Humourless Sanctimoniousness

Eli,

Saw this about your favorite columnist. His dishonesty is the reason I stopped reading him a few years ago.

Bill

Trickle Down Racism

Eli,

Mitt Romney has the line of the year. Speaking of #BabyTrump:

Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle down racism and trickle down bigotry and trickle down misogyny — all of these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America.

#BabyTrump hates Romney, probably because Romney is everything Trump isn't. Romney is decent, Trump is vile. Romney is a successful businessman, Trump is a fraud. Romney has principles, Trump doesn't. Romney is smart, Trump is dumb. Romney is serious, Trump is frivolous.

But the GOP wanted Romney, and now they want a lesser version of Romney. Way to go GOP. Way to go.

Bill

Why Do Bernie and Hilary Hate Poor People?

Eli,

This is from the EIA

Shale gas and tight oil requires hydraulic fracturing. Bernie wants to ban fracking because he heard it's bad. Didn't hear it from the EPA which has studied fracking and found it safe. 60 years of fracking in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Dakota and elsewhere and somehow those states have survived. Yet still, the environmentalists don't like it because, SCIENCE!

Ban fracking and oil and gas prices will rise, gas more than oil. That will hurt the poor more than anyone else since they'll pay more for heating, and the plastics made from gas. Plus the middle class manufacturing jobs dependent on gas exploration, production and processing will decline as well.

Fortunately for us all Bernie won't be President. Unfortunately for us, Hilary is adopting just about every ill-advised economic idea Bernie has (meaning all of them) as her own.

Why do Bernie and Hilary hate poor people?

Bill

Why Does Krugman Hate Women?

Eli,

My life is much calmer, and I'm much smarter since I stopped reading your favorite NY Times columnist.

Maybe the election is about angry white men versus women. I don't think it is, but what do I know. I think Trump is a fool and is an obvious fool no one would ever seriously consider for the Presidency. I think Bernie's economic views are delusional and could only possibly appeal to the young and ignorant, but I repeat myself. I think Hilary is the most unlikable candidate since Richard Nixon, and excluding Trump, the most dishonest as well  and yet the majority of the Democratic Party finds her the best one to compete against the worst the Republicans can offer. Or, they are nominating the only candidate who can possibly lose to Trump.

So maybe he's right and this all comes down to angry white men vs. women. Well I'm white, and while not angry I'm usually cranky (think Bernie on level 6 instead of level 11) and I will not be voting Trump. My wife is female and finds Hilary (and Trump) repugnant and Bernie ridiculous. My eldest daughter and youngest daughter dislike Hilary. My son is for Bernie, a super-majority of my sisters despise Hilary more than I do.

Yea, I know, my limited sample is not relevant, except to me, of course. Maybe he's right and women voters are so shallow they will vote only for a woman. Kind of a nasty thing to say though. Why does Krugman hate women? Maybe angry white men are angry because of women. Not quite sure what the mechanism of action is.

I have the sinking feeling that's how this horror show of an election will be framed: angry white men versus women. Ugh. Great, we can focus on that silliness instead of the real problems we face. I think I'll ignore the next five months and concentrate on other things.

Bill.

Quote of the Day

Bill

From my left wing favorite New York Times columnist 

 "...this is going to be mostly an election about identity. The Republican nominee represents little more than the rage of white men over a changing nation. And he’ll be facing a woman — yes, gender is another important dimension in this story — who owes her nomination to the very groups his base hates and fears."

Eli

Larry Summers Mugged by Reality.

Eli,

Larry Summers asks why the Anderson Bridge in Boston is taking so long to rebuild.

How, we ask, could our society have regressed to the point where a bridge that could be built in less than a year one century ago takes five times as long to repair today? Here are some of the reasons that have contributed to the delay:

In order to adhere to strict historical requirements overseen by the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation had to order special bricks, cast by a company in Maine, to meet special size and appearance specifications from the bridge’s inception in 1912.

At the same time, extensive permitting and redesigns haven’t helped. For instance, once construction had already started on the bridge, the contractor, Barletta Heavy Division, discovered that an existing water main would need to be relocated. With the subsequent change order and additional Massachusetts Water Resources Authority permitting processes, an additional 357 days were tacked on to the original contract completion date.

To cap it off, after resisting for years the inclusion of pedestrian underpasses in bridge rehabilitation, MassDOT changed course in 2014 and agreed to revise the design so as not to preclude the construction of an underpass in the future. The contractor then had to move a major utility pipe so that an underpass could fit underneath; meanwhile, another 256 days of delay were added to the project. The entire project is now 22 months behind schedule.

Made me think of Irving Kristol's comments about being mugged by reality.

Bill

Shocker: McConnell worries Trump could ruin GOP's relationship with Hispanics

Eli,

From The Hill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) worries Donald Trump could ruin the Republican party's relationship with Hispanic voters....

"I think the attacks that he's routinely engaged in, for example, going after Susana Martinez, the Republican governor of New Mexico, the chairman of the Republican Governors' Association, I think, was a big mistake," McConnell added.

And let's not forget this from the Wall Street Journal

In an interview, Mr. Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel had “an absolute conflict” in presiding over the litigation given that he was “of Mexican heritage” and a member of a Latino lawyers’ association. Mr. Trump said the background of the judge, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants, was relevant because of his campaign stance against illegal immigration and his pledge to seal the southern U.S. border. “I’m building a wall. It’s an inherent conflict of interest,” Mr. Trump said.

 How the GOP could have chose the worst person in the world to run against Grandma is beyond me.

Bill

Delusion of #BabyTrump Voters

Eli,

The Atlantic talks to a Libertarian who supports Trump,

For me personally, it's resistance against what San Francisco has been, and what I see the country becoming, in the form of ultra-PC culture. That’s where it's almost impossible to have polite or constructive political discussion.  Disagreement gets you labeled fascist, racist, bigoted, etc. It can provoke a reaction so intense that you’re suddenly an unperson to an acquaintance or friend. There is no saying “Hey, I disagree with you,” it's just instant shunning. Say things online, and they'll try to find out who you are and potentially even get you fired for it. Being anti-PC is not about saying “I want you to agree with me on these issues.” It's about saying, “Hey, I want to have a discussion and not get shouted down because I don't agree with what is considered to be politically correct.”

When asked why he thinks electing a vulgar, short-fingered, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, bloviating ignoramus would help, he responds:

Having Trump in the White House would both give me more confidence to speak my own opinion and more of a shield from instantly being dismissed as a racist/xenophobe/Nazi (all three things I have been called personally)....

...with President Trump, I think our national dialogue will likely move away from being blanketly PC.

I think he's delusional.

Bill

Scapegoating Mexicans and the Koch Brothers.

Eli,

Paul Ryan will vote for  #BabyTrump.

Donald Trump and I have talked at great length about things such as the proper role of the executive and fundamental principles such as the protection of life. The list of potential Supreme Court nominees he released after our first meeting was very encouraging.

Later in the evening The Wall Street Journal reported on the respect #BabyTrump has for an independent judiciary.

Donald Trump on Thursday escalated his attacks on the federal judge presiding over civil fraud lawsuits against Trump University, amid criticism from legal observers who say the presumptive GOP presidential  nominee’s comments are an unusual affront on an independent judiciary.

Ryan says he can't support Grandma.

A Clinton White House would mean four more years of liberal cronyism and a government more out for itself than the people it serves.

 Instead, he's going to support #BabyTrump's cronyism. #BabyTrump wants to investigate Amazon.com for antitrust violations because the Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon has been critical of#BabyTrump. He wants to engage in a trade war with China benefiting the few at the expense of the many. He wants to allow Keystone as long as the US gets a cut. And it goes on, and on, and on.

I get it. Grandma is awful. But that doesn't mean any other option is better.

I was hoping that maybe the only good thing to come out of this election is Congress would grow a pair. That seems unlikely. The GOP wants to bow to a vulgar, short-fingered bloviating ignoramus. The Dems are in thrall to someone equally venal, self-absorbed, self-centered and amoral.

It probably won't impact us that much. We are older, wealthier, less likely to feel the impact of all the awful policies of both of these numbskulls and their anencephalic supporters. But our kids, our poor kids. We are robbing them of the future we had and blaming who: Mexicans and the Koch Brothers.

How did we get here?

Bill