:

    from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-real-gamblers-on-iran/2015/07/23/f21d2ce0-316b-11e5-8f36-18d1d501920d_story.html?hpid=z2
    Fareed Zakaria Opinion writer
    Let’s imagine that the opponents of the nuclear agreement with Iran get their way: The U.S. Congress kills it. What is the most likely consequence? Within one year, Iran would have more than 25,000 centrifuges, its breakout time would shrink to mere weeks and the sanctions against it would crumble. How is this in the United States’ national interest? Or Israel’s? Or Saudi Arabia’s?
    [….]
    The idea that China, Russia and the European Union would maintain sanctions against Iran if Washington turned down a deal that they painstakingly negotiated and fully embrace is far-fetched. China is desperate to buy Iran’s (discounted) oil. Russia is already negotiating to sell it nuclear-power technology and machinery. And the French foreign minister has scheduled a trip to Tehran next week, presumably to do what that country’s diplomats always do: promote French corporate interests.

    Like

    • Pogo says:

      sounds like a great idea to me. Kill the deal. In a world wher ethere were monitors in place, bythe time November 2016 rolls around we who support a deal would be saying, “See, we told you so.” but without the deal the IAEA won’t be there to tell us that Iran is going full speed ahead. Instead, we’ll be sitting on our sanctions and watching Iran do business with the rest of the world. Perhaps instead of pummelling Kerry about a deal I’d wager less than 10% of the bloviating senators have read, the Senate should be asking the British (and Russian and chinese and German) leaders whether they are going to follow the deal or follow the US.

      Like

  40. patd says:

    bbc video & transcript so you can see what was really said before msm messes with it
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33646542
    Barack Obama spoke with the BBC ahead of his trip to East Africa. Here is the full transcript of North America Editor Jon Sopel’s conversation with the US president.

    Like

    • patd says:

      for instance, will the mainstream media run the entirety of his comment on guns:

      “You mentioned the issue of guns, that is an area where if you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I’ve been most frustrated and most stymied it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense, gun-safety laws. Even in the face of repeated mass killings.

      And you know, if you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it’s less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it’s in the tens of thousands. And for us not to be able to resolve that issue has been something that is distressing. But it is not something that I intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months.”

      Like

  41. Flatus says:

    I listened to Ohio Gov John Kasich’s announcement (I was raised in that state). Moderate Republicans are missing a real opportunity if they let the right-wing exclude him from consideration. Ohio is a state, from my recent observations, with a renewed vitality.

    Like

  42. Jamie says:

    In honor of Mr. Trumps visit

    Like

  43. Flatus says:

    Surely this piece must reflect Trumps courage ~~~

    Like

  44. SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco now has nine public walls covered with a repellant paint that makes pee spray back on the person’s shoes and pants.

    The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1CZaqq6 ) Friday that it’s the city’s latest attempt to clean up urine-soaked alleyways and walls.

    Signs reading “Hold it! This wall is not a public restroom. Please respect San Francisco and seek relief in an appropriate place,” hang above some walls.

    The signs don’t explicitly state that the wall will fire back, the newspaper reports.

    Public urination has long been a problem in San Francisco. Legislation banning it in 2002 has seen little success, despite a fine of up to $500.

    The paint has proved to be effective in Europe. It was applied to walls in Hamburg’s St. Pauli quarter, where beer drinkers often can’t be bothered to find a bathroom.

    Like

  45. John %only does things to benefit his funders including Rupert Murdch.
    If Ohio has a revitalized economy it is due to the programs and policies of the prior administration not the work of Kasich who has only dismantled privatized and otherwise gutted services for the middle class and cut taxes for the 1% His hero is former Gov James Rhodes -gov who ordered the National Guard on to the Kent State campus. Kasich is a horrible terrible person with a sunny demeanor

    Like

  46. Flatus says:

    Anybody need anything at Publix? Only 88-deg this pm. The sun must be broken

    Like

  47. Flatus

    I guess relative to the rest of the field but when he was on Fox with his show Heartland he was Mr Teaparty before there was one. I think he is a lot like ScottWalker he hasn’t been as successful – what’s wrong with those cheddar heads anyway?

    Like

  48. Tony says:

    JUST KIDDING2
    DOJ: No Criminal Probe on Hillary
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/07/24/doj-no-criminal-probe-on-hillary.html
    Contrary to a New York Times report, The U.S. Justice Department says it did not receive a request to open a criminal inquiry into whether Hillary Clinton handled sensitive information with her private email account as secretary of state. The Washington Post reports that the Department received only a referral related to the “potential compromise of classified information.” Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat on the House committee investigating the attacks on Benghazi in 2012, said he “spoke personally to the State Department inspector general on Thursday, and he said he never asked the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation of Secretary Clinton’s email usage.”

    Clinton addressed the issue herself during a planned economic speech on Friday at New York University. “I want to say a word about what’s in the news today, and it’s because there have been a lot of inaccuracies as Congressman Cummings made clear this morning. Maybe the heat is getting to everybody,” she said from the podium. “We all have a responsibility to get this right. I have released 55,000 pages of emails I have said repeatedly that I will answer questions before the House [Benghazi] Committee. We are all accountable to the American people to get the facts right and I will do my part. But I’m also going to stay focused on the issues, particularly the big issues that really matter to American families.”

    Like

    • patd says:

      the nytimes seems hell-bent on hurting Hillary. just now searched their latest page which hardly corrected their headline but they did run at bottom of the questionable article this correction:

      Correction: July 24, 2015
      An earlier version of this article and an earlier headline, ​using information from senior government officials, misstated the nature of the referral to the Justice Department regarding Hillary Clinton’s personal email account while she was secretary of state. The referral addressed the potential compromise of classified information in connection with that personal email account. It did not specifically request an investigation into Mrs. Clinton.

      Like

      • Tony says:

        Oh yes, i agree, the NYT’s is out for blood where Hillary is concerned.. Ha, the NYT’s is supposed to be this grand journalistic king, umm, not with sham reporting like this..

        Like

  49. Tony says:

    New York Times Adds A 64-Word Correction To Its Clinton Email Story
    ByCATHERINE THOMPSON
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/nyt-correction-hillary-clinton-emails
    NYT’s just shameful!! Of course they got the click bait off their earlier phony story.. So much for the Liberial media bais were always told exists..

    Like

    • patd says:

      but they didn’t take back that inflammatory headline which will no doubt show up in the goper ads and which live on in google/bing searches.
      wonder who is behind this and why

      Like

  50. Pogo says:

    “The Republican Party’s image has grown more negative over the first half of this year. Currently, 32% have a favorable impression of the Republican Party, while 60% have an unfavorable view. Favorable views of the GOP have fallen nine percentage points since January. The Democratic Party continues to have mixed ratings (48% favorable, 47% unfavorable).”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/24/republican-party-image-decline_n_7864092.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

    Ya pays your money and ya takes your chances – and ya get what ya pay (or in this case vote) for.

    Like

  51. patd says:

    from http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-mcdonalds-iran-20150724-story.html
    Since the July 14 announcement of the deal, the question of McDonald’s return to Iran — a possible byproduct of the anticipated lifting of Western economic sanctions — has stirred a storm on social media and in dueling reformist and hard-line newspapers.

    Many young Iranians are excited by the prospect of a quarter pounder and supersized fries. Others express despair that a preeminent symbol of American culture may not return soon enough — or possibly ever.

    “Goodbye falafel – hello McDonalds!”

    Like

  52. in the spirit maybe the mcd will have falafel..most franchises have some nod to local food culure
    in maine macd’s serve lobster rolls

    Like

  53. patd says:

    from http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ted-cruz-to-gop-leader-you-lied/2015/07/24/6a967690-3225-11e5-97ae-30a30cca95d7_story.html?hpid=z3
    Firebrand Republican senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz did something surprising in the Senate Friday: He accused the head of his party, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, of lying to his colleagues.

    “We know now that when the majority leader looks us in the eyes and makes an explicit commitment, that he is willing to say things that he knows are false,” Cruz (Tex.) said. “That has consequences for how this body operates.”

    Like

  54. Tony says:

    Jeb Bush is flirting with disaster: Why his latest anti-Medicare fearmongering could sink his campaign
    Bush has begun insisting that Medicare needs to be “phased out.” Not only is that wrong, it’s also toxic VIDEO
    HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
    http://www.salon.com/2015/07/24/jeb_bush_is_flirting_with_disaster_why_his_latest_anti_medicare_fearmongering_could_sink_his_campaign/

    Like

  55. Tony says:

    Paul Krugman kneecaps Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan, devastates Koch Brothers and bankrupt “voucher” ideology
    “Who could have imagined conservatives would keep proposing exact same policy despite evidence that they’re wrong?”
    SALON STAFF
    http://www.salon.com/2015/07/24/paul_krugman_kneecaps_jeb_bush_and_paul_ryan_devastates_koch_brothers_and_bankrupt_voucher_ideology/

    Like

  56. blueINdallas says:

    I would just like the debates to begin.

    Like

  57. 2015
    August 6, 2015 – 9pm ET
    Fox News Republican Debate
    Aired On: Fox News Channel
    Location: Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH
    Sponsors: Fox News, facebook
    Moderators: Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace
    Rules: Top 10 candidates in an average of 5 national polls
    Candidates: To be determined
    Notes: Fox News has added a candidate forum at 1pm ET the same day for candidates who don’t make the debate cut

    Read more at http://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2016-debate-schedule/2016-republican-primary-debate-schedule/#GvRjVBp1Vttq0HVC.99

    Like

  58. Jamie says:

    New post for the weekend.

    Like

Leave a comment