Let George Do It

Just in case you haven’t heard: May 28 is the date that George Pataki will announce whether he’s running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Yes! George Pataki. Of New York. How can you not remember? He was governor for 12 years, for heaven’s sake.

Actually, I can understand how it slipped your mind. In 1999, when Pataki was still in office and much more famous than he is today, he went to New Hampshire to feel out his presidential prospects, and I remember having an argument with a cabdriver in Manchester who was sure that the governor of New York was Rudy Giuliani.

This is the season when America grows its crop of presidential candidates, and even if the names are improbable, attention must be paid.

While the Democratic side has not been particularly fertile, the Republican contenders are multiplying like gerbils. Six hats are already in the ring. On May 27, Rick (Remember Me?) Santorum will tell us where his metaphorical headwear is going. A coy tweet from Texas reveals that Mr. and Mrs. Rick Perry “have been discussing the future of this great country and how our family can play a role,” and promises “a special announcement” on June 4.

Donald Trump claims he’ll have some exciting news in June, too. It’s been a hard couple of weeks for Republicans, but the future is filled with cheer. No reason worrying about Jeb Bush cratering when you have Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Donald Trump and George Pataki to look forward to.  READ MORE

Wow, Jeb Bush Is Awful

Let’s discuss Jeb Bush’s terrible week.

I’m really troubled by his awful performances, and I’m generally a person who takes bad news about politicians pretty well. For instance, a friend just sent me a story about the Texas agriculture commissioner’s vow to bring deep-fried foods back to school cafeterias. (“It’s not about French fries; it’s about freedom.”) I would classify this as interesting, yet somehow not a shocking surprise.

But today we’re talking about Jeb Bush. As a presidential hopeful, Bush’s most attractive feature was an aura of competence. Extremely boring competence, perhaps. Still, an apparent ability to get through the day without demonstrating truly scary ineptitude.

Then, about a week ago, The Washington Post reported that during a private meeting with rich Manhattan financiers, Bush announced that his most influential adviser on Middle Eastern matters was his brother George.  READ MORE

Jeb Bush says 'a tolerant country' should support the right to discriminate

Jeb Bush plunked himself down firmly on the side of discrimination in a Christian Broadcasting Network interview Saturday. Does he think business owners should be able to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings? "Yes, absolutely, if it’s based on a religious belief."

“A big country, a tolerant country, ought to be able to figure out the difference between discriminating someone because of their sexual orientation and not forcing someone to participate in a wedding that they find goes against their moral beliefs,” he said. “This should not be that complicated. Gosh, it is right now.”  READ MORE

Sorry, Jeb. Your brother did create ISIS

A fighter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street
in the city of Mosul.

It must be tough being the brother of the man who is responsible for the world-historical disaster that was the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It's tougher still to try to replace him as the next Republican president of the United States.

This week, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush found that out the hard way. Mocked by the press and his GOP rivals for first announcing, "I would have" gone into Iraq knowing what he knows now, Jeb reversed course days later in declaring, "I would not have gone into Iraq." But even before the pain had subsided from that severe case of whiplash, Bush was embarrassed at an event in Reno by 19-year-old college student Ivy Ziedrich. When Bush tried to pin the paternity for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on President Obama, the University of Nevada political science major replied simply:

"Your brother created ISIS."  READ MORE

Why race is the main reason the murderous bloodbath in Waco was handled with velvet gloves

Nine people shot to death at a family restaurant.
Dozens of others stabbed, beaten, and seriously injured.
Over 100 guns recovered.
Sounds like one of the worst crimes in modern American history, right?
Then why do the men above look like they are tailgating? Smoking cigarettes, others using their cell phones, nobody in the world could guess that these men were even associated with such a horrible crime. Instead, you'd think the man below was involved.
[...]
Nah. He refused to get on the sidewalk during a curfew in Baltimore. Sprayed in the face with pepper spray, the officers even seemed to enjoy brutalizing him. See the smile?
It's not a harsh comparison at all.

In Ferguson, Baltimore, New York, and around the country, protestors were actually protesting against violence and were often treated as if they were murderers.

In Waco, Texas, when one of the deadliest, bloodiest, most violent rampages in modern America happened, the National Guard wasn't called in, the perpetrators weren't beaten or pepper-sprayed, nobody was hogtied or humiliated, the dogs weren't brought out to intimidate anyone. Hell, they didn't even handcuff them or take their phones away. Instead, they just sat them down on the sidewalk peacefully.  READ MORE

Newspaper Gives Honest Answer to Question, "Why do you support such a liberal agenda?"

Honest answer to a reader's question

No snark, no smartassery. This is one of the finest responses I've ever seen to this kind of question.
Setup: The Charlotte Observer's Taylor Batten wrote a piece about "Honesty Day," which "requires" you to honestly answer a question if it is posed to you. (Sidebar: The Observer is a McClatchy newspaper.) He was asked: "Question? Why do you support such a liberal agenda? Remember you’re supposed to answer honestly."

It would have been easy to respond defensively ("We're not liberal!") or with much snark and smartass ("Here's why we're not conservative...") or, easiest of all, to just ignore it -- with or without the high drama and pearl-clutching. Instead, Batten and the Observer chose to respond with a simple, elegant, and perfectly thought-out response. I'm not easily impressed by this kind of thing. Batten's words did so. This will resonate with me for, quite probably, the rest of my days.
Let's go see what he wrote.  READ MORE

Video captures police trying to illegally detain teenage girls, women rushing to their aid

Police, apparently from the 30th precinct near West Harlem in New York City, attempted to illegally detain two teenage girls from the community. As you will see in the video below the fold, these young girls didn't do anything wrong.

At 6:08 in the video, all hell breaks loose.

This is about as a bold of an example of witnesses courageously standing up to bad policing as you will ever see. FROM THE SITE