Month: January 2017

Trump tries to bully ‘sanctuary cities’: Daily Bullshit, January 28-29, 2017

benfell

Unauthorized migrants

Patrik Jonsson, “Why police worry about Trump’s ‘sanctuary cities’ crackdown,” Christian Science Monitor, January 26, 2017, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2017/0126/Why-police-worry-about-Trump-s-sanctuary-cities-crackdown

Evan Halper and Melanie Mason, “With California’s ‘sanctuary cities,’ Trump might be starting a fight he can’t win,” Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-sanctuary-legal-battle-20170127-story.html

Torture

John Bohannon, “Scientists to Trump: Torture doesn’t work,” Science, January 27, 2017, http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/scientists-trump-torture-doesn-t-work

Education

So “Corey DeAngelis is a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow, University of Arkansas?”[1] His article is a good example of capitalist libertarian intellectualism. He relies on an economic definition of a ‘public good,’ this being that “[a] public good, according to the economic definition, must satisfy two conditions: 1.) nonrival in consumption, and 2.) non-excludable.” He then attacks schooling rather than education (yes, they’re different but one is meant to foster the other) using really rather specious arguments. “If one student is in a seat in a classroom,” DeAngelis writes, “they take up another child’s ability to sit in the same seat.” Which, since we’re being fussy, actually means the seat is a private good and says nothing about the schooling. So, okay, we require pupils to bring their own chairs to school to answer that objection. As to education, which is the public good we’re actually concerned about when we aren’t chasing straw person arguments, it is indeed the case that I can share knowledge and training without diminishing these capacities in myself.

“Second, and perhaps most importantly,” DeAngelis writes, “it is not difficult to exclude a person from a school, or any other type of institution.” He replies to the point that primary and secondary schooling are compulsory that “[t]his is a simple confusion of the economic definition. The definition does not state whether children are or are not excluded from the service in present day.”[2] What he means is that even if prohibitions exist against shutting down public schools, in a capitalist libertarian imagination, we nonetheless could and therefore schooling fails the ‘non-excludability’ test for a public good, at least in the definition that DeAngelis relies on.

Back in the real world, as a society, we have committed to guaranteeing all children a primary and secondary education because we—or at least most of those of us who didn’t vote for Donald Trump—generally believe that an educated citizenry is necessary in a democracy, which admittedly is not actually what we have[3] (it is to some degree an oligarchy[4] and to some degree an inverted totalitarian state,[5] both of which, if anything, require an even more educated citizenry). Historically, education as a public good in the United States may date to 1647 when “[l]ike most European Protestants, Puritans insisted that [Christian] conversion required familiarity with the Bible and, therefore, literacy” and mandated teachers and schools.[6]

And please note, I haven’t checked on the definition of a public good (sorry, much to my irritation, I can’t find my economics textbook to even start on this) here—if that’s wrong, DeAngelis’ entire article goes completely down the toilet.

DeAngelis isn’t quite being intellectually dishonest here. But the moves he makes in his article are not legitimate and certainly no one claiming to be a “doctoral fellow” should make them.

Corey DeAngelis, “Schooling Is Not a Public Good,” Foundation for Economic Education, January 26, 2017, https://fee.org/articles/schooling-is-not-a-public-good/

  1. [1]Corey DeAngelis, “Schooling Is Not a Public Good,” Foundation for Economic Education, January 26, 2017, https://fee.org/articles/schooling-is-not-a-public-good/↩
  2. [2]Corey DeAngelis, “Schooling Is Not a Public Good,” Foundation for Economic Education, January 26, 2017, https://fee.org/articles/schooling-is-not-a-public-good/↩
  3. [3]James Madison, “Federalist No. 10,” in The Federalist Papers, ed. Garry Wills (1982; repr., New York: Bantam, 2003), 50-58.↩
  4. [4]Noam Chomsky, “The U.S. behaves nothing like a democracy,” Salon, August 17, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/08/17/chomsky_the_u_s_behaves_nothing_like_a_democracy/; Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,” Princeton University, April 9, 2014, http://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/Gilens%20homepage%20materials/Gilens%20and%20Page/Gilens%20and%20Page%202014-Testing%20Theories%203-7-14.pdf↩
  5. [5]Chris Hedges, “The Coming Climate Revolt,” Truthdig, September 21, 2014, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_coming_climate_revolt_20140921↩
  6. [6]Paul S. Boyer et al., The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, 8th ed. (Boston: Wadsworth, 2014), 65.↩

Authoritarian populists strike back: Daily Bullshit, January 26-27, 2017

benfell

There are a few things that need to be understood about Donald Trump’s first days as president. First, it very much appears as if he is enacting authoritarian populist policy, which is mostly about backlash. Second, as offensive as his actions may appear on the left, Barack Obama was—in part due to racism[1]—as offensive to authoritarian populists and other conservatives. The fury now felt on the left matches the fury felt during Obama’s presidency on the right.

Third, you can’t expect authoritarian populists to listen to ‘elite’ or ‘educated’ opinion. They will not be impressed with ‘facts.’ This is partly because authoritarian populists exemplify anti-intellectualism in the U.S. and partly because ‘elites’ and so-called ‘experts’ have dismissed, discounted, and refused to address the pain they have suffered.[2] Some of this pain is economic and is legitimate.[3] Some of it is about intolerance for difference and is not legitimate. But authoritarian populists blame members of other subaltern groups for their economic misery,[4] so the two forms of pain are connected.

Fourth, authoritarian populists have probably been here before the revolution that separated the U.S. from Britain. They very strongly resemble Colin Woodard’s Greater Appalachians,[5] who “came from the war-torn borderlands of northern Britain: lowland Scotland, the adjacent Marches of northern England, and the Scots-Irish-controlled north of Ireland,”[6] “in five increasingly massive waves between 1717 and 1776, each a response to a disaster back in the British Isles,”[7] “seeking sanctuary from a devastated homeland, [as] refugees who generally arrived without the encouragement or direction of officials, and often against their wishes . . . to found a society that was, for a time, literally beyond the reach of the law, and modeled on the anarchical world they had left behind.”[8]

Authoritarian populists aren’t dying off. They aren’t going anywhere. And they aren’t responding to ‘reason’ or in any way getting ‘smarter.’ If you don’t like sharing a country with them, then you need to, one way or another, get yourself another country. In this, secession proposals such as Cascadia or Calexit are likely inadequate because the proposed territories include substantial populations of—guess who?—authoritarian populists. Notably, California has its own bible belt in the Central Valley and Oregon is, from what I’ve read somewhere, at least as polarized as the entire rest of the country.

State Department

Josh Rogin, “The State Department’s entire senior administrative team just resigned,” Washington Post, January 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/26/the-state-departments-entire-senior-management-team-just-resigned/

Unauthorized Migration

Stephen Dinan, “Trump eviscerates Obama’s immigration policy in two executive orders,” Washington Times, January 25, 2017, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/25/trump-eviscerates-obamas-immigration-policy/

Josh Marshall, “Dems, Make Trump Own His Wall Humiliation,” Talking Points Memo, January 26, 2017, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dems-make-trump-own-his-wall-humiliation

Ryan McCrimmon, “Search for Billions to Pay for Border Wall Confronts Congress,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, January 26, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/search-billions-pay-border-wall-confronts-congress

Andrew Taylor and Alicia Caldwell, “Analysis: Trump’s border wall faces reality check,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, January 26, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/analysis-trump-s-border-wall-faces-reality-check/411840586/

José de Córdoba and Peter Nicholas, “U.S.-Mexico Rift Deepens Over Trade Threat, Canceled Meeting,” Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-threatens-to-cancel-meeting-with-mexican-president-1485443555

Doomsday Clock

Democrats should have thought of this[9] before they nominated such an awful candidate as Hillary Clinton, who couldn’t even beat Trump, for president. But instead, leftist organizations are using Trump’s presidency to raise funds from their enraged constituents—who probably mostly also backed Clinton. So here it really is: Do you want a neoconservative, neoliberal woman for president or do you want humanity to survive? Democrats apparently didn’t care enough about the latter possibility to dissuade them from the former.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “It is now two and a half minutes to midnight,” January 26, 2017, http://thebulletin.org/press-release/it-now-two-and-half-minutes-midnight10432

  1. [1]Zack Beauchamp, “How Racism Caused The Shutdown,” Center for American Progress, October 9, 2013, http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/09/2730651/how-racism-caused-the-shutdown/; Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Obama’s Twitter Debut, @POTUS, Attracts Hate-Filled Posts,” New York Times, May 21, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/us/politics/obamas-twitter-debut-potus-attracts-hate-filled-posts.html; Morris Dees, “Attorney General Holder is right: Racial animus plays role in Obama opposition,” Southern Poverty Law Center, July 16, 2014, http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/attorney-general-holder-is-right-racial-animus-plays-role-in-obama-opposition; Ginger Gibson, “Powell: GOP has ‘a dark vein of intolerance’,” Politico, January 13, 2013, http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2013/01/powell-gop-has-a-dark-vein-of-intolerance-154019.html; Grio, “Scientists change Obama’s skin color to make white people support conservative politics,” May 15, 2016, http://thegrio.com/2016/05/15/scientists-change-obamas-skin-color-to-make-white-people-support-conservative-politics/; Alex Koppelman, “Now Bill Cosby weighs in on Carter’s side of race issue,” Salon, September 16, 2009, http://www.salon.com/2009/09/16/cosby_race/; Ewen MacAskill, “Jimmy Carter: Animosity towards Barack Obama is due to racism,” Guardian, September 16, 2009, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/16/jimmy-carter-racism-barack-obama; New York Times, “A New Phase in Anti-Obama Attacks,” April 11, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/opinion/sunday/a-new-phase-in-anti-obama-attacks.html; Tony Pugh, “There’s no denying Obama’s race plays a role in protests,” McClatchy, January 12, 2012, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/09/18/75694/theres-no-denying-obamas-race.html; Ron Rosenbaum, “Is the Republican Party Racist?” Slate, October 8, 2012, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_spectator/2012/10/is_the_republican_party_racist_how_the_racial_attitudes_of_southern_voters_bolster_its_chances_.single.html; Sam Tanenhaus, “Original Sin: Why the GOP is and will continue to be the party of white people,” New Republic, September 10, 2013, http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112365/why-republicans-are-party-white-people; Joan Walsh, “The real story of the shutdown: 50 years of GOP race-baiting,” Salon, October 1, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/10/01/the_real_story_of_the_shutdown_50_years_of_gop_race_baiting/; Joan Walsh, “Angry right gets mad when you accuse it of race-baiting!” Salon, October 2, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/10/02/angry_right_gets_mad_when_you_accuse_it_of_race_baiting/; Robb Willer, Matthew Feinberg, and Rachel Wetts, “Threats to Racial Status Promote Tea Party Support Among White Americans,” Social Science Research Network, May 4, 2016, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2770186; Gary Younge, “Obama and the Decline of White America,” Nation 289, no. 13 (October 26, 2009): 10.↩
  2. [2]Thomas Frank, What’s the Matter with Kansas? (New York: Henry Holt, 2005).↩
  3. [3]Chip Berlet, “Taking Tea Parties Seriously: Corporate Globalization, Populism, and Resentment,” Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 10 (2011): 11-29, doi: 10.1163/156914911X555071↩
  4. [4]Scott Sernau, Worlds Apart: Social Inequalities in a Global Economy, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2006).↩
  5. [5]Colin Woodard, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America (New York: Penguin, 2011).↩
  6. [6]Colin Woodard, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America (New York: Penguin, 2011), 101.↩
  7. [7]Colin Woodard, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America (New York: Penguin, 2011), 102.↩
  8. [8]Colin Woodard, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America (New York: Penguin, 2011), 101.↩
  9. [9]Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “It is now two and a half minutes to midnight,” January 26, 2017, http://thebulletin.org/press-release/it-now-two-and-half-minutes-midnight10432↩

Sioux already wrong to evict protesters: Daily Bullshit, January 24-25, 2017 (updated)

benfell

I hit ‘publish’ too soon. I’ve added a story on Donald Trump’s orders on authorized migrants.[1]

Brexit

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Brexit: Supreme Court says Parliament must give Article 50 go-ahead,” January 24, 2017, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38720320

TransPacific Partnership

William Mauldin, “Donald Trump Withdraws U.S. From Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-withdraws-u-s-from-trans-pacific-partnership-1485191020

Calexit

Sharon Bernstein, “More Californians dreaming of a country without Trump: poll,” Yahoo!, January 23, 2017, https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-californians-dreaming-country-without-trump-poll-192311764.html

Dakota Access Pipeline

That didn’t take long. Remember what I said, just in the last issue, about the Sioux trusting elites?[2] Donald Trump is already pushing forward not just on the Dakota Access Pipeline but on the Keystone XL Pipeline.[3]

Timothy Cama, “Trump advances Keystone, Dakota Access pipelines,” Hill, January 24, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/315819-trump-to-advance-keystone-dakota-access-pipelines-report

For-profit colleges

The Obama administration’s record of cracking down on for-profit scams[4] was one of the few bright spots I saw in that presidency. That makes that administration’s connections in this deal[5] seem rather unseemly.

Michael Stratford, “Accreditor approves $1.1 billion sale of University of Phoenix’s parent company,” Politico, January 24, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/university-of-phoenix-sale-234101

Unauthorized Migration

I pretty much said all I have to say on this in my dissertation.

Rafael Bernal, “Trump signs orders on border wall, immigration enforcement,” Hill, January 25, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316101-trump-orders-work-to-begin-on-border-wall

  1. [1]Rafael Bernal, “Trump signs orders on border wall, immigration enforcement,” Hill, January 25, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316101-trump-orders-work-to-begin-on-border-wall↩
  2. [2]David Benfell, “Sioux now have faith in elites, tell Standing Rock protesters to go home,” (Almost) Daily Bullshit, January 22, 2017, https://parts-unknown.org/reading/2017/01/22/sioux-now-have-faith-in-elites-tell-standing-rock-protesters-to-go-home-daily-bullshit-january-22-2017/↩
  3. [3]Timothy Cama, “Trump advances Keystone, Dakota Access pipelines,” Hill, January 24, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/315819-trump-to-advance-keystone-dakota-access-pipelines-report↩
  4. [4]Samantha Allen, “Death of a Diploma Mill: University of Phoenix Going Down in Flames?” Daily Beast, July 31, 2015, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/31/death-of-a-diploma-mill-university-of-phoenix-going-down-in-flames.html; Arunima Banerjee, “ITT Educational to shut institutes, lay off over 8,000 employees,” Reuters, September 6, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-itt-education-layoffs-idUSKCN11C15W; Goldie Blumenstyk, “Little for Students in ‘Historic’ Settlement of Education Management Case,” Chronicle of Higher Education, November 17, 2015, http://chronicle.com/article/Little-for-Students-in/234229; Goldie Blumenstyk, “After ITT’s Demise, More Trouble Is Likely for For-Profit Colleges,” Chronicle of Higher Education, September 13, 2016, http://www.chronicle.com/article/After-ITT-s-Demise-More/237765; Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, “Is this the beginning of the end for ITT?” Washington Post, October 19, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/10/19/is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-itt/; Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, “DeVry voluntarily dials back revenue from federal student aid,” Washington Post, September 20, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/09/20/devry-voluntarily-dials-back-revenue-from-federal-student-aid/; Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, “Education Department places hefty conditions on University of Phoenix sale,” Washington Post, December 7, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/12/07/education-department-places-hefty-conditions-on-university-of-phoenix-sale/; Charles Huckabee, “Corinthian Colleges Inc. to Close Its Remaining Campuses,” Chronicle of Higher Education, April 27, 2015, http://chronicle.com/article/Corinthian-Colleges-Inc-to/229685/; Molly Jackson, “Why is the University of Phoenix being sold?” Christian Science Monitor, February 8, 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2016/0208/Why-is-the-University-of-Phoenix-being-sold; Ben Kesling and Douglas Belkin, “University of Phoenix Barred From Recruiting on Military Bases,” Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-phoenix-barred-from-military-bases-1444369975; Ben Miller, “The Decision Threatening The Future Of For-Profit Colleges,” Talking Points Memo, July 2, 2015, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/university-of-phoenix-future-of-for-profit-colleges; Jim Miller and Jeremy B. White, “Sacramento-area Corinthian colleges sometimes doubled job claims, report says,” Sacramento Bee, November 17, 2015, http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article45236754.html; Michael Nunez, “ITT Tech Is Officially Closing,” Gizmodo, September 6, 2016, http://gizmodo.com/itt-is-officially-closing-1786243058; Ashley A. Smith, “GI Bill Benefits on the Brink,” Inside Higher Ed, June 10, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/10/ashford-university-brink-losing-gi-bill-benefits; Ashley A. Smith, “Options for ITT Tech students if the for-profit chain collapses,” Inside Higher Ed, September 1, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/09/01/options-itt-tech-students-if-profit-chain-collapses; Ashley A. Smith, “The End for ITT Tech,” Inside Higher Ed, September 7, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/09/07/itt-tech-shuts-down-all-campuses; Michael Stratford, “Corinthian Closes for Good,” Inside Higher Ed, April 27, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/27/corinthian-ends-operations-remaining-campuses-affecting-16000-students; Michael Stratford, “Fallout From Corinthian Collapse,” Inside Higher Ed, April 28, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/28/education-department-defends-corinthian-collapse-democrats-turn-pressure; Michael Stratford, “Getting Ready for Another Corinthian,” Inside Higher Ed, March 18, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/18/federal-loan-forgiveness-jumps-education-department-may-require-more-risky-colleges; Andy Thomason, “U. of Phoenix Faces Another Federal Investigation,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 22, 2015, http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/giant-for-profit-u-of-phoenix-faces-another-federal-investigation/105960; Andy Thomason, “Apollo Education, U. of Phoenix’s Parent, Is Sold for $1.1 Billion,” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 8, 2016, http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/for-profit-apollo-education-u-of-phoenixs-parent-is-sold-for-1-1-billion/108473; Jill Tucker, “Corinthian, Heald colleges shut down abruptly,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2015, http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Corinthian-Colleges-shuts-down-in-S-F-and-6225068.php; Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “Education Dept. Denies Student-Aid Funds to For-Profit Law School,” Chronicle of Higher Education, December 19, 2016, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/education-dept-denies-student-aid-funds-to-for-profit-law-school/116201; Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “2 For-Profit Colleges Will Close Their Doors,” Chronicle of Higher Education, December 22, 2016, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/two-for-profit-colleges-will-close-their-doors/116247; Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “Over 800 Programs Fail Education Dept.’s Gainful-Employment Rule,” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 9, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/over-800-programs-fail-education-dept-s-gainful-employment-rule/116378↩
  5. [5]Michael Stratford, “Accreditor approves $1.1 billion sale of University of Phoenix’s parent company,” Politico, January 24, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/university-of-phoenix-sale-234101↩

Sioux now have faith in elites, tell Standing Rock protesters to go home: Daily Bullshit, January 22, 2017 (updated)

benfell

Updated for a New York Times story on crowd sizes.[1]

Standing Rock

The anti-environmentalist, pro-fossil fuel extraction, lying Donald Trump has barely been inaugurated, but

“Because we worked together, the federal government will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement,” the [Standing Rock Sioux] tribe said. “Moving forward, our ultimate objective is best served by our elected officials, navigating strategically through the administrative and legal processes.”[2]

Yup, that makes sense.

Terray Sylvester, “North Dakota tribe formally calls on pipeline protesters to disperse,” Reuters, January 21, 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/usth-dakota-pipeline-idUSKBN1550SD

Inauguration

‘Alternative facts?’[3] Sounds post-modern to me.

Connor O’Brien, “Conway: Spicer presented ‘alternative facts’ on inauguration crowds,” Politico, January 22, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/alternative-facts-kellyanne-conway-233998

Tim Wallace and Alicia Parlapiano, “Crowd Scientists Say Women’s March in Washington Had 3 Times More People Than Trump’s Inauguration,” New York Times, January 22, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/22/us/politics/womens-march-trump-crowd-estimates.html

  1. [1]Tim Wallace and Alicia Parlapiano, “Crowd Scientists Say Women’s March in Washington Had 3 Times More People Than Trump’s Inauguration,” New York Times, January 22, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/22/us/politics/womens-march-trump-crowd-estimates.html↩
  2. [2]Terray Sylvester, “North Dakota tribe formally calls on pipeline protesters to disperse,” Reuters, January 21, 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/usth-dakota-pipeline-idUSKBN1550SD↩
  3. [3]Connor O’Brien, “Conway: Spicer presented ‘alternative facts’ on inauguration crowds,” Politico, January 22, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/alternative-facts-kellyanne-conway-233998↩

While you were distracted by the inauguration: Daily Bullshit, January 21, 2017

benfell

Star Trek: Axanar

Axanar will be released in two 15-minute segments.[1] That’s a lot less than what I was expecting and I doubt that anyone is celebrating. As Katharine Trendacosta, who has been covering this story for a while, puts it,

The version of Axanar that will be released will not be the version Peters originally intended to release. The agreement requires “substantial” changes and that Axanar hew to the aforementioned fan film guidelines released by CBS and Paramount.

I’m sure no one got exactly what they wanted from this agreement, but at least it’s finally over.[2]

Katharine Trendacosta, “Thank the Great Bird of the Galaxy, the Star Trek Fan Film Lawsuit Has Settled,” Gizmodo, January 20, 2017, http://io9.gizmodo.com/thank-the-great-bird-of-the-galaxy-the-star-trek-fan-f-1791443160

Hypocrites

These protesters need to worry about human (and non-human animal) rights, not just the rights of their various identities. Until they do, as far as I am concerned, they are beneath contempt.

Reid Wilson, “Women’s marches draw estimated 3M people across US,” Hill, January 21, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/news/315506-womens-marches-draw-estimated-25-million-across-country

  1. [1]Katharine Trendacosta, “Thank the Great Bird of the Galaxy, the Star Trek Fan Film Lawsuit Has Settled,” Gizmodo, January 20, 2017, http://io9.gizmodo.com/thank-the-great-bird-of-the-galaxy-the-star-trek-fan-f-1791443160↩
  2. [2]Katharine Trendacosta, “Thank the Great Bird of the Galaxy, the Star Trek Fan Film Lawsuit Has Settled,” Gizmodo, January 20, 2017, http://io9.gizmodo.com/thank-the-great-bird-of-the-galaxy-the-star-trek-fan-f-1791443160↩

Donald Trump is now President: Daily Bullshit, January 20, 2017

benfell

To my erstwhile friends on the Left: What you feel now about Donald Trump is pretty much what authoritarian populists, especially, and other conservatives felt about Barack Obama. Which, to me, is somewhat ridiculous: It isn’t like Obama was anything like what I would call a leftist. He did nothing to advance race relations, was slow to support same-sex marriage (some might remember that it was his vice president who came out in support first, in what some then thought might be a gaffe), was slow to support transgender rights, but he enthusiastically embraced and extended the neoconservative and neoliberal policies of his predecessors.

In supporting Hillary Clinton, the political left embraced neoconservatism and neoliberalism and the left’s lack of interest in economic justice is why I no longer identify with the left. Yes, Trump is abhorrent. But what the left refuses to recognize is that Clinton is also intolerable.

Both the left and right insist that they represent ‘Americans.’ Obviously, residents of the United States are not monolithic. But each side has decided that those they don’t represent don’t matter. And when the left decided white men who want jobs are the enemy, they discarded any pretense of believing that I am a human being entitled to dignity. Yes, I take this personally. Very personally. At least with the right, I always knew where I stood.

Unemployment

I will have a final chart on Barack Obama’s record on unemployment in April, after the final revisions are in.

David Ingold, “A Tale of Two Economies,” Bloomberg, January 19, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-obama-economic-legacy/

Barry Ritholtz, “Jobs: Gained and Lost Under Obama,” Big Picture, January 19, 2017, http://ritholtz.com/2017/01/jobs-gained-lost-obama/

Budget

Alexander Bolton, “Trump team prepares dramatic cuts,” Hill, January 19, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/finance/314991-trump-team-prepares-dramatic-cuts

Davos

When Larry Summers runs his mouth off about how “[c]lassic populism is invariably counterproductive for those in whose name it is offered as a policy regime,”[1] all I can say is that history will also show that the elites got themselves into this mess by ignoring the basic human right to a decent job and if he is going to yammer about what policies are ‘counterproductive,’ then he needs to show me that he knows where my job is. Because sixteen years after the dot-com bust, having finished a Bachelor’s, a Master’s, and a Ph.D., and in all that time, still hearing only crickets in response to my job applications, I have absolutely no reason to believe he or anyone else spouting off similar bullshit has any idea what they’re talking about.

Max Ehrenfreund, “What it would take to really rethink capitalism,” Washington Post, January 19, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/19/what-it-would-take-to-really-rethink-capitalism/

  1. [1]Andreas Becker, “Davos: The crisis of the middle class,” Deutschewelle, January 19, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/davos-the-crisis-of-the-middle-class/a-37192939↩

Davos elite react to populism: Daily Bullshit, January 18-19, 2017

benfell

Probably I should have more to say about some of this. . . .

Davos

Andreas Becker, “Davos: The crisis of the middle class,” Deutschewelle, January 19, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/davos-the-crisis-of-the-middle-class/a-37192939

RTT News, “Globalization Should Benefit Everyone, UK PM May Says At Davos,” January 19, 2017, http://www.rttnews.com/story.aspx?Id=2734548

Brexit

Rafael Behr, “May can think big all she likes. Britain’s about to find out just how small it is,” Guardian, January 17, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/17/theresa-may-britain-prime-minister-speech

Jenny Gross and Nicholas Winning, “Prime Minister Theresa May Says U.K. Won’t Seek Membership of EU Single Market,” Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/prime-minister-theresa-may-says-u-k-wont-seek-membership-of-eu-single-market-1484655569

Simon Nixon, “The Multiple Paths to a Bad Brexit Deal,” Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-multiple-paths-to-a-bad-brexit-deal-1484771260

Christoph Scheuermann, “Theresa May’s Brexit Plan: I Want, I Want, I Want,” Spiegel, January 18, 2017, http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/theresa-may-promises-a-glorious-brexit-future-a-1130529.html

Scottish Independence

MercoPress, “Scotland ‘undoubtedly’ closer to an independence referendum,” January 18, 2017, http://en.mercopress.com/2017/01/18/scotland-undoubtedly-closer-to-an-independence-referendum

Donald Trump’s Inauguration

Steven Shepard, “Polls show Trump with historically low approval ratings,” Politico, January 17, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-low-approval-rating-transition-233678

Kevin Slane, “Here’s who will (and will not) be performing at Donald Trump’s inauguration,” Boston Globe, January 18, 2017, http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2017/01/18/heres-who-will-and-will-not-be-performing-at-donald-trumps-inauguration

Clare Foran, “Why Some Democrats in Congress Refuse to Attend Trump’s Inauguration,” Atlantic, January 19, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/democrats-inauguration-boycott-protest-congress/513623/

Adam Geller, “As Trump takes the oath, many voters still can’t believe it,” McClatchy, January 19, 2017, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article127582569.html?rh=1

Chelsea Manning

Brendan McGarry, “Vets Slam Obama’s Decision to Shorten Manning’s Sentence,” Military.com, January 19, 2017, http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/01/19/vets-slam-obamas-decision-to-shorten-mannings-sentence.html

California water

Nathan Halverson, “All this recent rain won’t stop California from sinking,” Reveal, January 14, 2017, https://www.revealnews.org/article/the-drought-didnt-make-california-sink-its-crops-did/

Barack Obama commutes the sentence of a soldier whom the Army never should have tried, let alone tortured: Daily Bullshit, January 14-17, 2017

benfell

I’m largely catching up today—the pace of news I consider worthy has been too slow to warrant an issue.

Chelsea Manning

Jordan Fabian, “Obama commutes Chelsea Manning’s sentence,” Hill, January 17, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/314663-obama-commutes-chelsea-mannings-sentence

Brexit

Rafael Behr, “May can think big all she likes. Britain’s about to find out just how small it is,” Guardian, January 17, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/17/theresa-may-britain-prime-minister-speech

Jenny Gross and Nicholas Winning, “Prime Minister Theresa May Says U.K. Won’t Seek Membership of EU Single Market,” Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/prime-minister-theresa-may-says-u-k-wont-seek-membership-of-eu-single-market-1484655569

James Mattis

Andrew J. Bacevich, “A Pledge for More of the Same at the Pentagon,” Atlantic, January 12, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/01/mattis-confirmation-pentagon-trump-iraq-afghanistan/513038/

Social Inequality

Pan Pylas, “Just 8 Men Have as Much Wealth as Half of the World, Study Says,” Time, January 17, 2017, http://time.com/4635696/world-wealth-distriubution-income-inequality-davos/

Basic Income

Marc Bain errs when he writes that “[Donald] Trump blamed trade policy for the job losses, though the real culprit is technology.”[1] Though it increasingly does appear that technology is and will be the culprit behind many job losses,[2] globalization has by no means been exonerated.[3] It would be more accurate to say that both are driving workers out of the labor force, but the emphasis on automation looks like another example of the mass media peddling its (and Barack Obama’s and the mainstream political class’s) preferred narrative.

Marc Bain, “Martin Luther King Jr. was decades ahead of his time in advocating for a universal basic income,” Quartz, January 16, 2017, https://qz.com/886516/martin-luther-king-jr-was-decades-ahead-of-his-time-in-advocating-for-a-universal-basic-income/

  1. [1]Marc Bain, “Martin Luther King Jr. was decades ahead of his time in advocating for a universal basic income,” Quartz, January 16, 2017, https://qz.com/886516/martin-luther-king-jr-was-decades-ahead-of-his-time-in-advocating-for-a-universal-basic-income/↩
  2. [2]Roderick Benns, “‘My heart tells me this is a fantastic solution’: Ontario Minister on Basic Income,” Leaders and Legacies, November 29, 2016, http://leadersandlegacies.com/2016/11/29/my-heart-tells-me-this-is-a-fantastic-solution-ontario-minister-on-basic-income/; Jennifer Broadhurst, “Guaranteed basic income for all: An idea whose time has come?” Christian Science Monitor, December 27, 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Breakthroughs-Voices/2016/1227/Guaranteed-basic-income-for-all-An-idea-whose-time-has-come; Ross Douthat, “Leaving Work Behind,” New York Times, February 8, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/opinion/sunday/douthat-leaving-work-behind.html; Peter S. Goodman, “Free Cash in Finland. Must Be Jobless,” New York Times, December 17, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/17/business/economy/universal-basic-income-finland.html; Jon Henley, “Finland trials basic income for unemployed,” Guardian, January 3, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/03/finland-trials-basic-income-for-unemployed; Gerald Huff, “Don’t fear the robot economy,” Daily Dot, December 10, 2015, http://www.dailydot.com/via/technological-unemployment-robot-future-jobs/; Dylan Matthews, “Basic income: the world’s simplest plan to end poverty, explained,” Vox, April 25, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2014/9/8/6003359/basic-income-negative-income-tax-questions-explain; Vivek Wadhwa, “We need a new version of capitalism for the jobless future,” Washington Post, July 20, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2015/07/20/we-need-a-new-version-of-capitalism-for-the-jobless-future↩
  3. [3]Jeronim Capaldo and Alex Izurieta with Jomo Kwame Sundaram, “Unemployment, Inequality and Other Risks of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement,” Global Development and Environment Institute, January, 2016, http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/TPP_simulations.html; Democracy Now! “NAFTA at 20: Lori Wallach on U.S. Job Losses, Record Income Inequality, Mass Displacement in Mexico,” January 3, 2014, http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/3/nafta_at_20_lori_wallach_on; Democracy Now! “Zapatista Uprising 20 Years Later: How Indigenous Mexicans Stood Up Against NAFTA ‘Death Sentence’,” January 3, 2014, http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/3/zapatista_uprising_20_years_later_how; Democracy Now! “Full Text of TPP Trade Deal Revealed — and Critics Say It’s Even Worse Than They Thought,” November 6, 2015, http://www.democracynow.org/2015/11/6/full_text_of_tpp_trade_deal; Cory Doctorow, “Independent economists: TPP will kill 450,000 US jobs; 75,000 Japanese jobs, 58,000 Canadian jobs,” Boing Boing, January 20, 2016, http://boingboing.net/2016/01/20/independent-economists-tpp-wi.html; Dave Johnson, “NAFTA At 20: 1 Million Lost Jobs, 580% Increase In Trade Deficit,” Campaign for America’s Future, December 30, 2013, http://ourfuture.org/20131230/nafta-at-20-1-million-lost-jobs-580-increase-in-trade-deficit; Manuel Pérez-Rocha, “NAFTA’s 20 Years of Unfulfilled Promises,” InterPress Service, December 29, 2013, http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/12/op-ed-naftas-20-years-unfulfilled-promises/; Eduardo Porter, “On Trade, Angry Voters Have a Point,” New York Times, March 15, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/business/economy/on-trade-angry-voters-have-a-point.html; Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, “NAFTA at 20,” Public Citizen, January, 2014, http://www.citizen.org/documents/NAFTA-at-20.pdf; Yves Smith [Susan Webber], “Administration Peddling Increasing Blatant Canards on Proposed ‘Trade’ Deals,” Naked Capitalism, January 6, 2014, http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/01/administration-peddling-increasing-blatant-misdirection-proposed-trade-deals.html; Jomo Kwame Sundaram, “The Real Costs of the Trans-Pacifc Partnership: Lost Jobs, Low Wages, and Rising Inequality,” Global Development And Environment Institute, February, 2016, http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/PB16-01TPP.pdf; Lori Wallach, “NAFTA on Steroids,” Nation, June 27, 2012, http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids; Timothy A. Wise, “How Beer Explains 20 Years of NAFTA’s Devastating Effects on Mexico,” Triple Crisis, January 2, 2014, http://triplecrisis.com/how-beer-explains-20-years-of-naftas-devastating-effects-on-mexico/↩

No word on whether Donald Trump partakes in or merely watches ‘golden showers’: Daily Bullshit, January 11-13, 2017 (updated 3x)

benfell

There is a new blog post, entitled “An apology.”

Updated for an NPR piece on kompromat[1] and for a story on the drought apparently ending in some parts of California.[2] Updated again for a National Weather Service map on the California drought.[3] Updated yet again for an article detailing Penthouse magazine’s efforts to obtain proof of the ‘golden shower’ claims.[4]

Donald Trump

In fact, big business people often seal deals at strip clubs, and sex parties in St. Petersburg were likely to be sweeteners for a business deal. Only puritan Americans would think it was the sex party that was the important thing.[5]

I’m trying to remind myself that my mission with this newsletter is to illuminate rather than to disseminate. On the other hand, Donald Trump is alleged to be into “golden showers?” (Let the snickering commence.) At least this time, the mainstream media are admitting that these claims are unverified.[6] Juan Cole goes so far as to point out that “intelligence professionals gather a lot of raw intelligence that is nonsense.”[7]

For what it’s worth, both Trump and the Russians deny the report.[8] On the one hand, this is to be expected—of course they would. On the other hand, first, the Russian denial lacks credibility;[9] but second, in combination with unsubstantiated and dubious claims that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee,[10] this starts to look seriously like disinformation, intended to delegitimize Trump.

Jeff Stein, “Trump, Russian Spies and the Infamous ‘Golden Shower Memos,’” Newsweek, January 10, 2017, http://www.newsweek.com/trump-russian-spies-infamous-golden-shower-memos-541315

Juan Cole, “For Russian hold on Trump, follow the Money, not the Sex tapes,” Informed Comment, January 11, 2017, http://www.juancole.com/2017/01/russian-trump-follow.html

Shane Harris, Devlin Barrett, and Laura Mills, “Trump, Russia Both Hit Out at Claims in Intelligence Dossier,” Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-says-it-has-no-compromising-material-on-trump-calling-report-an-absolute-fabrication-1484125723

Greg Myre, “A Russian Word Americans Need To Know: ‘Kompromat,'” National Public Radio, January 11, 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/01/11/509305088/a-russian-word-americans-need-to-know-kompromat

Greg Price, “Penthouse may have proof of Trump’s ‘golden shower’ tryst at Moscow hotel,” Raw Story, January 13, 2017, http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/penthouse-may-have-proof-of-trumps-golden-shower-tryst-at-moscow-hotel/

California drought

As for another kind of precipitation. . . .

Good news on drought conditions in California. Recent heavy rains have resulted in significant improvement across most of the state.
According to the National Weather Service, “Good news on drought conditions in California. Recent heavy rains have resulted in significant improvement across most of the state.”

Ellen Knickmeyer, “Officials: More than 40 percent of California out of drought,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, January 12, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/officials-more-than-40-percent-of-california-out-of-drought/410516385/

National Weather Service, [Facebook post], January 12, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/NWSBayArea/photos/a.128008810607817.30966.121579457917419/1308228312585855/?type=3

  1. [1]Greg Myre, “A Russian Word Americans Need To Know: ‘Kompromat,'” National Public Radio, January 11, 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/01/11/509305088/a-russian-word-americans-need-to-know-kompromat↩
  2. [2]Ellen Knickmeyer, “Officials: More than 40 percent of California out of drought,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, January 12, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/officials-more-than-40-percent-of-california-out-of-drought/410516385/↩
  3. [3]National Weather Service, [Facebook post], January 12, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/NWSBayArea/photos/a.128008810607817.30966.121579457917419/1308228312585855/?type=3↩
  4. [4]Greg Price, “Penthouse may have proof of Trump’s ‘golden shower’ tryst at Moscow hotel,” Raw Story, January 13, 2017, http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/penthouse-may-have-proof-of-trumps-golden-shower-tryst-at-moscow-hotel/↩
  5. [5]Juan Cole, “For Russian hold on Trump, follow the Money, not the Sex tapes,” Informed Comment, January 11, 2017, http://www.juancole.com/2017/01/russian-trump-follow.html↩
  6. [6]Shane Harris, Devlin Barrett, and Laura Mills, “Trump, Russia Both Hit Out at Claims in Intelligence Dossier,” Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-says-it-has-no-compromising-material-on-trump-calling-report-an-absolute-fabrication-1484125723; Jeff Stein, “Trump, Russian Spies and the Infamous ‘Golden Shower Memos,’” Newsweek, January 10, 2017, http://www.newsweek.com/trump-russian-spies-infamous-golden-shower-memos-541315↩
  7. [7]Juan Cole, “For Russian hold on Trump, follow the Money, not the Sex tapes,” Informed Comment, January 11, 2017, http://www.juancole.com/2017/01/russian-trump-follow.html↩
  8. [8]Shane Harris, Devlin Barrett, and Laura Mills, “Trump, Russia Both Hit Out at Claims in Intelligence Dossier,” Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-says-it-has-no-compromising-material-on-trump-calling-report-an-absolute-fabrication-1484125723↩
  9. [9]Greg Myre, “A Russian Word Americans Need To Know: ‘Kompromat,'” National Public Radio, January 11, 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/01/11/509305088/a-russian-word-americans-need-to-know-kompromat↩
  10. [10]George Beebe, “Russia’s Role in the US Elections: The Case for Caution,” National Interest, December 16, 2016, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/russias-role-the-us-elections-the-case-caution-18756; David Benfell, “Blaming the Russians,” Not Housebroken, December 13, 2016, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=9151; Jeffrey Carr, “The GRU-Ukraine Artillery Hack That May Never Have Happened,” Medium, January 3, 2017, https://medium.com/@jeffreycarr/the-gru-ukraine-artillery-hack-that-may-never-have-happened-820960bbb02d; Ronald Deibert, “The DHS/FBI Report on Russian Hacking was a Predictable Failure,” Just Security, January 4, 2017, https://www.justsecurity.org/35989/dhsfbi-report-russian-hacking-predictable-failure/; David A. Graham, “An Intelligence Report That Will Change No One’s Mind,” Atlantic, January 6, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/odni-report-on-russian-hacking/512465/; Matt Taibbi, “Something About This Russia Story Stinks,” Rolling Stone, December 31, 2016, http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/something-about-this-russia-story-stinks-w458439↩

Barack Obama’s legacy: Daily Bullshit, January 9-10, 2017

benfell

Barack Obama

Cornel West cites what “may have been our last [and lost] chance to break from our neoliberal soulcraft,” Barack Obama’s failure “to break with the Wall Street priorities and bail out Main Street,” the lack of “accountability of US torturers of innocent Muslims and the [lack of] transparency of US drone strikes killing innocent civilians,” his silence on stop-and-frisk, his demonization of whistle blowers, and his response to Black Lives Matter and to Israeli attacks on Palestine “with words about the difficult plight of police officers, department investigations (with no police going to jail) and the additional $225m in financial support of the Israeli army. Obama said not a mumbling word about the dead Palestinian children but he did call Baltimore black youth ‘criminals and thugs’.”[1]

Yet the mainstream media and academia failed to highlight these painful truths linked to Obama. Instead, most well-paid pundits on TV and radio celebrated the Obama brand. And most black spokespeople shamelessly defended Obama’s silences and crimes in the name of racial symbolism and their own careerism. How hypocritical to see them now speak truth to white power when most went mute in the face of black power. Their moral authority is weak and their newfound militancy is shallow.[2]

This is all true, but I would add that after Obama inherited wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where we’re still involved, and won the Nobel Peace Prize,[3] “the United States dropped 26,171 bombs in seven countries” in 2016[4] and that Obama’s much ballyhooed accomplishment on climate change is, to be generous, an ineffective non-binding half-measure.[5] I would amplify that Obama clearly cared not one whit for ordinary people, except when he wanted their votes, as he declared in 2009 that “[w]e all know that there are limits to what government can and should do [for the unemployed], even during such difficult times,”[6] allowed what should have been a bailout for homeowners blindsided by the crash in real estate values to become a bailout for bankers instead,[7] and used the promise of health care to bail out health insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms that didn’t even need a bailout.[8] Similarly, his disdain for the left,[9] which I guess just wasn’t neoconservative, neoliberal, or corrupt enough for him, should have been a caution about supporting Hillary Clinton.

Cornel West, “Pity the sad legacy of Barack Obama,” Guardian, January 9, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/barack-obama-legacy-presidency

For-profit colleges

Cracking down on ‘for-profits’ is one of the very few accomplishments I think Barack Obama deserves credit for. The trouble for me is the form that the crackdown takes. Education should not be reduced to job-training[10] but in his quest for “accountability,” Obama did just that[11] and he continued a program of further destroying primary and secondary education:

The three most trumpeted and simultaneously most destructive aspects of the united “school reform” agenda are these: turning over public assets and spaces to private management; dismantling and opposing any independent, collective voice of teachers; and reducing education to a single narrow metric that claims to recognize an educated person through a test score. While there’s absolutely no substantive proof that this approach improves schooling for children, it chugs along unfazed—fact-free, faith-based reform at its core, resting firmly on rank ideology rather than any evidence whatsoever.[12]

Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “Over 800 Programs Fail Education Dept.’s Gainful-Employment Rule,” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 9, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/over-800-programs-fail-education-dept-s-gainful-employment-rule/116378

Brexit

Jenny Gross, “Theresa May Says Britain Will Make Definitive Break With EU,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/theresa-may-defends-governments-approach-to-brexit-1483879849

Mike Bird and Georgi Kantchev, “Fog Around Brexit Causes Pound to Fall,” Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/sterling-falls-on-theresa-mays-brexit-comments-1483960396

  1. [1]Cornel West, “Pity the sad legacy of Barack Obama,” Guardian, January 9, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/barack-obama-legacy-presidency↩
  2. [2]Cornel West, “Pity the sad legacy of Barack Obama,” Guardian, January 9, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/barack-obama-legacy-presidency↩
  3. [3]Kathleen Hennessey, “Once Lauded as a Peacemaker, Obama’s Tenure Fraught with War,” Military.com, October 6, 2016, http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/10/06/once-lauded-peacemaker-obama-tenure-fraught-war.html↩
  4. [4]Micah Zenko, “Scary Fact: America Dropped 26,171 Bombs in 7 Countries in 2016,” National Interest, January 6, 2017, http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/scary-fact-america-dropped-26171-bombs-7-countries-2016-18961↩
  5. [5]Kasia Anderson, “Pre-eminent Climate Scientist James Hansen Calls Paris Deal a ‘Fraud’; John Kerry Begs to Differ,” Truthdig, December 13, 2015, http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/preeminent_climate_scientist_calls_paris_deal_a_fraud_-_kerry_20151213; Marty Lederman, “The constitutionally critical, last-minute correction to the Paris climate change accord,” Balkinization, December 13, 2015, http://balkin.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-last-minute-correction-to-paris.html; Arthur Neslen and Karl Mathiesen, “Paris climate pledges ‘will only delay dangerous warming by two years’,” Guardian, June 3, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/03/paris-climate-pledges-will-only-delay-dangerous-warming-by-two-years; David Roberts, “No country on Earth is taking the 2 degree climate target seriously,” Vox, October 4, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/10/4/13118594/2-degrees-no-more-fossil-fuels; Alissa J. Rubin and Elian Peltier, “Protesters Are in Agreement as Well: Pact Is Too Weak,” New York Times, December 12, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/world/europe/climate-activists-gather-in-paris-to-protest-outcome-of-conference.html↩
  6. [6]Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on the Economy,” White House, November 12, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-economy-jobs-forum↩
  7. [7]Neil Barofsky, Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street (New York: Free Press, 2012).↩
  8. [8]Brad Jacobson, “Obama received $20 million from healthcare industry in 2008 campaign,” Raw Story, January 12, 2010, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/01/12/obama-received-20-million-healthcare-industry-money-2008/; Gaius Publius [pseud.], “Obama Got $20 Million from Healthcare Industry in 2008. Was Killing Single-Payer Part of the Deal?” Naked Capitalism, February 5, 2014, http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/02/gaius-publius-obama-got-20-million-healthcare-industry-2008-killing-single-payer-part-deal.html↩
  9. [9]Blue Texan [pseud.], “Ed Rendell Tells Democratic Base to “Get Over It” on Rachel Maddow,” Firedoglake, September 23, 2010, http://firedoglake.com/2010/09/23/early-morning-swim-ed-rendell-tells-democratic-base-to-get-over-it-on-rachel-maddow/; Blue Texan [pseud.], “Stop Whining, Liberals!” Firedoglake, September 27, 2010, http://firedoglake.com/2010/09/27/late-night-stop-whining-liberals/; Michael Falcone, “Opposite Day On The Campaign Trail?” ABC News, September 21, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/09/election-2010-opposite-day-on-the-campaign-trail/; Glenn Greenwald, “Obama’s view of liberal criticisms,” Salon, September 17, 2010, http://www.salon.com/2010/09/17/obama_139/; David Neiwert, “President Obama lashes out at his liberal critics: Choice is to ‘get things done’ or feel ‘sanctimonious’,” Crooks and Liars, December 7, 2010, http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/president-obama-lashes-out-his-liber; Heather Digby Parton, “‘It’s always the hippies’ fault’: Why the left treats its idealists all wrong,” Salon, February 5, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/02/05/its_always_the_hippies_fault_why_the_left_treats_its_idealists_all_wrong/; Greg Sargent, “Liberal blogger directly confronts David Axelrod, accuses White House of ‘hippie punching’,” Washington Post, September 23, 2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/09/liberal_blogger_directly_confr.html; Stephen Stromberg, “Joe Biden scolds progressives — and he’s right,” Washington Post, September 16, 2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/09/joe_biden_scolds_progressives.html; Sam Youngman, “White House unloads anger over criticism from ‘professional left’,” Hill, August 10, 2010, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/113431-white-house-unloads-on-professional-left↩
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