I still disagree, just as I did a week ago, with the Supreme Court's ruling that the state of Texas could stop making Sons of Confederate Veterans vanity plates. It's not "government speech," it is free speech and the government picking "winners and losers.
And, I also don't believe that two wrongs make a right.
That said, I do believe in silver linings. (And, I do believe in getting rid of the Confederate flag from most government spaces, and for real reasons, not Republicans trying to massage the worse out of symbolism.)
And, here's one.
A federal district court looks like it could cite that case as part of its hearing on the latest attempt to strip the Washington Hymies* of its "redskin" trademarks.
* Note — I do not normally use racial language. But, precisely because Redskins owner Dan Snyder is Jewish, I deliberately use it in referring to the team under his ownership until he accepts modern non-racist reality.
June 23, 2015
Dear PGA, golf writers, Spieth and McIlroy, yes, we have a rivalry
Jordan Spieth (corrected throughout), after winning the Masters, downplayed the idea that he was in Rory McIlroy's league.
Rory, the week before the just-passed U.S. Open, did a LeBron James and claimed to be the best in golf.
Well, Rory couldn't putt well and LeBron James couldn't carry a team forced to start Matthew Dellavedova and others.
That said, let's start with some 21st century golf history.
Since the turn of the calendar, five people have won back-to-back majors. Tiger Woods has done it multiple times, most recently at the 2006 Open and PGA. Phil did it before him once, with the 2005 PGA and 2006 Masters.
We've had three others, all since Tiger's last major.
The first is Padraig Harrington, with the 2008 Open and PGA.
And, in the last year, we've had the last four majors won with two back-to-backs.
And, both McIlroy and Spieth are, at a minimum, better than Harrington and at least as good as Philly Mick. Both of them.
We have a rivalry, And, yes, per this Irish Times piece, it's what we've been waiting for. And, Spieth is still downplaying it somewhat, but not as much as two months ago. Whether it's true humility, a psychological control mechanism for himself, a bit of anti-Rory or a combo of all of the above and more, I don't know. But, Jordan? You're part of a rivalry now.
Further proof of that? Spieth has closed McIlroy's once-massive gap in the Overall World Golf Rankings to less than two points.
Everybody's been wondering if Rory is the next Tiger or Jack. What if, instead, he's the next Arnie, aka a step up from Phil, and Speith is the next Tiger or Jack? After all, after two early U.S. Open wins, a lot of people thought Ernie Els was the next wunderkind, and Tiger then blew his doors off.
Back to the current rivalry, and Rory's comments a week ago.
Golf is an individual, not a team sport. Rory's not lugging around Delly, the highly inconsistent J.R. Smith, or the players formerly known as Mike Miller and Shawn Marion. He's in this solo.
Sure, Rory's arguably got the best swing in the game today. But, maybe he's not as much a "grinder" as Spieth. Or he may let putting go by the wayside at times. In any case, maybe he needs the focus a real rivalry brings. And, maybe, per the last part of that last link, Jordan will have his own struggles in dealing with a new level of fame. Time's going to tell soon enough.
Spieth is already starting to enter the higher stratosphere, getting some free swag from Lions wideout Calvin Johnson, aka Megatron, after a shout-out to him. (And giving a shout-out to Stephen Curry.)
Finally, Spieth has Michael Greller. Rory doesn't.
It's arguable that Steve Williams helped Tiger indeed on winning a couple of his closer majors. The same may be true now.
Rory, the week before the just-passed U.S. Open, did a LeBron James and claimed to be the best in golf.
Well, Rory couldn't putt well and LeBron James couldn't carry a team forced to start Matthew Dellavedova and others.
That said, let's start with some 21st century golf history.
Since the turn of the calendar, five people have won back-to-back majors. Tiger Woods has done it multiple times, most recently at the 2006 Open and PGA. Phil did it before him once, with the 2005 PGA and 2006 Masters.
We've had three others, all since Tiger's last major.
The first is Padraig Harrington, with the 2008 Open and PGA.
And, in the last year, we've had the last four majors won with two back-to-backs.
And, both McIlroy and Spieth are, at a minimum, better than Harrington and at least as good as Philly Mick. Both of them.
We have a rivalry, And, yes, per this Irish Times piece, it's what we've been waiting for. And, Spieth is still downplaying it somewhat, but not as much as two months ago. Whether it's true humility, a psychological control mechanism for himself, a bit of anti-Rory or a combo of all of the above and more, I don't know. But, Jordan? You're part of a rivalry now.
Further proof of that? Spieth has closed McIlroy's once-massive gap in the Overall World Golf Rankings to less than two points.
Everybody's been wondering if Rory is the next Tiger or Jack. What if, instead, he's the next Arnie, aka a step up from Phil, and Speith is the next Tiger or Jack? After all, after two early U.S. Open wins, a lot of people thought Ernie Els was the next wunderkind, and Tiger then blew his doors off.
Back to the current rivalry, and Rory's comments a week ago.
Golf is an individual, not a team sport. Rory's not lugging around Delly, the highly inconsistent J.R. Smith, or the players formerly known as Mike Miller and Shawn Marion. He's in this solo.
Sure, Rory's arguably got the best swing in the game today. But, maybe he's not as much a "grinder" as Spieth. Or he may let putting go by the wayside at times. In any case, maybe he needs the focus a real rivalry brings. And, maybe, per the last part of that last link, Jordan will have his own struggles in dealing with a new level of fame. Time's going to tell soon enough.
Spieth is already starting to enter the higher stratosphere, getting some free swag from Lions wideout Calvin Johnson, aka Megatron, after a shout-out to him. (And giving a shout-out to Stephen Curry.)
Finally, Spieth has Michael Greller. Rory doesn't.
It's arguable that Steve Williams helped Tiger indeed on winning a couple of his closer majors. The same may be true now.
Obama on #SCOTUS? Not in my liberal dream world
Lemme see:
1. This is the guy who has expanded Bush's unconstitutional spying on Americans;
2. This is the guy who has assassinated American citizens with drones;
3. This is the guy who has refused to prosecute the unconstitutional war crimes of his predecessor.
I'd want him to be on the Supreme Court why, in light of all of this?
That's ignoring his penchant for Big National Security Government in general, prosecuting whistleblowers, secrecy on trade issues, and more. And I haven't even yet mentioned Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, James Risen or others. Nor the fact that, until today, he wanted to prosecute families who pay ransom to Middle Eastern kidnappers.
Occupy Democrats is in general not quite as bad as Democratic Underground on stuff like this, but I think it's been getting worse recently. Not just worst than its previous self, but worse than DU.
The next Democratic, or Green, president, should repudiate much of what Obama did, find some balls or ovaries, and start prosecution cases on Bush and Cheney, and even cast eyeballs at Obama on that.
What makes this funnier yet is Democrats-only, Democrats-right-or-wrong presidential voters who, as part of scare tactics against third-party voting, will regularly talk about "Supreme Court nominees" as a shibboleth.
If I gave you the same of some Republican with those three strikes listed above, you'd reject him without a second glance. Even if I told you, "but he supports Obamacare and reproductive choice," you'd say, "can't we get somebody better?"
June 22, 2015
The #Confederate flag and the Dept. of Amazing S.C. coincidences
 |
| Nikki Haley, breeze-swaying hypocrite |
No, not totally. Per this.
UPDATE, June 23: A special caveat. Haley clearly just wants to hide symbols from what she claims is the wrong interpretation, saying that Dylann Roof had "a sick and twisted view of the flag." Actually, while it may seem to be that, since the flag stood for slavery, not states' rights, and slavery based on skin color, while it's a sick view, it's not that twisted at all, actually. It's "logical," if one is honest about the flag's full history.
A takeout from this must-read by Ta-Nehisi Coates, at that link just above:
Nikki Haley deserves credit for calling for the removal of the Confederate flag. She deserves criticism for couching that removal as matter of manners. At the present moment the effort to remove the flag is being cast as matter of politesse, a matter over which reasonable people may disagree.
Bingo. This is all about new massaging of symbols, not facing the reality behind them.
That said? Even to do new massaging of a hateful old symbol won't be so easy.
A few caveats.
One, it will take state legislative action for that to happen.
Two, it will take a 2/3 vote of each house of the South Carolina Legislature to put it the agenda of a recently-called special session.
Three, if that doesn't happen, Gov. Haley will have to call for another special session.
 |
| Tim Scott, self-hating hypocrite? |
 |
| Lindsey Graham, frothy hypocrite |
I don't know if M. N. O'Butch asked for a move in this direction to help his campaign, or something else is at work. Until three hours ago, Scott and Haley had largely been silent, and three days ago, Huckleberry was saying this is "part of who we are." That said, if CNN is right that he was "quietly" calling for it to come down three days ago, while publicly still playing Dixie on his dogwhistle, he's quickly reached a high level of douchery.
He's got the most capital to lose, relatively speaking, running for prez and needing to not appear totally wingnut, even as other presidential candidates for the GOP appeared chickenshit about the flag. And, as senior senator, and South Carolina's GOP kingpin, he's also got the most weight to throw around. Add in that the man seen by many as the Koch Brothers' anointee, Scott Walker, called Dylann Roof's actions motivated by racism already on Friday, and the candidates that have played the "not racism" card are scrambling. That said, Walker, like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum, took past campaign money from Earl Holt's Council of Conservative Citizens. (Oh, there's a bunch of people on that list; feel free to give a few a Tweet.)
Back to Gov. Haley.
Given all I said, don't call me and don't wake me up until the flag is gone. Don't even think of calling me until it's on the agenda of an actual special session.
Oh, and beware of head fakes.
It's not totally true that the St. Andrew's Cross, was not the official flag of the Confederacy. Yes, originally, it was just a battle flag and the the "Stars and Bars" was the official CSA flag.
BUT, after May 1, 1863, the Rebel war flag was made the "canton" of the official CSA flag. Don't let anybody head-fake you on saying the Rebel war flag was not "really" a part of the Confederacy. This, too, is part of the full history.
This, in turn, is part of a larger claim that most people "don't really know what the flag is about." That, in turn, is usually accompanied by the claims that the Civil War wasn't "really" about slavery, and I've already crushed that one.
On Dylann Roof? Maybe "white trash" will be the next attempt to explain him away.
Oh, and speaking of "cantons," the Mississippi state flag still uses the Rebel flag for ITS canton. Today, Columbia, tomorrow, Jackson!
The thoughts and prayers of the Texas Progressive Alliance are with the families and friends of the victims of the horrible shooting in Charleston, and congratulating Jordan Speith, as it brings you this week's roundup.
Off the Kuff looks at the latest developments in the ongoing investigation against AG Ken Paxton.
Letters from Texas advises Capitol staffers how to respond to the Texas Monthly Best and Worst Legislators list.
Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos spanks the GOP for its craven use of dog whistles and thinly veiled racism. Come and Take the Truth About Playing the Race Card, GOP.
Will the outcome of Houston's mayoral race be similar to San Antonio's -- abysmal turnout, two Democrats in a runoff, one going after Republican votes in order to win? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs would prefer almost any other scenario besides that one.
Moving towards offering an accessible and comprehensive way to view all of life, Neil at All People Have Value added a page of pictures he has taken out in everyday life to his website. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.
Socratic Gadfly says that, although the symbolism of the Confederate flag is offensive, the First Amendment protects offensiveness, and the Supreme Court got it wrong in ruling Texas can ban Sons of Confederate Veterans vanity plates.
With municipal elections looming large in the background, Texas Leftist tried to keep up with intense political theater that was this year's Houston City Budget"... the last ever of the Annise Parker Mayoralty.
=================
And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.
The TSTA Blog has plenty of reasons to fear a Scott Walker presidency.
Better Texas Blog measures the impact in Texas of an adverse SCOTUS decision in King v. Burwell.
Juanita Jean marvels at the story about Texas' own Fort Knox.
Texas Vox calls on the CFPB to end forced arbitration.
The Lunch Tray bemoans Ag Commissioner Sid Miller's decision to lift a decade-old ban on deep fat fryers in schools, ironically done as part of an initiative to fight childhood obesity.
And finally, the TPA congratulates Scott Henson of Grits for Breakfast on his new gig as Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Texas.
Off the Kuff looks at the latest developments in the ongoing investigation against AG Ken Paxton.
Letters from Texas advises Capitol staffers how to respond to the Texas Monthly Best and Worst Legislators list.
Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos spanks the GOP for its craven use of dog whistles and thinly veiled racism. Come and Take the Truth About Playing the Race Card, GOP.
Will the outcome of Houston's mayoral race be similar to San Antonio's -- abysmal turnout, two Democrats in a runoff, one going after Republican votes in order to win? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs would prefer almost any other scenario besides that one.
Moving towards offering an accessible and comprehensive way to view all of life, Neil at All People Have Value added a page of pictures he has taken out in everyday life to his website. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.
Socratic Gadfly says that, although the symbolism of the Confederate flag is offensive, the First Amendment protects offensiveness, and the Supreme Court got it wrong in ruling Texas can ban Sons of Confederate Veterans vanity plates.
With municipal elections looming large in the background, Texas Leftist tried to keep up with intense political theater that was this year's Houston City Budget"... the last ever of the Annise Parker Mayoralty.
=================
And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.
The TSTA Blog has plenty of reasons to fear a Scott Walker presidency.
Better Texas Blog measures the impact in Texas of an adverse SCOTUS decision in King v. Burwell.
Juanita Jean marvels at the story about Texas' own Fort Knox.
Texas Vox calls on the CFPB to end forced arbitration.
The Lunch Tray bemoans Ag Commissioner Sid Miller's decision to lift a decade-old ban on deep fat fryers in schools, ironically done as part of an initiative to fight childhood obesity.
And finally, the TPA congratulates Scott Henson of Grits for Breakfast on his new gig as Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Texas.
Insurance mergers another potential blot on #Obamacare
Here's yet another reason why, in modern hypercapitalistic America, with the Federal Trade Commission and other relevant agencies doing little more than waving "go ahead" at mega-mergers, Obamacare may be the (alleged) good that's the enemy of the best.
The latest on this front? TWO planned mergers at the same time; Anthem wants to buy Cigna and Aetna wants to take over Humana.
Anthem, of course, is a biggie, the parent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. This merger, for sure, should be crushed, but with a neoliberal Dear Leader, that won't happen. The merged company would be the insurer of 53 million.
The usual will happen.
Layoffs in the name of "cost efficiencies" which will:
1. Make customer service even worse;
2. See no savings that get passed on to us, though there will be savings.
Even more attempts to deny coverage at hospitals and doctors.
More hoops to jump through in general.
Both proposed mergers have been rejected by the pursued partners, but that doesn't mean that we won't see new ones made soon. Plus, other companies, like United Health, are also rumored to be lurking.
Yet another reason why America needs not just single-payer national health care, but a full-blown British National Health System, as I said two weeks ago.
The latest on this front? TWO planned mergers at the same time; Anthem wants to buy Cigna and Aetna wants to take over Humana.
Anthem, of course, is a biggie, the parent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. This merger, for sure, should be crushed, but with a neoliberal Dear Leader, that won't happen. The merged company would be the insurer of 53 million.
The usual will happen.
Layoffs in the name of "cost efficiencies" which will:
1. Make customer service even worse;
2. See no savings that get passed on to us, though there will be savings.
Even more attempts to deny coverage at hospitals and doctors.
More hoops to jump through in general.
Both proposed mergers have been rejected by the pursued partners, but that doesn't mean that we won't see new ones made soon. Plus, other companies, like United Health, are also rumored to be lurking.
Yet another reason why America needs not just single-payer national health care, but a full-blown British National Health System, as I said two weeks ago.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)