During the now-infamous debate between the former President and the incumbent President, the debate that forced the incumbent, Joseph Biden, out of the campaign altogether, there was a moment that looks a lot different now than it did at the time. There was a moment when Donald Trump was going on about the wonders that would be worked for America by his, Trump's, great relationship with Putin. He said, for example, that by a simple phone call he, Trump, would get the Wall Street Journal reporter, then being held in prison by the Russians, released. In fact, Trump even spoke some kind words about that reporter, Evan Gershkovich. I don't remember the words -- and I'm too lazy to look them up-- but they were an exception to the general rule of calling reporters "enemies of the people". As is his wont. Except, apparently, when praise is convenient. Anyway ... it would only take one phone call.... At the time, Biden simply kept his head down and stayed silent. Th...
Posts
Vladlen Tatarsky is nothing at all analogous to Evan Gerschkovich, the latter is a journalist; the former is a mostly-unlamented corpse who was a mouthpiece for terrorists. Glenn Greenwald has been saying that it is unfair for free-press oriented activists in the United States to complain about EG's imprisonment by Putin when they stay silent about Tatarsky's death. Actually, it is not mysterious at all. That GG doesn't see the difference is a problem, not an insight. He is just parroting Putinesque talking points. Argh.
A few days ago I was watching television and a "Special Report" logo filled the screen. Then a somber looking anchorman appeared. My heart stopped. I thought, "this is it. Putin has nuked Ukraine. NATO is planning a responsive strike." Uuuuh, no. Nothing apocalyptic. The special report was a news flash that the Vice President has a disease for which she has been vaccinated (with boosters). Given her lack of underlying problems, the result will likely not be at all severe for her. The geniuses at Walter Reed were able to get an obese old man through a nastier case of it when the science was much less advanced. But back to the "don't scare me" point. I remember the days when cutting in for a Special Report used to mean something. Please don't do that again.
I haven't said much in this blog about the whole Putin-as-puppeteer theory of the 2016 presidential election, and Mueller's investigation. But the days are running short until the Mueller report will drop from the presses, and with Pelosi wielding the gavel, we're getting onto some fascinating terrain. Fascinating for the intellectual consumption of an old poli-sci major from the distinguished Marist College program. The Hill recently listed "five things to know" about the Trump Tower Moscow project. For now I'll simply summarize that publication's discussion. 1) The timeline. Back when Michael Cohen was POTUS' personal lawyer, he testified that Trump's circle conducted discussions about such a project in late 2015, and that the idea had dissipated by the end of January 2016. That would suggest a real but somewhat limited overlap between those talks and the presidential campaigning. More recently, as part of his new status as a cooperatin...
Scott Adams, the cartoonist who created Dilbert, has said that there are only nine news stories, constantly re-written. Every year at about this time I like to check the newspaper with his list in mind, to see if he is right. I'll start with his wording unmodified by examples. 1. EXTREME WEATHER BATTERS SOMEPLACE 2. IDIOTS KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE 3. POLITICIAN DOES SOMETHING ILLEGAL 4. PRIMATE ATTEMPTS INAPPROPRIATE SEX 5. EXPERT WARNS OF FINANCIAL CALAMITY 6. BIG COMPANY BUYS ANOTHER BIG COMPANY 7. FAMOUS PERSON DOES SOMETHING INTERESTING 8. A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY MIGHT BE USEFUL IN TEN YEARS 9. GOVERNMENT FAILS TO ACHIEVE A GOAL I surveyed the news on one day (a few days back as it happens). Just by convenience, these headlines are all from January 21st. Well, actually, I cheated a little with one of them, but I'll let you dear reader do the work of figuring out which one that is. Without further ado.... 1. An extraordinary South African drought . 2....
So ... I was watching the ceremony on Sword Beach, Normandy, France last week. At one point, while a ballet was underway on a map of Europe laid down on the sand, the cameras caught Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin in the midst of an animated conversation. Hmmm. I wondered: what could they be saying to each other? My lip reading skills are so bad that they would be no help even if we could assume they were talking to one another in English, which seems unlikely. So I'm forced to fall back on sheer guesswork. PUTIN: "Our army would have crushed the Third Reich anyway, even if nothing had happened here." MERKEL: "You are wrong, Vodka breath! Without any enemies in our rear, we would have stopped you before you got to Konigsberg." PUTIN: "Kaliningrad, you mean." Or, it's possible it didn't go that way at all....
In our Mother Country, Nigel Farage has been debating Nick Clegg of late. The most recent, the one that has me paying attention now, was the one on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. For my fellow Americans, who only rarely tune into matters on the other sides of oceans -- it is worth your while paying attention to this. Talking myself through it now ... Farange (that's his picture above) is the leader of the UKIP, or the Independence Party, which wants to quit the EU altogether and reduce immigration. Clegg is head of the Liberal Democratic party, which is in coalition with the (larger) Conservative Party in the present government. Clegg also has the title Deputy Prime Minister. The aforesaid CP hasn't been taking part in these exchanges. Neither has the other Major Party, Labour. Its a little bit as if, in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt had debated Eugene Debs, leaving both the incumbent president (Taft) and the major party challenger (Wilson) out of the e...