Media Analysis of the Day

NYT: “After David Cameron was elected prime minister, one of the first visitors he received at 10 Downing Street was Mr. Murdoch — discreetly through a back entrance”. I’ll bet he did, I’ll bet he did.

We have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power

Following the attacks by mobs on the US and French embassies in Syria, Hillary Clinton says of President Assad, “I mean, look - I mean, from our perspective, he has lost legitimacy”. As with her and Obama’s remarks about Qaddafi, she does not say when and how Assad acquired his previous legitimacy, or perhaps that should be his legitimacy “from our perspective,” since it is our perspective that is the vital element in determining any regime’s legitimacy or illegitimacy. To make that point even more clearly, she also said that “President Asad is not indispensable, and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power.” Because it’s all about us.

Today -100: July 12, 1911: Of skyscrapers

Plans have been drawn up, not necessarily seriously, for a 100-story building in NYC. (However, the tallest... actually I don’t know what the tallest existing building was in 1911, but the foundation had just been laid for the 57-story Woolworth Building.)

(Update: It was the Met Life Tower.)

Obama press conference: This is the United States of America, and we don’t manage our affairs in three-month increments

Barack Obama held another press conference today.

DAMMIT, WE’RE GOING TO MAKE THIS RELATIONSHIP WORK! “As all of you know, I met with congressional leaders yesterday. We’re going to be meeting again today, and we’re going to meet every single day until we get this thing resolved.”


ACTUALLY, IN THE 1780s... OH, NEVER MIND. “We cannot threaten the United States’ full faith and credit for the first time in our history.”

DEFINE “GOOD-FAITH”: “Speaker Boehner and myself had been in a series of conversations about doing the biggest deal possible so that we could actually resolve our debt and our deficit challenge for a long stretch of time. And I want to say I appreciate Speaker Boehner’s good-faith efforts on that front.”

BUT MOSTLY MEANER: “We have agreed to a series of spending cuts that will make the government leaner, meaner, more effective, more efficient, and give taxpayers a greater bang for their buck.”


IF BY “DO ANYTHING” YOU MEAN “CUT PAYMENTS TO THE POOR, SICK AND ELDERLY, I WOULD HOPE SO. OR IS THAT NOT WHAT YOU MEANT BY “DO ANYTHING”? “There is, frankly, resistance on my side to do anything on entitlements.”

IF BY “DO ANYTHING” YOU MEAN “CUT TAXES ON THE RICH AGAIN”.... “There is strong resistance on the Republican side to do anything on revenues.”

UNLESS YOU CAVE COMPLETELY. BUT THAT COULD NEVER HAPPEN, COULD IT? “But if each side takes a maximalist position, if each side wants 100 percent of what its ideological predispositions are, then we can’t get anything done.” Okay, for Republicans the “maximalist position” is the total refusal of tax increases, but what’s the maximalist position this even-handed phraseology is implying has been taken by the Democrats? Not cutting Medicare and Social Security?

WE’RE NOT THAT FAR-SIGHTED: “The things that I will not consider are a 30-day or a 60-day or a 90-day or a 180-day temporary stopgap resolution to this problem. This is the United States of America, and we don’t manage our affairs in three-month increments.”


WHAT IT’S NOT GOING TO GET: “It’s not going to get easier. It’s going to get harder. So we might as well do it now -- pull off the Band-Aid, eat our peas.” Or in Rand Paul’s case, vice versa.

ACTUALLY, THEY WON’T PAY FOR THE HIGHWAY EITHER: “I mean, if the basic proposition is ‘it’s my way or the highway,’ then we’re probably not going to get something done because we’ve got divided government.”

HAVE YOU ACTUALLY MET MITCH MCCONNELL AND JOHN BOEHNER? “And so if, in fact, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are sincere -- and I believe they are...”

OBAMA DOESN’T SAY WHICH OF THE PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS DON’T KNOW BETTER: “I will say that some of the professional politicians know better. And for them to say that we shouldn’t be raising the debt ceiling is irresponsible. They know better.” Knowing and caring are of course two separate things.


THERE’S THAT WORD AGAIN: “I think Speaker Boehner has been very sincere about trying to do something big.”

FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN I PROMISED YOU GUYS “HOPE”: “And this is part of the problem with a political process where folks are rewarded for saying irresponsible things to win elections or obtain short-term political gain”.

AGAIN, IF BY “DO ANYTHING” YOU MEAN “CUT PAYMENTS TO THE POOR, SICK AND ELDERLY: “I mean, the vast majority of Democrats on Capitol Hill would prefer not to have to do anything on entitlements... And I’m sympathetic to their concerns, because they’re looking after folks who are already hurting and already vulnerable”. Note that he isn’t expressing any sympathy for the actual “folks who are already hurting and already vulnerable,” just for the concerns of Democrats on Capitol Hill. I’m sure it’s just an oversight.

WELL NOT WITH AN ATTITUDE LIKE THAT, MISTER: “Medicare in particular will run out of money and we will not be able to sustain that program no matter how much taxes go up.”

YA KNOW, AT THIS POINT, I DON’T THINK YOUR WILLINGNESS TO MOVE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE REPUBLICANS IS REALLY IN ANY DOUBT WHATSOEVER: “My point is, is that I’m willing to move in their direction in order to get something done.”

YEAH, YOU’D HAVE TO BE A FUCKING IDIOT TO BELIEVE THAT: “I am not somebody who believes that just because we solve the deficit and debt problems short term, medium term, or long term, that that automatically solves the unemployment problem.” So why are you spending all your time on the deficit and none on jobs?

REALLY, JOHN BOEHNER? ORANGE DUDE WHO ALWAYS SMELLS OF BOURBON? THAT JOHN BOEHNER? “My experience with John Boehner has been good. I think he’s a good man who wants to do right by the country.” You know, we made fun of George Bush for saying he looked into Putin’s soul...



“This recession has been hard on everybody...” Has it? Has it really? “...but obviously it’s harder on folks who’ve got less.” So why are you so eager to cut holes in their safety net?

(Update: However, Obama calling John Boehner sincere and a good man who wants to do etc is not quite as bad a judgement of character as that of Nick Clegg, who called on Rupert Murdoch today to “do the decent thing.”)

Today -100: July 11, 1911: Of heat and non-ritual murder

Another very hot day, many deaths reported.

Jews in Kiev have been on edge since a (Christian) boy was found murdered and mutilated in February, leading to the usual rumors of ritual murder. His step-father (an anti-Semite) has just been arrested.

Today -100: July 10, 1911: Of paperbacks and negroes in public office

A publisher predicts that novels will soon be sold in cheaper paper covers.

The NYT quotes the Tampa Tribune’s explanation of why black candidates in recent municipal elections in Jacksonville, FL received so few votes, even though blacks are in the majority there: negroes “realize that the whites resent the presence of a negro in any public body. They know, too, that a negro in important public office can bring only discomfort to himself and ill-feeling against his race. They prefer to pursue the even tenor of their way” (the Trib’s saying they’re lazy) “content to let the white men rule, and asking from them only the right to make honest livings and conduct themselves in their own sphere.” The NYT says that there are differing opinions about whether blacks should be allowed to vote (and doesn’t really come down on either side): “the negro in his civilized environment is making rapid strides; he is becoming industrious and propertied. But the disparity between his acquired thrift, industry, and perseverance and that of his white neighbors is still great. His opportunities under a white man’s Government do not wear the forbidding aspect of oppression. It matters little to the negro whether he votes or remains away from the polls, and, when he feels a real need for the franchise, he may exercise his privilege. But the negroes of the South should turn a deaf ear to their Republican machine leaders, and heed the industrial gospel preached by Booker T. Washington. The negroes of Jacksonville seem to have the right idea.”

Today -100: July 9, 1911: Of seals, feuds, marriage vows, and fans

The US, Britain, Russia and Japan have signed a treaty to protect seals and otters. Although by protect, I mostly mean divide up their skins.

The owner of two apartment buildings on 98th Street in NYC is annoyed that large new apartment buildings (one is eight stories) being built next door will cut off the light and air from his buildings. So he’s threatening to put up a 3-story-tall fence on the top of his building to block the windows of the new buildings. And he put up a big sign saying that his apartments are now for lease to colored tenants only. That’ll show ‘em.

The Church of England decides to revise the marriage service, including this part: “marriage is not by any to be enterprised nor taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly to satisfy men’s carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts, that have no understanding, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God.” The carnal lusts & brute beasts would be removed. From the sentence, I mean, not from the marriages, obvs. Also the bit about marriage being ordained for the procreation of children, because “procreation” is a naughty word.

Vice President Sherman broke precedent in presiding over the Senate, bringing in an electric fan to cool himself in the record-breaking heat wave. Hitherto, senators used only palm leaves. Instantly, several senators brought in their own fans.

Advancing a narrow social agenda

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas), introducing provisions, which passed the House 236-184 today, to ban gay marriages taking place on military bases and cutting off funds to train military chaplains on post-DADT policy, says he wants to ensure that “America’s military bases are not used to advance a narrow social agenda.” Because if there’s anything Tim Huelskamp hates, it’s using America’s military bases to advance a narrow social agenda.

Today -100: July 8, 1911: Of docked pay

Gov. Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey was surprised to find his pay docked for all the time he spent out of the state making speeches that certainly had nothing to do with any presidential ambitions. His pay for those days went to the guy who was acting governor (the president of the state senate – I guess NJ didn’t have a lieutenant governor).

Caption contest

Not NOTW

Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World is to close forever after Sunday, having been caught hacking the phones of murdered girls, dead soldiers, police, celebs, etc. Probably Murdoch’s Sun newspaper, which now runs 6 days a week, will simply add a Sunday edition to replace the weekly NOTW (the New Statesman noted that The Sun ran only a short story of the NOTW hacking on page 2, “opposite some tits”) (it’s the word “some” that makes that phrase work so well), so don’t worry about the Murdochs losing any money off this scandal.

Okay, NOTW was never exactly what you’d call classy even before Murdoch bought it, its first issue in 1843 featuring the story of an “Extraordinary Charge of Drugging and Violation,” still, it’s impressive that they managed to so destroy the name of a British tabloid paper as to make it commercially untenable.

CONTEST: What would Fox News have to do to so poison the brand that it would close?

California Republicans and teh gayz

The California Assembly voted 49-25 to include mentions of the historical contributions of gays and lesbians in public schools’ social studies classes and textbooks (did you know some gay Prussian dude taught George Washington everything he knew about military drilling? It’s true!).

Here’s the thing: it was a party-line vote, with just one Republican crossing over (Nathan Fletcher of San Diego, who plans to run for mayor). If I may apply sophisticated political analysis here, that’s just stupid. A few New York Republicans were able to vote for gay marriage, but here they’re not even allowed to vote for the most piddling of pro-gay measures?

Today -100: July 7, 1911: Of dirty tricks, Christian Science, and loud churches

The Mexican Treasury gives $320,000 in gold to the Maderos to reimburse their expenses in overthrowing the government.

Rep. George Norris (Insurgent R-Neb.) accuses Taft’s secretary of running a political news bureau out of the White House aimed at scuppering a possible primary challenge to Taft by Robert LaFollette in 1912.

Sen. John Works (D-Cal.) gives a two-hour speech in the Senate against the establishment of a National Department of Health. Evidently he’s a believer in Christian Science, which he claims cured him and his wife of unspecified long-term diseases and his son of being a drunk. He accuses the American Medical Society of trying to stamp out Christian Science.

Mexican police fire at striking street car workers in Mexico City, killing 6. So much for the revolution, huh?

Oscar Davis, a wealthy, presumably white man in Quitman, Georgia, complained to the authorities about the noise made by the congregation of a negro church located near his house. The authorities made the church folk worship less boisterously, so they are now quietly praying. For the death of Oscar Davis.

Obama and the hashtag of doom

Obama held a “Twitter town hall” today. He answered questions posed by people with made-up Twitter handles like “RenegadeNerd” and “John Boehner.”

BUT REAL MEN TWEET STANDING UP: “First of all, everybody can sit down. (Laughter.) It’s much easier to tweet from a seated position. (Laughter.)”


In answer to the pictured question: “I think that -- probably two things that I would do differently. One would have been to explain to the American people that it was going to take a while for us to get out of this.” See, it’s not something he did less than perfectly, it’s something he explained less than perfectly. (The second thing is something about housing, but he doesn’t really mention something he would do differently.)


IT’S B-O-N-E-R: “John obviously needs to work on his typing skills.”

Asked by one NickKristof if he shouldn’t have gotten a commitment to raise the debt ceiling when he gave the Republicans an extension of tax cuts to the wealthy, he says “That wasn’t the deal that was available.” In other words, you were out-negotiated.


Speaking of out-negotiated, here he is asking permission from the super-rich to raise their taxes, because he was just raised polite that way: “As I said before, if wealthy individuals are willing to simply go back to the rates that existed back in the 1990s when rich people were doing very well... if the wealthiest among us -- and I include myself in this category -- are willing to give up a little bit more, then we can solve this problem.” If they aren’t willing, we might just remember that this country is supposed to be ruled by the majority, and we don’t actually have to beg their favor.

THE NICE THING ABOUT THE DEFENSE BUDGET: “And the nice thing about the defense budget is it’s so big, it’s so huge, that a 1 percent reduction is the equivalent of the education budget.” That said, he won’t reduce the defense budget 1%, obvs.

Today -100: July 6, 1911: Of war clouds and heat waves

Turkey’s troops are mobilized in preparation for a war against Montenegro.

So that’s two war scares in Europe, including the one over Morocco. French funds are being withdrawn from German banks.

Major heat wave all across the US. Stories from everywhere about people dropping dead by the hundreds (250, anyway). Life and death before air conditioning.

Habeas corpus

The latest squabbling within the Israeli government is over just which corpses of Palestinians might or might not be turned over to the Palestinian Authority. The government has decided to hold off on the transfer to keep the bodies – some of them Hamas militants killed as long ago as the 1990s – hostage until Gilad Shalit is released. Charming.

Today -100: July 5, 1911: Of race riots and flies

In Hell’s Kitchen, Independence Day was celebrated with a “race riot.” Instigated by the area’s “old timers” who resent the encroachment of Austrian immigrants.

Headline of the Day -100: “Boys Killed 1,250,000 Flies.” A contest in San Antonio. Robert Basse (no age given) won the $10 prize with 484,320 flies.

Visual aids

Reuters: “A mine-awareness team in Uganda was horrified to find an unexploded bomb being used as a bell when it visited a school to teach children how to spot bombs.”

Today -100: July 4, 1911: Of 4th of July torpedoes, Channel crossings, disagreeable surprises, and negro taints

4th of July Story of the, Um, Day -100: Simon Fisher, 46, of Chicago, mistook a 4th of July torpedo (some sort of firecracker, I presume) for a piece of candy. “The ensuing explosion blew away his jaw, inflicting a probably fatal wound.” There’s probably a lesson in there, somewhere.

Taft says in a speech to old soldiers, that all the foreign wars waged by the US, except the Revolution and maybe the Civil War, could have been avoided through arbitration.

The NYT notes that the English Channel was crossed by airplane for the first time only a few months ago, but yesterday eleven planes made the flight from France to England in the space of an hour, which is a great achievement but also a little “disquieting,” given the military implications. “Fortunately, improved instruments for making war do not increase the frequency of wars, but have an opposite tendency. Real wholesale slaughter as a part of the everyday business of life ended when men stopped fighting each other with short swords.” So that’s okay, then.

France expresses “disagreeable surprise” over the German gunboat Panther’s appearance at Agadir.

Headline of the Day -100: “Not Afraid of Negro Taint.” While John B. Collins of St Louis is suing his wife Cora for annulment on the charge that she has some negro blood, her sister Blanche is engaged to automobile dealer Charles Wass, who laughs in the face of negro taints.

Because nothing says austerity like Silvio Berlusconi

The Italian cabinet approves an austerity budget. Henceforth, Berlusconi will throw simple bunga parties.