Immigration

An Open Letter to Bruce Halle

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Dear Mr. Halle, I love Discount Tire. I’ve lived in Maricopa County 29 years and never have purchased tires anywhere else. Your training program must be sensational. I’ve never encountered a Discount Tire employee who was less than friendly, honest and helpful. On one occasion, an employee told me I’d been sold the wrong type … Read more

RNC Convention day one: ‘Be afraid! Be VERY afraid!’

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The conservative media entertainment complex and the modern-day GOP are built upon a foundation of ignorance, fear and hatred of “others.”

This was on full display on the first evening of the RNC Convention. The day’s theme was “Make America Safe Again,” which is just another way of saying “Be afraid! Be VERY afraid!” playing to the ignorance, fear and hatred of “others” that the GOP base feeds on daily from the conservative media entertainment complex.

A series of convention speakers informed us that (1) illegal aliens, specifically Mexicans, are crossing our border and killing Americans; (2) Islamist extremist terrorists are “in all 50 states” waiting to kill Americans; and (3) Black Lives Matter is the enemy and is killing police officers. The whipped cream and cherry on the top was a huge dollop of Hillary Hatred and Obama Derangement Syndrome.

Screenshot from 2016-07-19 11:35:32It was not clear to me who the “keynote” speaker was meant to be, but The most important moment at the GOP convention was Rudy Giuliani. An Energized Giuliani painted a dystopian picture of America, shouting loudly, wildly gesticulating his arms, and spittle flying from his mouth and dripping down his chin.

Hmmm, who did this remind you of? The people who make the Hitler Rants Parodies on YouTube really need to make one for Giuliani’s speech from last night. As Molly Ivins said of “Pitchfork” Pat Buchanan’s 1992 RNC Convention speech, “it probably sounded better in the original German.”

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Dividing the Left: The Alternative But Not Competing Explanations for the Rise of Trump

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It occurred to me that the divide between the Democratic establishment and the progressive left is defined largely by their differing viewpoints for understanding the rise of Trump. Ironically, there’s no tension between those viewpoints. Both camps have it right. But those differing, yet entirely reconcilable, viewpoints lead to radically different courses of action.

Kind of paradoxical, huh? A common foe who logically should unify the left appears to divide it. Actually, there’s an explanation, to which I’ll return. First, the two viewpoints:

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Trump dials idiot up to 11, and his Trumpeters follow

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Spinal_Tap_-_Up_to_ElevenYou can’t make this shit up. The GOP today does its own version of Spinal Tap by dialing it up to 11.

Martin Longeman writes at the Political Animal Blog, Trump Takes Idiot to Eleven in Scotland:

Writing in the New York Times, Ashley Parker casts some shade on Donald Trump’s triumphant reaction to the U.K.’s decision to separate from the European Union.

Early in June, Mr. Trump did not even know what Brexit referred to, and as recently as Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that his opinion on the referendum was insignificant because he had not been following the issue closely.

Amazingly, Trump landed in Scotland today to promote his golf course, seemingly without realizing that the Scots are pissed as hell about the outcome of the referendum.

In a stunning display of tone-deafness, he told the assembled reporters how great it was that the U.K. has asserted its independence. And then proceeded to explain how the tumbling English pound would help his golf course make money.

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Brexit makes a global recession more likely

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I have been warning you for months now about the economic slowdown in China, China economic news: Asian indicators likely to confirm slowdown continues, and uncertainty over the pending Brexit vote in Britain.

heston-beachAs I was streaming the BBC News election coverage last night, I was reminded of George Taylor (Charlton Heston) in this famous scene from Planet of the Apes (1968): “We finally really did it. You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”

As I was watching returns, “the British pound fell more than 10 percent Thursday night, reaching $1.34 per pound, after midnight Eastern time, a stunning decline for a rich country’s currency in a single day.” The stunning collapse of the British pound, in charts.

When it became clear that “Leave” the EU was going to win, the next dominoes to fall were Prime Minister David Cameron announcing that he would resign in October, and the global markets responding with steep declines. Britain’s shock vote brings swift consequences as leader to resign, markets plunge:

A day after British voters defied widespread warnings of economic and political peril should they cut ties with the European Union, the country reckoned with the consequences as markets tanked across the globe, the prime minister said he would resign and the United Kingdom felt the renewed pressure of a breakup.

Brexit resultsThe cascading developments, all within hours of the result of a deeply polarizing referendum, reflected a country shocked by its own decision.

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[I]n the short term, the pessimistic view appeared to be winning out Friday as the country endured layer upon layer of self-inflicted turmoil — and a sudden question over who would lead Britain at a crucial moment.

With Britain still absorbing the dawn news that the country had voted by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent to withdraw from the E.U., an emotional Prime Minister David Cameron appeared in front of 10 Downing Street on Friday and said he would step down after championing a failed campaign.

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