Politics and Press

The interaction of the press and politics; public diplomacy, and daily absurdities.

The Myth of American Prisoner Rehabilitation

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The Baltimore Museum of Art recently presented a panel discussion on American prisons. It was generated by an exhibit at the Museum of photographs taken over a period of 30 years at the Louisiana state prison known as Angola. The panelists included Norris Henderson who had spent 27 years in Angola for a crime for which he has since been exonerated and it became clear from his description of prison life that prisons like Angola do not exist to provide a hand up for convicts or to prepare them for life when they are released. What Angola does provide are jobs for a significant group of undereducated whites to – as Henderson said – (“watch black prisoners as they till the fields around the prison”). There is no meaningful effort at training or education and the state actually makes money off the work of the prisoners. While it’s not exactly slavery, it’s damned close. Henderson has had an impressive career in the legal and civil rights arenas including succeeding at persuading the Louisiana government to return voting rights to those who have served their time. It is a step that at least begins to reorient released prisoners into a more normal life. He has also moved the state to ban the requirement to report past convictions on employment recruitment forms.

The discussion also considered the prison business in America as it has become increasingly privatized. One interesting note was that many operators of private prisons sign contracts with governments that include a requirement for those governments to provide enough prisoners to maintain a 90% capacity rate. The economics of the system are based on per-prisoner costs and this translates into a need for the various governments (mostly states) to seek prison time for crimes that are frequently “victimless”. The stupid – actually tragic – War on Drugs made a huge contribution to filling prisons and will continue to do so until its remnants disappear. The fact that black Americans are more than three times likelier to be in prison than whites raises a question of just how many African Americans caught with drugs does it take to keep the numbers up. The fact that the opioid crisis, which is now a largely white problem, has led to investment in recovery programs rather than increased imprisonment adds to the inherent racism in our justice system and therefore our prison problem.

But Americans have their prisons and for many they provide an outlet for their anger at people who do not live up to what they believe are community standards, irregardless of actual crime. Many seem to enjoy seeing others punished regardless of the severity or importance of the “crime”. It is almost never an intent or even interest to improve a person in trouble, help them develop in any way; it is simply a need to punish them to provide some unhealthy self-satisfaction to the pious, sanctimonious, purer-than-thou. It was striking to watch this week the outpouring of glee over Felicity Huffman being sent to prison for two weeks for having spent $15000 to get a proctor to fix her daughter’s SAT scores – a crime that cannot in any meaningful way be viewed as having hurt another individual. And yet, the Boston Globe was full of comments celebrating her getting jail time. Why? Well for some it was that their children had had to take the SAT’s without help. For others it was their false view that she had taken a place at a school away from some other more deserving child – simply and obviously not true. Still others wanted her punished because she was a rich actress. But mostly it was that Ms. Huffman had been a bad girl, used poor judgment and simply needed to be punished – beyond a fine and community service. She needed to suffer in a more personally degrading way to provide vindication for the righteous, pious and sanctimonious to be – well – so righteous, pious and sanctimonious.

A footnote to the comments is that many compared her 14 day prison term to a five year term given to a black woman who misled school officials on her address so her child could go to a better school. Where were these folk when the black woman got railroaded? They were nowhere and they are nowhere every day that American blacks get tossed in jail – or worse. While Huffman’s penalty pales in comparison to that meted out to a poor black woman, neither that poor woman nor Felicity Huffman deserve prison time. In neither case is there any rational reason for the sentences which serve no reasonable purpose.

Does the U.S. Even Have a Learning Curve?

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In 1961, American intelligence (sic) determined that they could send some troops of unhappy Cuban immigrants onto the beaches of Cuba and defeat Fidel Castro’s revolution. Scotty Reston, Washington Editor of The NY Times knew the Bay of Pigs was imminent and held the story back for reasons of “national interest”. I watched him defend that decision some years later on PBS while his Times’ colleague Tom Wicker looked across the desk and said that if he had the story he should have reported it. Period. Turns out that then President Kennedy later agreed, having been led down the primrose path by the CIA.

In 1964 the President of the United States announced to the world that an American naval ship had been attacked by North Vietnamese ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. It led to Congress giving the President the power to send American troops in great numbers to fight in a War that killed over 50,000 of them not to mention the million + Vietnamese killed. It was, as it turned out, a lie. The attack never happened and the Defense Department worked with President Johnson to provide the political rationale for our entry to what was a stupid, mindless war, and of course finally simply tragic. The American press pretty much accepted the government’s story and did absolutely no due diligence – unless you were reading the Nation, or similar serious but small publications. Until the Pentagon papers were finally released surreptitiously by The NY Times and Washington Post.

In 2003 the President of the United States announced to the world that America was at risk of an attack with weapons of mass destruction from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The country was upset and confused after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center so the time was ripe for another war to get started with support from a supine press and a thoughtless American populace. It too worked – in we went and some thousands of American deaths and millions of Iraqi deaths later we were left with an ongoing horror show of our own making. While it may be unfair to pick on The NY Times, their coverage was a disaster with Judith Miller leading the way. Our current National Security Advisor John Bolton was a huge fan of that adventure.

The United States has a history of using the press to present its case and the press has a history of being so used. It is important to remember this as we are told that Iran is making trouble that could lead to a war that would make the Iraq fiasco look like a Disney light comedy. The press must be held to a high standard of factual reporting and we cannot and should not just automatically believe everything the government tells us – especially a government led by a lie-addicted president. And we might also want to calibrate cost benefit. In Vietnam we lost 50000+ American lives and the return on that investment was some good Bahn Mi sandwich shops in America. In Iraq the cost was about 4000 American lives and a national recession that ruined millions of families’ finances. The return on that investment was – well we actually don’t have a return yet. As for the Bay of Pigs? Some of the consequences of that are hidden beneath the Warren Commission but include an assassinated President, an increased cost of rum, a new radio station out of Miami, Radio Marti, and a lively Cuban American scene in Miami.

President Trump started this latest crisis by walking away from a treaty that denuclearized Iran. He walked away because his predecessor, Obama, did the treaty. There is no other rational reason. So we broke a treaty we had signed and now the Iranians are saying they will stop adhering to their part of it and why should they? So of course now having destroyed the agreement we are saying that how dare they go back to building nuclear capability. I mean – hello – anyone in there? Are we all to be so stupid? And where is the press? Much of it is pandering to Trump’s tale that Iran is breaking the treaty that we already broke. Cannot make this stuff up – country is nuts if we let our government get away with it and start a crazy war with Iran. We are 17 years in Afghanistan, 15 years in Iraq, have already given up in Syria, are in Yemen by proxy and losing. When will we ever learn?

We don’t know what the costs of an Iran adventure would be but I suggest we give Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton uniforms and send them in first. And how about Cadet Bonespur? Then our cost would be minimal and even maybe a benefit.

William Barr: Arrogance of Power

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William Barr is the same man he was 40 years ago and no one should be surprised at anything he has said or done after entering the Trump Circus. A brief Bio captures the outlines of the man.

In the mid 70’s Barr’s work at the CIA included arguing for the end of the moratorium on destruction of Agency documents in the age of the Church Committee’s investigations of CIA complicity in assassinations of foreign figures. The National Security Archive reports that later, in the 80’s, while in the Department of Justice, Barr defended expanding Presidential authority while limiting notification of Congress about covert Operations during Iran-Contra Affair.

His work in the Department of Justice during the 80’s and 90’s amplified his views on presidential authority, highlighted by his advice to President Bush-1 to short-circuit the work of Lawrence Walsh, Independent Counsel charged with investigating the Iran-Contra affair. Bush pardoned Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five other participants (incl the especially unpleasant Elliott Abrams), leaving Walsh with nowhere to go with the results of his five year investigation.

Barr also showed up when the Bush-1 presidency was accused of helping to fund Saddam Hussein’s military buildup (yep, that guy – really) through phony agriculture credits. The timing was ironic – while the buildup was to serve as a counterbalance to Iran, Saddam pulled a fast one and used his new military strength to invade Kuwait. Barr refused to provide information to the Congress in a preview for his efforts for Trump.

In the lead-up to his appointment as the fourth Attorney General in Trump’s two year presidency (incl 2 Acting AGs) Barr wrote a lengthy paper opposing the formation of the Mueller investigation, complained about the staffing of the Mueller team (it included some Democrats!), supported the firing of FBI Director Comey, supported investigations of Hillary Clinton and then altered and misconstrued the findings of the Mueller team.

Trump got what he has paid for and for the rest of us it is back to the shack, same game. Today Barr wormed his way through a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee with the help of Chairman Lindsey Graham and then let it be known that the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee would not be blessed with his presence at tomorrow’s scheduled session.

Love in the Age of Dystopia

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The love affair of Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu evolved quickly from light petting. Were there a wedding the exchange of gifts would have included Trump’s recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and Netanyahu’s naming an illegal Jewish settlement in honor of Trump. It will amuse future geographers to note that Trump’s name is on the map of the Middle East especially when reflecting on Trump arriving in Israel from Saudi Arabia and announcing, “I have just arrived from the Middle East”.

Netanyahu, who was being investigated for fraud, may actually owe his re-election to Trump as billboards featuring the lovers went up in Israel during Netanyahu’s campaign, after Trump announced moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, and then – just prior to the Israeli election – announced the U.S.’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Trump’s actions have virtually eliminated any chance of a Middle East settlement that could be remotely acceptable to the Palestinians and waiting for a peace plan from Jared Kushner is, of course, a fool’s errand. The prize for Trump is not just a place on the Middle East map, but also huge political donations from far-right supporters of Israel like shady casino owner Sheldon Adelson, and shared friendships with a variety of international thugs like Viktor Orban in Hungary, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and the ubiquitous Vladimir Putin.

The remaining question is just what to call the illegal settlement honoring Trump. I’m thinking “Grifterville”.

Richard Lugar, RIP

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Former Senator Richard Lugar (R – Indiana) died yesterday at the age of 87. Lugar served six terms in the U.S. Senate and was one of the last breed of respectable Republican conservatism that for many years provided honest leadership in foreign affairs while promoting what is now an old-fashioned kind of conservatism on domestic issues. While his views on domestic politics were far from progressive they never morphed into the kind of weirdness which we now see from most Republican Senators.

But Lugar’s major interests and impact were in the international field, highlighted by his efforts towards nuclear disarmament and his commitment to ensuring bipartisanship in foreign relations. That this did not always gain the support of his more doctrinaire Republican colleagues led to Jesse Helms forcing him off the Foreign Relations Committee because he was an “internationalist”. Who knew that Helms could be ironic?

One important event illustrates Lugar’s fact-based approach to foreign affairs as well as his political courage and ability to speak truth to power. Ferdinand Marcos served as president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. Marcos and his family stole billions during those years and he became increasingly ruthless in maintaining his power. Marcos  was finally defeated in an election in 1986 and proceeded to attempt to steal the election. Lugar was in the Philippines as an election observer working with U.S. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth. When President Reagan began to waver in his support for the election results, it was Lugar who made the phone call to Reagan that led to his finally supporting the election results and sending Marcos into a too-long delayed retirement.

Lugar got defeated by a Tea Party candidate in 2012 and replaced with a mediocrity. That was one of many signals that the Republican Party was being taken over by dopes and fools. Donald Trump is the conclusion to that movement.

That wonderful year 2018/19 Part 2 The European Union

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As the UK slowly sinks in the west with no flags flying -would somebody ;il Terry-Thomas or Peter Sellers please send them a samurai sword it is time to turn our attention to its staggering opponent – the European Union. There was a time not so long ago when the core players in this game of thrones – the Central European musclemen Germany, France and the others were crowing about their future as a United States of Europe.
There’s little of that illusion left any more as the Brits apparently might be serious about sacrificing Ireland yet again and leaving the European chaps to the awful fate of doing without them. There’s actually very little of that anymore either a seem to have sort of decided to leave with no idea of what they might t do themselves afterwards. To show just how much the EU will miss the Brexit boys, the head honcho of the EU, Donald Tusk of Poland consigned them to Dante’ seventh circle of hell. Dem’s fighting words but there was little counter offensive from the robotically-challenged British political upper upper class.

The Fundamental Dishonesty of Equivalence

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It’s crazy. ‘If I don’t get my wall, I’m going to shut down the government.’ ‘If we don’t open the government, you can’t speak in our chamber,’ It’s a bunch of 2-year-olds, you know? Let’s figure out border security, and let’s get people to work, and let’s let the State of the Union take place like it always does.” Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland

This old and tired Bogeyman of Equivalency is regularly called out by “moderate” Republicans whenever they find themselves losing a fight that they started. The tactic is to do something totally outrageous and when the opposition calls them on it to then blame the opposition for not being willing to negotiate. To suggest – as Hogan does – that Nancy Pelosi shares blame for a government shutdown unilaterally ordered by a Republican President is like blaming England for refusing to give up the Cotswolds in order to stop German bombs.

Trump unilaterally put almost a million government employees on unpaid leave and said he was happy to take responsibility for doing it. He was also forcing thousands of others to continue working without pay – all to threaten the Congress into giving him his essentially ineffective wall. Nancy Pelosi simply said Trump could not use the Capital as a soapbox to feed his insatiable ego until he opens the government and pays employees for their work. These are in no way equivalent and Hogan is basically acting as an enabler of a maladjusted president. That much of the press gets sucked into the nonsense of equivalency does not make it right.

Whether or not Hogan believes that Trump has created this mess and has full responsibility for cleaning it up, he is just another Republican afraid to take an honest stand against his party’s current leader. We have had over two years of Trump and he remains an embarrassment who governs to fill his pockets and his narcissistic ego. It is beyond time for “moderate” Republicans to put the country’s interests ahead of those of the President.

Hogan is being mentioned as a possible primary opponent of Trump, but the party and the country needs better than a so-called moderate. If Hogan really does not support the closing of the government, he needs to have the backbone to confront his party’s leaders – Trump and McConnell – and to recognize the cynical sham of his statement, above.

Democrats, many Republicans and specifically Speaker Pelosi, have figured out border security and it does not include Trump’s wall. If Hogan really wants to run for President he might start with acknowledging the reality of the damage that Trump has done and the fact that the House of Representatives is now managed by a smart, mentally stable woman – who, as it turns out, is a proud daughter of Baltimore.

That wonderful Year 2018: Part one – Great Britain

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A summary a la Bob and Ray

It was that wonderful year in which the British voters and their even more comically gifted parliamentary representatives managed to bring to life and then perform over and over again LIVE and on stage exaggerated adaptations of several of the most brilliant satiric skits first put by the great Monty Python troupe. Leaving that crew in the dust they brought together a bevy of characters beyond the imagination of the Pythons. Who could invent such wonderland creatures as the mad hatters who demanded the liberation of their brave and threatened kingdom from their slummy neighbours who were hunkered down in Brussels, Belgium of all unimportant places.

When they actually won the vote for a breakaway independence by the slightest of margins, having lost by the largest in their colonial outposts in Scotland and Northern Ireland, not to mention Gibralter, the leader of the hatters and his merry revolutionary men acted with remarkable speed when they began to get the news that their declaration of independence from the nasty Europeans appeared to be succeeding. Never having imagined that possibility, their leader and his unrobinhoody band ran for the hills after someone must have told them of the problems they would be facing on the island of Ireland and Northern Ireland , and the existence of custom unions across the English Channel and the chunnel to France. And the leader of it all disappeared and was never seen agin. Okay this is only true in the Trumpian sense, as we actually did see Sir Robin today on the BBC, as he began to strike out on a run in his bathing costume through the streets of London. Not even the Pythons could come up with that for a display of bizarre chutzpah.

And now the stage was really set for chivalric disaster as they named a fearless and brave female warrior to defend their new borders and after more than two unarthurian years of agonizing behaviour yelled out against her heir from their secure halls of power, they threw their fearless female warrior princess right under the bus with a shocking crescendo of linguistic shabbiness. If you think this is the end of a miserable tale, think again. On the very next day they asked her to go back out onto the field of battle and take on the dragon again. again. Now they had confidence in her. And they didn’t even apologize. nAnd she said she would gve it another go. Bully on her but no one seems to think this will all have a happy end at the end of March, when the end must happen.

THE “CRISIS AT THE BORDER”

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In a kind of “coals to Newcastle” move the Washington Post today is providing a cheat sheet for assessing the truthfulness of President Trump’s comments on the “crisis on the border” tonight.

Clearly we don’t really need this. Virtually everything Trump will say can be guaranteed to be a lie, an exaggeration, or a total fantasy. He has proven over and over that he knows nothing about anything and understands less.

There is some understandable puzzlement over why our TV networks will be televising this pile of verbal bullshit, but let’s just think of it as an episode of Cirque d’Soleil with a crazy ringmaster talking without a net of facts. Then once we have cleaned up the vomit we can come back to the TV for Pelosi and Schumer to suggest how we can replace the clowns. Or is that hoping for too much? Yeah, probably.

TRUMP TRAIN LEAVES RAILS

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Difficult to ignore the fact that our President* is fiddling while the White House burns. Well, actually  he does not even know what a fiddle is, let alone how to play it. But the walls are closing in on El Pradre El Mar-a-Lago and he is incapable of doing anything beyond shouting at reporters as he runs or stumbles  to the marine helicopters to take him away. Away , anywhere captain, just take me away.

Special prosecutor Mueller and his staff may have enough to put Trump and his crime family away for centuries IF he had not been “elected” by the electoral college. So what we have is a President* with innate insecurities and a major case of unjustified narcissism combined with serious criminal bahviors struggling to find the magic move that will save him and his children from their just desserts.

It will play out but I believe that we are witnessing the beginning of the end. Trump’s former lawyer and staff have or are all pleading guilty to various felonies and Trump’s children have all been stained and are vulnerable. His son-in-law is existentially complicit int he murder of Washington Post columnist Jamai Khashoggi and Mueller is now looking at the money. This last is Trump’s so-called redline. Ha! It’s always been about the money and that is where the truth will lead the investigation.

Trump’s most likely play is to fire Mueller – either by the seriously weird and tainted Mathew Whitaker or his likely successor William Barr, who two years ago wrote a lengthy memo describing his view that Mueller was getting into inappropriate areas.

So, two more government officials will possibly sacrifice their personal honor and integrity (recognizing that Whitaker has very little honor or integrity) such as it is – on the altar of Trump’s insatiable, undeserving ego.