April, 2016 archive
Tax Havens 0
BadTux has a theory as to why so few Americans were named in the Panama Papers.
Here’s the gist; follow the link for the full discussion:
Image via Job’s Anger.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Demonstrate courtesy on the public thoroughfares.
She honked at the car, which then slowed down next to her driver side, and a passenger shot at her multiple times with a black handgun, Elder said.
Just another day in NRA paradise.
And, in more news of the polite, just how stupid do you have to be not to ensure that your gun is unloaded before you fondle it lustfully clean it? Inquiring minds want to know.
QOTD 0
Shawnee Smith as Linda in Becker:
The great thing about intelligent people is they’re not that bright.
The Voter Fraud Fraud (Updated) 0
TPM reports that a disillusioned ex-GOP staffer has confirmed that voter ID is a con and a fraud. An excerpt (emphasis added):
“He was immediately shot down by another senator who said, ‘What I am interested in is getting results here and using the power while we have it, because if the Democrats were in control they would do they same thing to us, so I want to use it while we have it,’” Allbaugh said.
Allbaugh said Schultz left the meeting in frustration after that, while he stayed behind to continue taking notes.
“It left a pit in my stomach to think that a party that I had worked for for years and years and years was literally talking and plotting to deny someone, a fellow citizen, their constitutional right,” Allbaugh said.
That, of course, surprises no one who has been paying attention. What is notable is that Republicans are starting to admit it, some inadvertently and some, as in this case, shamefacedly.
Addendum, the Next Morning:
Speaking of voter fraudsters . . . .
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness takes practice.
The Northwest State Law Enforcement Academy was at the range training when a student was shot in the back by another student.
“I Want To Teach the World To Sing
in Perfect Hegemony”
0
At the Boston Review, Stephen Kinzer interviews Andrew Bacevich on the mess in the Middle East and how it got way. Bacevich argues convincingly that it’s all about the oil, complicated by hubris and misunderstanding, in short, a desire to be God Emperors of Dunes.
A snippet:
AB: The rationales were becoming more diffuse. Yes, oil remained a core interest—not only oil to be consumed at home but also oil to fuel the rest of the industrialized world, meaning many of our allies. But by this stage, there is something else: an effort, however ill-considered and lacking in specificity, to capitalize on the end of the Cold War, claiming the mantle of sole superpower, with U.S. military supremacy the ultimate manifestation of that status. Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, the United States attempted to assert hegemony over a large part of the Islamic world. Again, there was no master plan. It was haphazard. It was arrogant. It was undertaken without any appreciation for the complexities involved or for what exertions hegemony would actually require.
Read the rest.
Animal House 2
Der Spiegel takes a look at the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. What it sees is not pretty. A nugget:
It’s not just the two bullies at the top who are to blame. Their rise was made possible through a decline in values such as decency, honesty, tolerance and fairness — a process that has been hastened by the Republican Party more than anyone else. For too long, it has pursued fiscal, economic and social policies that served only companies and the rich, the financial backers of their election campaigns.
I was wondering this morning whether it would be accurate to suggest that the Republican Party is no longer a political party in any recognizable sense, but, rather, large and unruly cabal.
Just thinking out loud, mind you.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Not much change, but still under 300k.
(snip)
Economists’ estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 261,000 to 290,000. Applications in the prior week were unrevised at 276,000.
The four-week average, a less volatile measure than the weekly claims numbers, increased to 266,750 last week from 263,250.
Bad Medicine, Bad Bad Medicine . . . 0
. . . but good news.
The $160bn (£113bn) deal, announced in November, was thrown into doubt following the move by the US Treasury on Monday to make so-called tax inversion deals, by which corporations relocate their headquarters to countries with a lower tax rate, less financially appealing.
Great Moments in You Get What You Pay For (Updated) 1
Facing South points out that among those businesses protesting North Carolina’s “It’s Okay To Hate the Gay” law are a number that helped fund the election of the legislators who sponsored and supported it.
But many of these same businesses funded two outside political groups that helped elect five of the bill’s sponsors, 13 other legislators who voted for it, and McCrory, who immediately signed the measure into law. Outside groups are unaffiliated with campaigns and are not allowed to coordinate with candidates.
At least 36 companies that have come out against HB2 so far have given a combined $10.8 million to those Washington, D.C.-based groups, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) and the Republican Governors Association (RGA), in recent election cycles.
I have nothing to add, because actions speak louder etc.
Details at the link.
Addendum, Comment Rescue Dept.:
George Smith commented:
Why don’t they just start calling these things Pink Triangle laws?
He has a point.
Southern Hospitality 0
I think I’ve told this story before, but it’s still relevant.
My Daddy had a friend* who was a high school science teacher and coach (yes, a high school coach who was smart enough to teach science–who woulda thunk?) and later school superintendent. During the late 60s he was amongst a delegation to an educators convention in New Orleans. They decided to carpool to New Orleans.
Remember, this was during the Civil Rights campaigns of the mid-last century.
Later, he told my father that the trip was fine, except that, when they got to Mississippi, the atmosphere was so hostile that they felt as if they had to adopt fake Southern accents, despite being white Southerners from a Jim Crow state and already having Southern accents.
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*My first baseball glove was a hand-me-down from him. He was a good and decent person, a person of integrity.