Lazy Saturday Reads

Good Afternoon!!

This post is extra late, because my internet has been down all morning. I can’t believe how isolated I feel without it! Thank goodness it’s working again.

This morning Donald Trump finally announced that Mike Pence will be his running mate. NBC News:

Extolling Donald Trump as a “good man who will make a great president,” Indiana Gov. Mike Pence took the stage Saturday at a New York City hotel to accept the real estate mogul’s invitation to be his vice presidential running mate on the Republican ticket.

Pence, speaking in a plaintive and almost folksy language, said of Trump that he was “grateful to this builder, this fighter, this patriotic American who has set aside his legendary career in business to build a stronger America.” ….

Just before formally unveiling Pence as his pick Saturday following an earlier announcement on Twitter on Friday, Trump spent much of his introduction pivoting from topic to topic about religious freedom, ISIS, Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and manufacturing jobs — while occasionally mentioning the Indiana governor.

Pence will help “fix our rigged system,” Trump said, adding, “He’ll fight for the people, and he’ll also fight for you.”

I wonder who “you” is? He’ll fight for “the people” and also “you?” Trump also said that Pence was his “first choice from the start,” even though everyone knows that he spend 2 days waffling about it.

Philip Rucker at The Washington Post: Trump picks Pence after late hesitation, hoping for a steadying influence.

Donald Trump’s selection of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a strait-laced and seasoned conservative, as his running mate Friday was designed to be a soothing overture that could repair the fractured Republican Party and signal a newfound discipline in the celebrity billionaire’s bid for the White House.

But Trump’s apparent 11th-hour indecision and private hesi­ta­tion about Pence, coupled with a delayed and fitful introduction, threatened to undercut part of the rationale for Pence joining the ticket: steadying a turbulent general-election campaign.

Trump announced Friday on Twitter that he had chosen Pence and that they would make their first joint appearance at a news conference Saturday in New York. The social-media proclamation capped a period of extraordinary uncertainty and mixed signals about the selection, just days before the Republican National Convention is set to open here in Cleveland.

Rucker suggests that Pence’s far right wing stances on social issues could shift the focus of Trump’s campaign.

In Pence, Trump has a classically credentialed if generic campaign partner. Trump, 70, will rely on the 57-year-old Midwesterner to shore up support where Pence has nurtured deep relationships, such as on the Christian right and with the conservative movement’s moneyed establishment. A former chairman of the House Republican Conference, the ideological purist was embraced by many corners of the Republican coalition Friday that had been cool to Trump’s candidacy.

But there were also immediate signs that Pence could shift the focus of the overall debate in ways Trump may not intend. Pence brings a visceral ideological edge to what has been a populist campaign centered on economic grievances and strident nationalism.

While Trump mostly avoids social issues on the campaign trail and his positions have evolved over the years, Pence has a history of vocally promoting a hard-line conservative agenda — from opposing same-sex marriage and abortion rights to defunding Planned Parenthood.

We’ll see. Meanwhile liberals are having a field day digging up dirt on Pence’s many horrible actions as governor of Indiana like defunding Planned Parenthood, signing draconian anti-abortion laws, trying to block Syrian immigrants from settling in the state, and, of course, signing a “religious freedom” law to allow businesses to discriminate against gays.

Elizabeth Warren weighed in on Twitter:

Read more of her tweets from this morning here.

The coup in Turkey is apparently over, according to CNN:

The turmoil exposes deep discontent within the military ranks and a defiant Erdogan has vowed to purge those traitorous elements. But less than 24 hours after the attempted putsch, questions remained about who masterminded it and why they decided to act now.

Turkish military authorities, meanwhile, closed the airspace around Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base — the site Turkey allows the United States to use for operations related to its air campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq — a U.S. defense official told CNN on Saturday.

This has led to a halt in U.S. airstrike missions from that location, the official said on condition of anonymity. Turkish officials told the United States that the airspace has been closed until they can make sure all elements of the Turkish air force are in the hands of pro-government forces after Friday’s coup attempt, the U.S. official said.

The BBC has a feel-good story following the terrible attack in Nice, France: Attack in Nice: Missing baby boy reunited with his family.

A baby boy who went missing during the lorry attack in Nice on Thursday has been reunited with his family after a Facebook appeal went viral.

The child and his parents had become separated during the Bastille Day incident.

Yohlaine Ramasitera, a friend of the boy’s parents, posted a picture of herself with the missing baby on Facebook, and included her phone number in the post.

Yohlaine’s appeal was spotted by her friend Rebecca Boulanger a pastor at Nice’s Victory Christian Church. She was at home with her husband Phillipe and their 18-month-old daughter.

Boulanger wrote a Facebook post in English appealing for help to find the child….

Within two hours Yohlaine was contacted by a local woman who had seen her Facebook post. She said she had taken the baby to her home and he was safe and well.

“It was a miracle.” Boulanger said. “A picture of the child was requested from the woman to ensure that it was him, and then finally the baby was reunited with his worried parents.”

I’m so glad this one little boy was found safe after all the horror stories we’ve heard.

I want to share a couple of articles that demonstrate what a long way we still have to go to deal with the misogyny and sexism in our society.

Natalie Kon-yu of Victoria University

From Literary Hub: On Sexism in Literary Prize Culture: Men’s Writing is Just Writing and Everything Else is a Sub-Classification, by Natalie Kon-yu. It’s a very long piece; so if you’re interested, please go read the whole thing. An excerpt:

For more than a decade, I’ve been researching women’s writing—the assumptions about it and its reception. Lately, I’ve been focusing my academic research on literary prize culture, as I think that prizes show us, quite clearly, whose work we value and whose we don’t. Part of this was the result of reading Evie Wyld’s All the Birds, Singing. I was unsettled that the novel won the Miles Franklin, not because the writing isn’t beautiful or the story isn’t urgent, but because the book features a female protagonist who, for most of the novel, could have been a male character.

When a woman wins a national writing prize, we, as a culture, are prompted to see that as a major achievement for women, an indication that we are living in a meritocracy. So it is troubling when a female-authored book occupies hard-worn male territory, and when it is rewarded for precisely that reason. The novel’s protagonist, Jake, is moody and insular and lives on her own with her pet, Dog, for company. Praised for her physical skills, Jake—already masculinized through her name, short hair and manly clothing—is told by one of the shearers she works with that she is “a good bloody bloke.” In his review, Geordie Williamson writes that “wearing a self-cut fringe and habitually clothed in grimy dungarees, Jake has so successfully erased her gender that the reader is driven to confused re-reading.”

Even more troubling to me, though, is the praise that Wyld’s book elicited from the Miles Franklin judges, who begin their citation by characterizing the book as a “road-movie-in-reverse.” This reading of masculine tropes within the text continues: the novel is also labeled an “upside-down pastoral elegy” and as being “replete with adrenaline-fuelled escapades;” all characteristics that have historically been used to describe men’s, rather than women’s, fiction. This is echoed in the reviews for the book: the Sydney Morning Herald praises Wyld for her skilled use of the “aesthetics of omission” à la Ernest Hemingway, ending the review by stating that “Evie Wyld can look forward to a career as successful and distinguished as that of old Papa himself.” To proclaim this as a victory for women, or for women’s writing, seems highly problematic.

Compare this to Olive Kitteridge, the novel that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009 (unfortunately the Pulitzer doesn’t publish detailed judges’ reports). The New York Times opined that Olive wasn’t a nice person, citing passages from the book—”Olive had a way about her that was absolutely without apology”—yet the review also noted that as the novel progressed “a more complicated portrait of the woman emerges.” Olive is a complex woman, emotional yet acidic, large and yet fragile. She has a husband and son; she lives an ordinary, yet completely intriguing, life in small-town USA. That Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer for this novel-in-stories about the eponymous Olive can, I think, be seen more clearly as that rare and tricky thing: a win for women writers.

But more often than not, when a woman wins a major literary award, she wins for writing like a male writer, for writing about men, or for setting her work in an unmistakenly masculine environment.

That should give you a sense of what the article is about. It’s both fascinating and discouraging.

Then there’s this from Fansided: #EMMYSNUBS ‘Full Frontal’: The Variety Talk Series Category Still A Boys’ Club.

TBS’ Full Frontal With Samantha Bee is more than anyone could have hoped for of the Daily Show alum. When Trevor Noah took up Jon Stewart’s mantle, it was clear that the only way there would ever be a woman in Late Night was if someone took it upon themselves to break that barrier. And the venture has been a successful one, gaining the show at least an Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series nod.

Which is why this snub is not as severe as it could have been but that doesn’t diminish that she was still left out of the top prize. And it’s not just calling into question the fact that the only female late night host was excluded but why?

The real question is not why she wasn’t nominated for an Emmy but what exactly does she have to do to get nominated?

The author suggests that Samantha Bee’s problem is her “lack of a penis.” You can watch some great bits from Full Frontal at the link.

What else is happening? Let us know in the comment thread and have a terrific weekend!

 

Tuesday Reads: The Hillary and Bernie Show and Other News

The scene at the site of the Hillary-Bernie rally in Portsmouth, NH Tuesday morning.

Good Morning!!

Bernie Sanders will supposedly endorse Hillary Clinton this morning at 11:00 at a joint rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I’m not sure if I can bring myself to watch it, but I’ll give it a try. I’m still not convinced he will actually “endorse” her, and I’m afraid he’ll manage to say something nasty. From what I’m seeing in the news and on Twitter, this is going to be more of an anti-Trump thing, rather than a feel-good unity appearance.

Politico: Sanders to join Clinton for New Hampshire rally.

Sanders will campaign with Clinton, and is expected to endorse her, at a high school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at 11 a.m. Tuesday, less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention begins in Philadelphia.

The Vermont senator’s campaign announced his participation minutes after the Clinton team’s email hit inboxes, with both announcements sharing the same language that the two former primary rivals will “discuss their commitment to building an America that is stronger together and an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.”

“Expected to endorse her.” See what I mean? No one seems to know for sure if he really will.

People beginning to gather for the event in Portsmouth, NH.

Also from Politico: Clinton and Sanders unite for the war on Trump.

For weeks now, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been engaged in a project to win over the staunchest — and loudest — of Bernie Sanders’ supporters in the places where they’ll matter most in November.

Using one-on-one meetings, social gatherings, and public campaign events, Clinton’s operatives have been quietly working to court his backers in battleground states Sanders won during the primary or where they fought in especially contentious contests — in some cases relying on personal appeals from staffers as senior as campaign manager Robby Mook.

The first return on that investment comes Tuesday when Sanders joins Clinton on stage here for the formal display of unity the party’s been waiting for in advance of the July convention….

Even with the specter of Donald Trump looming, however, in states like this one — where Sanders beat Clinton by 22 points five months ago — the unification effort hasn’t been easy. It’s been an even tougher challenge in states where the primary was particularly tense — places like Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, and Colorado, where in some cases suspicion still lingers.

But defusing those tensions has been a focus of top party brass ever since the Nevada Democratic Party convention exploded into chaos in May, and the Clinton team’s efforts — often run out of the local offices, but occasionally escalating to the Brooklyn headquarters — have ramped up since the last primary vote was held in June.

Read more about the completely one-sided “unity” efforts at the link above. Here’s another hint about how much unity there will be:

I don’t recall Hillary having special speakers at her New Hampshire unity rally with Obama in 2008, do you? Maybe I missed that.

It sounds like Al Giordano agrees with me.

https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/752752509576327168

In other news, the Republican National Convention begins next Monday in Cleveland. I wonder if Donald Trump will be able to find enough speakers to fill the TV time. Ted Cruz has agreed to speak, but not to endorse Trump. Apparently Trump is planning to have his current wife and his children give speeches. Joni Ernst has been given a prime-time slot, according to The New York Times. I suppose Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie will speak. And yesterday Paul Ryan agreed to give a short speech.

The Salt Lake Tribune: Part-time Trump critic Paul Ryan to speak at Republican convention.

Although we don’t yet know who else will fill out the Republican National Convention speaker list, we now know one: The speaker himself. Paul Ryan, who has not been the biggest Donald Trump fan, will speak in Cleveland next week, offering what an aide says is “the sharp contrast between Republican ideas and four more years of Obama-like progressive policies; and the need for conservatives to unite around Republican candidates in advance of a critical election.” [Politico]

Most Republican office-holders and operatives seem to be trying to find excuses not to attend the convention and many are trying to avoid even saying Donald Trump’s name.

Politico: GOP operatives dread Trump convention.

Many GOP regulars are skipping Cleveland entirely. (“I would rather attend the public hanging of a good friend,” says Will Ritter, an up-and-coming Republican digital strategist who worked on the three previous conventions.) And among those who are making the trek, there’s an overwhelming sense it won’t be fun at all. At a time when many Republicans are deeply dissatisfied with their nominee, pessimistic about their prospects for victory in the fall and alarmed about the direction of their party, there’s a reluctance about attending the convention more typically reserved for going to the DMV, being summoned for jury duty or undergoing a root canal.

“This is the first year in the past two decades that Republicans aren’t excited about attending the convention. Normally, we’re all jazzed up about getting together and celebrating our nominee,” said Chris Perkins, a GOP pollster who has attended every Republican convention since 1996. “There’s nothing to celebrate this cycle. I’m going because I have to, not because I want to.”

Those who are going often say they’re doing so out of a sense of obligation — to meet with clients or to hold meetings before making a beeline back to the airport. As the Republican Party prepares to nominate a figure who is registering historically high disapproval ratings, some don’t want to advertise their presence in Cleveland. “Don’t use my name,” said one senior party strategist. “I don’t want anyone to know I’m there.” (A few days after the interview, the strategist got back in touch, having decided not to go, after all.)

More embarrassing details for the GOP and Donald Trump at Politico.

Quicken Arena in Cleveland, site of 2016 GOP National Convention

This is interesting from NBC News: Federal Judge Rules for Anti-Trump GOP Delegate.

A federal judge blocked enforcement Monday of a Virginia law binding delegates to support the primary winner at the nominating convention.

It was a victory for Carroll “Beau” Correll, a delegate to the Republican national convention who argued that the law violated his First Amendment rights to vote for his preferred candidate. Correll supported Ted Cruz in the primary, while Donald Trump received the most votes in the state.

Correll said in an interview that the Trump campaign got “morbidly humiliated” by the outcome of the case.

“They put all their chips on the table and they lost all of them — if I were them I’d go hide in a closet in Trump Tower,” he said.

In a follow up statement, Correll made a plea to the like-minded, writing:

“To national political figures that are on the sidelines and awaiting your calling, I implore you to take a step forward from the darkness and into the light. Show us that you have the courage to stand for leader of the Free World, appeal to the better angels of our nature, and to deliver this Republic from the abomination of a Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton presidency.”

As a practical matter, the decision appeared to affect at most only some of Virginia’s delegates. Some legal experts even said the ruling may apply only to Correll himself, though it was filed as a class action on behalf of all the state’s Republican delegates.

The truth is that delegate cannot be legally bound to vote for the candidate who won their state. I wonder how many will try to avoid voting for Trump?

In this April 8, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama embraces Scarlett Lewis, mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Jesse Lewis, after speaking at in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) (Susan Walsh)

President Obama will be in Dallas today to honor the five police officers who were murdered by Micah Johnson. The Washington Post reports:

Obama will try Tuesday to help grief-stricken Dallas begin to heal less than a week after its officers were killed and others wounded by an Army veteran-turned-sniper. Obama has denounced the shooting as a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement” by a “demented” individual.

Just a few weeks ago, Obama spent hours in Orlando, Florida, consoling the loved ones of 49 people who were killed in a shooting rampage at a nightclub.

In what has become an unwelcome but regular duty of his presidency, Obama was preparing to address an interfaith memorial service in Dallas for the officers. They were killed last Thursday while standing guard as hundreds of people peacefully protested the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier in the week….

Portions of both shootings were videotaped and broadcast nationwide, leading to fresh outrage, protests and scores of arrests. The killings also put the country on edge, heightened racial tensions and pushed the issue of the use of deadly force against black males by white police officers to the forefront.

Obama will seek to bridge those issues with his tribute to the fallen five, which include a former Army Ranger, a Navy veteran and a newlywed starting a second family.

As Dakinikat wrote yesterday, we are seeing Ferguson-like events in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The situation is similar in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Philando Castile was killed by police after being stopped for a broken taillight. From Fox News 9, July 10: Protest shuts down I-94 in St. Paul: 21 officers injured, 102 arrested.

Hundreds of people protesting the shooting death of Philando Castile gathered Saturday night at the Governor’s Residence on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minn., then marched onto Interstate 94, shutting down the highway for more than 5 hours. Sunday morning, St. Paul police confirmed 21 officers from multiple agencies were injured, and 102 people were arrested. None of the injuries were serious.

Around 8 p.m., the crowd marched onto the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-94 at Lexington Avenue, forming a wall. Police closed the interstate from Highway 280 to downtown St. Paul, then reopened both directions by 1:49 a.m. Sunday. A total of 50 people were arrested on I-94, booked into Ramsey County Jail on third-degree rioting charges. State Patrol officials said at least eight people arrested were from outside Minnesota.

A second clash with police on Grand Avenue at about 4 a.m. led to 52 arrests for public nuisance and unlawful assembly. Those individuals were booked and released.

Sunday morning, St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell confirmed 21 officers were injured by projectiles, including fireworks, rocks, bricks, concrete chunks and glass bottles. An officer now has a broken vertebrae after being hit by a concrete block in the head. At the height of the confrontation, police said some people started arming themselves with rebar from a nearby construction site. Police then used smoke and to clear the crowd. After the freeway was cleared, one officer was hit in the face by a bottle thrown by a protester on a St. Paul city street.

A couple of updates from NOLA on Baton Rouge:

Police advance on peaceful protesters in Baton Rouge, LA

Baton Rouge police tactics in Alton Sterling shooting protests questioned.

Baton Rouge police are facing criticism for the tactics used to deal with protests in the wake of Alton Sterling’s officers-involved fatal shooting, with groups like Amnesty International questioning whether police are committed to protecting First Amendment rights.

Protests on Sunday (July 11) have become a flashpoint for those criticisms after police ordered protesters off the street, then arrested people standing on private property when they refused to leave the area.

Police have said the group was targeted because they blocked a residential street hours before, but most of the arrests on Sunday were made while people were on private property — some with authorization of the owner.

Jamira Burley, a senior campaigner for Amnesty International, was in Baton Rouge over the weekend observing the protests and said she was deeply concerned about several aspects of the police response.

She said police responding in heavy military-style gear and vehicles, their decision to arrest people during an otherwise peaceful protest on private property, and the high number of arrests all appeared to be aimed at scaring protesters into not returning to demonstrations.

More at the link.

Baton Rouge DA recuses himself from Alton Sterling shooting investigation.

Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III recused himself from the ongoing investigation into the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling during a press conference Monday (July 11).

Moore said he is stepping down because of a personal relationship with the parents of one of the officers involved in the shooting. He said a new prosecutor will be appointed to oversee the pursue of any criminal charges for officers Howie Lake II and Blane Salamoni.

Again, read the rest at NOLA.

This is an open thread. If you’re planning to watch the Bernie and Hillary joint appearance this morning, you can use this as a live blog. Feel free to post links on any other topics you are following today.