AOC's non-hypocritical hypocrisy, Trump's parade, Ukraine, more

A few tidbits pulled from around the interwebz:

Per Ken Klippenstein, even AOC blamed Elias Gonzales' actions on antisemitism, not a violence-misguided version of antizionism.

It's why, per Ryan Grim's Substack note, I expect her to be a sellout on any Congressional resolution calling the phrase "Free Palestine" antisemitic. If she is, we'll see how Grim reports it, given his past bromancing of her.

Hence, the "non-hypocritical hypocrisy."

I will be looking in more detail at this issue tomorrow, but not knowing when the congressional resolution might come up, wanted this out first. And here you are.

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I like me some Joe Costello, but the idea that Jerry Brown, especially being advised by Pat Caddell, was the guy to fix American presidential politics in 1992 is laughable. It also partially undermines Costello's credibility in deconstructing Democratic politics.

Caddell screwed Jimmy Carter over the "malaise" speech and was an informal advisor to Trump in 2016, as I have written. Costello knows all of this, and the former was likely known to him at the time of the Brown 1992 campaign, as was the fact that Brown was even more of a neolib than Carter 1976.

Brown was also a hypocrite on Cal water rights as governor, between his two incarnations, and more.

Sadly, Costello talks little to nothing about Mo Udall among past Dem presidential candidates.

Interestingly, in his next piece, Costello admits he had never heard of Murray Bookchin until just recently. That would be the Bookchin who crushingly deconstructed Bernie Sanders. I was going to tell him that, but forgot only paid subscribers can comment and Ghost doesn't appear to allow "restacks."

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You quickly hit Medium's paywall, but this piece suggests we shouldn't overestimate the Ukrainian drone attack on Russian air bases.

John Mearsheimer touches on both that and the INCREDIBLY stupid US geopolitics behind assisting Ukraine on this.

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Trump's "big birthday parade" June 14 is also the 250th anniversary of the US Army's formation. Even a leftist like Chris Hedges misses that, and misses the opportunity to critique American militarism before criticizing Trump.

Water, California, Jerry Brown and courts

First, California Gov. Jerry Brown is about as liberal as Hillary Clinton.

Second, it's clear that come hell or high water (climatologically, the functional metaphorical equivalent of the former is MUCH more likely than even a literal installment of the latter on a regular basis), Jerry Brown wants a chunk of his daddy's legacy by getting what he surely thinks should be called the Edmund G. Brown Jr. Peripheral Delta Canal pushed through. That's even as it looks about as environmentally unfriendly as any other California big water project.

As for the intensifying drought that's negating the likelihood of that high water?

His state's own Supreme Court, shortly after his first go-round as governor ended, said that water use fell under the public use doctrine and courts could control it in emergencies.

I agree: it's time to bring a court case, because we know Jerry Brown never will.

#Hypocrisy alert from Jerry Brown on California water

Gov Edmund G. Brown Jr.,
California water whore.
(Wikipedia photo)

Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., to rightfully name him, has imposed the first-ever mandatory statewide water restrictions.

So, why is this hypocrtical?

Because he is known to want to build the Edmund G. Brown Jr. Delta Peripheral Canal, among other things. If Wikipedia's description of likely environmental damage:

A peripheral canal would reduce the overall freshwater flow into the Delta and move the freshwater-saltwater interface further inland, causing damage to Delta agriculture and ecosystems.

Put another way? A peripheral canal, with the new water realities, is just reshuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. And, it ignores that the desert always wins on water issues.

Then there's more.

Try Friends of the River, which notes it would severely draw down reservoirs in northern California. You know, the ones that already have almost no water this year.

As for the name I mention?

No, it's not on record. But surely Junior wants his "legacy" as Cal governor to be a follow-up to Daddy's California State Water Project, which includes the Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct. He's as thirsty for it as an almond orchard south of Fresno. Given that agricultural users aren't required to make further cuts, as Mother Jones notes, this isn't hyperbole. And, as the Daily Beast notes, including describing how California is the Texas of California on groundwater, and as Cadillac Desert explains in much more detail, that agricultural water is often subsidized by not just urban Californians but the rest of the nation.

Remember that whenever you hear Western farmers and ranchers, or politicians that mouth their views, tout free enterprise and bitch about the federal government. One of the biggest hypocrites in US political history, beyond the Brown family franchise, was Barry Goldwater.

So, Californians? The answer is simple.

Hold on to a metaphorical 10 gallons of water and flush Jerry Brown. Just like Gray Davis. Recall him. But not to be replaced by an Ahhhnold.

Get somebody real. Maybe Barbara Boxer, since she's not running for the Senate again.

Because Jerry Brown is full of it, starting with the claims of 25 percent water use reduction, if agriculture doesn't face anything mandatory at all, and neither does the oil and gas industry.

#SEIU has a stroke of union genius: look for #GOP candidates

The Service Employees International Union, or SEIU as it is commonly known, has taken organized labor's formal and informal pledges to separate themselves from close connection to the Democratic Party one step further.

SEIU's California branch has now created a Republican-specific PAC to try to get more moderate-conservative GOPers, rather than wingnuts, elected to state offices there.

Given that, under Andy Stern, the SEIU was more "cozy" with big biz than any other major union, this should NOT be dismissed by wingnuts, Faux News and others as merely a publicity stunt. This alone should make that clear:

"Our legislators are harangued by radio talk show hosts like John and Ken and D.C. ideologues like Grover Norquist," said Bob Schoonover, president of SEIU Local 721 in Southern California.

Schoonover, a registered Republican, said lawmakers are afraid to do the right thing.

"We've lost the art of compromise that allows us to make deals in tough times," he said.

Note that second graf: A registered Republican. The story notes that the union claims 87,000 of its 700,000 members are registered Republicans.

Big biz, in general, has little use for tea party types and likes "stability" rather than confrontation in most levels of government. (The U.S. Chamber of Commerce could be called the exception to the rule.)

Some GOPers are already trying just that, though:

Republican strategist Kevin Spillane said the union wouldn't have a significant effect--no matter how much money the union spends.

"This is just sound and fury," he said. "It's political posturing to influence and intimidate some of the current Republican legislators. The reality is that we're not talking a real widespread impact in next year's elections."

I disagree. With Gov. Jerry Brown needing just four GOP votes, as the state legislature now stands, to achieve a long-term solution for California budget woes, this could be very serious.

I don't know enough about the Cal GOP to know where Spillane butters his bread, but, from what little I have Googled, he seems to NOT be a wingnut type. So, he may be puffing smoke out of real fear about this move.

That said, big biz has no problem with trying to push the "stability meter" ever further rightward, so, SEIU might not, given that history, be the best union to do this, at least not alone.