Daily Clips: June 29, 2016

June 29, 2016 Paul Constant

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CRISIS AVERTED FOR PUERTO RICO? Russell Berman at The Atlantic writes : Puerto Rico appears likely to be able to stave off a default on $2 billion in bond payments due Friday after the U.S. Senate advanced legislation allowing the island territory to restructure its debt. An unusual, bipartisan coalition of senators pushed the PROMESA Act past the needed 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster, allowing for a final vote on the measure in advance of the July 1 deadline. WATER IS WET: In case anyone ever doubted, Reuters has confirmed that Donald Trump is encouraging racism with his campaign: Supporters of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump are more likely to describe African Americans as “criminal,” “unintelligent,” “lazy” and “violent” than voters who backed some Republican rivals in the primaries or who support Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. ARE MEN THE PROBLEM WITH ECONOMICS? Malcolm Harris at The New Republic profiles a newly translated book by Swedish writer Katrine Marçal which argues that economics is too masculine: “Only a man, [Marçal] suggests, would imagine independence rather than dependence as the basis for the human condition. Individualists make the mistake of economic thinking: They forget about their mothers.” TWEET OF THE DAY: Just seeing video from Turkey. It proves ISIS will attack Muslims as well. They're against civilization, not just the West. — Derek Young (@DerekMYoung) June 29, 2016

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If You’re a Human, You’re Political.

June 28, 2016 Paul Constant

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2016, Pop Culture

Barry Petchetsky at Deadspin reports that sportscaster Adam Schefter was asked if politics belongs in sports reporting. Here’s part of his response: No. Politics is not a normal day-to-day topic of discussion and reporting. It does not impact how we go about our jobs. Sports figures who publicize their political viewpoints only serve to divide the audience. People are drawn to sports as an escape from politics. Petchetsky dismantles Schefter’s argument beautifully, pointing out that most of the major sports stories that Schefter has commented on are in some way or another political in nature, including stories about labor, the high cost of universities, and the Orlando shooting. Petchetsky concludes, “the truly baffling part here is that Schefter (and so many like him) don’t see anything political about this stuff. The only way to cover sports without introducing politics is to cover it dishonestly.” I highlight this post for two reasons. First, it’s wonderfully written and well-argued. Second, it’s true for everyone. Everything is political. Yes, that “brainless” movie you just watched at the multiplex was political — if you didn’t detect an agenda, it very likely reinforced gender norms, political opinions, and other underlying societal premises. Politics is how we as humans navigate conflicts and other societal debates. Politics are hardwired into our brains and our lives. Avoiding politics would be like avoiding air, or avoiding sunlight. It has been said many times before, but it always deserves repeating because people like Schefter never seem to learn: being apolitical is a thoroughly political position. If you decide not to see the political nature of things, or if you decide not to live in the world as a political person, you are ceding the conversation to literally anyone else. One of the most common reasons why people complain about sports and movies getting “too political”
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Daily Clips: June 28, 2016

June 28, 2016 Paul Constant

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Daily Clips

OH, DONALD: The headline of this Washington Post story says it all: “Trump promised millions to charity. We found less than $10,000 over 7 years.” It’s becoming increasingly apparent that Trump is not worth anything near the billions that he claims. THE FACE OF WASHINGTON IS CHANGING: The Seattle Times‘s delightful FYI Guy, Gene Balk, reports that Washington state is getting less white: New data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that small-town Washington — from Ocean Shores to Spokane Valley and everywhere in between — is becoming less white. Since the start of the decade, non-Hispanic whites have declined as a percentage of the population in all 39 counties in Washington. In King County and six others, the white population dropped by at least 3 percentage points in the past five years. For God’s sake, whatever you do, don’t read the comments on that story. SUPREME COURT CONTINUES TO DEFEND ABORTION RIGHTS: Hot on the heels of yesterday’s strong support of abortion clinics , the Supreme Court has blocked a pair of similar cases , thereby proving that yesterday’s decision was not a fluke: The U.S. Supreme Court let stand lower court rulings on Tuesday that blocked restrictions on doctors who perform abortions in Mississippi and Wisconsin a day after the court struck down a similar measure in Texas. TWEET OF THE DAY: this is literally the line of a super villain https://t.co/zJSaf64xH5 — Elena Cresci (@elenacresci) June 28, 2016

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The Dangers of I-Do-Me-ism

June 27, 2016 Paul Constant

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2016, Donald Trump

The Donald Trump quote in this tweet really hammered something home for me: When questioned about how using “Pocahontas” is consistent w/ talk of a new ‘Trump 2.0,’ Trump told @HallieJackson , “I don’t care. I do me.” — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 27, 2016 It strikes me that this could and should be the slogan for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign: “I don’t care. I do me.” Trump’s malignant brand of populism is founded and fostered on the idea that the individual comes first, at the expense of society. I’ve already written about Trump’s disastrous business style , which is predicated on an “I do me” platform, but in politics this philosophy is even more destructive. Trump’s I-do-me-ism is based on the idea that a very particular individual—white, male, Christian—comes first. Everybody else gets scraps, if they get anything at all. In Trump’s ideal America, for example, white women can work and vote but they’d better not get uppity about the pay gap, or sexual harassment. Immigrants get sent home. Muslims are profiled and harassed until they get the message that they’re not welcome. “I don’t care. I do me” is also the message that the British people sent in last week’s Brexit vote. When leaders like Boris Johnson promise that Britain will have all the benefits of EU membership without any of the expenses, he’s promoting a me-first attitude that foregoes any ideas of community or responsibility. The strains of populism and nationalism on the march today are rooted in racism. Racism is what happens when you throw empathy in the garbage. Trump’s rallies have emboldened white supremacists to a level that we haven’t seen in America’s public spaces since the 1960s. And racist incidents have skyrocketed in Britain , post-Brexit. Let’s be clear: Trump and Brexit are not happening in a vacuum. It’s easy to convince people to promote a racist, harmful political ideology
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Daily Clips: June 27, 2016

June 27, 2016 Paul Constant

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Daily Clips

SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN TEXAS ABORTION RESTRICTIONS: This is a huge deal. From NPR : The Supreme Court has overturned a Texas law requiring clinics that provide abortions to have surgical facilities and doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. The law was predicted to close many clinics and further reduce availability of abortion in Texas; the court has ruled the law violated the Constitution. The ruling could be the strongest defense of a woman’s right to choose since Roe V Wade. The New York Times published a compelling infographic demonstrating what this means for access to legal, safe abortions across the United States. They conclude that today’s “sweeping ruling means similar [obstructionist] laws in dozens of other states now are likely unconstitutional.” SUPREME COURT HAS A VERY GOOD DAY INDEED: Also today in the Supreme Court upholding commonsense laws : they also determined that it is perfectly legal to ban people with records of domestic violence from owning guns. Brendan O’Connor at Gawker explains the amazing story behind this suit (emphasis mine): The case, Voisine v. United States, involved two men from Maine who had both pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault. A few years after Stephen Voisine entered his guilty plea in 2004, he got in trouble again, this time for killing a bald eagle. While investigating that crime, law enforcement officers determined that Voisine illegally owned a gun. Citing decades-old common law, Voisine and the other petitioner argued that because their assault conduct had been “reckless,” rather than “knowing or intentional,” it should not qualify as misdemeanor domestic violence—the kind of crime that would disqualify them from owning guns. The court rejected this argument. HOW BREXIT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD: Politico asked 17 experts what they think Brexit will mean for Great Britian, the US elections, and the global economy. Basically, none of them have any idea. Meanwhile, Brexit supporter/former London Mayor Boris Johnson wrote a ridiculous editorial for the Telegraph in which he basically promised that nothing
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Americans Overwhelmingly Favor Increasing the Overtime Threshold

June 22, 2016 Paul Constant

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Overtime

Are you ready for an astounding number? Good because here it comes: a new Gallup poll found that 67 percent of all Americans support expanding the overtime rule . Possibly even more astounding? Only 14 percent disapprove of expanding overtime. These are powerful numbers, because they indicate that America knows the overtime threshold has been stagnant for decades , and that the middle class is ready for a raise. The conservative politicians who are fighting overtime are arguing with their own constituents. But what about secondary education? One of the loudest protesters of the overtime argument has been America’s universities. They argue that if they’re forced to pay their employees overtime for the hours they work over a full 40-hour workweek, they’ll have to raise tuition. Are these predictions correct? Not according to a new snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute : The majority of workers at universities, including faculty, graduate student assistants, and adjuncts, are exempt from the overtime rules. Claims that paying more overtime will cause tuition to rise strains credulity because, as the figure [above] shows, as overtime protections eroded over the last 40 years and removed the guarantee of overtime pay from millions of salaried employees, tuition soared. Tuition has risen dramatically without any contribution from overtime regulation. In fact, tuition has gone up nearly 300 percent in that time. The EPI also cites several other pertinent points, including the fact that the National Institutes of Health, which offers grants to postdoc workers, has pledged to increase its grants to pay for the overtime rule. Adjusting to change is rarely fun, and it’s true that employers will have to adjust to the overtime rule. But when colleges hold tuition increases over the heads of Americans, knowing full well that skyrocketing tuitions are already a concern for everyone, that feels more like a threat than anything else. And if it is a threat, it’s one that has failed to move nearly 70 percent of Americans. It’s time for
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Finally, We See Donald Trump for What He Is

June 21, 2016 Paul Constant

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2016, Donald Trump, News

So. I can’t stop thinking about Donald Trump. Last night, after a day spent dealing with the messy blowback of firing a campaign manager at the absolute worst time to fire a campaign manager, he announced his campaign fundraising totals, and they are apocalyptically bad : Trump raised just over $3 million in May — the month he secured enough delegates to win the Republican nomination — while Clinton raked in more than $26 million, according to the latest filings from the Federal Election Commission ….Clinton didn’t just out-raise Trump 9-1: She also entered June with much more cash in her coffers. Trump started the month of June with just $1.29 million cash on hand — compared with Clinton’s $42 million. Reporters are digging through the reports and finding all sorts of interesting facts: Trump paid $35,000 to a sketchy firm apparently named after characters from Mad Men ; Trump paid over one million dollars to Trump-owned companies in May ; Trump paid himself and members of his family a salary . Even a head of a Trump Super PAC admits that Trump’s campaign is in “big trouble.” A moment like this is unprecedented in presidential politics. We’ve never seen such a disparity in campaign income before, and while Sarah Palin certainly got some fringe benefits out of the VP candidacy, no other major party presidential candidate has cashed in so publicly in the heat of a campaign. The New York Times is reporting that Trump may get reporters to pay for a business trip to Scotland next week, for crying out loud. It’s hard to look at all these facts and not conclude that Trump is running a very elaborate grift on the Republican Party. How bad are things for Trump right now? Speculation is very high that he will drop out . Of course, you wouldn’t know that by looking at Trump’s Twitter feed. The presumptive GOP nominee has gone on the offensive today, attacking Hillary Clinton repeatedly and making the case for a Trump presidency. (In fact, you might say he’s protesting a little too much in an effort to change the narrative.) Here’s one of Trump’s main arguments for a Trump presidency: FASCINATING. This is absolutely fascinating.
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Everyone’s Ignoring Paul Ryan’s New Republican Agenda. Good.

June 20, 2016 Paul Constant

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2016, Policy

As I previously mentioned , Paul Ryan is rolling out this year’s Republican agenda throughout the month of June. Under the headline “ A Better Way, ” Ryan’s plan is supposed to be a reclamation of Republican ideals, reimagined for the future. Too bad nobody’s paying any attention to Ryan right now because of the giant sweaty orange elephant in the room. Michelle Cottle at The Atlantic writes : Just look at what happened at the rollout of the agenda’s first plank: Ryan’s pet anti-poverty plan . The speaker and seven colleagues crossed the Anacostia River to commune with the impoverished, overwhelmingly minority residents from the “bad” side of Washington. But after all the speechifying, the only thing reporters wanted to talk about was Donald Trump’s latest outrage, regarding the Mexican heritage of Judge Gonzalo Curiel. And so the big news to come rolling out of the event was Ryan’s “ textbook ” racism comment. “The first six questions were about Trump,” AshLee Strong, Ryan’s spokesman recalled to me. Poor Paul Ryan. Nobody’s paying attention to his big new ideas because they’re more concerned with the bigoted tyrant at the forefront of his party who could conceivably destroy America’s economy for a generation . It’s a real tragedy for Ryan. Except it’s fine to ignore Ryan’s policy proposals because there’s nothing new about them. As I pointed out, he’s been propping up the same tired and ineffectual poverty plan for most of his career . And the more of A Better Way that I see, the more I realize that it’s not new at all. What Ryan is proposing here is more trickle down economics for the masses. The conservative trickle-down ideology promotes a wide array of policies which promote three basic goals in order to make the rich richer and the poor poorer: Tax cuts for the wealthy. Deregulation for the powerful. Wage suppression for the 99 percent. And so with these three policies in mind, let’s look at the plan that Ryan is unveiling to an audience
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When Fact-Checkers Go Bad

June 17, 2016 Paul Constant

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Guns

Glenn Kessler wrote a “Fact Checker” column for the Washington Post about “three Democratic claims on assault weapons and guns.” It’s just about the biggest bullshit I’ve read on the internet this week—which is really saying something, considering the fact that Donald Trump continues to exist. Kessler sifted through the 14-hour Democratic filibuster led by Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy on June 15th, applying fact-checks, in the form of a number-system of “Pinocchios,” to every claim. The number of Pinocchios is based on how true Kessler determines the claim to be—the higher the number of Pinocchios, supposedly, the more untrue the statement is. If the three quotes Kessler highlights are the most questionable statements he can find in all 14 hours of the filibuster, the Democrats did a remarkable job of keeping their facts in line, because the issues that Kessler has found are most definitely in the “pedantic” category. Let’s look at them in order. First, Kessler gives Murphy three Pinocchios for this statement: “What we know is that in states that have imposed those reasonable limitations, there are less gun crimes. There are less homicides.” What’s the problem? Apparently, “One would need to specifically determine whether certain laws had an effect, over time, on the gun-death rate in a state.” What’s wrong with the study that Murphy (and, earlier, President Obama) cited to make this claim? Turns out, according to Kessler, “most gun deaths — more than 60 percent in 2013 — are actually suicides.” (Emphasis mine.) This claim has always chafed somewhere deep in my soul. The argument that people who commit suicide due to easy access to guns shouldn’t count in gun death totals is entirely heartless. Here’s the thing: Guns make it easy to kill, which means that guns make it easy to kill yourself. Without easy access to guns, a suicidal person might be
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Donald Trump Just Created an Amazing Opportunity in the Fight for Sane Gun Laws

June 15, 2016 Paul Constant

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2016, Donald Trump, Guns

I can’t stop thinking about this morning’s tweet from Donald Trump: Note that Trump is not going to his party’s leadership to argue this, or to Congressional Republicans. Nope! He’s going, instead, to the NRA. Presumably because the NRA are the real bosses, the real leaders, the people who can create real change within the party. Trump understands that if the NRA were to tell Republicans to stop fighting the terrorist watchlist law, they’d stop fighting immediately. So, in true Art of the Deal fashion, Trump’s going to the place where his words will have the most impact. But let’s take a moment to reflect on how truly horrific this whole scenario truly is. Donald Trump is the voice of reason here. He is fighting for a law that will allow the government to keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists. And his own party is not supporting him on this. So he’s going to the gun lobby—an organization that is funded in large part by gun manufacturers, and which dumps millions of dollars in the pockets of elected officials —to beg them to allow this to happen. Trump often says democracy is broken, and he’s absolutely right in this case. But the problem is that he’s part of the broken system. Of course, it should be noted that Trump posted his little tweet before Senate Democrats began their filibuster for gun responsibility , which is making every Republican, Trump included, look like weak-kneed gun-worshippers. Democrats aren’t taking their argument to the NRA, an organization which has no power to make laws. They’re taking their argument to the American people because they’ve had enough. This is how democracy is supposed to work. No matter how the Democratic filibuster ends, this is a watershed moment in the fight against gun violence in America. Trump has, possibly accidentally, proven how ghastly the Republican defense of the NRA agenda truly
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