Some of us were quite pleased on Feb. 29, 2020. Let’s do it again — but earlier!
Yet another one of these. Here you go…
- Protests Intensify Across Israel After Measure to Weaken Judiciary Passes — This is a huge deal, and a profoundly serious crisis. An NYT headline before the vote said, “Israel’s Identity Hangs in Balance Ahead of Key Vote on New Law,” in response to which I tweeted that Yes, it does. Our ally is on the ragged verge of throwing away its status as the only liberal democracy in a region that desperately needs such a bastion. The region needs it, the United States needs it, and the world needs it. And Bibi is trying to destroy it. That was before the vote. AFTER, we see a nation hurling toward irrelevance at best. If you can read it, I recommend Tom Friedman’s column on the subject, “Only Biden Can Save Israel Now.” Of course, I would add Israel itself to that equation.
- Thoughts on SC being the first Democratic presidential primary? — Although it happened a while back, it occurs to me we haven’t talked about this (have we?). Anyway, I was reminded of the subject by an E.J. Dionne column today, which was about how those people up in New Hampshire are still in an uproar about South Carolina getting to hold the first primary — instead of, you know. Tough. I think it’s great. South Carolina Democrats are my favorite Dems, and they should get the spotlight — and the influence. You will say, Aw you just like it because the last time around, black voters in South Carolina saved Joe Biden, and then saved the country by making him president. And you’re almost right. I am very proud that my dear neighbors stepped forward to do that (and I helped). But I don’t just like it for that reason. I think it’s good for the country as well.
- Welcome to the grievance-packed world of electric vehicle charging — It tells of the mad, dog-eat-dog scramble for a very limited resource: public charging spots. This being from The Boston Globe, it says, “EV drivers are hogging chargers… Think post-snowstorm parking in Southie — only the green version.” Anyway, this points to the biggest reason I wouldn’t buy an electric car — yet. I mean, aside from the cost. If I had money to spend on a new car, I might get a hybrid. But I wouldn’t go the full electric Monty until it’s as easy, and quick, as gassing up. We don’t have the infrastructure now, unless you’re at home. I dunno. Do you have an electric? What’s it like for you?
- He was an undocumented immigrant. He became ‘your excellency.’ — I hope you can read this, but if you can’t, I’ll just tell you: It’s about Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, the new auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington, who finally made it on his third try to get into the United States when he was 19. He got here, and did what most of these folks do — he worked hard at any job he could get, regardless of the way he would be exploited because of his illegal status. Eventually, he got an education and entered the priesthood, and is now a shepherd to nearly 700,000 Catholics in the District and parts of Maryland. An inspiring story. And if you can’t read it in the post, there’s a short bio about him among the other auxiliary bishops on the diocesan website.
- Finally, a plea for technical advice — Y’all who are not twitter addicts probably won’t care, and therefore won’t know, but if you do, maybe you can help me, or at least tell me whom to blame: What I want to know is, Why can I no longer tweet directly from the NYT and Washington Post apps on my iPad, which I’ve been doing for ages, but can’t now? Is this the fault of an Apple update (I wish they’d stop “improving” things), or the work of Elon Musk? What happens is, I click on the “share” thing in the newspaper app, choose Twitter, write the tweet, and when I try to send, it fails. But then I go to Twitter, and find what I wrote in the drafts, and send it from there. Not the hardest thing in the world, but it takes about an extra minute for each tweet. And it doesn’t have to. I asked about this on Twitter, and I got a like, but no help…
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“I mean, aside from the cost. If I had money to spend on a new car, I might get a hybrid. But I wouldn’t go the full electric Monty until it’s as easy, and quick, as gassing up. We don’t have the infrastructure now, unless you’re at home. I dunno. Do you have an electric? What’s it like for you?”
Clark Howard on his podcast a few weeks ago discussed this. (Clark has had several electric cars over the last 15 years or so). He’s promotes them but also is fair and says they aren’t for everyone. But the market is getting ready to turn in a few more years where most of the cars sold in the United States will be electric. It’s coming fast now.
He said look to late 2024 into 2025 to start to see real solutions to this problem regarding charging stations. We aren’t there yet. But it’s not an issue for many people.
something around 90% of people with electric cars simply plug up at home and never have to plug up outside of their home environment.
Clark currently has a Tesla. But he’s had other brands of electric cars.
Michael Smerconish, on his Sirius show, often talks about his electric car. He lives in the Philly area and works there. He drives back and forth to the studio each day. He also charges up at home and doesn’t have to charge anywhere else.
My wife and I rented an electric car when we were in California earlier this year and drove around all day long. We did put it on a charger at lunch but there was one right near the place where we ate near the Huntington Beach pier. I don’t think we needed to recharge but it was pretty easy so we did charge up for an hour or so while we had lunch. It was simple to do though. Not an issue.
Buy Rivian RIVN. Once oil starts going up again, so will this stock. IPO November 2021 over $100 per share down to $25. Could go as low as $13. But buy for children/grandchildren!!!!!
Brad and others will roll their eyes . . .
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1. One of the big piles of BS that neocons have peddled over the decades is that Israel is a modern liberal democracy. … If that was the case this very unpopular Benjamin Netanyahu would not still be in power. Besides most Palestinians are prevented from voting. At least now we can no longer pretend this is some benevolent land of equal opportunity and equal justice for all. Just another apartheid state the US continues to prop up. Time to cut the cord.
See the ellipses? I cut out your repetition of the obscenity.
Bud, Israel has been a liberal democracy from the start — and probably the most beleaguered such system in the world. It’s not just “neocons” who think so. It’s pretty much the label used by the most observers, whatever their politics. And that was true LONG before neocons came into being.
(Remember what a “neocon” is. It’s a liberal who was alienated by the Left over the way the left changed over Vietnam, and other issues, in the 60s and 70s. It’s people who view the world pretty much the way Truman and Kennedy and LBJ did.)
You may not like Israel, but that doesn’t stop it from being a liberal democracy… until Bibi. The things you don’t like about Israel are embodied in Netanyahu, and the factions he represents. And what is happening now to the judiciary there could be a final straw from which this liberal system could not recover. And that’s a very serious matter.
No, This is not merely a matter of Netanyahu or the religious right-wing in Israel – though they obviously are bringing matters to a head. There has been a concern since before Israel’s founding that a state set aside for Jews is in fundamental conflict with the idea of a fully functioning liberal democracy. That conflict operates to create elements of apartheid both within Israel proper as well as in the West Bank. Rights granted to Jewish Israelis are not shared in full by Palestinian residents in either territory. To take just one example, a Palestinian Arab who moves out of East Jerusalem is not allowed to return. A Jewish Israeli, by contrast, can move in or out at will.
The underlying reason for the push to eliminate Israel Supreme Court’s oversight of government actions is not merely aimed at aiding Netanyahu in avoiding criminal charges, though it may have that effect as well. Rather, it is aimed at opening the doors to even more restrictive measures against Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and further encroachment by Jewish settlement there. This drive to secure an ethno-sectarian state is at odds with elemental principles of liberal democracy.
Those, such as Yuval Noah Harari (author of “Sapiens”), recognize this clash, which recently led him to air his concern that Israel is on the brink of dictatorship:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/historian-yuval-noah-harari-warns-of-dictatorship-in-israel/
And this prospect has led others, like former IDF Col. Amos Guiora, to suggest what was previously unthinkable, namely that the US withhold aid to Israel:
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4095672-us-must-respond-to-israels-toleration-of-west-bank-settlers-pogroms-terrorism/
“There has been a concern since before Israel’s founding that a state set aside for Jews is in fundamental conflict with the idea of a fully functioning liberal democracy.”
Yep. That’s the one thing that can truly be said in arguing against it being a liberal democracy.
Of course, the idea behind Israel is that Jews needed to go someplace where they couldn’t be persecuted by Christians the way they have for the last couple of millennia. So… what’s the alternative here? Should there NOT be a Jewish homeland? I suppose we could all say that, but I’d find it hard to ignore our own sins ever since John wrote his Gospel.
That’s a thing that makes Israel unique. But the fact that it’s not OUR kind of liberal democracy is kind of a cheap way for us to see ourselves as superior. We don’t have the problem that Israel was established to solve.
Throwing it out of the club for that would sort of be like saying Britain isn’t a liberal democracy because it has a king. Or that France isn’t a liberal democracy because it has the Napoleonic Code. Or that the United States wasn’t founded as a liberal democracy because it had slavery. Or that even when the U.S. tore itself apart to END slavery, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, and you can’t do that and be a liberal democracy.
Lincoln did that because realities have to be recognized, and the Constitution isn’t a suicide pact. Nor is the state of Israel.
An interesting thing to debate. But no, saying Israel is a liberal democracy, and the only one in the region, isn’t “bullshit” as Bud says. It’s simply a debatable point.
Oh, and stop throwing Yuval Noah Harari at me, dude? Can’t you give that a rest? 🙂
Seriously, I am actually rereading Sapiens right now, which I suppose is why I have brought him up a couple of times recently. I had given my copy of the book to my daughter in Dominica, and when I was down there visiting, I started rereading it, and wanted to finish when I came back. So I finally bought myself a Kindle copy…
Sorry Brad but you’re just flat out wrong on this. Israel is absolutely NOT a liberal democracy. There’s an old saying that if you tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth. This is a great example of that. The fact that a) the religious factions have more power than others and b) Palestinians on the West Bank cannot vote but Jews can invalidates ANY claim this is a liberal democracy.
There I go again, huh? 🙂
Brad is wrong IMHO too. Israel nearly defines “Illiberal Democracy.” I would love to hear Brad’s comments on illiberal democracy and explain how the United States and Israel are heading in the right direction towards a Liberal Democracy. I see a very scary trend in the wrong direction towards Illiberal Democracies
My view? I think illiberal democracies are a very bad thing, and I don’t like watching Israel become one. But never mind what I like or dislike. It’s very bad for the United States for Israel to do that…
I oppose Bibi being the guy turning into a new dictator for many of the same reasons I oppose Trump…
“That’s a thing that makes Israel unique. But the fact that it’s not OUR kind of liberal democracy is kind of a cheap way for us to see ourselves as superior.”
It’s not a matter of superiority but rather awareness – as in aware of our own regional – southern – past and how that should inform our awareness of a not dissimilar sort of discriminatory system at work in Israel’s relationship with Palestinian Arabs. We as southerners simply can’t plead ignorance of the parallels with our own past racial order, which similarly treated our own minority population with indignity and injustice.
The South did not begin to become a democracy until the mid-1960s. That history should be reflected in our views of Israel, by encouraging it to choose between ethno-religious solidarity and exclusion or a genuine democratic order for all the people under its control.
No one is talking about throwing Israel out of anything, let alone wishing away its existence. But demands must be made that it treat Palestinians with equal respect. And, if necessary, those demands must be baked up with actions.
Absolutely. Which is kinda what Friedman was talking about in his piece.
Talking about being southerners reminds me of a conversation I had with Lynn on Twitter the other day. I’ve been meaning to post it here…
Aside from the matter of ethnic apartheid, suggesting that though Israel may not be OUR kind of democracy it’s just be another VARIETY of democracy, different but equal, is too relativistic. It’s like saying that democracy as practiced in, say, Orban’s Hungary or Erdogan’s Turkey are just different approaches to democratic government. They aren’t. They are qualitatively different. If Israel is headed in a direction similar to those, it’s important that we recognize that fact and treat it accordingly.
The South is ground zero for Illiberal Democracies; joined by the impoverished areas of rural American.
Lee Atwater and the Southern Strategy. RIP my friend Tom Turnipseed – Brad you surely heard/know of the “jumper cables” story.
Dirty politics got dirtier thanks to Atwater and Regan. Our country needed to heal from Watergate. Instead the Republicans succeeded in having poor whites fight poor blacks.
Yes, the “jumper cables” was part of the sudden shift into negative campaigning in the early 80s. Something I refer to here from time to time, and folks who don’t remember tend to scoff and say, aw, politics was always nasty. No, it wasn’t. Early in my career it was an axiom that you don’t go negative — and when someone did (I’m thinking LBJ’s “daisies” ad, which only ran once), people gasped at the effrontery.
Then, things changed. I wasn’t here to watch Atwater at the time, but I was in Tennessee two years later (1982) and watched the way Robin Beard went after Jim Sasser — it made national headlines, and there was a good deal of hand-wringing over what was happening…
Totally irrelevant digression…
After I arrived here in 1987, your friend Tom (and I was on more or less friendly terms with him myself, I suppose) provided me with an early lesson on the ways in which being a newspaperman in South Carolina was different from being one in any other place I’d been.
First, there was The State itself. I was the only editor in the room who had been an editor somewhere else. That was VERY weird. Most papers, you’d have a core of native journalists in the newsroom, but editors tended to be careerists who moved around. Not in Columbia. When we had the daily editors’ meetings, everyone had come up in South Carolina but me (and of course, I had been born here, when my Dad was in school out in San Diego).
Not only that, but they were pretty much all Gamecocks, and they would ride poor Tom Priddy because he had gone to Clemson.
Anyway, one day I’m editing a story at the desk, and in it (I forget whether he appeared in it as an activist or an attorney), I encountered the name “Tom Turnipseed” for the first time. I laughed out loud and said, “Tom Turnipseed!?!? What, couldn’t they find John Barleycorn?”
Next to me, the metro editor — who always sort of seemed to regard me as an alien anyway — said, “Yes, he’s my cousin.”
I muttered my apologies. And since then, I’ve never forgotten that in South Carolina, you can’t talk about people out loud without remembering that you’re probably sitting next to one of his cousins. And sometimes, of course, they’re my own cousins… like TEC Dowling the superintendent, or (many years ago) Bradley Morrah, who was the Democratic nominee against Strom in 1966…
Sometimes I long for the old days. Not for long!
To hell with cynicism. Remember there is ALWAYS HOPE. My six year old’s name.
Oscar Mike. Soft out.
BTW Brad it is an honor to have met you as we both supported James and Mandy (Mandy for Governor!). That loss made me realize my time in South Carolina was short. You don’t stay in one place for 20 years unless there is something special though. You and your work at The State – thank you sir!
I am a “Picker” of large antiques. I own an 1860 home in the Southern Tier of NY.
History – politicians sent northern hillbillies to fight southern hillbillies. We northern hillbillies won!
I am a very rare New York State Hillbilly, but almost pure Norsky. Ya sure ya betcha!
Of course I am confused so BEWARE! To riff on Vonnegut, everything I say is a lie!
Everything?!?
Thanks, Bob…
I will NEVER understand the hatred between a Gamechicken and a Puddy Cat! Intense but friendly is fine. Not so much that immature (at best) rivalry.
Sigh. The South.
I interviewed Tom Turnipseed quite a number of years ago in his Columbia law office. During our conversation a young man came in with some papers. T.T. said, “This is my son, Jefferson Davis Turnipseed,” then commented on the choice of name as representative of his former self. It became apparent during the interview that he was still struggling with that former self’s involvement with the Wallace campaign and all it represented.
Yep. Tom was not a man of the center. One wing or the other, he went for it full-tilt…
I must mention Judy. She is still gorgeous, but stunning with Tom during those tough years. Loss hurts, so getting old hurts. I am in complete denial.
Brad you understand why I am described as extreme. RIP Captain Warthen!
Happy 80th Birthday,Mick Jagger:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1830617/mediaviewer/rm1525363457?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
I had an interesting night last week. Full moon!
Family photo:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1830617/mediaviewer/rm759247104/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
Mitch McConnell 81
Joe Biden 80
Nancy Pelosi 83
Maxine Waters 84
Chuck Grassley 89
Dianne Feinstein 90
Best and the brightest.. McConnell appeared to have a stroke during a press conference today. We need age limits and term limits.. none of those listed above should have any role in running the country.
On McConnell — I kind of like what Lachlan McIntosh said on that point:
Just a number.Republicans can’t dance:
https://youtu.be/t2Q4hAQ4fEw
Hey Bill! Another great song. Most middle class white men can’t dance. Most . . .
Not naming names!
I been dancing with some beautiful women! Some say I dance better than Mick; and I am much younger! 70 in December. Dance Little Sister Dance – and I will lose control! Yee- Haa!!!!!!!!!!!
Long time crush on Liza. OMG!!! My Filipina Princess is named Ana Liza. She got cakes and it is my birthday! Much younger than I am. I am shooting for 115!
Siya ay napakarilag at napaka purong Islander – walang Espanyol. Siya ay nagsasalita ng Tagalog at Siya ang aking Reyna at ako ang kanyang Hari!
Health span not life span!
Feinstein had another senior moment today when she couldn’t figure out how to vote on an issue until an aide told her she had to say “aye”.
Politics is the only profession where you can be in the advanced stage of dementia and still have a job. They are trying to get her to hang on another year so Gavin newsom can’t place someone the DNC doesn’t want. Adam Schiff thinks the seat should be his. He’s as slimy as any politician I’ve seen.
Yes! Politicians! Stop blaming bureaucrats for the nearly complete failure of our Democracy experiment. From Wikipedia: “An illiberal democracy describes a governing system that hides its ‘nondemocratic practices behind formally democratic institutions and procedures’. There is a lack of consensus among experts about the exact definition of illiberal democracy or whether it even exists.”
IMHO, some experts give Rand too much credit. Your mileage my vary, but I will defend your right to express a different opinion than mine as needed. Democracy is an experiment, and I am concerned, very concerned. Imperfect, but nothing better. I get so tired of the conflict. Why can’t we just be friends?
I defend the president when he deserves it but sometimes he does things that cause me to scratch my head. Why does he fail to acknowledge his seventh grandchild? That really is pretty petty Joe. His biggest advantage politically is his human decency. Going after Trump gets tougher when you have your own baggage to defend. Just acknowledge your grandchild. It’s the right thing to do.
“His biggest advantage politically is his human decency.”
You bet…
What you meant to say was his ability to pretend he’s a decent human… He’s a career politician.. a more polished liar than Trump. A decent human would have stopped his son from dating his other son’s widow… Would have got his son help when he was on crack and having sex with young hookers.. would acknowledge the daughter his son had out of wedlock… Joe’s just a character actor at this point
Sorry, but I’m quite confident in my assessment. Joe’s a good guy…
Would a good guy ignore his grandchild? Your confidence is actually a combination of stubbornness and blind devotion.
You fell into the same trap with Lindsey Graham.. and couldn’t admit you were wrong.
Because I wasn’t.
You didn’t like the guy who supported the war in Iraq and tried to bring about rational immigration reform, and I did. That’s wrong in your worldview, but in mine that second point made him one very courageous South Carolina Republican. So did the fact that he did more than anyone in the Senate to try to remove partisan insanity from judicial confirmations.
He was quite extraordinary, really, and I was proud of him being my senator. And I’m proud now of the senator he was.
But he lost his nerve, and apparently his mind as well. This was an articulate and highly intelligent man, who was willing to take political risks for what he could see was right. And all that is gone now.
I’ve never seen like it. It’s one of the most extraordinary falls I’ve ever seen. And I’m sorry you aren’t able to see it, because you never liked the guy…
The World is ending. I agree with Doug!
Brad there are plenty of capable young people out there. They are waiting for a chance. Please give them a chance!
There are just too many liberals not wiling to listen to Frozen.
Let it go! Let it go!l
I didn’t like Lindsey for one simple reason: he was a political chameleon who flip flopped whenever it served him… which he proved again with his support of Trump.
It was his character and ethics I didn’t like – not his issues. Your vision was clouded by his support for all the things you like: war, illegal immigration, etc.
His support of Trump is the only “flip” I ever saw. Which is why I changed my mind about him.
And the thing that made this treasonous action particularly appalling is that we’re talking about a man I respected for his intellect and discernment. These were qualities well on display in 2016, when he was the sharpest-tongued critic of Trump, right up until the moment when he wasn’t.
Which means he knew EXACTLY how unthinkable it was to do such a thing…
Graham admits he shifts positions as needed to won elections. Am I wrong Brad?
That has become his default position since 2016. But I don’t recall him having “admitted” it in so many words. He doesn’t have to. It’s painfully obvious. This is a guy who used to deliberately skate on thin ice with Republican voters in South Carolina. Then he stopped. He threw all that away…
“That has become his default position since 2016.”
Nope, that was his MO during every election season since well before 2016. It’s just that since 2016 he’s been in nearly constant election mode.
That puts you and Doug in agreement, anyway. But that’s not what I saw. I saw a very clear fall in 2016…
The behavior became clearer — or, rather, OBVIOUS — beginning in 2016. Except for military matters, Graham has always shown a willingness to bend in the winds — to, as he puts it, “stay relevant.”
Yeah, that’s what Doug says. For instance, if I recall correctly, Doug thought Lindsey stepping forward to offer to offer a helping hand to Obama after he won in 2008 was somehow a sign of a character defect. To me, it was what a United States Senator should always do — and, in this century, almost never do.
Consequently, I applauded it. A number of times, I think, but the first time as a bullet in this list of things that had me feeling optimistic about the future right after that election.
Of course, I was always going to feel good after that election no matter who won, because I liked Obama and McCain so much. It was just nice to look around and see the things in the bullets, which affirmed my optimism…
Of course, Lindsey’s degradation has been making headlines this week.
Which strikes me as a little odd. I mean, that it’s still news when someone says Graham is abasing himself, and it’s embarrassing to watch. I mean, it’s been this way for seven years, right? It’s the kind of thing you react to with a big “duh.”…
“A decent human would have stopped his son from dating his other son’s widow…”
Nah, that doesn’t even make sense.
One thing is clear in human history: Parents trying to control adult children almost NEVER works. In fact, trying to control them is a sure fire way to make sure they never, ever listen to you or want anything in the world to do with you- ever.
There are so many examples of this even at my own church.
“Would have got his son help when he was on crack and having sex with young hookers”
As has been stated many times by many people, the Biden family has offered and provided extensive help to Hunter numerous times over decades.
Drug addicts don’t often respond well to help, appreciate it, or accept it.
From what I have read about Hunter’s addiction, it’s a miracle he’s alive now and seemingly doing well from all accounts about his drug use.
“would acknowledge the daughter his son had out of wedlock… Joe’s just a character actor at this point”
I have no doubt he’s acknowledged it to someone. He doesn’t have to acknowledge it to me or you though.
He should acknowledge his granddaughter to her face though. No doubt.
My as Michael Smerconish said this week on his show about this very topic – “family stuff is complicated and tough.”
Anyway, isn’t there a biblical injunction — Deuteronomy, I believe, that a man was to marry his brother’s widow?…
You’ll go to any length to support Joe…
Check into how he got together with Jill sometime.. he likes to tell a lie about that one too
I don’t have to go to any length whatsoever. You’re the one with a challenge on your hands, trying to “prove” his unsuitability.
Actually, that leads us to one of a number of points made in this good Matt Bai column today. You probably can’t read it, but it’s about the similarities between Gerald Ford and Joe Biden. And the factor that he concludes with? They’re nice guys. And “If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the presidency these last several years, it’s that niceness matters more than we thought.”
What does the Catholic Church say about divorce? Jill was a 23 year old divorcee when she and Joe got together. Guess Joe’s faith is fungible.. just like how he supports abortion.
OK, I’m gonna shock you here — there are plenty of divorced Catholics. That’s not the shocking part.
The shocking part is… every single Catholic in the world, including the Pope, is a sinner. No doubt about it. They have no defense on this point.
So take that in consideration.
You might find this interesting. Just this morning I ran across a good homily of Bishop Barron’s from last Christmas, and watched it again. The title is “Love the Ones You’re Given“…
You see, the Church is kind of immune to this sort of whataboutism. You found a “flaw” in someone? Big deal…
There was plenty Joe could have done as a parent… Like not engaging with ANY business partner or client while he was in office.
Joe put his political career over his family…