Apparently recently our nation crossed a line many felt would never be crossed. For those who believe in American Exceptionalism, who view the USA as that shining City on a Hill, who actually believe the Statue of Liberty shines a light unto the rest of the world, these are dark days indeed.

Now you might think I'm referring to the government of the United States, yes that United States, separating parents and children, transporting the children, some as young as three months old, around the country and putting them in camps. 

You might think I'm referring to the President of these very same United States advocating for tearing up the Constitution and due process to kick as many people he doesn't like out of the country as quickly as possible.

But no that's not it at all. Apparently, according to our esteemed guardians of democracy, the Washington press establishment, these are truly dark days because one of the faces and voices of the administration and its policies was denied service at a restaurant in Virginia.

I'm sure you've heard the details of the story by now. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's press secretary, who lies to the press and the American people on a daily basis (well the days they actually hold press briefings), and has spun the various stories and explanations for this policy that violates American and International laws, was asked to leave a restaurant. The owner asked her to leave after her staff told her they felt uncomfortable serving Sanders. Much of the staff are either LGBTQ and/or immigrants. Since this Administration is expending a lot of time and energy trying to insure LGBTQ people can be treated as second class citizens, and are referring to immigrants, and beginning to treat them the same way the Nazis did the Jews, they were not inclined to break bread with and serve the face and voice of these policies.

You can agree or disagree about this. Reasonable people already have. I can't say I'm 100% certain how I feel about it myself, both from a philosophical viewpoint and the practical stance of tactics.

What I am sure about though is the entirely hypocritical and outrageous screaming from both the right wing, the Administration and the press about the incident. And yes the usual mealy-mouthed, let's all play nice together reactions from the usual Democratic suspects - I'm looking at you Axelrod, Schumer and Pelosi.

The hypocrisy of the conservatives in this matter is neither surprising nor stunning. We've come to expect nothing less from these snowflakes. They have spent years championing the rights of businesses to refuse service to gays in the name of religious freedom. They rallied to the cause of the County Clerk, Kim Davis, in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples because it didn't square with her personal religious beliefs. But a private business owner doesn't want to serve a member of the Trump Administration because of how they treat the groups of people many of her workers are drawn from, and it's the end of civilization as we know it.

The media is even worse. We are putting kids in cages. In the United States. In 2018. We are ripping families apart. The President is advocating for the end of due process when it comes to immigration. He is stopping attempts at asylum, a violation of laws and treaties the United States is party to. He advocates violence against protesters and calls both the press and his opponents "treasonous". He lies every time he opens his mouth. 

But the real calamity for the Washington press corps is a restaurant in Virginia refusing to serve Sanders, or Rep. Maxine Waters calling for public protest and shaming of Trump Administration members to combat the policies that have us sliding towards authoritarianism. 

Lock up kids. Do away with civil liberties and civil rights. Threaten the press. Make nice with Nazis and dictators. Lead your crowds in threats against political opponents while you call them disparaging names. Question the birthplace of the first black President. But yeah civility died when someone told the bully "enough!"

Which is what makes the reaction of the inside the Beltway Democratic leadership even more infuriating. The media and Republicans have been playing a one way game for decades now. The GOP has been saying nasty things about Democrats, have been trampling the norms of our democracy for a long time without being called on it. Stealing a Supreme Court seat, unprecedented use of the filibuster, playing into fear and prejudice and using every tragedy as an excuse to go after Democrats. 

But the Democratic leadership still acts like this is high school civics class. If they take the high road and make good principled rational arguments and act like the reasonable adults, they will win the day and democracy will be saved.

Well it ain't working. The GOP was nasty as nasty could be over the last decade. The press never called them on it and they were never punished at the polls for the behavior. 

If democracy in America is worth saving, then it's worth taking off the gloves for. Show some spine and some grit Beltway Democrats. The rank and file is already way ahead of you on this. Listen to your base for once instead of the pundit class.

A short one today.

Was going to comment on the report I saw yesterday morning on the Today Show on NBC concerning the Monica Lewinsky article in Vanity Fair.

In the report correspondent Peter Alexander told of her article and some of the comments in it concerning Hilary and Bill. His report included a clip of Lynne Cheney, delivered on Fox News naturally, speculating that the Clintons themselves were behind the publication of the story. You know to get it "behind them" so that by 2016 it was "old news". (As if something that happened almost 20 years ago and figured in an impeachment proceeding from 16 years ago isn't already old news).

Alexander came out of the Cheney clip with the phrase "true or not...". 

"True or not?", I wondered incredulously. The more accurate statement from a reporter following the clip would have been "As crazy as that is". I thought here is everything wrong with traditional network news media today. Take an inflammatory wild-ass statement from someone with no particular credentials to be considered an expert, and incorporate in your newscast, and give it the weight of credibility with a tepid "true or not". 

"Fair and balanced" and false equivalency trumping accuracy and sanity once again.

Funny thing is I went to the Today Show and NBC News sites to find the clip so I could link to it for this post and guess what? No Lynne Cheney. The Alexander clip on the Lewinsky story does not contain the Lynne Cheney opinions/speculations regarding the article and its timing. Instead we find a clip of Ron Fournier of the National Journal opining on how this hurts Hilary because it is not moving forward but dragging us all back into the past. No "true or not" response to the wild speculation from Ms. Cheney. Here is the current video of the report.

Apparently even the people at NBC News must have looked at their report and realized they were re-peddling batshit insanity on their network and making it seem that they themselves found it serious enough to air.

And in case you're curious here is a link to a Politico story about Ms. Cheney's musings that includes the clip from Fox News. 

Good times. Good times.  

Don't do it. That is the usual advice from "serious" people when it comes to negotiating with terrorists. Sure it's tough not to, and see innocent people get hurt. But if you do it once then everyone becomes more vulnerable the next time around as the terrorists are emboldened to continue their extortion.
This is what has crossed my mind as I watch the unfolding story surrounding a continuing resolution on the budget to keep the government up and running after 10/1. Then there is the issue of the United States paying its bills and not defaulting, which is estimated to occur about 10/17 if the debt ceiling is not raised.
The Republicans in the House are willing to do both, as long as the Democrats in both the Senate and the White House accede to their demands. Defund or delay the President's signature health care reform law, roll back Wall Street reforms, remove the authority of the EPA to regulate carbon emissions, approve the Keystone XL pipeline; these are a smattering of the ransom to be exacted for even a short-term period of keeping the government up and running and paying its bills.
And the GOP is not even hiding the agenda. Paul Ryan, their boy wonder, admitted that the Republicans have to resort to these tactics because they lost the election and there is not another in sight, at least not soon enough for their tastes. So they need to use this leverage to impose their agenda and policies which were rejected by the voters in the 2012 election. I mean every Republican running in 2012 promised to get rid of "Obamacare". The other pieces they are going after are right out of Mitt Romney's economic policy proposals. 
They lost. Romney by about 5 million votes. The Democrats increased their majority in the Senate even though the numbers going into the 2012 election favored Republican gains. Even in House races Democratic candidates outpolled Republican candidates. The GOP maintained their majority only due to the severe gerrymandering that occurred in many states. In fact this is one of the few times in American history that the party that received a clear majority of votes for the House races did not end up winning the majority of the seats.
So basically what we have is this: the Republican agenda was rejected by the voters at the polls; there is no election on the horizon that will allow the Republicans to control both houses of Congress and the White House; therefore the Republicans have to threaten to bring the government and the American economy to its knees in order to try to coerce the Democrats to capitulating to the GOP demands and agenda. 
What's really remarkable is not only that this is seen as an acceptable strategy, that the Republicans are so openly blatant about what they're doing, but that they do not pay a greater price for doing it. The traditional media again is falling flat on its face, providing no historical context about just how brazen and unprecedented these Republican moves really are. That would interfere with the pundit class' meme of always finding balance, even if it's false. Both sides do it is their mantra. 
Not only is the Republican tactic an assault on democratic government (with a small "d" mind you), but the total lack of reporting by the media as to how outrageous this really is, also undermines democracy and our Constitutional system of government.
Good going guys and gals.