Ed Kilgore is traveling home today after paying tribute to his departed mother, so I’m helping out a bit at the Political Animal. For starters, here’s a Lunch Buffet:
Markos Kounalakis says “What we are witnessing” with President Obama’s foreign policy “is the end of “big-stick” policy. This is the era of bundled “little-stick” politics.”
Don’t miss Jim Sleeper’s piece on race, reparations, and the need for a universal post-racial culture or John Winslow’s piece on too-big-to-fail banks.
Linda Kinstler takes a look at popular unrest in Turkey.
Nathan Bradley Bethea takes a tough but fair look at the controversy over Bowe Bergdahl.
King Juan Carlos I of Spain said Monday that he is abdicating the throne after a near forty-year reign.
Fred Hiatt continues to foam at the mouth.
God called. He said that he is in need of comic relief and wants Herman Cain to run for president again. No word on Donald Trump.
Meteor Blades has some thoughts on the new EPA power plant regulations.
Peter Gabriel says that he “did not believe the information” but “he walked right out of the machinery.”
What’s on your mind?
The fascist era?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces
Smart move by the elephant hunter, to abdicate a few days ahead of Spain’s favorite pastime: el fútbol del mundo.
Keller ISD trustee faces reaction to anti-Muslim comment
WFAA – Updated today at 9:12 AM
A comment posted on the Facebook account of a new Keller Independent School District trustee is getting a lot of buzz on social media this weekend.
Place 5 representative Jo Lynn Haussmann offered this statement to voters in Southlake:
“Do you realize because SO FEW voters took the time and responsibility to VOTE in the municipal elections – YOU NOW HAVE A ‘MUSLIM’ on the City Council!!! What A SHAME!!!!”
Haussmann, 62, apparently deleted the post, but not before a reporter with WFAA media partner the Fort Worth Star-Telegram took a screen grab and tweeted it.
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Keller-ISD-trustee-faces-reaction-to-anti-muslim-comment-261405401.ht
ml
I thought this was from THE ONION
……………….
GOPer Changes Name To Cesar Chavez, Becomes A Dem To Run In Heavily Hispanic District
Catherine Thompson – June 2, 2014, 2:09 PM EDT
One failed GOP candidate will do just about anything to win in Arizona’s heavily Hispanic 7th congressional district — including switching parties and legally changing his name to that of Hispanic labor and civil rights icon Cesar Chavez.
The Arizona Capitol Times reported Monday that Scott Fistler, who launched a failed write-in campaign as a Republican against Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ) in 2012, successfully petitioned an Arizona superior court last November to change his legal name to Cesar Chavez. Chavez also became a Democrat earlier this year before filing to run for the congressional seat being vacated by Pastor, who is retiring.
Reached for comment by the Capitol Times, Chavez said he had been “flooded with calls and emails” and was no longer speaking to the press. He also told the newspaper that if he did decide to answer its questions, he would not discuss the name change.
“There is just simply not enough Cesar Chavez to go around,” he wrote, as quoted by the Capitol Times. “We may resume questions starting May 10 [sic].”
The candidate formerly known as Scott Fistler also prominently displayed photos on his website of crowds carrying signs and wearing T-shirts with the name “Chavez.” But the photos, as the Capitol Times pointed out, were actually of Venezuelans rallying for deceased former President Hugo Chavez.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scott-fistler-cesar-chavez-arizona-congress
Let he who is without a youthful screw-up speak first AFTER reading Michael Hastings June 2012 America’s Last Prisoner of War. Everything, and I do mean everything, that one needs to know about the Bowe Berghdahl, his capture, and negotiated release is in this exceptionally fine piece of journalism.
A teaser:
McCain, of all people, should STFU given his multiple screw-ups and bail-outs.
This could become the must read article this week. Rolling Stone has just republished Michael Hastings Freature on Bowe Bergdahl, and It’s a Must Read.
(Not sure what “republished” means as it seemed to be available on-line.)
I agree with John Cole, if you want more elegant post on the Bergdahl situation, please read soonnergrunt’s post over at BJ.
As always though, John Cole says it with less couth or elegance but the exact short and sweet way I feel about the situation.
Oh Fer Fuck’s Sake
the latest complaint I’ve seen is that the President didn’t need to do a press conference when we got him back
It’s beyond ridiculous at this point.
Great song for its time. Enjoyed the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame show over the weekend, especially the induction of the E Street Band. I lived on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County as Bruce was coming up, and some of the places Springsteen named were high school hangouts in my day.
I saw the band in Boston in January of 1973, at a small club. This was after the first Springsteen album came out. I was stationed up there. I inadvertently cut in front of THE BIG MAN at the bar and he gave me a withering stank eye. What amazed me was how tight the band was. When they did “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” one of the guys whipped out a tuba. My thought right then was that any band that size lugging around a tuba from show to show was really classy. And they were.
BIG TUBA in that song.