Reviews - GEORGE VECSEY

I Too Am Worried About Terrorists – Domestic Ones

12/12/2015

Singing Backup in the Know-Nothing Band

It’s bad enough to have nihilists around the world blowing things up after their own systems failed. But what accounts for apocalyptic behavior in the United States?

This is no news that Donald Trump is proposing things right out of the dictator playbook, even citing the one really unpleasant thing Franklin Delano Roosevelt did – internment of Japanese-Americans.

Trump doesn’t even know how widely that is condemned, by people who admire FDR. He doesn’t know much, which is his appeal to a generation dumbed down by reality shows with sneering hosts.

I grew up near Trump in Queens. People tell me he was a nasty little kid. Still is.
But he has terroristic help from the Republicans he scorns:

Carly Fiorina made public comments about dissecting embryos for “baby parts.” This has been proven untrue. Tell that to the crazed hermit who killed three people at a Planned Parenthood site in Colorado. I haven’t heard Fiorina apologize for inciting the brute.

The main New Hampshire newspaper endorsed Chris Christie in that state’s primary. At least it wasn’t Trump. But I heard the paper’s editorial writer explaining what a fine leader Christie is. He had no idea that New Jersey is doing terribly financially, and he did not seem to know about the bridge scandal -- people in Christie’s circle backing up the George Washington Bridge.

Isn’t that terrorism? What would happen if Christie were elected – from the clink?

Finally, Lindsey Graham is urging Republicans to take back their party from the unwashed interloper. That’s nice. But Graham and the “establishment” is coming off nearly seven years of overt sabotage to the President and the government.

The motivation was more than politics. It was racial. They could not stomach a smart man with African-American roots as President. Graham and his pals facilitated Donald Trump. Isn't that terrorism?

This just in: a sweet example of Graham saying nice things about Joe Biden, as forwarded by my political friend, George Mitrovich:
* * *

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mitrovich-baseball-notes/HGgHFL8Cq5U

* * *

Here’s a song from the Prophet Iris -- Iris DeMent: "Wasteland of the Free:"

Ed Martin

12/12/2015 10:42:15 pm

Imagine if you were a sensible Republican, the kind we used to see in the Northeast. When Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975, many Republicans promoted the Act: Javits of NY, Prouty and Jeffords of Vermont and Senator Stafford became a big supporter when we was elected. Schweiker of Pennsylvania, Brooke of Massachusetts, and on and on. There is not a single Republican candidate these folks could support, perhaps not even vote for.

Meanwhile we have people who deny evolution, want the government to control women's sexual behavior,deny global warming, make subtle and not so subtle racist remarks, and lie about their parents arriving in the U.S. to escape Castro, (Rubio--his parents came a decade before Castro) or their birth, or their violent youth, etc. etc. and several who have no idea about the Constitution, to say nothing about the provisions for separating State and Church. Meanwhile Mr. Trudeau is welcoming Syrians to Canada, (and they don't even have guns in the hands of every looney to protect themselves.)

I think I have just joined your rant. Thanks.

George Vecsey

12/13/2015 08:46:05 am

Dear Ed, nice to hear from you. Rant on. But today there is good news.That nice Ted Cruz is leading in Iowa.
Speaking of the vanishing of rational Republicans, did you ever read the Peter Baker article in the NYT Mag Oct. 5, 008, about Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, who got out? He was -- still is -- an adult who deals in facts. I saw him on some sports-related hearings early in that decade. He had it with the new breed that didn't like government so they got into it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/magazine/05Davis-t.html?pagewanted=print

Keep ranting,
GV

Ed Martin

12/13/2015 01:45:25 pm

Non-rant department. In today's, (Sunday 12/13/15), NYT there is a wonderful dream wish, a writer says, I would like to be at 8 World Cups, in short be George Vecsey, Know the feeling.

Meanwhile my dream wish is seeing Ralph Branca striking out Bobby Thomson. A slight variation is seeing the fly ball being hit in another stadium where the left field line was not 279 feet, instead of the Polo Grounds. (Sort of a rant after all, isn't it?)

George Vecsey

12/13/2015 06:16:46 pm

Ed, perfect straight line for me.
I say, well, of course, anybody can attend eight world cups with me. All one needs is to read my book,
"Eight World Cups: My Journey Through the Beauty and Dark Side of Soccer." It's out in paperback, ti include the 2014 WC, which I watched in various dens and pubs in the USA.
As writers learn to say, "As I say in my book..."
Thanks, GV

Thor A. Larsen

12/13/2015 05:22:31 pm

George, You bring up the subject that really upsets me, the apparent serious flaws in our current society, especially with poll-voting Republicans: 1.The attraction of Donald Trump highlights the pervasive racism that still remains here and an irrational distrust of immigrants. 3. Their irrational love of guns 4. The view that they have seen their net economic situation decrease and they think the Republicans with low tax for wealthy a better path than a Democratic candidate. 4. The manipulations by the media by the excessive coverage of Donald Trump vs Bernie Sanders.
5. Their incredibly ineptitude to put forth an intelligent, sane candidate with international and economic experience.

George Vecsey

12/13/2015 06:21:22 pm

Thor, thanks.
I have to add, here is a bipartisan point of view from George Mitrovich, a long-time assistant to members of Congress, very well connected. He reports a nice comment from Lindsey Graham about Joe Biden: (Yes, I'd report it if it were the other way around.)

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mitrovich-baseball-notes/HGgHFL8Cq5U

Brian Savin

12/15/2015 08:06:57 pm

Oh dear. Are we really, really sure that this limited focus on Trump and a few other Republican candidates is the proper focus of attention? I'm not. Hilary Clinton is the beneficiary of this mess. None of the people mentioned in this thread have a prayer of being elected. So, why don't we focus on her? If she is our President-to-be -- and she is -- then why is Bernie Sanders running if he agreed with the likely alternative? (Remember him?) Is this other Clinton the answer to our hopes for justice, economic recovery, and national leadership? I wonder what Elizabeth Warren is thinking..... I think it would be even more useful to speculate on that.

George Vecsey

12/16/2015 07:39:33 am

Brian, we are part of the Warren Wing. She articulates all the things wrong with the system. She may be more effective as a highly informed senator with a purpose, but still....GV

Brian Savin

12/16/2015 09:09:36 am

Someone as smart as Warren could never be satisfied being a one trick pony. Bernie seems to be pulling his punches. My observations suggest both are a bit afraid of something. Of crossing some line.

The only column close to a must read in American journalism, aside from when the Sports of the Times column was handled by guy who we all know, may be Up and Down Wall Street in Barron's by Randall Forsyth. In August he wrote about a phone conversation between Bill Clinton and Donald Trump encouraging him to run for President. He connected the dots. Nobody is scrutinizing Hilary. Things seem to be working like a charm perhaps?

George Vecsey

12/16/2015 12:33:25 pm

http://www.barrons.com/articles/hillarys-secret-weapon-trump-1439010252

Brian, just found the above. Hard to believe Clinton would want to set up a troublemaker like Trump against Hillary -- unless, unless, Bill deep down thinks she couldn't cut it as president and he wanted somebody brash and obvious to beat her next November. No, that couldn't be. Seriously, how could Clinton want a jackass like Trump loose in the land? Who says she would have a clear coast to the presidency?

bruce

12/15/2015 08:55:58 pm

George,

if I was an American, i'd be embarrassed that these hateful bozos running for POTUS for the republicans are the best that a country of approximately 320,000,000 can produce.

the fact that they have any following at all is a disgrace.

bruce

Hcn News link

12/16/2015 04:24:17 am

Nice Information in the post

Brian Savin

12/16/2015 02:16:40 pm

I don't read it that way, George. I believe Bill very much wants back into the White House. I read it pretty much like Forsyth does: Trash the Republican party and, particularly, kill Jeb's chances. What's left when the smoke clears will be clear sailing...... So. I say, let's scrutinize our next President and see where we're headed. Bernie and Elizabeth don't like it. Neither do I.

Alan Rubin link

12/16/2015 11:20:00 pm

George

Several recent surveys have indicated that the Tea Party, evangelicals and the ultra-right account for about 35% of the Republicans.

Where are the rest? Why are they not fighting to combat the lunacy espoused by their presidential candidates?

It is well past the time that sensible Republicans spoke out to revive their party and help move our country back towards normalcy, no matter how imperfect it might be.

Where is the courage to do what’s right? Some battles may be lost along the way, but others will join in to create a greater voice. I have little sympathy for those who complain but do nothing.

Speaking out and strongly pushing back is one way to stop these “bullies”!

Comments are closed.

QUOTES

Measuring Covid Deaths, by David Leonhardt. July 17, 2023. NYT online.
The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal….

After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness.

The progress stems mostly from three factors:
First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot.
Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.)
Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year.
“Nearly every death is preventable,” Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. “We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.”

That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. “Even for most — not all but most —immuno-compromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,” he said. “There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immuno-compromised that vaccines don’t work.”

That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data.

One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immuno-compromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines.

Most immuno-compromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks.

Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths.

The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions.

Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that “age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.” Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately
Republican and white.

Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.)
***

From the great Maureen Dowd:

As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop.
But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels."

--- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing.
***
"Putting out the paper," we called it.
Much more than nostalgia.
---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html

I Too Am Worried About Terrorists – Domestic Ones

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I Too Am Worried About Terrorists – Domestic Ones