Today -100: August 24, 1913: Of Tammany muscle-flexing, birth strikes, and ray guns

Evidently not satisfied with ousting a Democratic governor, Tammany Hall decides to replace the Democratic mayor of New York City, William Jay Gaynor, at the end of his current term, nominating Edward McCall. But Gaynor isn’t ready to go and may run as an independent (if something doesn’t intervene...).

Sulzer’s enemies are also trying to have him investigated for allegedly favoring his business interests in Nicaragua when he was a member of Congress.

Headline
of the Day -100 (LA Times): “Socialists Are Divided On Declaring Birth Strike.” German socialists. As a way of raising the status of the working class.

The British War Office has been having talks with a man who claims to have invented a device which can send a wireless beam that can stop the engines of enemy airplanes at a distance of up to 100 miles. The secretary of war even drove out for a field-test of the apparatus. Which didn’t work. The device, when opened up, turned out to be a box of sand with some buttons on the outside.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 23, 1913: Of emigration, and x-ray skirts

The Governor of the Austrian province of Galicia orders that all males under 36 attempting to emigrate be arrested and returned to their homes.

The US sends threatening messages to government and Constitutionalist commanders in Chihuahua, saying it will hold them personally responsible for any violence against American citizens in Mexico.


The latest scandalous fashion: the x-ray skirt, whatever that is.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 22, 1913: Of fighting guvs

Avignon Albany: Since Sulzer won’t give up the Executive Chamber, Glynn has another one built on the floor above. Everyone in government is ignoring the attorney general’s decision that Glynn is the One True Governor, and doing nothing while trying to ignore both presumptive governors, who in turn are both trying to avoid direct confrontation by doing no actual work. Sulzer asks the postmaster in Albany to deliver all mail addressed to the governor to him (that is, he’s trying to get the federal government to recognize him), and is told that all mail will continue to be sent to the governor’s PO box, to which Sulzer has the key. Glynn plans to demand that mail.

Speaking of embattled governors, America’s governor of Jolo Province in the Philippines, Vernon Whitney, kills two Moros who tried to assassinate him. He shot one and killed the other, the NYT says, with a barong. I’m not sure what the NYT thinks a barong is.

In the Senate, Boies Penrose (R-Penn.) introduces a resolution calling for troops to be stationed in Mexico to protect American lives and property, but not to aid either side in the civil war.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 21, 1913: Mud, mud, glorious mud

The governor of Missouri claims that at least 250,000 men (including himself and, for some reason, the governor of Kansas) worked for free on the roads in the first day of his Good Roads campaign (Slogan: “Pull Missouri out of the mud”). He plans to do it again next year and says every state should.

Hungarian Prime Minister Stephan Tisza fights his third duel of the year.

Mexican dictator Huerta has met with Wilson’s special envoy, who presented him with Wilson’s proposals (Huerta resigns, elections held in which Huerta didn’t participate, cease-fire, etc) and, surprisingly, Huerta said no. Actually, he said he’d ignore Lind’s offers to mediate peace unless the US officially recognized his regime. He insists that Woodrow Wilson doesn’t have the support of the American people in non-recognition, which is an odd criticism coming from someone who overthrew and murdered a democratically elected president.

Romania promised full citizenship to Jews who entered the military for the Second Balkan War. Now, it tells the volunteers that they were mustered in illegally, so no citizenship for you.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 20, 1913: What is the use of us going out to a demonstration for freedom and going unarmed?

The NY attorney general issues an opinion that Glynn is governor. State employees will be informed that they must report to Glynn rather than Sulzer or they won’t be paid. Sulzer has the combination of the safe in the Executive Chamber changed.

Huerta did not send an ultimatum to the US after all. The theory about what’s going on is that the regime leaked the story to the press for domestic consumption.

British suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst advises her East End supporters to learn ju-jitsu and to practice with sticks. She asks, “What is the use of us going out to a demonstration for freedom and going unarmed?” What use, indeed.

Escaped lunatic murderer Harry Thaw is captured in Canada. His lawyers will argue that he has done nothing illegal for which he can be extradited (breaking out of an asylum for the criminally insane is evidently not illegal in NY), but he will probably be deported, since it is illegal for insane foreigners to enter Canada.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 19, 1913: Too lazy to read

Mexican dictator Huerta gives the US until midnight to recognize his regime.

French aviator Adolphe Pégoud bails out of his airplane at 900 feet, parachuting safely to earth. Although a few people had parachuted from planes (and lived) since 1911, I believe this was the first successful use of a parachute in an airplane emergency situation, although balloonists had been using parachutes since 1785.

Robert Donald, editor of the Daily Chronicle (London) and president of the Institute of Journalists, predicts the future of journalism: fewer newspapers, which will be distributed in the major cities by pneumatic tubes; reporters will carry wireless telephones; news will be delivered directly via “the cinematograph and the gramophone or some other more agreeable instrument of mechanical speech.” “People may become too lazy to read, and news will be laid on to house or office just as gas and water are now.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 18, 1913: Thawed out

Harry Thaw, murderer of architect Stanford White in the 1906 Crime of the Century, escapes from the booby hatch after his family bribes attendants at the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and takes off in a car that was waiting for him. Since he was committed rather than convicted of a crime, he can’t be extradited (he is believed – wrongly – to have fled to Connecticut, as was the custom).

The governor of New York swings into action to find Thaw. As does the other governor of New York.

The NAACP protests the Wilson administration’s segregation of government departments by race, noting that this has never been done before (except in the military). But now, the federal government “has set the colored people apart as if mere contact with them were contamination.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 17, 1913: Game of Thrones: Albany

Martin Glynn, one of the contending governors of New York, signs several pay checks for members of the adjutant general’s staff, but the First National Bank refuses to cash them, given the confusion in Albany. The NYT notes that former Gov. Dix is on the bank’s board. Avignon Gov. Sulzer is still getting all mail addressed simply to the governor. State employees are taking advantage of the situation to take a day off.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 16, 1913: You must give us the vote or you must kill us

William Sulzer spends the day busily pretending he’s still governor of New York, transacting important business, although he refuses to tell anyone just what important business he was transacting. His secretary explains that this policy of “invisible government” is intended to prevent his enemies knowing what he’s doing. He has had quite a few new locks installed and hired private guards. Alt-Gov. Glynn sends Sulzer a demand for the privy seal, the Executive Chamber, all the state’s account books and papers and so on, and rejects Sulzer’s suggestion that they let some court settle the issue of who is governor. Anyway, in their exchange of letters, both insist that they are the One True Governor. Glynn will have another privy seal made. Every dept is having to pick sides: the post office is delivering mail addressed to “the Governor” to Sulzer, while the controller’s office won’t pay Sulzer’s salary unless Glynn signs off.

And those poor cops from West Virginia still don’t have their prisoner, not being able to find anyone in the police or DA’s office willing to decide whether extradition papers signed by Sulzer are legitimate or not.

The NYT interviews Emmeline Pankhurst, British suffragette leader. She says that suffragettes hunger-strike in prison because “We will not submit to the Government until we have a voice in it.” She believes that this resistance has broken down the efficacy of the Cat and Mouse Act and imprisonment generally, leaving the government having to choose between 1) punishing window-breaking, obstruction of the police, etc with death through self-starvation or 2) giving women the vote. “You must give us the vote or you must kill us.”

There is a drought in the Southwest, but Kansas Gov. George Hartshorn Hodges refuses to call for a day of public prayer, saying, “I believe in the efficacy of prayer, but not in the case of flood or drought.” I assume he’ll be burned at the stake as a heretic, but that may just be me applying 2013 assumptions to the more enlightened Kansas of 1913.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 15, 1913: They told us New York had two governors, but the fact is it hasn’t any

Game of Thrones: Albany. The first day of the Dueling Governors in New York. William Sulzer fitted a new lock on his inner office and ate a sandwich at his desk, as he was unwilling to go home for lunch because someone might seize his office while he was out. Martin Glynn did nothing all day. The only piece of official business seems to have been an extradition request from West Virginia for a check-kiter; some poor deputy sheriff and a former sheriff up from West VA had to decide which of the two governors should sign his papers, and they wandered from office to office asking everyone they met whether Sulzer or Glynn was the actual governor. They got a signature from Sulzer before realizing he probably wasn’t governor anymore, then Glynn refused to sign papers that were already signed. Finally the West Virginians decided, “They told us New York had two governors, but the fact is it hasn’t any.”

Sulzer’s people are talking about indicting Boss Murphy as well as Assembly Speaker Alfred E. Smith, Sen. Frawley (the head of the committee which investigated Sulzer), and others for treason, that is, using this impeachment to seize control of the state government for Tammany Hall.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

There can only be a political solution by bringing people together with a political solution

John Kerry also has a statement about Egypt.

First, he wants it known that “The United States strongly condemns today’s violence and bloodshed across Egypt.” Although as he goes on, it’s clear that he’s unwilling to ascribe that violence and bloodshed to the police and military. Indeed, he only admonishes “demonstrators [to] avoid violence and incitement.”

“In the past week, at every occasion, perhaps even more than the past week, we and others have urged the government to respect the rights of free assembly and of free expression”. He evidently can’t remember exactly how long the US has been concerned with the rights of free assembly and free expression in Egypt, but he’s pretty sure it’s a week or so.

“We also strongly oppose a return to a state of emergency law and we call on the government to respect basic human rights including freedom of peaceful assembly and due process under the law.” See, here’s the thing about a coup/crapfest: it abrogates “due process under the law.” There is no “law” and certainly no due process when they are enforced by people who have no legitimate, legal right to do so.

WHENEVER THAT MIGHT BE: “And we believe that the state of emergency should end as soon as possible.”

“Violence is simply not a solution in Egypt or anywhere else.” I’ll just let that sentence sit there for a minute, like a giant turd that the US has shat on the Middle East for lo these many years.

WHAT VIOLENCE WON’T DO: “Violence will not create a roadmap for Egypt’s future. Violence only impedes the transition to an inclusive civilian government... And violence and continued political polarization will only further tear the Egyptian economy apart and prevent it from growing and providing the jobs and the future that the people of Egypt want so badly.” Who is responsible for this violence? He won’t say.

HE HAD TO USE THE WORD “TOLERANT” SO THAT NO ONE THOUGHT HE WAS CALLING FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE ELECTED CIVILIAN-LED DEMOCRACY: “The United States strongly supports the Egyptian people’s hope for a prompt and sustainable transition to an inclusive, tolerant, civilian-led democracy.”

I spoke too soon when I said that Kerry won’t assign any responsibility: “The interim government and the military, which together possess the preponderance of power in this confrontation, have a unique responsibility to prevent further violence and to offer constructive options for an inclusive, peaceful process across the entire political spectrum.” You know how they could exercise their unique responsibility to prevent further violence? STOP FUCKING SHOOTING PEOPLE!

HE HAS A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN POLI SCI, YOU KNOW. FROM YALE AND EVERYTHING. “There will not be a solution through further polarization. There can only be a political solution by bringing people together with a political solution.”

WELL, EXCEPT THE ONES THE EGYPTIAN MILITARY HAS LOCKED AWAY IN SECRET DUNGEONS, OF COURSE: “The United States remains at the ready to work with all of the parties”.

At no point does he use the word coup, or allude to the coup in any way, much less suggest that it is responsible in any way for the violence which is totally not a solution. It’s more like a precipitate.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Obama and the Egyptian crapfest

White House spokesmodel Josh Earnest earnestly complains that the bloody crackdown in Egypt “runs directly counter to the pledges by the interim government to pursue reconciliation.” Who knew that when the military seized power and arrested the democratically elected president that it would fail to pursue reconciliation?

Also, the Obama administration opposes the declaration of a state of emergency. But not the coup itself. Also, it wasn’t a coup.

When the Bush administration was denying that Iraq was in the middle of a civil war, I suggested, as a compromise, that it be designated a “crapfest.” Since the Obamaites are equally unwilling to use the word “coup” for what took place in Egypt, may I again suggest “crapfest.” You’re welcome.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 14, 1913: Of impeachments, straying aircraft, angry moose, pig suits, bebels, and blacks in government

The NY State Assembly votes 79-45 to impeach Gov. Sulzer. Of the 79 in favor, 72 were Democrats (like Sulzer) and 7 were Republicans. Of the 45 opposed, 26 were D’s, 16 R’s and 3 Progressives. 25 abstained. This marks something like the 8th time a governor of any state has been impeached. Only two were actually removed from office (some of the others pulled a Nixon and resigned first), both in 1871, the governors of North Carolina and Nebraska, the former basically for fighting the KKK and the latter for stealing government funds.

Which leaves only one question: who is the governor of New York now? The NY constitution seems to some to say that impeachment mean temporary removal from office, pending the trial, in favor of the lieutenant governor, Martin Glynn. Sulzer disputes this. (Spoiler alert: fun and games will totally ensue).

Since I started this feature less than 4 years ago, NY -100 has had five governors, including Glynn.

France and Germany agree to allow each other’s aircraft to land if they stray across the border, although the craft’s commander will then have to swear that they were not up to no good.

Headline of the Day -100: “Angry Moose Defy Forces of Fusion.” If I didn’t know that was something about New York City electoral politics, that would look a little weird.

Disappointing Headline of the Day -100: “Adele Ritchie in Pig Suit.” That is, she’s being sued for payment for some chickens and pigs she bought.

German Socialist August Bebel dies.

More evidence that Woodrow Wilson is not Good For the Negro: another of the very few federal posts traditionally held by blacks is given to a white dude. US ambassadors to Haiti had all been black since 1869 except for one four-year period. Now, Wilson gives the job to Madison Smith, a white former congresscritter from Missouri. This news, as well as the forced withdrawal of Adam Patterson’s nomination for the post of register of the Treasury, appears in the NYT only in the form of a letter from the editor of a black newspaper, The New York Age.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 13, 1913: Of conspiracies and naughty first ladies

The Wilson Administration has been whispering privately that there is a conspiracy to get the US to intervene militarily in Mexico. The NYT pooh-poohs that notion.

Another Wilson Administration conspiracy theory: Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo has been saying that New York banks conspired to reduce the price of government bonds in order to defeat the bill creating the Federal Reserve system. Republicans in Congress demand that he prove it, while Democrats say he was just giving his personal, not official, opinion.

Oh wow, this is lame: after days of failing to answer the charges against him, and as the Legislature is considering impeachment, NY Gov. William Sulzer finally comes up with an explanation: it’s his wife’s fault. Clara Sulzer pops up to say that it was she who diverted those campaign funds, forging Bill’s signatures on the checks without his knowing anything about it so she could speculate on the stock market. (Update: she will then become conveniently ill and unavailable for questions). Gov. Sulzer is telling anyone who will listen that an extraordinary session of the Legislature doesn’t have the power to impeach anybody (if you squint at the state constitution, you can come to that interpretation), and that he would be within his rights to hold his office by force of arms.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 12, 1913: Of impeachments, pathetic addresses, and persistent prostitution

The Frawley Investigating Committee of the NY Legislature reports in favor of impeaching Gov. Sulzer for under-reporting campaign donations, using some of those funds for personal things, speculating in stocks while pressing for legislation that would affect stock prices, pressuring witnesses not to answer the Committee’s questions... And then it gets to charges that are more than a little questionable: that he punished legislators who disagreed with him on legislation and traded his approval of bills in exchange for support for direct primaries.

Having signed the humiliating peace treaty, Bulgarian King Ferdinand issues what the NYT calls “a pathetic address” to his army: “Exhausted and tired, but not conquered...” (only because he surrendered when Romania told him that if he didn’t they would occupy Sofia) “...we had to unfurl our glorious standards until better days ... Tell your children and your grandchildren about the gallantry of the Bulgarian soldiers, and prepare them to complete one day the glorious work you began.”

Headline of the Day -100: “WASHINGTON MUCH CHEERED.; Mexico City's Calm Over Lind Pleases Our Officials.” See how good Mexican-American relations are? The US is congratulating itself that Wilson’s envoy wasn’t greeted with riots, burning effigies, and rotten fruit. Indeed, “Officials to-day laid great stress upon the circumstances that Mrs. Lind had accompanied her husband,” without too much fear that she’d be murdered on the street.

Some of the delegates to the International Medical Congress in London are invited to the weekly Women’s Social and Political Union meeting. Emmeline Pankhurst points out that a paper at the Congress argued that “We have always had prostitution and we shall always have it.” Mrs. P says this sentence justifies the women’s revolutionary movement. She says that when she was a registrar of births and deaths, she knew that whenever a baby’s death certificate came in an envelope it meant that it had died of venereal disease – the envelope meant the doctor was covering up for the father by keeping the information from the mother (Pankhurst assumes that it was always men who brought VD into the home).

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt or Lindsey Graham’s sexual identity

John McCain and Lindsey Graham are back from Egypt and oh so eager to share what they have learned with the WaPo readers.

BECAUSE IF THERE’S ANYONE WHO HATES POLITICAL CRISES... “We traveled to Cairo this week to support a U.S. and international effort to help Egyptians end their political crisis.”

WE CALCULATE TIME IS RUNNING OUT AT THE RATE OF ONE MINUTE PER MINUTE: “We returned convinced that time is quickly running out to resolve this crisis”.

YEAH, THAT’S KIND OF THE PROBLEM: “We are longtime friends of Egypt and its armed forces.”

AND YET, YOU’RE STILL HANGING AROUND, MAVERICK-BOY: “But as we said again this week in Cairo, we find it difficult to describe the circumstances of Morsi’s removal from office as anything other than a coup. Unsuccessful leaders in a democracy should leave office by losing elections.”

AT A RATE WHICH OUR FIGURES SUGGEST IS APPROXIMATELY ONE DAY PER DAY: “We heard much that was encouraging in our meetings, and we have urged all sides to back up their good words with constructive actions. We have urged them to do so quickly, because time is running out.”

JUST LIKE McCAIN HAS SO GRACEFULLY ACCEPTED LOSING THE 2008 ELECTION: But their sage advice to the Muslim Brotherhood is to “accept that [Morsis’s] actions generated massive public discontent and that he will not be reinstated as president of Egypt...”. So they should just “accept” the thing McCain & Huckleberry just described as a coup. Which Team Maverick already has done, because the word “reinstated” suggests that Morsi is somehow not the president of Egypt, because the military says he isn’t.

“...that they must refrain from acts and incitement of violence; and that eventually they will need to move out of the streets and into the political process, because there is no good or effective alternative to advance their interests.” Yeah, because participating in a political process in which the military exercises a veto has been soooo effective in advancing their interests so far. Also, you guys claimed earlier to have supported the 2011 revolution against the last military dictatorship, so what’s changed?

They call for “releasing political prisoners, including Morsi supporters,” which is not a call to release ALL political prisoners or to release Morsi himself.

DIDN’T YOU SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT IRAQ? I MEAN, THE EXACT SAME THING? “We still believe Egypt can serve as a model of inclusive democracy that can inspire the region and the world, and, in this great endeavor, the United States must continue to offer its support.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 11, 1913: Of sulzers

NY Gov. William Sulzer denies having used campaign contributions to speculate in the stock market.

Some in the NY Legislature doubt whether Sulzer can be impeached for acts committed before he became governor.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 10, 1913: Of September morns

The Post Office bans reproductions of French painter Paul Chabas’s “September Morn” from the US mails.

An art store owner was just arrested in New Orleans for displaying a print of it in the window. In March an art store owner was arrested for the same crime in Chicago but was acquitted. Anthony Comstock, puritanical asshole and head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, went into a store in NY and ordered the owner to remove a copy from the window but he refused.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

America is not interested in spying on ordinary people

Because it was a Friday summer afternoon, Obama decided to slip in a press conference. On the 39th anniversary of a president officially stepping down in large part because of recordings he made in his own office, Obama naturally chose to defend recording the entire fucking world.

BEIBER FEVER? “At the same time, I’m focused on my number-one responsibility as Commander-in-Chief, and that’s keeping the American people safe. And in recent days, we’ve been reminded once again about the threats to our nation.”



REBALANCING: “As I said at the National Defense University back in May, in meeting those threats we have to strike the right balance between protecting our security and preserving our freedoms. And as part of this rebalancing, I called for a review of our surveillance programs.” Oh, that’s what he’s been doing to our freedoms: “rebalancing” them. It’s like getting a “realignment” for your car, and then the government gets the content of all your communications.

AN ORDERLY AND LAWFUL PROCESS: “Unfortunately, rather than an orderly and lawful process to debate these issues and come up with appropriate reforms, repeated leaks of classified information have initiated the debate in a very passionate, but not always fully informed way.” Although a lot more informed than he’d intended. No, his idea of an orderly and lawful process to debate these issues (did you know there are illegal ways to debate issues? that just shows that you’re not a constitutional lawyer) would have involved us all debating these issues in a purely theoretical way, without knowing what practices were being debated. You know, orderly. And lawful.

“Now, keep in mind that as a senator, I expressed a healthy skepticism about these programs...” And then he got those programs in his hot little hands and his views were no longer either healthy or sceptical. Funny, that.



MOSTLY POTATO-SHAPED: “But given the history of abuse by governments, it’s right to ask questions about surveillance -- particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives.”

SURE, BECAUSE HE’S READING ALL THEIR EMAILS: “I’m also mindful of how these issues are viewed overseas...” I think that’s the third time he’s referred to secret surveillance programs as “issues” rather than as a set of government practices, suggesting that the only concern he really has is with the public relations aspect of this.

“...because American leadership around the world depends upon the example of American democracy and American openness...” Also soldiers and guns and flying killer robots.

“...because what makes us different from other countries is not simply our ability to secure our nation, it’s the way we do it -- with open debate and democratic process.” Okay I’m pretty sure he’s just being sarcastic now.



He wants to reform the law governing the collection of phone records. “But given the scale of this program, I understand the concerns of those who would worry that it could be subject to abuse.” I don’t think the mass hoovering up of all our phone conversation is subject to abuse, I think it is, in itself, an abuse.

“So after having a dialogue with members of Congress and civil libertarians...” I love how he distinguishes those two groups. Shouldn’t all members of Congress be civil libertarians? Shouldn’t all Americans? What exactly is his definition of “civil libertarian” that implies that they’re a minority special-interest group of some kind?

AS ALICE SAID, HOW CAN I HAVE ADDITIONAL CONFIDENCE WHEN I HAVEN’T HAD ANY CONFIDENCE YET? “I believe that there are steps we can take to give the American people additional confidence that there are additional safeguards against abuse.”

“Second, I’ll work with Congress to improve the public’s confidence in the oversight conducted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISC.” Not to improve the actual oversight, just to improve the public’s confidence. Again, the only concern he really has is with public relations.

“And while I’ve got confidence in the court and I think they’ve done a fine job...” Sure, because they’ve never stopped him doing a single thing he wanted to do.

He says the FISA court might be allowed to hear from “an adversary” instead of just from the government, though he doesn’t say who that adversary might be. Maybe those crazy civil libertarians.

“Number three, we can, and must, be more transparent. So I’ve directed the intelligence community to make public as much information about these programs as possible.” Technically it’s quite “possible” to make all the information about these programs public, so presumably he means something else by “as possible.”

ALONGSIDE THE 40,000 OR SO ANTI-CIVIL LIBERTIES AND ANTI-PRIVACY OFFICERS: “The NSA is taking steps to put in place a full-time civil liberties and privacy officer”.

Also, the NSA will create a website.

HOLY MIXED METAPHORS, BATMAN! “We now have to unravel terrorist plots by finding a needle in the haystack of global telecommunications.”

I’D LIKE TO THINK THAT EVERYBODY IS EXTRAORDINARY IN THEIR OWN WAY: “And to others around the world, I want to make clear once again that America is not interested in spying on ordinary people.”



“It’s true we have significant capabilities. What’s also true is we show a restraint that many governments around the world don’t even think to do, refuse to show -- and that includes, by the way, some of America’s most vocal critics. We shouldn’t forget the difference between the ability of our government to collect information online under strict guidelines and for narrow purposes, and the willingness of some other governments to throw their own citizens in prison for what they say online.” Oh, burn.

“And I believe that those who have lawfully raised their voices on behalf of privacy and civil liberties are also patriots who love our country and want it to live up to our highest ideals.” But not the ones who have unlawfully raised their voices on behalf of privacy and civil liberties. I mean, obviously.

We won’t be boycotting the Olympics. “And one of the things I’m really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we’re seeing there.” Is Russian homophobia predicated on a belief that homosexuals are bad athletes? I did not know that.

By the way, gay olympians, I’m pretty sure your president just said that you have an obligation to announce your sexual orientation.

OH NO HE DID NOT JUST CRITICIZE PUTIN’S POSTURE: “I don’t have a bad personal relationship with Putin. When we have conversations, they’re candid, they’re blunt; oftentimes, they’re constructive. I know the press likes to focus on body language and he’s got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom. But the truth is, is that when we’re in conversations together, oftentimes it’s very productive.”



He doesn’t think Snowden’s a patriot. “Mr. Snowden has been charged with three felonies. If, in fact, he believes that what he did was right, then, like every American citizen, he can come here, appear before the court with a lawyer and make his case.” He makes it sound so inviting. Thing is, though, courts can only determine what is legal, not what is right. You might want to keep this in mind when you’re writing your speech for the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington.

“But having said that, once the leaks have happened, what we’ve seen is information come out in dribs and in drabs, sometimes coming out sideways. Once the information is out, the administration comes in, tries to correct the record. But by that time, it’s too late or we’ve moved on, and a general impression has, I think, taken hold not only among the American public but also around the world that somehow we’re out there willy-nilly just sucking in information on everybody and doing what we please with it.” Sorry, I fell asleep while you were bitching about the difficulties of the 24-hour news cycle; what did you say about sucking willies?

Obama “hates” that people are attacking Larry Summers “preemptively” before he’s even nominated. Of course after he’s nominated, it’s kind of too late. “I felt the same way when people were attacking Susan Rice before she was nominated for anything.” So he hates those attacks because they might make him cravenly abandon Summers like he did Rice?

He says there are no abuses of the secret surveillance programs because that would be against the law.

“Having said that, though, if you are outside of the intelligence community, if you are the ordinary person and you start seeing a bunch of headlines saying, U.S.-Big Brother looking down on you, collecting telephone records, et cetera, well, understandably, people would be concerned. I would be, too, if I wasn’t inside the government.” So he’d be concerned if he were being spied on rather than the one doing the spying. Gotcha.



He says he and the NSA only want to foil terrorism.

Q Can you understand, though, why some people might not trust what you’re saying right now about wanting to --

THE PRESIDENT: No, I can’t.

Q -- that they should be comfortable with the process?

No he can’t.

“If I tell Michelle that I did the dishes -- now, granted, in the White House I don’t do the dishes that much -- (laughter) -- but back in the day -- and she’s a little skeptical, well, I’d like her to trust me, but maybe I need to bring her back and show her the dishes and not just have her take my word for it. And so the program is -- I am comfortable that the program currently is not being abused. I’m comfortable that if the American people examined exactly what was taking place, how it was being used, what the safeguards were, that they would say, you know what, these folks are following the law and doing what they say they’re doing.” I take it that he’s inviting every American to go to Ford Meade and see for themselves.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 9, 1913: Of impeachments, truces, Spigoties, and the Infra-Red Rays of Doom

More evidence suggests that NY Gov. Sulzer’s Wall Street investment account grew quite fat from diverted campaign funds. Impeachment is now a certainty, driven entirely by the Tammany-controlled wing of his own party, while the Republicans look on pretty much in silence.

Mexican Constitutionalist leader Venustiano Carranza rejects any suggestion of a truce pending elections in October (this is believed to be the proposal Gov. Lind is bringing from Pres. Wilson). Carranza says that the Huerta Junta is not a legally constituted government.

British Prime Minister Henry Asquith meets with a deputation of non-militant women’s suffragists. He says that he will do nothing for women’s suffrage in the current parliamentary session and that if anything were done in future sessions he would leave office rather than be a part of it. However, he told them that if they were able to persuade “the judgment of the people,” their opponents would not be able to stand against them. He fails to explain what proof of this persuasion he would accept.

Historical Epithet of the Day -100: Spigoty. It’s what Americans in Panama call the natives: Spigoties with their Spigoty ways. It’s supposed to be derived from the Panamanians’ attempts to speak English. Seems to be linguistically related to “spic.”

An Italian scientist named Ulivi who works for the French government announces that he has invented a ray-gun that can set off mines, torpedoes, and gunpowder from a distance of 15 miles, which will make warfare impossible. Phew.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.