By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
What was once the Bastille is now a traffic circle with a ginormous phallic symbol in the middle of it. But the peasants burnt the records of feudalism. Too soon to tell?
Also, as soon as I post this, I need to catch the bus to go pick up a repaired computer, and I won’t be able to check the comment queues as I would normally do. So some of you may be hung up in limbo by Skynet for longer than you would normally be. Sorry!
TPP/TTIP/TISA
“According to a new report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), a non-profit that works to promote sustainable food, farming, and trade systems, the trade agreement is likely to expand factory faming and corporate control of meat and livestock production. In doing so, the group believes it could undermine existing local animal welfare and food labeling laws” [Defend Democracy].
“Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in TTIP are likely to thwart efforts to effectively regulate the global meat industry’s growing power and will exponentially expand the number of corporations empowered to use these provisions. With ISDS, transnational meat corporations such as JBS and Smithfield–present and expanding on both sides of the Atlantic–could be newly empowered to challenge regulations that hurt their bottom line, even if they are nominally headquartered in other countries such as Brazil and China” [Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy]. Yum! Corporate meat!
“[O]ur state governors — including two Republicans and two Democrats — will stand alongside U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in Des Moines this morning to call for approval of the TPP, despite Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s opposition to the pact” [Politico]. “The group includes Republicans Terry Branstad of Iowa and Brian Sandoval of Nevada and Democrats John Bel Edwards of Louisiana and Terry McAuliffe of Virginia. Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds will also announce her support for TPP at the event on the sidelines of the National Governors Association’s summer meeting.” McAuliffe was Clinton’s campaign chair in 2008 and is closely tied to them, so that gives you a clue to what Clinton really thinks on TPP, as opposed to what she says.
Yellow peril: “‘At the end of the day, I don’t think Congress is going to want to be responsible for handing the keys of the castle over to China,’ [US Trade Representative Michael] Froman said Thursday. “That’s why I’m confident at the end of the day we’ll get TPP passed.” He warned that if TPP is not done this year, ‘it’s quite unclear when it would get done given the broader political developments'” [Politico]. An October surprise incident in the South China Sea would be a two-fer, wouldn’t it?
“Last January, Trade Commissioner Malmström told participants at a consumer conference that the EU would never give up the precautionary principle. She has repeated that promise many times since” [BEUC (European Consumer Organization)]. “On 15 June the Commission nevertheless broke its promise. How so? By defining endocrine disruptors (or EDCs for short) in a way that contradicts the precautionary principle.
2016
Policy
“On Wednesday, speaking on the same site where Abraham Lincoln delivered his ‘House Divided’ speech just over 150 years ago, Hillary Clinton addressed race in a very modern fashion: by calling for a ‘conversation,’ with the goal of bringing us all together” [New York Times]. Dear Lord. A “conversation.” And the venue: Chutzpah!
Conventions
Paul Manafort: “So now do you finally accept the fact that the ‘Never Trump’ is nevermore? Period. End of sentence” [WaPo].
“A well-organized effort by a squad of veteran Republican operatives, working on behalf of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, dealt the “conscience vote” effort a stinging defeat in the convention Rules Committee. The motion didn’t get anywhere close to enough votes to send it to the full committee” [Yahoo News]. “Trump’s supporters on the committee and at the RNC went out of their way to ensure the effort’s defeat, preventing Lee and the other su\porters of the measure from debating it, and not even allowing anything more than a voice vote.”
“In the end, the threat to Mr. Trump seemed small. A voice vote in the convention’s rules committee that could have opened the door to candidates who wanted to challenge him was so overwhelmingly in his favor that the presiding officer did not need to call for an official count” [New York Times].
Philadelphia Convention: Philly is a wonderful city, and I used to live there. Here is a guide to Philadelphia’s trees [Hidden City]. And a “liberty tree” at the Museum of the American Revolution [CBS Local].
The Voters
“A handful of young Bernie Sanders supporters convened on a riverbank in White River Junction last Wednesday evening. As the burgeoning politicos grilled hot dogs and hamburgers from the local co-op, they chatted about something that doesn’t usually come up during a summer barbecue: the best techniques to identify likely voters” [Seven Days]. It is Vermont, but there’s a lot of good detail, some encouraging to the left, some not.
The Trail
Polls: “A flurry of polling in key battleground states in recent days suggests three bottom-line readings of the 2016 presidential race at this point: The race is growing closer, but remains Democrat Hillary Clinton’s to lose; the presence of third-party candidates scrambles the equation but not to either major-party candidate’s obvious benefit; and, an intriguing question going forward is whether polling is finding a ceiling of sorts for Republican Donald Trump” [Wall Street Journal, “Swing-State Polling Shows Cautionary Notes for Both Trump, Clinton”]. If I were more Machiavellian than I am, I would welcome emergent parties as a way of denying legitimacy to the legacy party victor, and as encouraging gridlock.
“What isn’t known is whether the new surveys are capturing Clinton at a low that will prove temporary, as voters react to Comey’s criticism and the renewed attention to her use of a private email server, or whether they reflect a more lasting shift that could hobble the presumed Democratic nominee for the remainder of the campaign” [Los Angeles Times]. We should watch for the “bounce” that each post-convention candidate gets.
Moar polls: “Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in four of the most diverse presidential battleground states, according to brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls” [NBC]. Colorado: Clinton 43%, Trump 35%; Florida: Clinton 44%, Trump 37%; North Carolina: Clinton 44%, Trump 38%; Virginia: Clinton 44%, Trump 35%.
Normally, I avoid any form of product placement, but these word clouds from a search vendor are revealing [ClearVoice].
Sourcing and methodology: “We wanted to look at the most-talked-about subjects for each candidate. Again, we focused our search on articles on all types of sites with headlines that explicitly contained a candidate’s first and last names.” So, that’s “the buzz,” which is media-generated. Still…
Paul Ryan on Trump: “I just think improving temperament and inclusive rhetoric, and an agenda that invites people into our party, is something that I think anybody going from a primary to a general election needs” [NPR]. Sounds like Ryan married Trump thinking he would change….
On Obama’s speech in Dallas, which Bush attended: “But those comments spoke to the complicated relationship between Obama, who powered his two history-making runs for the White House with relentless assaults on his predecessor, and Bush. Behind the scenes, the Democrat has found his erstwhile target to be a likable member of the world’s most exclusive support group [of former Presidents], according to current and former aides to both men” [Yahoo News]. The headline calls this “unilkely,” but Obama normalized and rationalized Bush’s war powers and destruction of the Fourth Amendment. So what’s “unlikely” about them bonding?
“Cornel West endorses Green Party candidate Jill Stein” [HuffPo]. It will be interesting to see what Adolph Reed does…
Stats Watch
Industrial Production, June 2016: “Vehicles held down industrial production in May but not in June, making for a big 0.6 percent gain that is just outside Econoday’s high-end estimate” [Econoday]. “Looking at details deeper in the report, the output of business equipment rose a solid 0.7 percent but the year-on-year rate, in what is definitive evidence of weakness in business investment, is in the negative column at minus 0.6 percent. The output of consumer goods, up 1.6 percent on the year, rose 1.1 percent in the month in what is another good showing in this report.” However: “The headlines say seasonally adjusted Industrial Production (IP) improved. The year-over-year data remains in contraction but the trend lines are now pointing towards improvement” [Econintersect]. “Economic downturns have been signaled by only watching the manufacturing portion of Industrial Production. Historically manufacturing year-over-year growth has been negative when a recession is imminent. This index is nearing the warning area for a recession.”
Empire State Mfg Survey, July 2016: “The first anecdotal report on the factory sector for the month of July is not very promising as the Empire State index barely held in the plus column” [Econoday]
Business Inventories, May 2016: ” Businesses are keeping their inventories in check amid slow sales. Inventories rose only 0.2 percent in May following April’s even leaner 0.1 percent rise. Sales in May also rose 0.2 percent keeping the inventory-to-sales ratio unchanged at 1.40, which is a little less lean than this time last year when the ratio was at 1.37″ [Econoday]. “Retail inventories did rise an outsized 0.5 percent in May in a build, however, that looks to be drawn down by what proved to be very strong retail sales in June. Manufacturing inventories fell 0.1 percent in May with wholesalers up 0.1 percent.” But: “Econintersect’s analysis of final business sales data (retail plus wholesale plus manufacturing) shows unadjusted sales improved compared to the previous month – but due to backward revisions the rolling averages declined. Inventory growth was moderate. The inventory-to-sales ratios remain at recessionary levels” [Econintersect].
Retail Sales, June 2016: “June proved a fabulous month for the consumer though May, after revisions, proved only so so.” Above consensus [Econoday]. “Ex-auto ex-gas offers a gauge on underlying trends in consumer spending, a dominant one of which is ecommerce as nonstore retailers popped a 1.1 percent surge in the month which follows even stronger gains in prior months. Department stores, up 0.9 percent, show a big comeback in the month with sporting goods & hobbies strong for a second month. An outsized gain, one that hints at adjustment issues and the risk of a downward revision, is a 3.9 percent surge in building materials & garden equipment, a component that had been lagging…. This report is a major plus for the second-half economic outlook not to mention coming data on the second quarter (sales for April, after the second revision, are at a standout plus 1.2 percent). The job market is healthy and the consumer is alive and spending.” A little cold water: “Retail sales improved according to US Census headline data. Our view of this month’s data is similar but there was a decline in the rolling averages – and downward revision to last month’s data” [Econintersect]. This Maine bear sunk more money into shelter and did a lot of gardening. I hate to think I’m an ideal type.
Consumer Price Index, June 2016: “Price pressures evident the last two months down the supply chain are not yet appearing in consumer prices” [Econoday]. Caveat: “[I]nflation does not correlate well to the economy – and cannot be used as a economic indicator” [Econintersect].
Consumer Sentiment: “In perhaps an early indication of a U.S. Brexit effect, the consumer sentiment flash for July is down a sharp 4.0 points to 89.5. Weakness is centered in the expectations component which fell 5.3 points to 77.1 for one of the very weakest readings of the last two years. Weakness in expectations ultimately points to doubts over the jobs outlook” [Econoday]. But: “”Prior to the Brexit vote, virtually no consumer thought the issue would have the slightest impact on the U.S. economy. Following the Brexit vote, it was mentioned by record numbers of consumers, especially high income consumers,” [Richard Curtin, the survey of consumers chief economist] said.”
Shipping: “[T]he National Retail Federation is forecasting only a modest pickup at U.S. ports, with container volume that would hardly amount to a peak at all” [Wall Street Journal].
Shipping: “Transportation-sector analysts believe that rail volumes, which have declined over the past year, may be bottoming out. Things are looking brighter for the second half of the year, as natural gas and oil prices recover, driving more energy-related shipments. Seasonal grain exports should also provide a boost” [Wall Street Journal, “Has U.S. Rail Traffic Found Its Rebound?”].
Supply Chain: “By creating a permanent record that can’t be altered, blockchain is well-suited for tracking diamonds and other goods where buyers want to know the origins and previous owners, said Bill Fearnley Jr., a research director at International Data Corp” [Wall Street Journal].
Shipping: “UPS and FedEx expand pharmaceutical shipping channels to global market” [DC Velocity]. Seems to be optimized for clinical trials and testing, however. “The international drug market is swelling rapidly to accommodate the 20 to 30 million new Americans who have recently become insured under the Affordable Care Act and, more broadly, the “silvering” of an aging global population with growing medical needs.” Because I don’t get how the ACA spurs demands for international pharma shipments to patients.
Housing: “Big Wall Street investors stopped buying real estate in large quantities back in late 2014. In many cases big investors had front row seats at banks and were able to buy in bulk and for incredibly low prices not offered to the public. This crowding out of course has caused two major things to unfold: inventory to dwindle and a push up in prices for regular families looking to buy. For the first time in history many things happened in the housing market including nationally falling prices but also a large interest from Wall Street in single family homes. Now with prices near previous peak levels many of these large investors are making the full exit by offering to sell the homes to current tenants, for of course a modest increase. Those bailouts that were geared to helping the public actually created a system that has slammed the homeownership rate lower and has now jacked home prices up once again. Large investors are now making their final play by cashing out” [Dr Housing Bubble]. I’d want Yve’s views on this, but selling to the little guy at the peak of the market sure looks like a PE scam to me. Readers, do any of you have direct experience with this?
Helicopter Money: “Monetary financing of public sector spending isn’t a giant leap from where Japan is today – it could get there in a series of small steps. It would be more a case of ‘drone money’ than ‘helicopter money’ if the BOJ were to go from buying longer and longer-dated debt with lower and lower coupons to something indistinguishable from zero-coupon perpetuals. But away from such idle speculation, with monetary and fiscal policy working hand-in-hand to drive inflation expectations up, and to drive investors out of domestic assets, there’s room for the yen to weaken (quite a lot) further; all the more so as the US economy stabilises” [SocGen, Across the Curve]. You can borrow money for free and there’s no government infrastructure program. Speaking of cashing out, is that what the elites are doing globally? Not that I’m foily. The best science fiction novel with autonomous vehicles that I can recall is Philip K. Dick’s Game Players of Titan, and that was a depopulated world…
The Bezzle: “[F]or Google, the ultimate outcome does not look bright. A new EU competition chief is overseeing this barrage of cases, as European corporate giants line up against the Silicon Valley behemoth. Meanwhile, as Google relies more on artificial intelligence to automate a range of tasks that run its services behind the scenes, it could face a whole new round of conflict with Europe. In the end, Google in Europe could wind up as a very different thing than Google at home” [Wired].
The Bezzle: “BP announced on Thursday it believes the final pre-tax cost of its Deepwater Horizon spill will be $61.6bn or $44bn after tax” [Splash247]. But no jail time for executives, since they have elite impunity, say for ecocide. I say let’s look forward and not back.
Political Risk: “[S]hipping companies fear the [Hague Tribunal’s] ruling [on the “Nine-Dash Line”] could embolden the Philippines and other smaller nations to assert their rights to the waters more aggressively and that any conflict would disrupt ship-borne trade in the waters between Hong Kong and Indonesia. Thousands of ships transit those waters daily, and a third of the world’s liquefied natural gas passes through the Straits of Malacca to the South China Sea” [Wall Street Journal]. ” Even if shipping isn’t disrupted, companies say they face higher costs if the standoff escalates since insurance companies are likely to drive up rates.”
(via). Some damned foolish thing in the Spratlys…
Treasury Revenue: “It was previously noted that Treasury revenue was down, which now is confirmed in this report. This is the beginning of the automatic fiscal stabilizers at work, where weakness translates into a larger federal deficit, and persists until deficit spending is sufficient to more than offset unspent income, as is necessary for growth. Private sector deficit spending would also restore growth. However I see only private sector credit growth deceleration, which is generally the case as the private sector historically has a strong tendency to instead be pro cyclical” [Mosler Economics].
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 89, Extreme Greed (previous close: 90, Extreme Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 76 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 15 at 11:47am. Still flirting with 90.
Black Injustice Tipping Point
Not a good luck for ABC or Obama. Because Erica Garner is terrific:
ABC's Town Hall Invites then Excludes Erica Garner's Question for POTUS: https://t.co/kGTFG1XVlB via @YouTube
— Benjamin Dixon (@TheBpDShow) July 15, 2016
“Black Lives Matter demonstrators rope off LAPD HQ with crime scene tape after City Hall sit-in” [Los Angeles Times]. More creative methods of non-violent protest and persuasion. IMNSHO a strong sign of health, and a good indicationt the lull over the past year was temporary.
“How Western media would cover Baton Rouge if it happened overseas” [WaPo]. “America’s unrest may begin to affect its tourism industry as well, as some countries issued travel advisories for those wishing to travel to the troubled nation.”
Dear Old Blighty
UPDATE “BREAKING: Labour are trawling your social media to stop you voting in the leadership election” [The Canary]. It seems that the Labour leadership fight is wonderfully clarifying, just as our own 2016 has been.
UPDATE And remember one of the items not on the agenda that the Labour National Executive Council voted in after the Corbyites (foolishly) left the meeting? Raising the price of joining the party from £3 to £25? Here’s the effect:
Labour's NEC wants people to find £25 in 2 days to vote. That is:
43% of Income Support
28% of Statutory Sick Pay
24% of Student Loan— Shelly Asquith (@ShellyAsquith) July 13, 2016
That’s clarifying too, isn’t it?
“[T]here is a coherent space to the left of May. There’s also – like it or not – space to the right, in the form of free market thinking. What’s not so clear is where this leaves the centre-left” [Stumbling and Mumbling]. Good read!
“UK PM Theresa May nukes climate change department, appoints a climate denier as Climate Secretary” [Boing Boing].
Gaia
“The turtle’s shell, then, is a wonderful example of exaptation—the evolutionary process where a trait evolves for one function and is then co-opted to serve another. They began as digging platforms and then became suits of armor. Feathers are another example. They now help birds to fly, but they probably originated as ways of keeping warm or signaling to mates and rivals” [The Atlantic]. Word of the day!
News of the Wired
“Artist Dennis Cooper has a big problem on his hands: Most of his artwork from the past 14 years just disappeared” [Fusion]. “It’s gone because it was kept entirely on his blog, which the experimental author and artist has maintained on the Google-owned platform Blogger since 2002 (Google bought the service in 2003). At the end of June, Cooper says he discovered he could no longer access his Blogger account and that his blog had been taken offline. Along with his blog, Google disabled Cooper’s email address…” There’s something to be said for paper as a medium…
iOS 10: “When you type a word that has an emoji equivalent, iMessage automatically suggests the pictograph you might want to use” [New York Magazine]. That’s awesome. After a generation or so of teaching kids they don’t need to read, only elites will be able to do it. As it should be.
Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And here’s today’s plant (Malia):
Malia writes: “I’m sharing a few plants I photographed on a nature walk in my hood today. I think the old twisted tree was struck by lightening. It has character.”
Readers, if you want to send me some videos of plants in whole systems (bees and blossoms, for example, or running streams) — I can use them to practice with FFmpeg and hopefully post them. Because of download times, they’ll have to be measured in seconds, rather than minutes. Thank you! Adding, I got another one today! Please keep sending them; they will ultimately appear!
Adding, thank you for your contributions during the rapid and successful Water Cooler Mini-Fundraiser. It remains only for me individually thank those who sent contributions via physical mail! Now, let me if I can find a physical pen; I don’t think I have any, anymore….
Readers, if you enjoyed what you read today, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your regular support.
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just as an additional note: the 28 pages regarding the Saudi involvement in 9/11 were finally released today: http://intelligence.house.gov/sites/intelligence.house.gov/files/documents/declasspart4.pdf
Thanks. A quick visual inspection suggests that they “only” blacked out about 10% of the document. Some pages almost everything is visible, and on a few, almost half of the text is obscured.
A couple of days ago there was a discussion of infantilization by politicians via the use of emojis. I think that preventing people from reading the full report is a far more serious form of infantilization. Only the elite philosopher kings are allowed access to information. The rest of us children might be traumatized if we could read the full report.
Yes. I feel that infantilization should be mocked and discouraged where found.
The information about the dry-run of 1999 on America West flight from Phx to DC Saudi Embassy party was especially interesting to me. I suspect that Saudi Arabia played both sides (al-quaeda and the US) in order to bring about the Sunni alliance we are currently being worked out in Libya and Syria. Iraq was on this analysis definitely an expected casualty of the events of 9/11, which suggests that the Saudis had good reason to believe that US officials were already waiting for any excuse to take over that country.
Sober reading.
There’s this sort of hole prior to 9-11-2001 where it sounds like no one knows anything but actually, the Joint Forces intelligence group knew quite a bit. The Joint Inquiry never interviewed anyone from DO-5.
nice catch…short version: Saudis were all over this.
This may amuse readers:
Saudi says hopes release of ’28 pages’ clears up 9/11 suspicions Jerusalem Post
OK, OK, it’s really from Reuters. But still….
Alternatively:
Congress releases long-secret ’28 pages’ indicating Saudi ties to 9/11 Russia Today
While saudis offer big bux to turkish military to stage a coup to distract the audience…???
a coup..???
in turkey in the 21st century ??
How silly is that ?…
So strange! Why it seems just yesterday Chancellor Merkel and other wise EU leaders were trying to get Turkey admitted to the European Union, enabling Turks to move freely about the Continent, and they were pressing that nice Mr. Erdogan to accept billions of Euros to handle Muslim refugees for them. How could a stable European society like Turkey still be experiencing things like military coups? There must be a more polite explanation for what’s really going on over there.
Just you wait. Coming soon to a theater near you!
“In the 21st century?” It’s been thirty five years since the last one, they are definitely due. It seems as if the Turks need to clean house every so often. 1960, 1971, and 1980 were all house cleaners. It goes back a long time in their history; the sultans were always bringing in mercenaries which led to problems. It’s just part of who they are.
“UK PM Theresa May nukes climate change department, appoints a climate denier as Climate Secretary”
And this will change policy how, exactly?
by giving climate change deniers and fossil fuels companies more power, i should think.
“One of Theresa May’s first act as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was to shutter the Department for Energy and Climate Change, moving the climate change to a new entity called the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, with Andrea Leadsom — who, as Energy Minister, celebrated her first day on the job in 2015 by asking the civil service “Is climate change real?” and giving the UK coal industry a role in answering the question — as Environment Secretary.”
Word clouds.
What would a word cloud from the propaganda “repeat often enough” master look like, looking at newspapers in the 1930s?
What word would stand out?
Prosperity?
Happiness?
Joy (through work)?
Thought the one about Hillary explains nicely Trump’s more or less tying her in polls at this moment.
But, but, but Obama had a private meeting with Erika Garner after…
Sort of reminds of something….what…I’m trying to recall…. oh, right….
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-19/why-hillary-clinton-s-meeting-with-black-lives-matter-was-so-tense
Apparently once again the invited aren’t really supposed to be part of the conversation if it might not fit the narrative.
The opinions of BLM activists making $165K/year (plus benefits) are important. Sisters who don’t adhere to the narrative should understand that.
do their opinions reflect those of blm members making minimum wage as faithfully as clinton’s reflect those of the bankers?
The young woman in the video is pretty terrific too – who is she? Assuming not Erika Garner unless she refers to herself in the 3rd person.
I’m embarassed, because I think I grabbed the wrong tweet. On the other hand, all things work together for good, because she is terrific, and I don’t know who she is. (And Benjamin Dixon is very good; does it all on a shoestring. His interview with Adolph Reed is here.)
With respect to PE cashing out on houses: Blackstone’s Invitation Homes is trying to sell their houses to their tenants: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-05/blackstone-s-tenants-get-a-chance-at-buying-their-rental-houses
Which reminds me of what my mom said about the rental house that my family lived in:
“I wouldn’t take that place as a GIFT.”
So, good luck, Blackstone.
Presumably the renters who have improved their homes despite not actually owning them will be especially anxious to “own”?
I was amazed and disheartened but not really surprised to hear the Labour NEC approved all the measures to exclude Corbyn supporters from voting on the leadership after Corbyn and his people left the room. The Blairites even said they were going to do this. For once could the left not treat politics like a really neat debating society but rather the desperate power struggle it is? The PTB know what’s at stake and act accordingly.
What surprises me is all the pearl clutching about “abuse,” which I first started reading about it in the British press, I assumed we were talking threats of violence. Apparently, what rises to the level of abuse is simple name calling. I, for one, think you should be allowed to call your elected representative an idiot or a twit.
The Blairites did everything they could in the 90s to wrest control of the party away from the unions and so-called “hard-left.” Now that the membership have recognized the bait and switch and are trying to take it back, it’s all, “they’re being so mean to me!” I suppose life’s a little harder now that you have to be accountable for your actions rather than just showing up to read a canned speech handed to you by Labour HQ. (<–something Alastair Campbell actually had MPs do, so that they would "stay on message").
Comments in Guardian article on Camerexit are full of abuse of that sort — only the twit word gets its vowel replaced with an “a”. Bad form — even by the apparent women who used it there… But there are no pulls to the center, to decency, to that gentle myth we call “peace, not any more. Armed war of all against all kind of coming at us pell-mell? Hush, hush, sweet Charlotte…
It just strikes me as faux-civility, like Daily Show be-nice-for-its-own-sake tut-tutting. In France, strikers were lighting cars on fire. In the UK, it’s shock and horror if you call someone a bad name, when, as you say, in reality people’s real livelihoods are being destroyed. It’s like demanding African-Americans be civil when the boot of a militarized police force is pressing on their collective neck. I abhor violence, but I reserve the right to be loud and angry.
To be fair, Jo Cox was shot (although by a right-wing Leaver, IIRC, not a left winger).
That said, I think the justification for non-violence needs to be framed in strategic terms, and not as a matter of “respectability politics.”
Cox was a Corbynista, and if there’s blood on anyone’s hands its people like Gove and Johnson who whipped up anti-migrant sentiment mostly to make themselves look important.
Death threats, obviously, should be taken seriously, but many in the press are acting as if McDonnell’s claim that the coup plotters are “f@#king useless” is functionally equivalent.
To use an incident closer to home, the media acted as if the killing of the five POs in Dallas was categorically different from the violence wielded against protesters or on the streets of poor and working class communities, when they seem to me to be symptomatic of the same thing: the need for those who own mostly everything to direct the anger their greed engenders back onto the people who are angry.
I think she was not a Corbynista. From wipedia:
Awesome takedown of Mike Pence by Jon Webb of the Evansville Courier & Press
Sorry, the link didn’t work.
http://www.courierpress.com/columnists/jon-webb/dear-us-get-ready-to-experience-the-mike-pence-rash-36989537-0a30-4fff-e053-0100007f8ce2-386839771.html
Dear dear … not one single serious issue in that article … just divisiveness. Nothing about the economy, excessive corporate power, international trade treaties, widespread (illegal) surveillance, potential for war … nothing.
Well, there was some stuff. It seems to me that Trump needs an ambassador to what we might call the Parliamentary Republican Party — same wankers the Trump campaign went through like the Blitzkreig through the French in 1939 — but who still control levers of party power; I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they were trying to McGovern Trump by denying him a VP candidate at all, until Manafort whipped them like the curs they are.
Dunno about the Kochs; from their quote yesterday (“Trump is a nice fellow”) I doubt it. However, Ivanka has clevely gotten other donors dubious about Trump to contribute to other aspects of the campaign, so the Kochs might end up doing that.
I used to love bilious pieces like that, and wrote plenty of them, too. It gets tiring, after awhile, getting all whipped up. I like more signal, less noise.
I think you’ll find the Blitzkrieg through France happened in 1940. The analogy is certainly apt though. Right now it seems like the only way Trump won’t end up in the White House is if he screws up pretty massively in a sustained way on the next few months. Or if Sanders somehow becomes the Dem candidate at the last minute. Hey, it could happen! Yeah, and I might find it possible to fly to the Moon by flapping my arms real hard:-)
You wanna see takedowns? Well, look at the satire that their campaign logo is provoking.
Warning: Much of that satire is NSFW.
First thing I thought of when I saw it, and along with all the murals of him making out with various (male) Rs, his high voice and effeminate hand gestures…
I hope someone dogs him like he did Obama over his birth certificate, making up outrageous allegations about him being closeted, various sordid encounters, etc.
Would serve him of all people right to be the target of bigotry.
Oops, did I say that out loud? Just kidding, I know we are better than that ;-)
High road vs. the low road is a time-honored technique.
The Clinton campaign seems to muddle the two, though. Having Elizabeth Warren take the low road is just demented.
There’s also the temptation to turn into Daily Kos; gleefully trading the meme of the day back and forth. And the door to Kos is that way; we don’t need two.
Someone showed a side by side of Trump’s logo and aryan nation. Meh. I personally appreciate the simplicity of TP… they are a couple of @sswipes. I am ready for the toilet art.
I saw that one go by. I thought it was ridiculous. I note again the tendency of Brock and his crew to focus solely on the digital world, as opposed to the real one. Although I’m sure Clinton’s base on the “creative class” finds this utterly convincing.
I guess if you want softness and perfume when you wipe your @ss, you’ll go with Clinton. If you don’t, go with Trump.
Look, see how easy? I can do this all day. In fact, I have! And the value add? Nada. Zilch. Zero.
And you believe Trump is different because …. ? What?
Lack of perfume? Scratchier surface?
Proving my point on value add, too.
Guillotine watch:
‘Gold Man’ Beaten to Death in India
If he was all gold, that’s a good lesson in sharing, diversification and avoiding the ego’s desire to show off.
“Here, some gold for you. Treasure it. Pass on those sliver spoons to your kids and their kids.
Malia lives in a cool hood.
We have a twisted tree like that in a park in my hood too – we call it the fairy tale tree.
Indeed, Steve C. I’m grateful for the beauty and sanity the forest provides.
I’m also digging those Philly trees, Lambert. Thanks.
Re: Artist Dennis Cooper has a big problem on his hands: Most of his artwork from the past 14 years just disappeared”
…Must have been sent down the memory hole.
Tell him to look for a big box in Utah. I hear they keep everything in there.
Trump picking Pence was a concession to the repug establishment so they will finally give up their idea of revolting against The Donald. Also he will always be there reminding Trump that many repugs would be very happy if Trump were assassinated, so The Donald will be careful.
They’d be wrong to think about assassinating him.
And they’d be equally wrong to think about doing that to Sanders, or anyone else.
Why only Trump is mentioned though? Is he most dangerous to them?
No, I’m saying if Trump is prez with Pence as veep, he will have to be nice to the repug establishment, or else. Because Pence is preferable to them. But he had to do this, apparently, just to get past the convention in Cleveland. This is my opinion, only—-I’m not saying I have inside info. A prez feels safer with a really dumb veep, like the first Bush with Quayle, since the establishment is not going to off the prez only to get an even worse one ascending from the veepship. Trump would have preferred Joni Ernst, probably, but she “declined.” Yeah, right—she was ordered to decline, to make way for giving Trump a choice between Gingrich or Pence, so he chose the lesser of two evils. Trump is appeasing the repugs, playing ball, making deals.
The joke with Bush the First was that the Secret Svc had standing orders that if anyone shot the Bush, they were to turn and shoot some Quayle. Had this from a guy who used to work there.
Really? As dimm and dumm and sometimes nasty as Pence is? I would think Pence is anti-assassination insurance. ” You kill the Donald, you get some Pence. You really want that?”
Maybe he is dumb—not that familiar with his brains or lack thereof. I know damn well nobody in his right mind would want Newt Gingrich sitting behind him in the veep slot, so The Donald made the right move in squelching that notion.
Seems to me Pence may be dumb but very MALLEABLE and LOYAL to TPTB. He could be easily controlled, which is what the powers behind the throne love. Trump, not so much.
Pence may be a little dumb, but seems to be well under the thumb of the big shots in the repugs. Would go along with the program, unlike The Donald, who may or may not play ball at any given moment;
I’m not enthusiastic about either “Repugs” or a close cousin “Democraps.” I tried all that back in 2003 – 2006, and it didn’t do a lick of good. Dems and Repubs will do fine.
OK, I will try to remember not to use the slang word “repug”. I am one, by the way, having joyfully renounced my membership in the dems, so it’s not really meant to be derogatory. I saw somebody use the word and I started using it. It just seems to roll off the tongue better than “repub”. Perhaps we need a completely different word. How about GOPer(s)?
Donations to Jill Stine skyrocket after Sander’s endorsement.
https://www.rt.com/usa/351129-jill-stein-bernie-donations/
According to the Stein campaign. We’ll see what the FEC filings say, and we’ll see what they do with the money. After, the GP is a party like any other, and so the Mandy Rice-Davies Rule applies.
Do you have reason to suspect their claims? Strikes me as a perfectly reasonable response on the part of many Sanders supporters who took/take their positions seriously. I don’t know about the US Greens, but I can say with absolute assurance that the Leader of the Canadian Green Party is of unmatched personal courage and integrity. And she works harder, smarter and hits the target more consistently, with more impact than any other MP in the country.
And, let me guess: Sanders’ much-vaunted e-mailing list has a pesky shrinkage problem. Which started on Tuesday.
We’re certainly having a busy Friday!
Economist, 4 hours ago:
Turkey is suddenly making friends, not enemies. Oopsie…
Turkish exports to Russia dropped by 60% in the first half of the year…gobble gobble
“Turkey also resents what it sees as Russia’s habit of allowing home-grown jihadists to travel to Syria. this almost funnee if it wasn’t such a HUMAN TRAGEDY for the EU
SO, will Turkey join the EU? …since begging membership for over a decade they did dot all i’s an x all t’s. At this stage, wouldn’t Turkey amends make a worse mess of EVERYTHING EU?
nother oops, meant HUMAN TRAGEDY *in* the EU (inclusive)
Turkey join the EU? Since the underlying theme of all EU policies is to wage war against the various peoples of Europe, I can’t see anything barring Turkey from joining. It would be the end of Europe. How it hasn’t been arranged and pulled off yet is a great mystery.
uuh they bedda hurrrrrry!
Gilgo @agirecudi
Ankara: Tank heading to Prime minster’s palace. Protesters block the tank.
5:56 PM – 15 Jul 2016
_______________________________________
Extraordinary pictures on Sky News of Erdogan being interviewed over Facetime or Skype on both CNN Turk and NTV, with the cameras pointing at a mobile phone.
Reports of an explosion at at TV station in Ankara.
http://tvforum.uk/thenewsroom/turkey-coup-15jul2016-41879/page-2
Pray the Erdogists can be wiped all the way out.
Nope. Looks like he’s back and being greeted at the airport.
Damn. That man, his relatives, and his supporters need to be excised from any and all positions of power.
I believe voters voted Erdogan in. Am I wrong?
And the people apparently have taken to the streets in order to make sure he remains. My opinion that Turkey and the world might be better off without him is just that an opinion, and has been rendered meaningless by that country’s citizens. Doesn’t mean I’m going to change it. His support of the war on terrorism was really about attacking eliminating Syrian Kurds, then there is his rejection of a secular state, and his son-in-law making a fortune as the transporter of choice of Daesh oil… it is all a view from the cheap seats.
Nor did I miss the irony of that coming from a person who is a citizen of the country who is either going to have a President Clinton or Trump in a little over five months.
I don’t see anybody lying down in front of a tank on behalf of either Clinton or Trump. So I’m not sure I see the irony you seem not to have missed.
They did, though in the most recent parliamentary elections the statistical case for fraud by his AKP is at least as convincing (I would say more so – it’s downright blatant) as the case for Clinton’s vote fraud in the US Democratic primary. Erdogan and the AKP have a lot of support, but probably not a majority. The problem with this coup was that the plotters are not any more popular, if they were indeed
How free and fair was the election? If it was entirely free and fair, and the Erdogists really did get a majority for their Assad-overthrowing, ISIS-supporting, cannibal liver-eating jihadi-savages-loving policy and program; then Turkey will get the terminal decay into Islamo-Terrorist Failed-State future with an oppressed-Kurdish-minority insurgency which the voting majority there voted for, and therefor deserves.
Because we must respect the right of people to vote for their choice of Hitlers in a One Man One Vote One Time election. Just as our foreign friends respected our right to vote for the BushObama of our choice.
The R + 6 has 6 months left to get the Syrian rebellion exterminated before Clinton takes office and ramps up support to the LiverEaters all over again. Unless there are no LiverEaters left alive in Syria for Clinton and a restored Erdogan to jointly support.
Hmmm.
Prime Ministers Palace
Perhaps we should start calling it the White House Palace
Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1
Senior US military source tells NBC News that Erdogan, refused landing rights in Istanbul, is reported to be seeking asylum in Germany.
5:26 PM – 15 Jul 2016
FYI unlike others I did not unsubscribe, AND I did click on the box to participate in whatever comes next. So far, nothing from the Dems, from whom I unsubscribed years ago after OFA morphed into a straight corporate D outfit.
Will keep y’all posted…
Coup in Turkey?
The live reports are very confused. It’s not at all clear to what extent it is a “coup” and to what extent it is an “attempt.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-36811357
From a friend in Ankara minutes ago, “Oh shit, this has all the hallmarks of a fight between two fractions within the state. It’s said that Fethullah Gulen and his supporters in the military tried this because of the imminent purge. There was a armed clash in Ankara between the military forces (Gulen movement) and tgr police/intelligence agency (Tayyip). It’s been going for a while, this feud. Now it seems like it’s grown a full blown war. Airports are also closed. “
Good observation by your friend. Broadly speaking I’d say the fight is between Islamists and secular elements of the state. The Islamists have purged the police and MIT (intelligence) of any secular influence under Erdogan. With the secular crowd maintaining it’s traditional hold over the military.
It appears the Army has the MIT Headquarters under siege right now with scattered reports that Army helicopters are firing on it. Too soon to tell but we might be looking at a Turkish civil war.
I’ll just be the first with the conspiracy theory about the usual suspects: US, regime change, Obama, and the Clinton Foundation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BClen_movement
They would like a much more compliant government in place than Erdogan.
Also interesting that Germany refused Erdogan asylum after his plane was turned away in Istanbul.
Very bad move for Erdogan to head out of town at a time like this as lots of Roman emperors could attest.
I’m skeptical that the Gulen movement is behind this. The Turkish military is quite good at fulfilling it’s role as the protector of the country and arbiter of the Constitution. Which usually means overthrowing Islamist governments that brazenly cross over legal lines. Furthermore Colonel Muharrem Kose (wiki) might’ve been purged for being associated with Gulen but it doesn’t make the allegations true.
As a matter of principle I’m not in favor of military coups but for Erdogan I can make an exception.
Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim broadcast a statement that the situation is being dealt with by “security forces” from an apparently privately owned TV channel, while soldiers have been reported at the state broadcaster TRT in Ankara.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jul/15/turkey-coup-attempt-military-gunfire-ankara
Irony died tonight:
#TheocratLivesMatter
Let’s see if Obama’s reaction is the same as it was with the Thai and Honduran coups. Talk of looking forward not backward. Calling for new elections.
I’m wondering if the Turkish military wants more or less war than Erdogan, could be like the generals at the Pentagon, telling the White House they didn’t think a Libya war was a wise idea while Hilary was shrieking for more blood.
(We came…we saw…he died).
Or maybe the military wants more secularism than Erdogan?
If the military still has enough left-over Kemalists inside it to be bitter at the Erdogist degradation of secular republican Turkey into an Islamic Emirate in-the-making; those Kemalists may indeed be making one last try to purge and erase Erdogism from all positions of power and re-Kemalize the State.
The politics are different. This isn’t the Cold War. Any coup government done without street support (outside Istanbul, this might be tough and even then…a military coup isn’t good precedence) is going to have problems.
The issue isn’t the Kemalists, but the Kemalists are too far removed from Attaturk. An Attaturk aide will simply have more legitimacy than some, random preening general. Well, the aides are dead by now. The successors of the aides have no legitimacy without an election.
I don’t think the coup will fly without serious repercussions.
If the military coup fails or even stalls civil war is a likely outcome. That’s premature speculation at this juncture. Despite all the disinformation the coup hasn’t failed yet. The pro-coup military is still battling it out with loyalist forces including the Grey Wolves in downtown Ankara as of about an hour ago.
“Vote for The Sultan – it’s important!”
+100.
(Not making a comment on Turkish politics, about which I know nothing, nothing, but it’s a splendid snowclone.)
The Kemalists traditionally tend to lavish attention on Istanbul and the coastal elites while dealing with the Kurds and their role in NATO.
The heartland (Anatolia. What’s that about Constantinople?) has traditionally been ignored by the Kemalists. The Kemalists would say they took important small steps and not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. In the mean time, the religious nuts took power and used private charity to do poorly what the government wasn’t doing and found sympathy with the majority. I know it sounds familiar.
External pressure especially from the EU forced electoral reforms which gave power to the majority of the country in the heartland instead of being controlled by coastal elites.
Erdogan’s policies have provoked anger, but his actions against the old guard have never seemed to irritate even the coastal population, partially because the old guard wasn’t that great. They just received good press. Better dead than Red.
My sense is young coastal Turks are more or less like their counterparts in other European cities, so I imagine the army making decisions won’t go over too well.
Erdogan is popular in the heartland, largely because he delivered on promises to improve infrastructure, jobs, and so forth even though he skims. For rural Turkey, everything of nothing is still nothing, so who cares if Erdogan skims?
…and welcome back, cb.!
scrolled right past ya allan…any idea what set it all off?
I read the air force is with the army and they are “neutralizing” the intelligence service. The intelligence services are the klutzes that got sprung shipping arms to Isis a few months age and then Erdogrub shut down all independent media, jailed journalists and court investigators into the incident and generally destroyed free press.
It may also be response to Erdogan’s weird contortions revealed in recent foreign policy announcements; first israel then saudi arabia and this week trying to be nice to syria and assad. I sensed something desperate as he twisted and turned. But his eager advocacy of the israeli proposition to start partitioning syria was high risk as the same logic equally applies to turkey. The sooner turkey is partitioned to some form of federated states of turkish, armenian and kurdish sectors the better.
Maybe the deep state is terrified.
we are living in verrrry interesting times.
this is the world that clinton will be dealing with, if installed. or trump, more of an unknown.
And Jill Stein endorses Edward Snowden, for a cabinet post:
That’s togetherness. This, not so much:
Bernie on Monday. Translation: Thanks for comin’, see ya!
Luckily, for the finale there’s Chelsea!
Oh so THAT’s how you spell “Stein”. Yes, that makes my googel searches much better, thank you. B-p
I think this goes with the “Stine” comment, which is not this one.
I have an aversion to candidates setting up what amounts to a pissing contest with the GOP over what or who is and isn’t patriotic; is that a fight that is ever won by liberals? [and by “liberal,” I do not mean the neo-kind, or the Clinton kind; I mean the actual liberal kind]
And, like Lambert, I don’t mean to knock Snowden, but we all know he’s never going to be allowed back in the country anytime soon, and if he is, I fear for his ability to survive, so unless he can run a Cabinet department from Russia, I think suggesting him for that kind of position comes a little too close to pandering. It might as well carry a hashtag.
I’m still cranky, sorry.
I read the Snowden offer as a stunt (like inviting Sanders to head the ticket) and as pandering. Not that it’s not nice to have a political party pandering to me — it happens to me so little! — but I also prefer not to have my intelligence insulted; see comments below.
Ummm – just who would have Snowden arrested if Jill Stein was President? Granted, there’s a whole bag of worms about whether she’d even survive, but if she’s in a position to name cabinet members, she’s in a position to protect them.
She has a Green Shadow Cabinet, pretty interesting group – I won’t provide a link to simplify moderation, but if Kevin Zeese was AG, I don’t think Snowden would have a problem.
My friend Leah Bolger, of VFP, would be Sec. of Defense (granted, Congress willing). It’s actually difficult, even for me, to imagine those people in those positions. Gives a sense of just how radical a proposition electing a Green would be. Revolutionary, you might say.
No, I don’t think it’s likely. Wrecking the 2-Party and delegitimizing whoever does win would do nicely, though.
1. Cabinet nominees are subject to background checks and Senate approval. Snowden would not pass a background check, given his having taken official information and having spent years in Russia, basically as Putin’s guest.
2. The President controls only the Federal government. Some gung ho state AG could have him arrested on a state law theory if Snowden visited the wrong state.
Really??? They will not give up on the idea that Chelsea has a future that includes any kind of large scale media presence. Talk about delusional. Although now that I think about it she is probably one of the few people on earth who could make her mother seem like a charismatic and brilliant orator, so perhaps not so stupid although I’m betting the Clintons themselves don’t realize that’s her real value.
It won’t happen, but a part of me would love to see ratings rise for Bernie and then fall for everything after. (along with the icing on a cake being no real convention bounce.)
> “Together”
I’m pleased they’re repeating it so much. That means it’s not true (more performative speech).
No knock on Snowden, but his executive experience would be?
No knock, LOL. I think ol’ Edward has a problem with all that cyber no-knocking by government.
No knocking on your point, but what have all these experienced executives done for us lately?
It’s always possible to make things worse; Stein would be in a classic “dog that caught the car” situation were she to win.
Example: Tahrir Square. The occupiers did a great job and in fact achieved their political goal, which was to make Mubarak leave. But if they had a plan for the day after, it certainly wasn’t evident; I still remember them somehow getting their preferred candidate for President, El Baradi, into Tahrir Square but not being able to mike him properly so the crowd couldn’t hear what he said.
And so the Egyptian occupiers caught the car, didn’t know what to with power when they had it, and in the subsequent political bloodletting the generals took over again and the Egyptian people are arguably worse off than before. Which, as I said, is always possible.
And the Egyptian protesters were, IMNSHO, both tougher and far better organized, under far worse conditions, than the Greens.
She could make Guciffer 1 (the FBI prisoner) the secretary for information technology.
“It’s always possible to make things worse” … So you think a Stein win (unlikely as that may be) really worse that a Clinton win? Wouldn’t Trump be another dog who caught the car? Did Obama/Clinton have a plan for the day after in Libya? Did the Brexiters? Nobody has a plan after they get punched in the mouth (paraphrasing Tyson). I say, Snowden for director of homeland security.
I’m afraid I the Venn diagram circles of “executive experience” and “corrupt” will be hard to differentiate from one single circle. They don’t let you get “executive experience” today unless you are already leashed up tight. Credentialism to the rescue again.
Not at all. It’s a matter of organizational capacity once again, as with Syriza, something that Greens seem to have a constitutional aversion to. If Stein puts a Snowden, who as an executive is at toddler-level, in charge of a major department, one of two things is going to happen: (1) collapse (and there are plenty of very unpleasant ways for a department to collapse*) or (2) Snowden will simply defer to whoever in the department is Machiavellian enough to get his ear.
In fact, your “Venn diagram” is both simplistic and false to history. Two examples: (1) FDR put Joe Kennedy, a fox, in charge of the SEC chicken coop. And Kennedy did a good job. (2) Talleyrand, through the whole of his career.
As for “credentialism,” I’m not the one identifying credentials with executive experience. That would be you. Match for that straw?
* The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Amen.
Politics is both the lubricant and the bread of life. The clever thing the republicans and democrats have done is make their respective bases look down on politics while still (blindly) voting their leaderships agenda. Just as it takes time and skills to develop an ability to run a family, it takes them in far greater dose to run things for the family of humanity. Even an absolute dictator has to have decent political skills. How much more so for anyone who has to manage the varied agendas of the 99%, compared to the narrowed interest of the 0.001% in the DC beltway.
Wow.
“(1) FDR put Joe Kennedy, a fox, in charge of the SEC chicken coop. And Kennedy did a good job.”
And BHO put Mary Jo White, a fox, in charge of the SEC chicken coop. And White did a good job.
Of slaughtering the chickens.
(Not that I’m arguing with your overall point …)
He’s had lots of executive experience. That’s why he’s in Russia.
What’s that you say, not executive branch experience? Ohhhh. Not a problem. Between Election Day and the inauguration he can get it from Dr. Stein.
Sure! Worked for Syriza…
#WeDemandJusticeNOTconversation #JusticeNOTconversation
so Cornel returns Stein her clothes after the fraternity gangbang. considering what he and the others coulda done for the greens in just the last 18mos, burns hell outta me!
Why use rape symbology? Because she is a woman? That is gross.
glad your grossed out! Stein has been battling this system since 02 and now oracles show up. as for your gender baiting…BITE ME just not too hard cuz i be a woman.
Cornel West deciding at this time, before Sanders has conceded officially no less, to endorse Jill Stein is in no way analogous to a rape of Jill Stein.
I’m a rape survivor. If this was a different type of web site. I would now use many expletives to describe my disgust at what you have just said.
Rape is forced or coerced penetration or use of ones body against ones consent. I strongly doubt Jill Stein didn’t consent to West’s endorsement.
One… More… Time…the rape analogy pertains to what the D & R parties have orchestrated for decades against the Green Party & particularly Jill Stein. i should’ve added Pillage.
Still does not hold up as an analogy. And it’s a Clintonian/Sady Doylesque tactic. The duopoly suppresses and restricts third parties. It neither rapes nor pillages them — that would imply that they are using the Greens and taking something from them rather than oppressing them and locking them out of power and exposure.
I’m not so thin-skinned that I would push back hard over any and every use of rape as metaphor. But you’re completely misrepresenting rape in this example, so it’s a fail on numerous levels. And it does not help the cause of women or feminism to use rape as an analogy with a female authority figure, PARTICULARLY when it is so inaccurate. And add in your sloppy implication of a black man WHO IS TRYING TO BE HER ALLY, and it’s even worse — ugly as well as inaccurate on many levels along numerous vectors.
Please feel free to complain about how the US system makes it very difficult for third parties to be heard and be effective. Please feel free to use analogies and metaphors in your argument. Please stop using this analogy in this argument.
Clinton! really? and a “black man”…your off the rails and no i will NOT please you!!
Yes. You are using Stein’s gender in a way that weakens her, in a metaphor that is false and unhelpful to her. And you started off by going after West in a gangbang metaphor. Do you not understand how metaphors work?
I’m not a Green, but I apparently respect the leader of your party more than you do. I would sincerely hope she doesn’t use this kind of Clintonian false victimization in her messaging. I see a lot from her, and I have never noticed her doing it. You are doing your candidate and your party no favors by sticking with this.
“advocate Ralph Nader says the two-party American political system creates “second class citizens” out of third-party candidates.”
follow the money…Super Pac distributions
aren”t there like 5 genders now? how can you say “her” without feeling a bit presumptuous
But I’d prefer to think about the issues and not the genders.
There used to be only 2 genders, but I can sort of see why that’s not enough. The only thing still unclear is whether a single person can be more than 1 at th same time
Thailand has 18. Here’s a handy chart.
1% of the population is both.
The reality is the assignment of the x or y gene is only the beginning of a gene cascade( the Y gene sets in motion the SRY gene which is supposed to turn aspectson and off on remaining genes, this process isn’t something occurs in one day either.) Sometimes the cascade sequence goes wrong and as a result you get conditions like men who have uteruses or men who present to the world as female and don’t find out until they enter puberty that they even have the Y gene to begin with. So yes, people can and sometimes are both.
Looks like you just got busted by the Thought Police for writing without an artistic license.
The charges are likely to be dropped but if you need bail money, let us know! :-)
I’d feel guilty if I knew a few thousand dollars could keep you out of jail. That’s like 1 pair of shoes.
The other thing is my attempt at commenting on Professor Hudson’s excellent book review was a total failure.
I spent several minutes, maybe even 10 minutes, composing a thoughtful erudite analysis that illuminated unseen dimensions of the topic with extremely clear exposition — and then it got eaten and never showed up.
I wouldn’t go so far as to compare the experience to a physical form of violence, but it certainly was traumatic. It’s too tiring to try and write it all over again.
Dont be a homotextual, copy all before clicking send
I just approved it; as I said, I was a little slower today.
Yet another example of that shows why sexual metaphors represent political relationships very poorly; they encourage category errors on the scale of “government is like a household.”
Whoops, I think I just made that error, though I did say it take (a hell of) a lot more political skills at the state/international level.
So the Greens were West’s second choice? Given your comment, there seems have been good reason for that.
Sorry, aby, but I’m going to pile on, just because this isn’t very good politics. (I trust it’s obvious to all that I’ve been fighting this battle for a long time.) Sure, West went with the main chance until it didn’t work. Now he’s trying to help. Earlier would have been nice, but maybe not so effective. The proper response is “thank goodness, and welcome to the party.” (pun intended) Personally, I’m very glad to have him on board.
I think the sexual metaphor misses fire, too. A very distracting way to say you’re mad. “About time you caught on” would do the job. I’d leave anything more to Glenn Ford and Bruce Dixon – they have the credentials.
This is offensive. It’s also completely unnecessary. IMO you should be banned from commenting.
what, did you read a bad word and lose it right there?
what she wrote can only be offensive to those too dense to attempt to understand what she was thinking
Bernie denouement is the best thing that could have happened to Stein and the Greens. If Bernie and West had started with the Greens, they would have gotten zero traction. Another noble cause no one’s ever heard of. Instead, Bernie started something that came close to blowing up the Democrats the way Trump blew up the Republicans.
Now a lot of the Bernie sisses and bros are looking for somewhere to go. Stein is well placed to pick up the pieces if she knows what to do with them.
The Stein campaign seems unprepared. They simply don’t have any staff to deal with volunteers. There is a well trained group out there now, so they need gear, packets, flyers, talking points.
Sanders will attempt to maintain his supporters by focusing their time, skills and money on his new institute. Should serve to keep a good number from paying attention to Stein.
The Stein campaign has a narrow window.
> Sanders will attempt to maintain his supporters by focusing their time, skills and money on his new institute.
I hope so.
Ha! I know you do. :)
If you want to takeover the established party (Ds) you support Sanders strategy.
If a person does not believe a system can function with two parties (I believe we have two branches of 1 party), you want to break the duopoly, you want outside parties.
To see if the Stein/green campaign can adjust, I signed up for email, following twitter and Reddit since the 13th. Weakness: Stein is in NH and nothing was listed on her twitter feed at the time and no live feed. I have gotten emails regarding getting on the ballot, but it lists total signatures needed with no indication of where they are.
Plus side: Redditors are looking at a money bomb and facebanking. Stein has raised 302k since Tues and has 200k to go by Aug 6 for fed matching funds. Total of 7 emails, clean energy, clean money (sigh) campaign, fracking, student debt, mass incarceration… tone a little light weight and repetitive.
It’s a question of the organizational capacity of the Greens. If you are going to organize a precinct for a GOTV effort, there are prerequisites, like an organization for that precinct, officers and bylaws that create those officers, a meeting place, a website, the ability to phonebank and knock on doors, marketing collateral…
The basic blocking and tackling that any party would have. If my experience in Maine is any guide, the Greens aren’t interested in doing that. So can the Greens spend the money that people send them? Not clear. That depends on their organizational capacity.
Now, maybe they get a bump in the polls, get to appear in the debates, make the threshold for ballot access in 2020. That’s good. That’s also nothing like 45% of the Democratic vote and $250 million in small donor money gets you; that takes organizational capacity, and I doubt very much that the Greens can “plug and play” that skill set if Sanders operatives redeploy there. And if Sanders operatives do that, they’ll probably end up threatening to swamp the Greens (assuming precinct bylaws allow that). Will the iron law of institutions apply with the Greens? I guess we’ll find out. It’s certainly possible that, just like Democrats, the Greens want Sanders people to vote for them, and then go away.
My experience of the Greens in Maryland is that they’re a debating society more concerned with their own purity than acquiring power.
Perhaps you could share the secret as to just how Sanders emerged from relative obscurity so quickly with such an impressive fund-raising and on-line campaign capacity, even though mainstream media at first ignored him, then actively sought to shut him down? Why couldn’t whomever it was with the real marketing power (Google, comes to mind) that enabled Sanders to ‘happen’ not now do the same for Jill Stein and Greens – other than not being interested in doing so for political reasons?
Big Tech had nothing to do with Sanders’ rise. I don’t know all of it, but he’s been using old media like radio for decades to build a progressive identity nationally.
People had already been begging him to run, and a variety of organizations backed him from the start. None very big, but when you put National Nurses Union and Progressive Democrats of America and bunch of others together, it starts to have an impact. He had decades of speeches being right on issues that people could check out on You Tube. He had solid governing successes in Burlington to point to.
Jill Stein is being smart on Twitter. I don’t know that much about the Greens, so I can’t comment on the rest. Lambert’s reporting isn’t inspiring, and other people have done research I’ve seen that likewise isn’t encouraging. But the Greens are in a terrific position to take advantage of this very unusual situation. Maybe PDA (which has already announced it will not support Clinton) and NNU (DeMoro has made it very clear she despises Clinton, but what she makes of the Greens health care stance I have no idea) and those other grassroots organizations will migrate to help the Greens after the convention. But Bernie built up those alliances and networks, as well as his reputational evidence, over decades. It wasn’t marketing, and it wasn’t Google. And he still wouldn’t have gotten the traction he got if he hadn’t moved into the Democratic Party and run in the primary.
This is hard to do. The system is designed to stop it. If the Greens do well enough to get federal funds, get Stein into the debates and can take credit for flipping a couple of states to Trump, that will be a huge success. I don’t see the disappointed Sanders supporters rushing to Stein understanding or accepting any of that. My fear is that they will drag themselves back to Clinton in October rather than stick it out. We’ll see.
Because raising immediately relevant issues and satisfying remedies that no one (not even Trump) was raising overcame all of the handicaps. Which implies that without the handicaps, Sanders would be both the presumptive Dem nominee and presumptive November winner.
Just to be clear, the fund-raising and on-line campaign capacity just leveraged existing resources cheaply available; that was the easy part. Getting people involved and sending money was the hard part. Sanders did that part with his mouth.
Another aspect of this is that Sanders appeals to a broad spectrum of voters, including the working class and rural white people so scorned by liberalism. I have no idea how the Greens do with those voters. But just as Clinton — even with her ENORMOUS institutional advantages — will struggle to win with a message of “I’m not Trump,” Stein isn’t going to capture huge swathes of Democratic and independent voters saying, “I’m not Clinton.” The messaging I have seen so far from Stein (not having tried very hard; but then that should be a decent proxy for voters very different from me who she’d need to pick up) is basically that. She’s picking up Bernie’s mantle, etc. But I’m not seeing anything there that would appeal to marginalized communities. I know she backs many policies similar to Bernie’s, but for people who are suffering, I suspect they’ll find Trump jackhammer preferable to Stein’s virtue-signalling protest. She presents in a superficial way exactly like the type of people who have been condescending to them and hurting them for decades. I don’t know how that’s going to play out, but if she actually wants to win, that could be a major factor in the non- or weakly partisan voters who might be in play.
You left out the most important part, the list of targets, which took weeks and months to prepare, and requires its own infrastructure.
On the other hand, VAN/VoteBuilder manages a lot of the production work and facilitates the coordination and routing. Without (relatively) mature tools like that, the Greens will need to work twice as hard for equivalent impact.
Erdogan. ..more like Erdo well he’s not going to be there anymore.
Let’s see:
-Merkels refugee plan
-NATO dealing with a coup after the fall of the USSR
-Syria
-ISIS
-Kurds
-collapse of Turkish tourism
-Erdogan was popular in the Anatolian heartland
Whatever anyone thinks of Erdogan, its hard to imagine how to keep a lid on the pot in Turkey these days.
Erdogan’s Sultan project wasn’t an effort to keep a lid on Turkey’s problems. Many of the problems are of his direct action.
TURKEY: The at least 4 sided coup attempt
Words of caution to everyone. There are at least four [4] armed sides participating in tonight’s chaos:
1) Military (obviously)
2) Armed National Police (pro-Erdogan)
3) Criminals (who are exploiting the situation as cover to settle scores) — Cannot prove this, but it is consistent with prior civil unrest history in other nations.
4) Terrorists — IS / Daesh. Probably not organized, but shooting unarmed civilians on camera would exacerbate the situation as both major sides blame each other.
______________
The RUSSIAN Reaction?
Not advocating a conspiracy theory, but ex-KGB Putin has a jet downed by Erdogan’s government. There may be Russian involvement.
Even if the Russians were surprised, the Russian Black Sea Fleet needs to be able to transit the Bosphorus to support Syrian operations. Expect Putin to quickly make favorable offers to the new military leadership if Erdogan falls.
You forgot Kurds as a potential player. I have no clue what PKK or TAK will do under these circumstances but I imagine it wouldn’t necessarily involve doing nothing.
In the game of U.S. neolibralcons, If Erdo or Gulen prevail… don’t ‘we’ win either way?
I mean Gulen sure sucks up a lot of U.S. education dollars.
http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/list-of-us-schools.html
I don’t think Gulen is primarily behind the coup. I mean I know that’s what Erdogan said but when the military released it’s first letter to the public it had Kemalist written all over it.
Uhh, it’s complicated. Secretary of State Kerry is in Moscow today negotiating an anti-jihadi pact/alliance in Syria. While a few days ago Kerry publicly labeled the Saudi-back Jaish al-Islam as no different from Al Qaeda and the neocon crowd had a hissyfit over it. The gap between how the US and Russian governments perceive the rebel-jihadi alliance is closer than it’s ever been.
Meanwhile it just so happens that the 28 pages from the 9/11 report implicating Saudi involvement and a military coup in Turkey is overthrowing the Islamist government of Erdogan. Both governments have supported the rebel-jihad alliance in Syria so this could just be a huge coincidence… except I don’t believe in coincidences that strain my gullibility.
Any speculation beyond that point is tin foil hat territory.
German fingerprints on turkish coup…not foily…ribbi gulan is in a very historic german german bund part of Pennsylvania…not by my laptop to scrape reports but there have been continued reports of sultan erdo asking for and receiving asylum from Germany…
of all the places to go hang out…
schaeubleland is not one of them…
my other thought was the sah-oodz since that little 28 page thingee was distributed on a friday, just a few hours before the parade in istanbul…
I call it a parade as the new coup position information is there was a grand total of less than 150 gulanis involved…
which made sense since the same photos of hardly 50 soldiers kept getting played over and over…
the saud argument is technically more foily…
but my money would be on field marshall schaeuble…
would put money down that he “resigns/retires” for health reasons in 90 dayz if sultan erdo “holds” as he now appears to have landed his plane at the airport in istanbul…
On a technical side, two weeks from now there is the annual kiss the sultans ring moment in the military and it has been suggested erdo was going to ax in a very publicly some gulanis…
and some colonel that has been named as a top coup boy had recently been bounced due to his ties to the gulanis….
So much for the boris jokes…
What a week…
Sticking to my german theory…very weak sauce coming from germany…still no explanation as to all the germany talk of erdo looking to land…no comment denying the suggestion they refused to allow sultan erdo to land his plane there…
(not that I believe it was happening)…
but why no denial…
also no politician making comment…
seems only steffen seibert on his twitter feed only…
very weak sauce…
And coup a bit bigger than I imagined…1500 arrested…
There will never be another coup attempt in Turkey…
ever…
video scene at retaking of cnnTurk studio from soldiers shows police trying to convince a few amped up soldiers the game is over and they should get out before the crowd gets them…
they refuse to cooperate and soon the crowd breaks thru and the police can not protect the soldiers who get sucker punched left and right…
Twit feed of ismailsaymaz…
Never again will any soldiers in turkey imagine they should pull a coup…
Neva evah…
Well, when you consider the scope, scale and direction of events just over the past couple of months it’s been evident to me this is heading towards some sort of showdown/resolution re Syria – taking down Assad as a key US foreign policy goal is what this entire ISIS thing has been about from the beginning. Turkey, the Saudis, Qatar, Jordan, ‘liberated’ Libya, Israel, France, UK and the US all have prints, but whoever it is that actually controls the US remains Prime Mover. Regardless of what actually happened in Nice, it was immediately seen as a major, and particularly awful, ISIS-related terror attack. In the context, it’s not hard to imagine regime (and strategic policy) change in Turkey as prelude to equally important change vis a vis the Saudis.
The US will not escape the wrath of either history or historians for this horror show.
I’m leaning heavily towards resolution. The Syrian Arab Army has cut the last supply line (costello road) into the jihadi-rebel held part of Aleppo city. I’m just wondering how the failed Turkish military coup or even a successful coup would’ve affected the Russian-American understanding.
Maybe. I don’t think Nice was a IS-related terror attack though. There isn’t any evidence released to the public that the perpetrator had any jihadi views or any kind of connection between him and IS. It’s more like a knee-jerk response after the Paris attacks. Where the theater attacked was led by an individual who fought with IS in Syria.
Take your point and badly written by me – would be better to have said ‘immediately seen as an ISIS-like…’ since the word ‘ISIS’ was only used by every media outlet before the subsequent ‘facts’ were revealed. I’d hazard a guess that most Americans, Europeans and others identify all of these events as part of one big ‘war on terror’ and for those following at all closely, that war right now involves ISIS/Syria/Iraq etc.
I did say “at least four”…… I don’t even have speculation on what the Kurds may be trying at this time. Given the thin news available it sounds like the bulk of the move is Ankara and Istanbul. Would the Kurds try to act there? Someone with more information and insight will have to opine.
Erdogan is now playing the same “crowd the streets” Muslim Brotherhood tactic that Morsi used. Very effective for buying time, but it does little to degrade the military forces except for a few equipment losses where a vehicle is on the wrong side of the line.
In Egypt, the military took over key infrastructure in low population areas instead of using force against crowds. That would be a logical choice for the Turkish military as a counter. People need to eat, so there is instant popularity for the side providing food.
This is likely to drag on for a considerable period of time unless one side manages to grab or eliminate the opposition leadership. Or, the military coup leaders turn on each other.
Does anyone know if a TOE for the Turkish National Police is available? I have had no luck finding one.
He’s back! Coup crushed. Now heaps of army in same jail cells as the once free press and once too inquisitive judiciary. The army managed to seriously damage Erdogan’s secret police, you know, the guys supplying arms and bombs to Isis.
He blames his pacifist nemesis Gulen in the USA. Sigh.
As an unemployed white male living in France, my choices in life are pretty much between joining some kind of white nationalist far right extremist group, and end up being persecuted by the state and all of polite society for “hate speech” as a bigot, racist, xenophobe, etc….
Or converting to Islam and having a chance at a decent life. Look what happened in Britain to the Brexit voters who voted Leave. The ones with money all voted Stay, and the ones without money voted Leave, so now everyone is calling them bigots, racists, xenophobes, ignorant working class hicks, etc…
I decided to avoid that fate and take the easy way out, so I changed my name and converted to Islam, as this solves a lot of problems.
Western elites are hell-bent in allowing unrestricted immigration into Europe and America. Even if they’re all ISIS operatives. However Muslims are not deemed to be a threat to the progressive establishment the same way that white-nationalism is, and they’re mostly right about that.
Given present demographic trends, at this rate large swathes of the West will be Muslim in 20 years time; and again the progressive establishment will do nothing about that; because doing something about that would strengthen the hand of white-nationalists, and that directly threatens the power of the progressive establishment.
So odds are for a Brazil – Mexico style situation, where a white-ish progressive elite rules over a mixed demographic of various shades of brown. Living standards plummet on average, but the elites still do great, and a white middle class which keeps the lights on still manages to make a tolerable living. But note that progressivism is still the state religion, and that means a large proportion of white people will still buy the whole package, i.e. hedonism, low fertility, feminism, the whole thing. That means dysgenic fertility goes on forever; the end of that road is South Africa.
The only way out is for whites to stop being progressive. And that means whites to stop being white. This means whites must stop being distinctly white, i.e. they must join non-whites at something so that the state can’t just point at some group (besides progressivism), find it’s white, and crack down on it because non-progressive whites are traitors and thus evil.
The easy way out, as Houellebecq recently found out, is for whites to convert to Islam. You don’t have to be good Muslims. Just tolerably good ones. Islam sucks in many ways, but on the whole it’s preferable to progressivism. Muslims get married and can control their wives. Muslims breed, and the influence of polygamy is way overhyped. Polygamy just formalizes what happens everywhere; some married men get poon on the side. Big deal. I’d rather they take a second wife rather than bang someone else’s. Still very few do so. Being a second wife is way less glamorous than being a sexy mistress who has some hope of getting the first wife dumped and replace her.
Being a second wife is a sign of poverty and shame. Chinese literature is full of women lamenting having to become second wives because their parents couldn’t afford to sustain them.
Any obviously white group is going to be targeted by progressivism as being the obvious threat that it is. And, like it or not, the progressive French state has the capability of crushing any attempt at subversion, and is going to have it for the foreseeable future. The only way then for a poor or unemployed Frenchman such as myself to avoid detection is to join a non-white group, a group that the progressive state just can’t attack.
And Islam is almost invulnerable to progressive attack. There’s a reason it’s been around for so long. Also converting to Islam is not nearly as bad as it might appear. Wahabbism is a modern fad. Muslims historically also used to drink and be merry. Once European whites get some weight in Islam, naturally it will evolve into a form of White Islam.
Even though the examples we have of White Islam in the Balkans are a joke. Who the hell is going to bother learn Arabic? Oh yeah praise Allah. Friday’s off. Big deal. At least we could cover up our women.
And an important characteristic of Islam is that it requires of the faithful to take power once it has the numbers to achieve it. A 50% Muslim country, let alone a 80% one, wouldn’t remain progressive for long. Eventually the Muslims will take over. The question is who is going to be part of that.
You could remain courageous and defiant, and become a jizya paying white minority, to be squeezed and bullied forever by the progressive state. Or you can convert early and join the fun before the Arabs get to uppity. Ever seen the pictures of the Ottoman sultans? They’re whiter than me. Ever seen the Istanbul elite? They’re whiter than you.
So think about it. I’d certainly do so if I were young, unemployed European male, with no prospects in life, and nothing to look forward to.
Sorry but neocon and neoliberal agendas have nothing to do with progressives anything….
Never saw a self-described progressive scrounging through garbage cans for food, have you?
The self-labeled Progressive Movement is basically a propaganda campaign serving the political interests of the the liberal elites richest one-percent who created it.
From out here in the trenches, Progressivism looks like a State sponsored religion serving as cover for the ruling elites and their neoliberal / neocon endless war / Open Borders / globalization agenda.
Syrian or Muslim immigrants before homeless veterans, that kind of hypocrisy….
Like this, any homeless or working class person opposed to globalization, Open Borders or endless neocon war can be labeled a bigot, racist, xenophobe, sub-human etc…and dismissed, or potentially even arrested, depending how they express their opposition….
As far as I can tell, the only thing threatening the status quo today, the only thing the globalist billionaires feel threatened by… is any form of nationalism, which explains the media’s hyterical reaction to Brexit, and its demonization of the working class whites who voted Leave.
It also helps to explains the Western media’s demonization of Russia, such as when Hillary referred to Putin as Hitler….
Most of the well-to-do people in Britain who voted Stay would probably describe themselves as Progressives, and would dismiss the underclass whites who voted Leave, as bigots or racists. This is because they have total contempt for the working class whites, and that’s okay, according to their Progressive religion of Identity Politics.
F**k them & their polite society.
I have ate out of your garbage cans to stay out of jail. I have wore your second-hand clothes…I have done my best to get along in your world and now you progressives want to kill me, and I look at you, and then I say to myself, You want to kill me?
Ha! I’m already dead, have been all my life. I’ve spent twenty-three years in tombs that you built.
Historic (World Heritage) Ad Dir’iyah preserved in all it’s glory …
Decade numbers don’t really mean anything, just the fortuity of how many fingers and toes, but vast congratulations to NC and its industrious owners and operators for passing the 80 million visitors mark. Volume counts, but the quality counts so much more.
When “Foundation” (or perhaps “Corruption”) replaces “Email” as the top word in the Hill-Billy word cloud, then I’ll expect Trump all but has taken the race.
Good point.
Although shots still being heard in the capital, Erdogan and his loyal supporters in the military are claiming the coup has been defeated. Historians will surely look back on this as the day the Sultan really began to mellow out and take a liberal attitude towards dissent. Blue skies ahead for Turkey, newest addition to Europe!
I can see it now all those journalists and judicial investigators released from prison, all those closed newspapers reopened and state control of their boards relinquished. Yes the modern Turkey has arrived complete with its Isis parasite inside. Reminds me of a Trojan tale about a horse.
The world is at war. Turkey has fallen into chaos. A crescent of violence has spread from Nigeria to Ukraine. Hillary Clinton is directly responsible for the chaos in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Like a century ago, western leadership is grossly incompetent. Just as victory could never be achieved by men charging across an open field against the fire of a Maxim machine gun; the world at peace has no chance when sovereign governments have been flushed down the toilet, if greed rules, and contempt for the little people reigns. It is not happenstance that the chaos that started in Somalia on the 1990s has metastasized across Africa, Middle East, Europe and South Asia.
The only defense is for the West to ally with Russia and China; restore the rule of law, build borders and secure peace in the face of extremism.
Shipping: “UPS and FedEx expand pharmaceutical shipping channels to global market” [DC Velocity].
This is an interesting development.
The ACA crapified access to affordable medicine for insured and uninsured alike. Courier service hasn’t been an option for the shipment of medicines between nations–say, between Canada and the US. When a person is un/underinsured and the local pharmacy charges $256.00 for a vial of insulin, that person seriously needs another source.
Of course, said person’s government could get its collective, obstinate head out of its ass and adopt single payer to bring down prices and even out access, but a person could die waiting.
“‘At the end of the day, I don’t think Congress…blah blah blah… “That’s why I’m confident at the end of the day we’ll get TPP passed.”
Lambert, I always get this uncomfortable sense of artificial urgency when someone invokes the expression “at the end of the day”
This guy uses it twice in the same paragraph which makes me think, why dont we just mix our metaphors and give it til say “at the end of the year when hell freezes over” ?
Yeah, I hate “the end of the day,” too. Oh, the profunditude!
Upon reading reports of coup-related-type activity here, I went to Sic Semper Tyrannis to see what was being said over there.
Just recently I am reading that the coup was so partial and so amateurish as to be put down almost immediately with hardly any visible effort. In fact, so easily put down as to make Colonel Lang wonder if it was a fake coup launched by Erdogan himself in order to consolidate his power further.
I will re-phrase that in my own florid way and wonder whether this was a Reichstag-Fire type of Faux Coup designed to give Erdogan the opening he needs to launch two, three, many Nights of the Long Knives.