Wednesday: What if they were only secondary players…what if it was all stagelike.
Posted: March 5, 2014 Filed under: 2014 elections, 2016 elections, abortion rights, fetus fetishists, Foreign Affairs, Fox News, Mental Health, morning reads, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, Republican presidential politics, Republican Tax Fetishists, Russia, Tea Party activists, the GOP, Ukraine, War on Women, Wikileaks, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights | Tags: Crimea, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Rep. Steve Stockman, Ted Cruz, Vladimir Putin 51 Comments
What if it was all just various scenes from old plays…good plays. I mean isn’t it only kabuki, smoke in mirrors (or is it smoke and mirrors.)
What if the players were switched out, and the real life newsmakers found themselves as characters in the theater’s best productions.
Hey yeah.
Good Morning!
It has been a long night.
So l will just tread through this thread and put some links up and connect them to plays as we go…
Here Are All the People Who Think Putin Has Straight Up Lost His Mind | Mediaite
Then there’s the growing theory that Putin has simply gone round the bend. We might as well call this The Merkel Theory, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel first gave voice to it during a phone call with President Barack Obama last weekend. Via the New York Times:
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told Mr. Obama by telephone on Sunday that after speaking with Mr. Putin she was not sure he was in touch with reality, people briefed on the call said. “In another world,” she said.
U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power expanded this diagnosis to Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin during an emergency meeting of the UN security council on Monday, accusing Churkin and his boss of chasing at shadows:
“So many of the assertions made this afternoon are without basis in reality. Is Russia justified in invading parts of Ukraine? The answer of course is no. Russian mobilisation is a response to an imaginary threat.”
Geez, that is a lot of powerful people there…
And on Tuesday morning, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright re-upped Merkel’s theory to CNN’s New Day:
“I agree with what Angela Merkel said after she spoke to him, which is that he is in another world. I think that either he does not have the facts, he is being fed propaganda, or his own propaganda. It doesn’t make any sense. There are no calls for assistance…There is not this kind of a crisis in terms of the way that the Russian-speaking people are in some way being harmed. So this is all made up. And I think it’s part of a much longer term plan that Putin has had which is to try to recreate some form of relationship between Ukraine and Moscow. I think that is the tragedy that’s going on. Putin is in many ways delusional about this.”
Shit…what I think this brings to mind is Putin sitting in the chair during the Caine Mutiny Court Martial, shirtless of course.
Queeg is a psychopath in crisis and commanded the ship and its crew to destruction. Naval tradition is against him, but testimony eventually reveals a devastating picture of Queeg’s mental disintegration.
All the pundits talk back and forth wondering if Crimea is Putin’s “The Strawberry Incident.”
Then you have the rest of the war mongers pushing to convict…Twelve Angry Men. (Fox News and basically every body else.) But there isn’t a Juror Number 8 to turn the tide away from sending us into WW3/ColdWar2.
On to Ted Cruz steering Texas Republicans further right in primary fights | Reuters
The longest shadow in Tuesday’s primary election in Texas is being cast by a politician not even in the running, freshman U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican.
Cruz, just two years into his first major elected office, has arguably become the most loved politician among Republicans in Texas, an incubator for national conservative policies where the party dominates the statehouse and has not lost a statewide race since 1994.
A host of Republican hopefuls are trying to ride his coattails, turning campaigns into raucous affairs about how much they despise Obamacare, embrace the constitutional right to bear arms and see a need to raise alarms about illegal immigration.
Cruz has turned an already right-leaning Texas Republican Party even further to the right, analysts said.
“Cruz scared the daylights out of center and center-right conservatives to the extent that they do not feel comfortable enough to run on their true positions and feel compelled to cater to the most conservative elements of the Texas Republican primary electorate,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston.
Oh, what horrors this man has brought to our nation. The Failure to Zig Zag, is the play I bring to you…
Neither the captain of the USS Indianapolis, McVay, nor his crew were told the cargo they had delivered in Tinian contained the essential components for the atomic bomb to be dropped in Hiroshima. Having completed its top secret mission, the ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine. The crew languished in shark infested waters while Naval authorities logged the ship safe in port. The navy’s coverup and attempt to make McVay a scapegoat lead to a national scandal.
I present…Cruz as the sharks…in that scenario.
Maybe Boehner and the rest of the GOP are the naval authorities who are allowing the crew (voters) to be fed to the shark(s) Tea Party basturds?
(Who am I kidding they all are the sharks.)
Let’s switch gears to another topic: Angry people ‘risking heart attacks’
And another play where an angry man has a heart attack…Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys
Hey, you want a couple of Sunshine Boys? An Odd Couple? (Bet you can guess who is the neat one.)
Yes…according to Senator Lindsey Graham: Putin invaded Ukraine because (wait for it) Benghazi!
Here’s Graham via Twitter yesterday:
Yes, we know why your eyes roll. But back to the matter at hand, Graham still left the matter somewhat vague, until today:
Benghazi!
Then some more three hours ago:
Hell, Benghazi? That subject has been: Done to Death
As for the Lady’s other partner: McCain’s Mind-Boggling Hypocrisy on Crimea at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Conference | Informed Comment
They both are like a couple of salesmen from Glengarry Glen Ross, who will not give up pushing their crap to the American public.
I’m going to move faster now, it is again one of those all-niter post writing marathons and I have to make the kids lunches soon. Ugh.
Relax Everybody, Nobody Is A ‘2016 Frontrunner’ Yet
…this past weekend was a looney-tune time for Washington’s professional 2016 Speculasturbators. Did you know that we already have “frontrunners” for 2016? As in more than one?
See that link for the tweets…the play I am connecting to this? And Then There Were None
Y’all hear that George P. Bush Begins Political Career With Win – ABC News
George P. Bush took the first step toward continuing his family’s political dynasty Tuesday, shaking off an under-funded primary challenger and securing the Republican nomination for the little-known but powerful post of Texas land commissioner.
The 37-year-old Fort Worth attorney is the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, nephew of former President and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and son of ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is frequently mentioned as a possible GOP White House hopeful in 2016.
He’s also a Spanish speaker whose mother Columba was born in Mexico and who Republican leaders statewide long have toasted as key to wooing voters among Texas’ booming Hispanic population.
“We don’t have to change our conservative principles to win, we just need to change our tactics,” said Bush, who spoke English and Spanish to the crowd at his victory party at a Fort Worth Mexican restaurant.
For some reason, The Little Foxes is what came to mind:
The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Set in a small town in Alabama in 1900, it focuses on the struggle for control of the family business.
You know this one, Barbara Bush as Regina? Oh yes…
Edward Snowden set for video ‘appearance’ at South By Southwest festival | The Raw Story
I think some make Snowden out to be: An Enemy of the People
But I sometimes can’t help think he is a The Harder They Fall character…an idiot asshole used by other more connected powerful assholes, who make money off him.. then leave him with nothing in a foreign country unable to speak. (Don’t get me wrong, I feel no pity for Snowden what so ever!)
The next play is here for the title only: Smelling a Rat
and it follows the next three links…
Rand Paul is Running for President | BobCesca.com
How Steve Stockman Pioneered the Art of Not Campaigning | Mother Jones
Good Riddance to Steve Stockman, the Grifter Congressman Who Ran for Senate – The Daily Beast
On to the ladies…
Palin: Obama ‘Wears Mom Jeans’ and ‘Equivocates’ on Russia to the play: Edith Can Shoot Things And Hit Them (Title only)
Bachmann: American Jews ‘Sold Out Israel’ To Help Obama; Bible Predicts US Will Turn Against Israel In End Times | Right Wing Watch relates to the play: Psycho Beach Party
Imagine ‘Gidget’ crossed with ‘The Three Faces of Eve’ and ‘Mommie Dearest’.
Chicklet Forrest, a teenage tomboy, desperately wants to be part of the surf crowd on Malibu Beach in 1962. One thing getting in her way is her unfortunate tendency towards split personalities. Among them is a black check out girl, an elderly radio talk show hostess, a male model named Steve and the accounting firm of Edelman and Edelman. Her most dangerous alter ego is a sexually voracious vixen named Ann Bowman who has nothing less than world domination on her mind.
This link was interesting, South Koreans View Kim Jong-Un More Favorably Than Shinzo Abe – Business Insider
But the plays here for Kim Jong-Un:
Then you can take Kim’s nukes, A Rocket In His Pocket. As for the two family members that met with death…Reserve Two for Murder or Appointment With Death .
In Georgia, remember that work program Obama liked so much? Disabled Georgians waiting months for job training | AccessNorthGa
Budget and staffing issues have left unemployed and disabled Georgians looking for job training waiting months for help from a state agency tasked with providing vocational assistance.
After the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency was carved out of the state Department of Labor two years ago, lawmakers reduced its funding, which prompted the federal government to do the same.
GVRA Director Greg Schmieg told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/1knRW8o ) that he’s aware of case backlogs and is disappointed with the wait times clients are faced with.
Schmieg said the state isn’t providing enough funding for the agency to get the maximum amount of federal money. He says the federal government spends about $4 on the program for every $1 the state does.
I wonder who is running that Georgia program? Will Stockdale and Ben Whitledge in No Time for Sergeants (Remember both were from Georgia.)
Almost done.
One in Five US Soldiers Had Mental Illness Before Joining Army , and this is not meant as much of a joke, but maybe irony? For the play I thought of, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Finally: The Seven Most Common Lies About Abortion | Politics News | Rolling Stone
Chances are, you know someone who has had an abortion. Statistically, it’s a near-certainty: In the U.S., one in three women will have an abortion by the age of 45. But despite how incredibly common abortion is, it remains mired in stigma and misinformation. Much of what we may think we know about this subject is actually outright lies told by abortion opponents to dissuade women out of seeking safe and legal abortion care.
Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), which are fake clinics run by opponents of abortion, are well-known for lying to clients in order to convince them not to seek abortion care. But the lies told within the walls of CPCs aren’t just contained there; they are part and parcel of the anti-abortion movement in the U.S. For a movement that so fervently claims that “truth is on our side,” they seem perfectly willing to proliferate blatant lies about abortion. Here are a select few of the most common and pervasive of those lies.
Without a doubt, this last link connects with the play Gaslight…those GOP PLUB assholes gaslighting women who are vulnerable…
Gas Light (known in the USA as Angel Street) is a 1938 play by the British dramatist Patrick Hamilton. The play (and its film adaptations) gave rise to the term gaslighting with the meaning “a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented to the victim with the intent of making him/her doubt his/her own memory and perception”. Although it was never explicitly confirmed, many critics and scholars see the play and its adaptations as subtle retellings of the Bluebeard folk tale.
After all this I am off to get the kids up and out the door for school. I hope there are no typos or other mistakes.
Enjoy your day, and drop a thought or two or three in the comments below!
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Good night all, I really hope this post made sense.
It makes sense and it’s very funny and creative.
Great post and good night, JJ! Apparently there was still room to the right for Texas policians. While I ponder that, here’s a little good news.
If You Hate Gay People, Your Oppression Is Just Beginning
I maintain that most people who still oppose gay marriage are closet cases.
You have a point there.
Haters gotta hate!!!
You could have a point, there is no hatred more enduring than self-hatred.
tpm: The Texas Tea Party Didn’t Win, But It Got The GOP To Move To The Right
Have to say that Ed Kilgore pretty much nails the effect of the Texas primary results. If the GOP wins big in 2014, we’re gonna be even worse than we are now for it.
Yeah. The Koch’s must be spending millions of dollars here. You cannot turn on the TV without seeing an ad attacking Mary Landrieu. The republican money is going all out.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/03/texas_tea_party_candidates_lose_big_john_cornyn_and_pete_sessions_win_easily.html
Texas Buck-rakers
How the Texas Tea Party became nothing more than an effort to take people’s money.
Weigel ignored too many cases where the tea party type farther right candidate knocked off existing office holders in the Lege or are now in runoffs, including the Lt Gov and AG races. While they are largely grifters, they managed to push candidates farther right than ever. Frankly, the Chamber of Commerce candidates didn’t do well down ballot.
That’s why I hate reading Washington insiders on local races. They don’t know the local politics.
Here’s a little surprise, the top vote getter among all Democrats in the primaries was Leticia Van de Putte. Wendy’s vote totals were held down by an extremely popular local judge who ran against her in the South Texas border counties which are rich in Dem voters.
Burnt Orange Report: #TX2014: What Last Night’s Primary Could Mean for Women in Texas
Hi everyone! Dropping in cuz I haven’t done so in a while. Great links JJ. I’m in class and not paying attention as usual so I’d better get back to it.
Don’t be a stranger, please!
😉
Hi! How are you! good to read you!
I’m good! Finishing up my psych degree in May. Excited/terrified. I hope you and everyone else here is well 🙂
Congrats!!! Are you going to get a graduate degree?
That’s the plan. Not in psych, though. I was thinking public policy or administration. Don’t know where to go for it, though.
My son in law’s brother is doing a doctorate in that a UC Berkeley.
Shit, good for him. I don’t have enough patience for that. I’m getting sick of school and want to move on with my life. I can handle a couple more years but then I’m done. There are a couple programs here but I don’t want to stay in Ohio much longer.
(waves to littleisis) Hi! How about grad school in Seattle? I’ve heard good things about the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Affairs.
Hmmm… Sounds intriguing! We’ll have to see how I do on my GREs.
Damn, I am so glad that you made a cameo appearance. lol.
It’s great to hear from you and I’m glad that you’re doing so well.
It’s nice to talk with all of you ☺️
Hey, good to see you! Congratulations and best wishes for the future.
😝
To block confirmation of an attorney because of a previous client is low.
Senate Blocks Obama’s Pick For Civil Rights Post
Wow.
WTF have we come to? John Roberts defended a man who had murdered 8 people and Founding Father John Adams defended the British soldiers responsible for the Boston Massacre. For the first time, I actually want to free Mumia.
Exactly Ralph………Goddamn it. He’s wasn’t guilty of any crime, he had done more than any others who worked from the bottom up, and look at the dirty scum who want to play politics. He was a public defender, he took an oath, and he truly did best job in that process. It was the law enforcement union, that went boom, boom, boom.
The white democrats that didn’t vote for him,they have lost face, and grace, they should live in the gutter with nothing but misery. The God damn reality of playing politics. My blood is all hot, and the air stinks on the hill.
No one in the media seems to be questioning this either.
I couldn’t agree more!
Obama Slams Senators Who Scuttled His Civil Rights Nominee: ‘A Travesty’
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) then switched his vote from yes to no in a move that allows him to bring the nomination up again for a future vote.
[…]
Along with Reid, the Democratic votes against Adegbile were Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), John Walsh (Mont.), Chris Coons (Del.) and Bob Casey (Pa.).
I think it’s disgusting. It’s not clear Mumia got a fair trial, and anyway he deserved a defense like any other American citizen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumia_Abu-Jamal
Good grief. Glenn Greenwald spent years defending this guy:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/matt-hale
even unethically carrying messages out of jail for this murderous white supremacist, and Greenwald is a idol of millions of cult worshipers.
Massachusetts Court Rules It’s Legal To Take Upskirt Photos On Public Transit
WTF? Careful on the trolley cars.
How is that not assault?
Has to be a horribly written law and completely ineffective!
Apparently a new law is already in the legislature, should be passed soon. It wasn’t a constitutional issue. For some reason there was no specific law addressing this. Weird.
Because it’s not men getting photographed.
Just in case you ever wondered, ash wednesday is another co-opted pagan rite…
http://www.beaconoftruth.com/ash_wednesday.htm
I still think it’s one of the better rituals used by the Catholic Church–it teaches humility and awareness of mortality.
41 GOP Senators Try To Filibuster Judge, Then Confirm Him Unanimously
Obviously no politics involved here 😉
RT Anchor Resigns On Air: Network ‘Whitewashes The Actions Of Putin’ (VIDEO)
Integrity, it’s rare so enjoy it.
Lots of questions about that one. I don’t think anyone working for RT has integrity. She had no problems with Putin covering for Assad, and lots of other horrors. This is more likely a publicity stunt in order to get a job in the US.
Voter analysis by Celinda Lake that you may find interesting. pdf format
I finally had a chance to read this post. This one’s a winner, JJ. You made me laugh out loud! Thanks, I needed that.
….catching up late again….. Fun post, JJ!