If the candidacy of Donald Trump showed the GOP to be far more fragmented than it thought itself to be, his crossover support revealed a sudden realization among the Democratic faithful that their party had abandoned them. Thomas Edsall summarized the situation in the New York Times: "an insurrection now threatens the future of the Republican Party -- an insurrection of white working class voters who have been among the party’s most loyal supporters since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. These men and women felt that they lacked an effective political voice, until they heard the siren call of Donald J. Trump."
Edsall understood that African Americans had similar, if not greater grounds for disappointment. Could the Democratic party could face a "comparable revolt?"
How have African-American voters been faring over all? Badly. The Democratic debt to black voters is immense, and the party has not paid up.
There is no evidence yet of a political rebellion parallel to the one taking place in the Republican Party, despite the fact that poor black Americans are having a much tougher time than the white working class Republicans flocking to Trump.
One of the ways that revolt has been suppressed is by redirecting the anger of Sanders' activist legions at designated hate objects. The War on Women, shutting down the GOP rallies, are not primarily directed against the Republicans. They are damage control for the Democrats. A ceaseless variety of distractions must be offered because once the relief provided by venting begins to pall, what Elizabeth Kneebone of the Brookings Institution called "the growth and spread of concentrated poverty" may start to be noticed.
As Kyle Smith pointed out in the New York Post, the destruction of the American middle class, both black and white, has been part of a long term shift by the Democratic (and Republican Party) toward a new globalized economic system led by a new credentialed aristocracy. The pauperization of the middle class is happening because and not in spite of Washington's policies.
It wouldn't have been too bad if the new elitist aristocracy had been competent. But Naseem Taleb argues that the global aristocracy has distinguished itself only by a shrill mediocrity. "What we are seeing worldwide, from India to the UK to the US, is the rebellion against the inner circle of no-skin-in-the-game policymaking 'clerks' and journalists-insiders, that class of paternalistic semi-intellectual experts with some Ivy league, Oxford-Cambridge, or similar label-driven education who are telling the rest of us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to think... and 5) who to vote for."
One of the reasons why Trump has been so destructive to the Republican party is that he divided it not only along the Left-Right political axis, whose shear forces it was prepared to withstand, but also between up and down, creating an earthquake along precisely the fault line that Taleb describes. Taleb notes that in many cases the current aristocrats are know-nothings. "Indeed one can see that these academico-bureaucrats wanting to run our lives aren't even rigorous, whether in medical statistics or policymaking. I have shown that most of what Cass-Sunstein-Richard Thaler types call "rational" or "irrational" comes from misunderstanding of probability theory."
Such misunderstandings were on display in president Obama's $4 billion dollar self-driving car initiative. The Manhattan Institute points out that the president's program could have unanticipated, job-killing results.
About 4 million Americans work as truck drivers. If some large percentage of those jobs went away, this would mean another middle-class occupation had been undermined by technology. Truck drivers do much more than drive. The UPS driver rings your buzzer and hands the package to you, for example. Drivers of soda delivery trucks may also stock the product on the shelves. ...
The locus of power in the automobile industry might also shift from Detroit to Silicon Valley. In the case of music, newspapers and other industries where digitization has already shifted power in that direction, we’ve seen vast industrial disruption...
Keep in mind that one reason President Obama bailed out GM and Chrysler is because more than 1 million jobs in the United States are linked to the auto industry. Yet the tech industry does most of its manufacturing outside the country. Apple employs 700,000 people offshore (including subcontractors), compared with only 43,000 people in the United States. If Silicon Valley wins the driverless car industry, we may see this shift accelerate. Manufacturing jobs are only part of this change ...
The list of potential downstream effects is limitless. It is these second- and third-order upheavals -- politics, policing, etc. -- where the driverless car may create profound societal change far beyond the obvious.
But Obama fails to see the impact of driverless cars, any more than he could see why Putin entered Syria or why he left. The cars program not only emphasizes how the "party of the people" has become the party of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, more dangerously it showcases how feckless the elite is. A nation can withstand a loss of income more than it can endure a loss of faith. And there is precious little in the political system to believe in. With Sanders' crusade folding before the Hillary juggernaut his followers will have no political vehicle of their own. The last prophet will have been struck down.
That leaves them with nothing to do but vent their rage at Trump, Cruz, Romney, etc. They must be kept at it lest they look round them with all the sudden realization of chumps who realize they've been played for fools all these years. Then proceedings may then take on a life of their own.
#1
I'm trying to read the whole article at the link but it's one of these web sites that is so badly overburdened with stylesheets and javascript that it's just broken two of my browsers, Chrome and IE. It kinda, sorta works on PaleMoon but it's a mess. Makes me appreciate the simplicity of Rantburg.
#3
maybe so Pappy but he's not wrong. For too long the elites of the Beltway Party (there can be only one) have ignored us. They will now pay the price. Reminds me of one of my favorite songs.
[USNINews] On Monday — less than half a year after Russia announced its intervention in Syria — President Vladimir Putin stated that beginning Tuesday, Russia would begin withdrawing “the main part” of its air forces from the country’s civil war.
The announcement preceded a phone call with U.S. President Barack Obama, in which Russia claimed that its withdrawal was part of a gesture intended to bolster the “start of a true peace process” with the resumption of talks in Geneva today. Yet this statement came on the heels of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s suggestion that Russia would be supporting the U.S.-led Coalition’s campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) in Raqqa with its own assault on ISIS positions further south in Palmyra.
Even in announcing withdrawal, Putin also made clear that Russia would continue a “routine” military presence not only at the pre-war Tartus naval base, but also the Khmeimim air base purpose-built for its 2015 intervention. Yet while the scale and scope of this withdrawal remain to be seen, the announcement of the policy alone sends important signals about the evolving shape of Russia’s political and military commitment to the Bashar al Assad regime.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: badanov ||
03/17/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
On most things the angry voters have a point. Its a shame nobody in the McConnell-Rove-Boehner party took them seriously.
The DC people ignored them, and so now we get angry people making angry decisions, voting with feelings instead of brains like Democrats do - so that gets a Democrat (Trump) the GOP nomination.
h/t Instapundit
It looks like we’ll have a Clinton versus Trump contest for the White House.
The last time Trump and Clinton mixed it up hard, Clinton called Trump sexist and Trump responded that she was an enabler for her husband’s womanizing. In summary:
- Clinton accused Trump of being anti-woman
- Trump accused Clinton of being anti-woman
I wonder if we have seen all of the permutations of gender politics. I doubt we will see Clinton accuse Trump of being anti-male. That wouldn’t stick.
But we haven’t seen Trump accuse Clinton of being anti-male. And that would stick like tar. He might be saving that one for later. Trump understands one basic truth---you can't have a substantive argument in televised political campaign. It's like in schoolyard verbal sparring. Making some catchy rhyme denigrating your opponent (e.g. Ted cabbage head) is better than "trying to reason" or to "disprove" their claims.
[RefugeeResettlementWatch] Of course, what else do you expect. They will never admit that the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program is flawed and should be reformed because their whole livelihoods depend on it continuing exactly like it is with their phony non-profit organizations almost completely funded by you, the taxpayer.
They want you to keep paying for their "religious" charity, but leave them alone to run their "businesses" and their "clients" their way--the way they have been since their hero Teddy Kennedy pushed the bill that became the Refugee Act of 1980 through Congress.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
03/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[Imprimis.Hillsdale.edu] Excellent piece, not too long, about how the federal prosecutor of the Blind Sheik "came of age" in his need to understand sharia vis-a-vis his duties as prosecutor. Several great quotes from Churchill that I haven't seen elsewhere.
#3
Good speech by Anthony McCarthy, now of National Review. Four pages long, but they are short pages. One can see his experience in this controlled summation for the jury. This also is worth reading, for those interested in the American tradition of philanthropy -- among other things explaining the large number of colleges and universities in this country -- so I suspect the rest of the site is worth exploring. Nice find, Fairbanks!
[DAWN] SOON after the military high command announced on Monday that Operation Zarb-e-Azb ..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)... was being wound down in Fata, turbans struck Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. as a timed device went kaboom! in a bus carrying babus government employees. As per reports, the banned Lashkar-e-Islam ...a group of Islamic bandidos infesting Khyber Agency. It's headed by a former bus driver.... ’s supremo Mangal Bagh ...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency... grabbed credit for yesterday’s atrocity; the bad boy leader ‘justified’ the bombing because of the recent ratification of death sentences by the army chief of convicts linked to the proscribed TTP, as well as the armed forces’ overall efforts against militancy. So while the army leadership is talking of wrapping up combat operations in the tribal belt, there is no reason to assume that the challenge of fighting terrorism in the rest of the country is over. After all, while LI claimed Wednesday’s attack (this is the first act of bad boy violence claimed by the group after a lengthy period), the TTP’s Jamaatul Ahrar ...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough... was responsible for the bombing which targeted courts in Charsadda last week. This shows that though the bully boyz might be scattered or on the run, they have not lost their ability to wreak havoc on society.
Those familiar with the area say there is no proper clearance of who is boarding buses meant for babus government employees headed to Peshawar from the districts. This situation needs to be addressed so that vehicles carrying state employees are properly checked for explosives and no unconcerned person is able to board them. Coming to the larger problem of militancy, the military announced after the corps commanders’ conference that intelligence-based operations would be intensified countrywide. After destroying the bad boys’ infrastructure and bases, this is among the best ways to proceed in order to root out holy warrior fighters and their sympathisers across Pakistain and prevent further acts of terrorism. For this, the military must work in tandem with the civilian law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, as they have an ear to the ground in the cities and towns. We must not delude ourselves by assuming that victory against militancy is near; by all indications, this will be a long war. For decades, we let the monster of religious militancy grow. Neutralising it will not be a short-term exercise. Gains have indeed been made in the counterterrorism effort, with the soldiers, and ordinary men, women and kiddies of the country paying a price in blood. But the goal of a terrorism-free country will only be realised if the state continues to counter militancy and extremism with commitment.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] THE religious right in the country is once again in a state of fervent agitation. Ostensibly, this is because the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Assembly recently passed a historic women’s rights law. Yet, other provinces have passed similar, arguably more robust, laws in recent times and there has been little outcry. The difference this time may be the straits the religious right has found itself in and its urgent need to put pressure on the federal government -- the PML-N -- to reverse policies that have caused it to lose ground in the public arena. The signs are several. The conference convened by the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... in Mansoora on Tuesday saw many speakers veer away from the Punjab law and condemn the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri and the clampdown on the activities of the Tableeghi Jamaat. More remarkably, in attendance were avowed anti-democrats like Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... , whose interest in parliamentary democracy is nil. The constellation of ignominy that gathered in Mansoora clearly has wider goals than simply nullification of a pro-women law.
The recent fulminations of Fazlur Rehman, the JUI-F chief, give an indication of what those wider goals may be. In evoking the spectre of a PNA-style opposition alliance, the maulana appears to be seeking unity of the religious right so as to put concerted pressure on the centre, with the intention of either bringing down the federal government or aggressively increasing the public space for the religious right and its Lion of Islam partners. Behind those grand schemes lies a harsh reality: the JUI-F and its political and Lion of Islam cohorts face an existential crisis. The National Action Plan made explicit for the first time the need to combat religiously motivated militancy and also called for the regulation of the sprawling network of madressahs across the country. In truth, however, the slow collision between the state and religious right had already begun. The infamous outburst of Munawar Hassan in November 2013, in which the former JI chief condemned Pak soldiers drawing a sharp response from the military, may have set the parameters of conflict and dissent.
What remains to be seen is how firm the PML-N will stand in this ideological conflict between the forces of regression and those on the right side of history. Pakistain must return to the vision of its founding father and become the progressive, modern and thoroughly democratic country that the Quaid wanted it to be. Thus far, the PML-N has surprised with its willingness to dabble in more progressive and forward-thinking politics. Yet, its mettle has not truly been tested. The Punjab Assembly is little more than a rubber stamp for the Sharif family’s pet projects. The hanging of Mumtaz Qadri was cleared by the courts. Now comes the real baptism of fire -- stand firm and stand tall against the religious right and the PML-N will earn itself a place in history. Crumble now and history will be less forgiving.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2016 00:00 ||
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[SultanKnish] The paradox of the individualistic society is that it can only exist if individuals embrace virtues that are greater than their own needs and whims. A society where each individual acts as a little tyrant, pursuing his desires with total selfishness at the expense of everyone else becomes collectivist as the little tyrants turn to a series of big tyrants to get what they want no matter who gets hurt by it.
Social compacts are the alternative to big government. Communities built around unwritten laws in which people do the right thing keep government at bay better than a million laws ever could. No Constitution can protect a people that does not know or care about what it says. Laws embody ideas about what a society can be. But only the people can actually live out those ideas in their lives.
As individual virtues and social compacts break down, selfish squabbles escalate. Tribalism turns into legal civil war. Laws become the means by which one group imposes its will on the other and by which one man seizes the property of another. The people come to view the system with contempt. All virtues and principles are abandoned as neighbor turns on neighbor in resentment and hatred.
Our society has cultivated narcissism as its highest virtue. Even liberalism has become condensed to an identity politics of narcissism in which each victim gets to talk about their feelings for fifteen minutes before crybullying for someone's head. Political discourse has become an exchange of feelings. And unlike contradictory ideas, clashing feelings of entitlement cannot be resolved.
...Without personal responsibility and truth, the cycle of decline will never be broken. Instead it will intensify. There will be scapegoats and circuses, massacres in the forum and fires in the night. There will be a new tyrant on the balcony every week and a new mob in the streets calling for blood.
We have been betrayed, undermined, misused, lied to and exploited. But in the end only we are capable of that final betrayal of our dreams and our heritage. We can choose to rebuild a social compact, a moral society that can undo the damage that has been done. Or we can let it all go.
It's already been 'let go.' Evidence can be quickly found in the churches of Europe which are now little more than museums.
[NYP] WASHINGTON -- The Army’s top general says military forces on the ground face a high level of risk if the United States gets into a large-scale conflict against a power such as Russia or China.
Testifying Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley says years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, constrained budgets and troop cuts have had a cumulative effect on the service.
Milley says the Army is ready to fight the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations.
But what Milley describes as a "great power war" against one or two of four countries -- China, Russia, Iran and North Korea -- would pose greater challenges.
Milley says the Army’s readiness is not at a level that is appropriate for what the American people expect to defend them.
#3
When was the last successful war waged solely by the US?
Who wants to wage a large scale land war in Asia or Eastern Europe on their ground?
President Eisenhower did the math a long time ago, and figured it would bankrupt the US to keep a mobilized armed force necessary to deter the then Soviet Union and China. Instead he opted for nuclear capability to deter. That is still valid. What is not valid is having someone in the White House who is perceived as lacking the will to use it.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
As per reports, the banned 
