The deaths Friday night of one woman and two children in the Rio Grande were completely predictable, given the rhetoric and actions of Donald Trump and Greg Abbott.
Hi Deece. Hope you’re staying warm in temperatures that will continue to be extreme on a regular basis, thanks to the climate change deniers who run our state. Speaking of that, that’s some electric grid that our fearless leader and his legislative minions built for us, huh?
And on your last detailing the tragedy in Eagle Pass, I think you nailed it: cruelty is the point.
The thing to understand about ERCOT is that it is run for the benefit of the utility companies and not the general public. That's how you get things like $30M payments to bitcoin miners to NOT do anything.
Tapped the like button for the well written (as always) commentary but Lord help us if we can't find a better way to resolve issues at the border than letting mothers and children drown while the powers that be argue about jurisdiction. Who's in charge?
Great question. The answer we all think we know is that the feds are responsible for policing and protecting the borders, but Abbott may be setting up a novel argument: the feds can do what they need to protect the borders, as long as they do not set foot in sovereign Texas. I think it's a loser in the courts, but then the intended audience is not the courts, is it?
Way back in 1962 I heard a very inspiring Presbyterian minister in my hometown preach a sermon to try to help us deal with our fears about the the riots at Ole Miss following James Meredith's enrollment. I never forgot it. In part of it he talked about the foolishness of thinking states are sovereign. "Only God is sovereign," he urged in his gravelly voice. "Sovereign means 'one who has power that is not diminished by anything anywhere...and that belongs to God ...and that is the only place it belongs." I count hearing that sermon that night one of the anchor points in my life. I am an Episcopalian but that night the youth groups from both churches were meeting at the Presbyterian church. Years later I found this sermon in a book called The Unsilent South and have been so glad to be able to go back to it over and over to renew its impact. When Rev. Walkup left my hometown in Mississippi he went to First Presbyterian in McAllen, Texas. He is still missed in my hometown.
I find it difficult to see Biden and trump as similarly “deeply unpopular” without background on how very different the term is with regard to the two men. I do think the headlines out of Iowa should be considered editorial malpractice, but I also think we owe voters a clear and indisputable differentiation of the core of the two men.
Gallup, and other pollsters, have found that Biden and Trump have similar approval/disapproval vectors. I do agree with you that the media has done a piss poor job of describing their differences in character, policy, and likely impact on American democracy. The media (generally speaking) likes the "horse race" frame for discussing the presidential election. But, as Jay Rosen has suggested (https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1633169838175649795) the proper frame is "not the odds, but the stakes."
To the extent I talk about the presidential election, I intend to talk about the stakes, which are enormous. The odds are newsworthy only in that they reveal the possibility that Trump could be re-eelcted in November.
I'm beginning to believe that it may be absolutely true that trump “I...could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I(he) wouldn't lose voters.” Further, I am beginning to believe that abbott, on a more local street corner that pass ADA requirements, could do the same (though he somehow may just drown them instead of shoot them). These speculations are leading me to believe that it's getting close to time to get the hell out of here.
Good grief. you are right, but good grief …
Hi Deece. Hope you’re staying warm in temperatures that will continue to be extreme on a regular basis, thanks to the climate change deniers who run our state. Speaking of that, that’s some electric grid that our fearless leader and his legislative minions built for us, huh?
And on your last detailing the tragedy in Eagle Pass, I think you nailed it: cruelty is the point.
The thing to understand about ERCOT is that it is run for the benefit of the utility companies and not the general public. That's how you get things like $30M payments to bitcoin miners to NOT do anything.
Tapped the like button for the well written (as always) commentary but Lord help us if we can't find a better way to resolve issues at the border than letting mothers and children drown while the powers that be argue about jurisdiction. Who's in charge?
Great question. The answer we all think we know is that the feds are responsible for policing and protecting the borders, but Abbott may be setting up a novel argument: the feds can do what they need to protect the borders, as long as they do not set foot in sovereign Texas. I think it's a loser in the courts, but then the intended audience is not the courts, is it?
Way back in 1962 I heard a very inspiring Presbyterian minister in my hometown preach a sermon to try to help us deal with our fears about the the riots at Ole Miss following James Meredith's enrollment. I never forgot it. In part of it he talked about the foolishness of thinking states are sovereign. "Only God is sovereign," he urged in his gravelly voice. "Sovereign means 'one who has power that is not diminished by anything anywhere...and that belongs to God ...and that is the only place it belongs." I count hearing that sermon that night one of the anchor points in my life. I am an Episcopalian but that night the youth groups from both churches were meeting at the Presbyterian church. Years later I found this sermon in a book called The Unsilent South and have been so glad to be able to go back to it over and over to renew its impact. When Rev. Walkup left my hometown in Mississippi he went to First Presbyterian in McAllen, Texas. He is still missed in my hometown.
Why is calling Biden “deeply unpopular” any different from describing The Donald’s win in Iowa as “amazing”?
Can you elaborate on your point, Mimi?
I find it difficult to see Biden and trump as similarly “deeply unpopular” without background on how very different the term is with regard to the two men. I do think the headlines out of Iowa should be considered editorial malpractice, but I also think we owe voters a clear and indisputable differentiation of the core of the two men.
Gallup, and other pollsters, have found that Biden and Trump have similar approval/disapproval vectors. I do agree with you that the media has done a piss poor job of describing their differences in character, policy, and likely impact on American democracy. The media (generally speaking) likes the "horse race" frame for discussing the presidential election. But, as Jay Rosen has suggested (https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1633169838175649795) the proper frame is "not the odds, but the stakes."
To the extent I talk about the presidential election, I intend to talk about the stakes, which are enormous. The odds are newsworthy only in that they reveal the possibility that Trump could be re-eelcted in November.
Thanks for your comment, Mimi.
I'm beginning to believe that it may be absolutely true that trump “I...could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I(he) wouldn't lose voters.” Further, I am beginning to believe that abbott, on a more local street corner that pass ADA requirements, could do the same (though he somehow may just drown them instead of shoot them). These speculations are leading me to believe that it's getting close to time to get the hell out of here.