Charlie, I've mentioned this when the first story came around. I was an MIT Chem Grad student in the 80's. When Mark Wrighton was named Chair of the Chem Department, he celebrated by buying himself a Corvette. And what did he choose for a color? Wait for it...BROWN. Clearly, the man never wants to rock the boat too much.
Charlie I love your writing! My fave today...... 'Well, “ever” lasted a few months for Nikki, before she was scratching and clawing her way back to Mar-a-Lago to drink deep the cup of self-humiliation that is always on offer there.'
What are clowns like Haley going to do when the price for dissent is not just a scolding from Trump but actual threat to life and safety? And yet they would be the first to tell us that people to 'rise up' to authoritarians around the globe. These cowards would eventually be fine with mass murder if their dear leader okayed it.
It is time for principled Republican leadership to form a third party. I know this is not an easy project but I believe there are more than enough out there than we realize that would join the fight. It is more than defeating Trumpism; it is about saving the Nation.
Occasionally, amongst the many ugly results of Donald Trump, his ridiculous persona generates a favor. As illustrated by Governor Haley, 'true colors' are revealed.
Charlie, It would be wonderful if W Bush, would put down his paint brush and throw a solid for democracy. Do you have any thoughts on what he might be thinking? Doing?
Charlie, I was a grad student in the MIT Chemistry department during Mark Wrighton's tenure. He got promoted to whatever -- tenure, department chair, whatever. And he celebrated in the typical mid-life guy way. He bought a Corvette. But here's the thing -- the Corvette he bought was...brown. Brown? So I've always had doubts about his judgement.
Totally agree. And having a president, and a political party, that routinely violate our laws without consequence is a bigger moral hazard. I speak from personal experience: I’ve noticed that I feel like a chump for being truthful on my taxes every year, and I’m starting to notice the psychological pull towards maybe a just bit of fudging, not just on taxes, but on all background civic duties. I haven’t acted on it, but just the fact that it’s lurking in my brain is disconcerting and new. I used to feel pride in playing it straight; now I have to wonder.
I mean... yes, it's bad that the first response of the president of GWU to criticism of the Olympics was to essentially side against the Uighurs and the Chinese people who live in a nightmare dystopia surveillance state and literally the rest of the world who got COVID-smashed. That's bad.
But, considering that we (again, Canadian here, so this "we" is pretty broad) aren't doing anything to stop the Uighur genocide and haven't done anything to liberate people from said surveillance state and still live in societies awash in Anti-Vaxx morons, wasn't he also kinda right about our actual morals and priorities?
Appeasement of the Chinese Communist Party is bad, yeah, but our professed morals and ethics really only matter if we *do* stuff, not just say stuff.
We SHOULD probably be doing more to rescue the Uighurs. We SHOULD be holding China's leadership accountable for lying about COVID and helping to deliver a body blow to the global economy and the social norms of dozens (hundreds?) of cultures. We SHOULD be trying to free the Chinese people from their oppressive government surveillance, and protect Taiwan like we said we would, and restore domestic industries to limit China's economic cudgel in international affairs. We should.
But we aren't. So yes, the GWU president should be espousing better principles. But right now, those principles seem kinda hollow.
I'm not trying to whataboutism. I'm not trying to excuse the abuses of the Chinese government, which I despise. I'm just depressed that we've all learned to live with all this horrible shit. Doubly so as someone proud of his own Chinese heritage.
Thanks for the article on GWU. Academics are only a half step behind politicians in bowing and scraping to get money. I lived in China 1988-92. I lived in Kazakhstan 1992-96. I knew Uighurs, a peaceful people, many of whom had converted to Christianity. It was not enough for them to mind their own business, knowing there was never going to be a way to participate in government. They had to be rounded up, imprisoned in gulags, abused and killed because of their convictions about how to live. I appreciated the cartoons. We need more of them. The offended, apologetic official at GWU makes me ashamed.
Speaking of how the GOP got here. I faintly remember back in the 90's when Newt Gringrich was ascending to the Speaker of the House hearing some senior GOP folks concerned that the party was turning into simply an attacker attacking the other party. They warned of dire consequences to the GOP not actually having principles and a foundation for what it was about.
I honestly didn't understand the criticism at the time....not because it didn't make sense, but I didn't realize that this was what Newt was all about.
Wow...so this is what happens when a ship doesn't have an agreed to, known destination, a working compass and a crew committed to getting to the final destination. You end up with a ship tossed by the waves, a crew that is ravenously hungry for direction (tired of directionless) and is constantly reacting to an enemy (that may or may not actually exist...but who cares). Thus the platform is created for someone like Trump to step in...eager for a cult following, glad to regale the crew with stories of the evil enemy, and has no other goals than to be the adored Captain of the world...
All of the officers under the Captain...have to make believe that they actually are going somewhere otherwise they would incur the wrath of the crew that thinks they are on the way to conquer their enemy and save the world.
Nikki Haley is the definition of a square peg in a round hole in the Republican Party. Her only possible path upward is a presidential appointment or a Senate seat when Lindsay Graham retires, and she's gotta hit her crazy s**t quota to be in contention for either.
Seems as though Nikki Haley is taking Rich Lowry's "to live is to maneuver" dictum to heart. It also seems as though she has no idea what she is trying to maneuver towards or what the end goal is.
Charlie's podcast with Will Saletan yesterday (02-07-22) raised the topic of people who lied (enabling Trump) but might later be considered redeemed if / when they speak out in support of truth and democracy. Charlie and Will also discussed forever irredeemables such Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon. I'd like to nominate Ronna McDaniel to the forever irredeemable candidate list. While less significant than Tucker and Steve, Ronna deserves equal irredeemable hall of fame recognition.
Could Ronna's potential future words and actions in support of truth and democracy earn her redemption? Just. Plain. No.
I was very interested in that conversation. Surely there are different degrees of "redeemed?" Maybe there's some level of admissible into polite company but never ever to be trusted with political office or even any kind of important administrative role, vs the "we all know that person should be shunned and ideally jailed" types of Bannon, Stone and Giuliani.
I appreciate different criteria / standards for 'admissible into polite company' vs 'ideally jailed'. With respect to Ronna McDaniel, she can never earn readmission to polite company. Yet she (to the best of my knowledge) has not yet earned admission to a jail cell.
Agreed. Maybe my distinctions aren't the best. I just mean, maybe it's not "Irredeemable, Yes or No?" There is probably a spectrum of some kind. Another person who I think is in Ronna's camp is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and it looks like she is going to be elected to office. That's the kind of thing I just don't think should happen with these people.
Agreed. And your distinctions are good. But I suggest that a definitive Yes or No standard apply to Irredeemable status, while, for a community forum discussion standpoint, a broader spectrum apply to Beyond-Irredeemable status. I second your recommendation of Sarah-HS for Irredeemable status, and raise that recommendation with Kayleigh Mc.
Kayleigh M. intrigues me. I wonder if she has any conception of the fact that she's been riding the traitor train to work every day. She not only works for Fox, but is part of their brand and marketing campaign....making them look like a station that is actually seeking out the truth.
How can we all look at the same things and see them completely differently? Perhaps she's just all about her career and keeps jumping to the next opportunity and sort of squints her way through the lies and hypocrisy of Trump/GOP/Fox.
I was arguing with a Fox viewer who was claiming that long gone were the Walter Cronkites of the MSM. LOL...as if Walter Cronkite would ever be a Fox news guy. He would have been fired or quit within a short timeframe.
Kayleigh is a smart person. Kayleigh has knowingly and willfully been a conductor on the grift train since the track started its build with the golden escalator ride in 2015. Kayleigh is no fool. It's simply a matter of self-interest / personal gain.
With respect to Walter Cronkite, Fox would never hire Walter Cronkite. Because ratings. It's all about ratings, revenue, and grift.
It is becoming increasingly tiresome to read about/hear the nonsense from relatively accomplished former Republicans, who have become ReTrumplican'ts. There are no policies put forward, only crazed fact-abandoned diatribes and tweets to attack Dem propositions as Fascist, Communist, or Socialist (take your pick), and offering accolades to their Dictator-in-Waiting.
Q. How does one explain such people, who are so astonishingly transparent in their sycophancy?
Is power that much of an aphrodisiac for them to abandon any semblance of principles with no line of degradation that would not be crossed? (Even Detective Jimmie McNulty had a line he wouldn't cross in the last episode of the last season of The Wire.)
Haley has desperate hope that TFG will choose her for VP, after all the groveling she will offer over the next two to three years. Will it will be worth it in those moments of self-reflection? Even more pathetic is Li'l Marco. What does he hope to achieve in his never ending knee pad campaign for relevancy? Yikes!!
In some ways, Haley, Rubio, and colleagues who should know better, are worse than the Secessionist Seven in Congress led by Coatless Gym Jordan because they aren't stupid and vapid. And as (self-proclaimed) good Christians, their connection to the Secessionist-In-Chief is an abomination in relation to the teaching in the Bible.
But, perhaps there's hope as written in 2 Timothy 2:25-26
"...God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."
Charlie, I've mentioned this when the first story came around. I was an MIT Chem Grad student in the 80's. When Mark Wrighton was named Chair of the Chem Department, he celebrated by buying himself a Corvette. And what did he choose for a color? Wait for it...BROWN. Clearly, the man never wants to rock the boat too much.
I mean, at least Joe went for flashier green!
Charlie I love your writing! My fave today...... 'Well, “ever” lasted a few months for Nikki, before she was scratching and clawing her way back to Mar-a-Lago to drink deep the cup of self-humiliation that is always on offer there.'
What are clowns like Haley going to do when the price for dissent is not just a scolding from Trump but actual threat to life and safety? And yet they would be the first to tell us that people to 'rise up' to authoritarians around the globe. These cowards would eventually be fine with mass murder if their dear leader okayed it.
It is time for principled Republican leadership to form a third party. I know this is not an easy project but I believe there are more than enough out there than we realize that would join the fight. It is more than defeating Trumpism; it is about saving the Nation.
Occasionally, amongst the many ugly results of Donald Trump, his ridiculous persona generates a favor. As illustrated by Governor Haley, 'true colors' are revealed.
Charlie, It would be wonderful if W Bush, would put down his paint brush and throw a solid for democracy. Do you have any thoughts on what he might be thinking? Doing?
Charlie, I was a grad student in the MIT Chemistry department during Mark Wrighton's tenure. He got promoted to whatever -- tenure, department chair, whatever. And he celebrated in the typical mid-life guy way. He bought a Corvette. But here's the thing -- the Corvette he bought was...brown. Brown? So I've always had doubts about his judgement.
“toothless laws are a moral hazard”
Totally agree. And having a president, and a political party, that routinely violate our laws without consequence is a bigger moral hazard. I speak from personal experience: I’ve noticed that I feel like a chump for being truthful on my taxes every year, and I’m starting to notice the psychological pull towards maybe a just bit of fudging, not just on taxes, but on all background civic duties. I haven’t acted on it, but just the fact that it’s lurking in my brain is disconcerting and new. I used to feel pride in playing it straight; now I have to wonder.
I mean... yes, it's bad that the first response of the president of GWU to criticism of the Olympics was to essentially side against the Uighurs and the Chinese people who live in a nightmare dystopia surveillance state and literally the rest of the world who got COVID-smashed. That's bad.
But, considering that we (again, Canadian here, so this "we" is pretty broad) aren't doing anything to stop the Uighur genocide and haven't done anything to liberate people from said surveillance state and still live in societies awash in Anti-Vaxx morons, wasn't he also kinda right about our actual morals and priorities?
Appeasement of the Chinese Communist Party is bad, yeah, but our professed morals and ethics really only matter if we *do* stuff, not just say stuff.
We SHOULD probably be doing more to rescue the Uighurs. We SHOULD be holding China's leadership accountable for lying about COVID and helping to deliver a body blow to the global economy and the social norms of dozens (hundreds?) of cultures. We SHOULD be trying to free the Chinese people from their oppressive government surveillance, and protect Taiwan like we said we would, and restore domestic industries to limit China's economic cudgel in international affairs. We should.
But we aren't. So yes, the GWU president should be espousing better principles. But right now, those principles seem kinda hollow.
I'm not trying to whataboutism. I'm not trying to excuse the abuses of the Chinese government, which I despise. I'm just depressed that we've all learned to live with all this horrible shit. Doubly so as someone proud of his own Chinese heritage.
Sorry. 😣
What exactly were the snowflake students complaining about? Badiucao is an exiled Chinese dissident. Racism has nothing to do with it.
Honestly, it's a tactic. Equate all criticism of China's government with racism. Apparently it works for some people.
Thanks for the article on GWU. Academics are only a half step behind politicians in bowing and scraping to get money. I lived in China 1988-92. I lived in Kazakhstan 1992-96. I knew Uighurs, a peaceful people, many of whom had converted to Christianity. It was not enough for them to mind their own business, knowing there was never going to be a way to participate in government. They had to be rounded up, imprisoned in gulags, abused and killed because of their convictions about how to live. I appreciated the cartoons. We need more of them. The offended, apologetic official at GWU makes me ashamed.
Speaking of how the GOP got here. I faintly remember back in the 90's when Newt Gringrich was ascending to the Speaker of the House hearing some senior GOP folks concerned that the party was turning into simply an attacker attacking the other party. They warned of dire consequences to the GOP not actually having principles and a foundation for what it was about.
I honestly didn't understand the criticism at the time....not because it didn't make sense, but I didn't realize that this was what Newt was all about.
Wow...so this is what happens when a ship doesn't have an agreed to, known destination, a working compass and a crew committed to getting to the final destination. You end up with a ship tossed by the waves, a crew that is ravenously hungry for direction (tired of directionless) and is constantly reacting to an enemy (that may or may not actually exist...but who cares). Thus the platform is created for someone like Trump to step in...eager for a cult following, glad to regale the crew with stories of the evil enemy, and has no other goals than to be the adored Captain of the world...
All of the officers under the Captain...have to make believe that they actually are going somewhere otherwise they would incur the wrath of the crew that thinks they are on the way to conquer their enemy and save the world.
Nikki Haley is the definition of a square peg in a round hole in the Republican Party. Her only possible path upward is a presidential appointment or a Senate seat when Lindsay Graham retires, and she's gotta hit her crazy s**t quota to be in contention for either.
Seems as though Nikki Haley is taking Rich Lowry's "to live is to maneuver" dictum to heart. It also seems as though she has no idea what she is trying to maneuver towards or what the end goal is.
No she has an idea and an end goal and she is doing what she thinks will get her there.
Charlie's podcast with Will Saletan yesterday (02-07-22) raised the topic of people who lied (enabling Trump) but might later be considered redeemed if / when they speak out in support of truth and democracy. Charlie and Will also discussed forever irredeemables such Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon. I'd like to nominate Ronna McDaniel to the forever irredeemable candidate list. While less significant than Tucker and Steve, Ronna deserves equal irredeemable hall of fame recognition.
Could Ronna's potential future words and actions in support of truth and democracy earn her redemption? Just. Plain. No.
I was very interested in that conversation. Surely there are different degrees of "redeemed?" Maybe there's some level of admissible into polite company but never ever to be trusted with political office or even any kind of important administrative role, vs the "we all know that person should be shunned and ideally jailed" types of Bannon, Stone and Giuliani.
I appreciate different criteria / standards for 'admissible into polite company' vs 'ideally jailed'. With respect to Ronna McDaniel, she can never earn readmission to polite company. Yet she (to the best of my knowledge) has not yet earned admission to a jail cell.
Agreed. Maybe my distinctions aren't the best. I just mean, maybe it's not "Irredeemable, Yes or No?" There is probably a spectrum of some kind. Another person who I think is in Ronna's camp is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and it looks like she is going to be elected to office. That's the kind of thing I just don't think should happen with these people.
Agreed. And your distinctions are good. But I suggest that a definitive Yes or No standard apply to Irredeemable status, while, for a community forum discussion standpoint, a broader spectrum apply to Beyond-Irredeemable status. I second your recommendation of Sarah-HS for Irredeemable status, and raise that recommendation with Kayleigh Mc.
Kayleigh M. intrigues me. I wonder if she has any conception of the fact that she's been riding the traitor train to work every day. She not only works for Fox, but is part of their brand and marketing campaign....making them look like a station that is actually seeking out the truth.
How can we all look at the same things and see them completely differently? Perhaps she's just all about her career and keeps jumping to the next opportunity and sort of squints her way through the lies and hypocrisy of Trump/GOP/Fox.
I was arguing with a Fox viewer who was claiming that long gone were the Walter Cronkites of the MSM. LOL...as if Walter Cronkite would ever be a Fox news guy. He would have been fired or quit within a short timeframe.
Kayleigh is a smart person. Kayleigh has knowingly and willfully been a conductor on the grift train since the track started its build with the golden escalator ride in 2015. Kayleigh is no fool. It's simply a matter of self-interest / personal gain.
With respect to Walter Cronkite, Fox would never hire Walter Cronkite. Because ratings. It's all about ratings, revenue, and grift.
Charlie,
Header is an excellent play on words!!!
It is becoming increasingly tiresome to read about/hear the nonsense from relatively accomplished former Republicans, who have become ReTrumplican'ts. There are no policies put forward, only crazed fact-abandoned diatribes and tweets to attack Dem propositions as Fascist, Communist, or Socialist (take your pick), and offering accolades to their Dictator-in-Waiting.
Q. How does one explain such people, who are so astonishingly transparent in their sycophancy?
Is power that much of an aphrodisiac for them to abandon any semblance of principles with no line of degradation that would not be crossed? (Even Detective Jimmie McNulty had a line he wouldn't cross in the last episode of the last season of The Wire.)
Haley has desperate hope that TFG will choose her for VP, after all the groveling she will offer over the next two to three years. Will it will be worth it in those moments of self-reflection? Even more pathetic is Li'l Marco. What does he hope to achieve in his never ending knee pad campaign for relevancy? Yikes!!
In some ways, Haley, Rubio, and colleagues who should know better, are worse than the Secessionist Seven in Congress led by Coatless Gym Jordan because they aren't stupid and vapid. And as (self-proclaimed) good Christians, their connection to the Secessionist-In-Chief is an abomination in relation to the teaching in the Bible.
But, perhaps there's hope as written in 2 Timothy 2:25-26
"...God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."
Ahhh, never mind.