Open Thread

I'd meant to post something original today, but unfortunately a major plumbing issue affecting several of the units in my complex will be interfering with the blog. Our regular handyman threw up his hands in despair last night and the major troops and outside contractors are being called in. I've been told to stay out of the kitchen. From past experience with such things, I am expecting the noise to fall somewhere between a dental drill on steroids and a jackhammer.

If anybody is out there, talk about whatever you like in comments. Meantime, here are a few of my recent New York Times comments to inspire you or disgust you or just leave you in a state of numbed apathy.

First, Charles Blow wrote about the privileged Oklahoma frat boys of Sigma Epsilon KKK and their racist chants on the bus. He is not shocked, shocked. My response:

There's a reason they call them frat brats. Rather than go to college to develop their cerebral cortices, they exercise the tribalistic, primitive limbic area of their brains. Their majors are brawls, beer, babes and bigotry. If there aren't any freshman pledges around to haze, then they'll pick on other people whom they deem weak or marginalized. If there is no physical prey immediately available, they'll conjure them up, braying their KKK anthems and telling their foul jokes.

And when they get caught, what do you think they do? They go into full Paula Deen mode. Nobody feels as bad as they do, they pathetically sob. They are not bigots -- the beers and the peers made them do it! Even their Paula Deen clone of a housemother joins in the folksy fun, for crying out loud. And OMG, look over there! There are black students caught on video, threatening the poor white frat boys. Will horrors never cease.

Boys on the bus chanting odium is nothing new, because the school bus has been bullying central all their lives. Luckily, this country is currently in a rare self-examination mode, and schools are falling all over themselves to take hazing, rape and blatant racism at least somewhat seriously, lest they lose their government and corporate funding and precious reputations.

 But the rot is still simmering and will inevitably come to a boil. Just because racism isn't sanctioned doesn't mean it's not endemic. Sigma Delta Hate is as close as the house next door.

And where would the New York Times op ed page be without Hillary to kick around and obsess over?  Entering the fray is so very hard to resist. So here are my comments to Frank Bruni and Gail Collins respectively:

 Hillary Clinton's cover of Frank Sinatra's "I Did It My Way" fell flat. She came across like Nixon, testily defending her emails and mawkishly bringing up her sainted mother's funeral arrangements contained therein as prey for a ravening press corps. She made them grovel for credentials, then pre-emptively accused them of having no interest in the real scandal of the GOP's attempted sabotage of the White House-Iran negotiations.

"Now, I would be pleased to talk more about this important matter," she said, "but I know there have been questions about my email, so I want to address that directly, and then I will take a few questions from you."

She never did address the Iran question, nor was she asked about the fact that some of her charity and political donors (Goldman Sachs, hedge fund billionaire Richard Perry) are also among the donors funding the bomb bomb bomb Iran campaign currently in full throttle in Congress and think tanks and on cable TV. Her email scandal is likely only the tip of the iceberg.

If Mrs. Clinton thinks she can coast to the Oval Office while hiding from the public, treating the press like dirt, and avoiding debates with challengers from the left, she should have another think coming. Then again, we no longer have a functioning democracy. Perhaps we should let the people in charge of the DNC know, right away, that they can expect a voter boycott if they insist on shoving this damaged politician down our throats.

 ***

Gail Collins is right: the media should be pressing Mrs. Clinton on her policies. We know we're never going to find out whether she was micromanaging Chelsea's wedding on the public's dime and time instead of her own, so we might as well move on to more important stuff that will affect all of us directly.

Will she support expansion of Social Security in these tough times? Her family foundation has had an uncomfortably close partnership with Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson, who's made it his life's mission to cut our earned benefits. Chelsea herself teamed up with Catfood Commissioners Simpson & Bowles to try and convince college kids that their grandparents were stealing their medical care and futures. What's up with that?

Look at the advisers. If former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin comes on board, raise the warning flag. It was Rubin (helped by John Podesta and Larry Summers) who orchestrated financial deregulation, paving the way for the economic crash and the ensuing worst wealth disparity in modern times. Don't let her blame that mess on just the GOP or "irresponsible borrowers." We need restoration of Glass-Steagall, and as Elizabeth Warren suggests, a dismantling of the TBTFs. What's Hillary's position on that?

Ask her about drones, gun control, dealings with corrupt foreign governments like Saudi Arabia, and corporate coups disguised as "free trade" deals.

Don't just let her get away with platitudes about breaking glass ceilings.