'the most vulgar man I have ever met'

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Wednesday October 05, 2016 · 3:14 PM PDT

2016/10/05 · 15:14

is Trump, of course, according to a fun appreciation of the short-fingered vulgarian by Graydon Carter, who published that moniker dozens of times when he was a founding editor at Spy magazine back in the late 1980s and early1990s.

Carter, now the editor of Vanity Fair, recounts several tales of his interractions with Trump over the years. Like when he invited Trump to the 1993 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and arranged to have him sit next to Swedish model Vendela Kirsebom “thinking that she would get a kick out of him.”

Well, no:

After 45 minutes she came over to my table, almost in tears, and pleaded with me to move her. It seems that Trump had spent his entire time with her assaying the “tits” and legs of the other female guests and asking how they measured up to those of other women, including his wife. “He is,” she told me, in words that seemed familiar, “the most vulgar man I have ever met.”

More dish, below.

devtob

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Monday September 05, 2016 · 5:48 AM PDT

2016/09/05 · 05:48

NY-19 is one of those swing districts that Democrats must win to have any chance of recapturing the House majority. It’s been represented since 2010 by relative moderate (for House Republicans) Chris Gibson, who has decided to retire from politics (for now).

NY-19 is a Hudson Valley/Catskills district that includes all of Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties, and part of Broome, Dutchess, Montgomery and Rensselaer counties. In the only presidential election since this district was redrawn, Obama won it by 6.2 percent.

The candidates this year are Democrat Zephyr Teachout and Republican John Faso. Teachout has run once for public office, garnering an impressive 34 percent in the Democratic gubernatorial primary against incumbent Andrew Cuomo. Faso was an assemblyman for eight two-year terms (minority leader for his last two terms), representing a district within the current NY-19, and lost two statewide races, for comptroller in 2002 and governor in 2006 (since the Assembly, he has become a wealthy lobbyist). Despite his obvious name recognition advantage, according to a private poll released by Faso’s campaign, he is ahead by a mere 46-41. The race is rated a toss-up by Cook Political Report.

Teachout is a wonderful progressive candidate, which I will detail in another diary. This one will be about some of the far-right company Faso is keeping in his first campaign in a decade.

devtob

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Monday July 25, 2016 · 7:01 PM PDT

2016/07/25 · 19:01

One of the reasons Trump got a poll-bump is that the crowd in Cleveland only booed Cruz, and was otherwise loudly enthusiastic for their candidate.

Early on tonight, the PBS talking heads were on about how Bernie supporters would be booing any mention of Hillary, as they had at some state breakfasts, which would not be good for our candidate.

Didn’t happen, so far.

In the first hour, PBS interviewed two Bernie supporters on the floor. One would not commit to voting for Hillary in November, the other said he definitely would not.

Didn’t hear them booing at all afterwards

NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, MN Sen. Al Franken, and smart comedian Sarah Silverman (a Bernie voter) all gave strong support for our candidate, and were unanimously and loudly applauded.

The Bernie-booers are obviously a minority, and will only get loud if they sense they are not alone.

Let’s hope that the first hour portends the rest of the convention on TV — unanimous vocal support for our candidate that more than matches what happened in Cleveland and helps to restore Hillary’s lead in every poll.

Warmest, least snow winter in recorded history

devtob

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Saturday March 05, 2016 · 6:12 PM PST

2016/03/05 · 18:12

At least around Albany, NY.

I’ve been living here for 60-some years, and do not remember a winter when I did not have to shovel snow.

Until now.

Temperature records date back to the 1820s. This winter (December, January, February) the average temp of 33.4 is 0.7 higher than the previous record high in 1931-32, and 7.8 higher than normal.

Snow records date back to the 1880s. So far, there’s been 10.3 inches (none of which required shoveling, since it melted the next day), lowest since then, and way below the last-30-year average of 43.8 inches.

We’ve had more rain than normal, of course, and a couple of local flooding situations.

From personal observation, the Hudson River has been mostly open water, with just a few days of some ice. Back before refrigeration, harvesting ice on the river was a local business.

This could be normal weather variation, but I doubt it.

Climate change brings weather extremes, and this is the most extreme non-winter ever around here.

Hopefully we will elect people this year who will do something about it.

Best Hillary analysis ever

devtob

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Wednesday December 23, 2015 · 7:02 PM PST

2015/12/23 · 19:02

Sady Doyle says she’s “spent much of this year working on a long project on how women are demonized in the media” and Hillary Clinton was naturally part of that.

Doyle’s analysis of how the media, corporate and wingnut, has treated Hillary, for more than two decades, is thorough, and illuminating, especially for those who are hesitating to support her.

Here’s a taste:

There are no right politics for Hillary Clinton to have, either. As an openly feminist woman on the national stage, she has been accused since 1992 of “radical feminism,” far-left wingnuttery (she knew Saul Alinsky! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!) and a multitude of progressive sins up to and including, yes, socialism. ( “She’s a Marxist.” - Conservative criticism of Hillary Clinton, circa 2007.) So if she wants people to take her seriously, she’s got to prove that she’s not a Maoist hippie, and that she can cooperate with the opposition. On the other hand, if she does that, she’s No True Liberal, a secret conservative, a compromiser, “no different than a Republican.”

More insights, below.

devtob

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Monday July 27, 2015 · 9:53 PM PDT

2015/07/27 · 21:53

Evidently, how my NY Senators, Chuck Schumer moreso than Kirsten Gillibrand, will vote on the Iran nuclear agreement is a big thing.

The story linked above is relatively balanced, compared to the pro-every-war Murdoch press, whose multiple stories and editorials in the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal could have been written by Netanyahu's press office.

The upshot is that Schumer and Gillibrand have not made any commitment on the upcoming vote, and that they will have to balance the fears of a potential Iranian nuclear capability of conservative Netanyahu fans with the fears of another Mideast war of the majority of their constituents.

Schumer is the presumptive next leader of the Senate Democrats, and a longtime champion of Israel in the Senate, so the Murdoch pressure on him has been relentless.

Fred Dicker's column on July 19 had Al D'Amato, the sleazy guy who Schumer beat to get into the Senate, urging his erstwhile foe to vote against the agreement because, absurdly, "the security of our nation and the security of Israel are threatened."

A July 27 NYP editorial headlines that "Chuck Schumer should take a tip from Joe Lieberman on Iran," and includes this insight from LIEberman:

Chuck is the key. .. [If Schumer comes out against the deal, that] opens the way for a lot of other Democrats to oppose it as well.

LIEberman's Likudnik bluster will hopefully have little effect on Schumer, because he does not need the votes of Likudniks and/or NYP Kool-Aid drinkers to get re-elected forever.

But the pressure is on, and time is growing short, so I've done my little part to counter the Netanyahu-inspired BS Schumer and Gillibrand are reading every day by emailing both of them today.

More, below.

devtob

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Saturday July 25, 2015 · 4:29 PM PDT

2015/07/25 · 16:29

Short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump is clearly not afraid of "going too far," by Village media standards, in criticizing anyone, from Mexican immigrants to President Obama.

As a direct result, he is leading in the polls, now anyway, for the GOP presidential nomination.

And Trump has little use for Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment -- "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."

He's dissed Rick Perry, Lindsay Graham, et al., on Twitter, and John McCain in one of those weekly wingnut presidential forums.

Today, he took on Scott Walker in Iowa, where Trump is polling second behind Walker.

At times, he sounded like puddytat.

More, below.

devtob

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Tuesday July 14, 2015 · 4:29 AM PDT

2015/07/14 · 04:29

I have been a fervent TV fan of the US Women's National Team since just 2011 (occasional before that), because of the latest and most dramatic World Cup goal, men or women -- Allie Krieger to Carli Lloyd to Megan Rapinoe to Abby Wambach in the 122nd minute to tie Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinals,

This is the best three-minute soccer clip ever, from "It will go down as the USA's worst performance ever in the women's World Cup" to "Abby Wambach has saved the USA's life" and "What a ball that was by Megan Rapinoe":

But seeing their games in person in previous World Cups and Olympics, or even in-between friendlies, was never financially doable.

That changed late last month. I was able to see the exciting semifinal win against Germany, the only game in the last four years they were favored to lose, thanks to a local bus tour company, Yankee Trails near Albany, NY, offering a ticket and ride to Montreal for a mere $105.

When New York City decided, on really short notice, to throw a ticker-tape parade for the World Cup champions Friday, at first I was reluctant -- driving to and parking in NYC on a weekday is grueling and expensive. The train is just expensive, about $100 per person.

So I checked the Yankee Trails site, and found a $50 ride to the parade, and became less reluctant.

Tried to talk soccer-fan friends into going, no luck. But I'd never been to a ticker-tape parade, even for other teams I root for, so, once-in-a-lifetime and all that, I bought a solo ticket.

And it was wonderful -- pure joy for all the spectators, and for the World Champions, too.

More, below.

devtob

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Sunday June 28, 2015 · 12:21 PM PDT

2015/06/28 · 12:21

All politicians gild the lily when talking about themselves and their accomplishments, but they usually try to avoid outright lies.

Not Scott Walker -- he lies so often and so casually that it must be second nature, whether it's about his trips to the Reagan Library and No. 10 Downing Street, or his repeated promises not to push for and sign a right-to-work law, or, second-naturally, whether he was responsible for trying to eliminate the "search for truth" from the "Wisconsin Idea" mission statement for higher education.

So many lies, it's hard to keep up.

A couple of this weekend's lies come from Walker's appearance at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver.

More, below.

devtob

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Saturday June 20, 2015 · 4:50 AM PDT

2015/06/20 · 04:50

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is a top-tier candidate for the Republican presidential nomination next year.

Not because he's been a great success as governor, not because he's reliably wingnut on social issues, not because he's a pollution-loving favorite of his major patrons, the world-class polluting Koch brothers.

No, at least according to the email below. Scott Walker thinks he should be our next President because he knows how to crush unions, and the millions of middle-class people who belong to them.

That's been his major pitch at the various presidential forums so far, and the essence of the first fundraising email I've received from him.

That email in toto, below.

devtob

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Sunday June 14, 2015 · 6:27 PM PDT

2015/06/14 · 18:27

A long Vanity Fair feature by Sarah Ellison entitled "The Complex Power Coupledom of Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge" has a lot of detail about their backgrounds, how Hughes became a Facebook demi-billionaire, their over-the-top wedding and reception, and, most of all, the NYC/DC media village firestorm about Hughes and The New Republic.

From the subhead:

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and political activist Sean Eldridge were once the ultimate team, but Hughes’s controversial purchase of The New Republic and Eldridge’s failed run for Congress made the once-heroes villains.

Eldridge's ill-fated bid to unseat two-term Rep. Chris Gibson is actually barely mentioned -- about a quarter as many inches as for The New Republic brouhaha.

And it hardly shows him to be a villain. Politically naive, perhaps, but not a bad person.

Eldridge stepped up and challenged a popular Republican incumbent in a Republican year, and anyone who does that deserves our respect.

Too bad for him he chose to run against Gibson, who is a very formidable politician.

FWIW, I don't consider Hughes a villain, either.

More, below.

devtob

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Saturday June 06, 2015 · 6:43 PM PDT

2015/06/06 · 18:43

since what is really meant is "reducing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits."

Yet it is misused all the time, and not just because two words are shorter than seven.

The corporate media and their one-percent Beltway Villagers know that telling the truth about "entitlement reform" -- ever-higher eligibility ages, lower and fewer benefits, thousands of dead poor people, etc. -- would be the political death of this kicking-down "reform" they love.

So they, and their Very Serious People allies in the Republican Party, have normalized this Gingrichian abuse of the word "reform."

"Reform" is a positive word, meaning, according to dictionary.com, "the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc."

Most Democrats would rightly consider themselves reformers, as we should. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are bedrock Democratic safety net programs that were genuine reforms when enacted, and are not in any meaningful way "wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc."

We should challenge every use of this misleading term, and demand that the politicians and media types who use it specify how they will cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

And estimate how many people will die prematurely as a result.

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'the most vulgar man I have ever met'

NY-19: 'Moderate' Republican kisses up to radical Oath Keepers

Bernie-booers quieted by Gillibrand, Franken and Silverman

Warmest, least snow winter in recorded history

Best Hillary analysis ever

My email to Schumer and Gillibrand re: Iran

Trump elbows Walker in Iowa, says 'Wisconsin's doing terribly'

Joy on Broadway with the World Champions

Walker lies again, like it's second nature

How Scott Walker talks to the base, when there are no cameras around

'Vanity Fair' piece on Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge barely mentions NY-19 race

Using 'entitlement reform' is always wrong and misleading