Pathetic Wankers Gotta Pathetically Wank

I am referring, of course, to Barack Obama, who once again is saying that the Democratic Party must hippie punch their way out of the current crisis.

Okay, Ace. Here’s the thing. This kind of tough-love, pep-rally bullshit really has pole-vaulted over its sell-by date. From CNN:

“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said at the fundraiser, according to excerpts of his remarks exclusively obtained by CNN.

It may have escaped former President Look Forward, Not Back’s notice, but there are quite a number of Democrats who are fighting pretty damned hard against the encroaching darkness. In the House, there are Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, and AOC, with whom the Democratic establishment still doesn’t know what to do. Chris Murphy, Sheldon Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren, Angus King, and, yes, Bernie Sanders have kicked back against impossible odds, and King and Sanders aren’t even Democrats. Governors like Andy Beshear and Tim Walz are trying to hold the line against the excesses of the administration, and J.B. Pritzker in Illinois had been a rock in the national debate. And mayors like Karen Bass and Michelle Wu have done noble work against the ICE rampages in their cities. In fact, at the moment, most of the Democratic navel-gazing and whining concerns the horrible possibility of Zohran Mamdani’s being elected mayor of New York, and a lot of that is coming from politicians and activists loyal to Obama.

He goes on to pretend that there is no difference between people who want to fight and people who want to sell out, and once again, he comes down firmly on the side of the DLC type sellouts, only this time under the guise of the "Abundance Agenda".

F%$# him and the rest of the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) pukes who want nothing to change. 

Gee, Ya Think

So, the Daily Mail (Yeah, I know) interviewed  David Garrow, Barack Obama's Pulitzer prize winning biographer, and he criticizes the former President's campaigning for Harris as, "Tone-deaf preaching."

I do not understand why he is surprised by this.

Smug tone deaf preaching has kind of been Barack Obama's thing since he was (at least) a law student at Harvard:

Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have been slammed by his biographer for 'talking down' to voters in 'tone-deaf and clueless' preaching that harmed Kamala Harris' ill-fated presidential campaign.

The effect was so bad that – combined with Donald Trump's victory – it is likely to reduce the 44th president's political relevance to 'Bill Clinton levels', David Garrow said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.

'People do not want to be talked down to, no matter who they are,' the 71-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner said.

………

Garrow said Tuesday's electoral rout has left Obama, 63, 'nervous' about the impact Trump could have on how he is seen by future generations.

'He has been and remains extremely concerned and nervous about his historical legacy,' he said.

Barack Obama's concern for his historical legacy has always been about him, and not about what he did, and did not do.

He betrayed his promises to labor, gave what amounted to amnesty to torturers, and he steadfastly protected the criminals behind the 2008 financial crisis from criminal prosecution.

At the same time, his administration allowed the victimization of homeowners through legally dubious means in order to, "Foam the runways," for the banksters.

F%$# Obama's narcissism, and %$# his legacy.

Tweet of the Day

Obama would walk the UAW picket line for a cool $325,000 speaking fee.

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) September 28, 2023

Someone call Gage and DeSoto, they need to get Obama to the Rampart General burn ward.  (It's a boomer thing, don't ask)

Chutzpah

The arsonist asking people to donate to extinguish the fire. https://t.co/aFPhz5t4vY

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) September 15, 2023

I'm not sure if Obama is being clueless or shameless.

But She Went to Harvard!

You may have heard of Tina Tchen.  She was President and CEO of Time's Up, a charity dedicated to holding sexual harassers to account.

At the same time, she was running a side business, where she was reputation washing serial sexual abusers' reputations, which led to her being forced out.

This included her being deeply involved in attempts by then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his Evil Minions™ to smear the Governor's accusers.

So, you are thinking that there are consequences?

Not so much.  She's been hired by the Obama Foundation as their Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Impact Officer.

This is kind of like being a "Made Man" in Martin Scorsese's classic film Goodfellahs:

Nearly a year after Tina Tchen resigned amid controversy from heading a national charity aimed at fighting sexual harassment, the Obama Foundation on Wednesday announced it has tapped the longtime Chicago attorney to serve in a new leadership role.

Tchen will lead the “development, implementation, and monitoring of the foundation’s strategy,” as well as working with alumni from President Barack Obama’s White House and a program that seeks to empower adolescent girls around the world, according to a foundation release.

………

The move to hire Tchen follows local and national controversies, most notably her role advising disgraced New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during a #MeToo scandal that ultimately led to her resignation as president and CEO of the nonprofit Time’s Up.

Tchen was criticized following reports that Cuomo and his aides sought her advice on how to handle a growing harassment scandal while she simultaneously led the nonprofit, which was founded to help those who have been sexually harassed or assaulted.

………

Tchen also faced criticism from some Chicago-area #MeToo advocates for endorsing Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle when she ran for Chicago mayor in 2019. Preckwinkle faced scrutiny over her handling of sexual assault accusations against her former chief of staff. The Tribune revealed Preckwinkle knew about an alleged assault for six months before firing that staffer one day before launching her mayoral bid. Tchen said the endorsement was made in her personal capacity, not as the head of Time’s Up.

………

Asked why Tchen was tasked with this program given the controversies, Obama Foundation spokesperson Courtney Williams said, “Tina has spent a career fighting for positive change for women. Her life’s work has been geared toward making workplaces fair and equitable and safer for women.” 

Putting the fox in charge of the hen house.  Smooth move.

This is not surprising though.  Soaring rhetoric and hypocrisy are really on brand for Obama.

Tweet of the Day

🤣🤣pic.twitter.com/jxfIqfWvmT

— Revolutionary Blackout Network🥋 (@SocialistMMA) June 22, 2022

A pretty good summation of Obama's greatest legacy.

Headline of the Day

Hideous

The New Ozymandias: Twilight Reflections on the Obama Presidential Center

—CounterPunch

Barack Obama's Presidential Library is a monument to himself, a 235 foot tall tower and associated golf course which will go a long way towards destroying one of the crown jewels of American public parks, Jackson Park, designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted.

In a way, it's a perfect metaphor for Obama's political career:  It destroys something precious, will serve to privatize public space, and will gentrify the neighborhood, all while offering pious and empty platitudes.

Tweet of the Day

Classic case of being able to dish it out but not take it https://t.co/Z3NLZh8eIM

— Patrick Cosmos (@veryimportant) August 9, 2021

I really don't have much to add to this, except to note that if there were a Nobel Prize for snark, I would nominate this guy

Guess Which President Did This?

In 2011, the EPA approved the use of PFASs and other chemicals in fracking. 

Just to remind you, Barack Obama was President then:

For much of the past decade, oil companies engaged in drilling and fracking have been allowed to pump into the ground chemicals that, over time, can break down into toxic substances known as PFAS — a class of long-lasting compounds known to pose a threat to people and wildlife — according to internal documents from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The E.P.A. in 2011 approved the use of these chemicals, used to ease the flow of oil from the ground, despite the agency’s own grave concerns about their toxicity, according to the documents, which were reviewed by The New York Times. The E.P.A.’s approval of the three chemicals wasn’t previously publicly known.

The records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by a nonprofit group, Physicians for Social Responsibility, are among the first public indications that PFAS, long-lasting compounds also known as “forever chemicals,” may be present in the fluids used during drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

………

The E.P.A. documents describing the chemicals approved in 2011 date from the Obama administration and are heavily redacted because the agency allows companies to invoke trade-secret claims to keep basic information on new chemicals from public release. Even the name of the company that applied for approval is redacted, and the records give only a generic name for the chemicals: fluorinated acrylic alkylamino copolymer.

………

The presence of PFAS in oil and gas extraction threatens to expose oil-field employees and emergency workers handling fires and spills as well as people who live near, or downstream from, drilling sites to a class of chemicals that has faced increasing scrutiny for its links to cancer, birth defects, and other serious health problems.

Obama repeatedly touted fracking throughout his Presidency, and now it appears that he blithely allowed some of the most toxic chemicals out there to be dumped in people's ground water and their back yards.

Of course, it wasn't done in rich people's yards and water, so it's all good.

Yeah, About that

This strangest thing about this moment is almost every Dem is acting as if Obama's first term was a horrible failure but no one wants to explicitly say that. https://t.co/CuyrgEN6XT

— Jon Walker (@JonWalkerDC) February 2, 2021

So, let's do a rundown of the 2009-10 Obama years and what happened:

• Democratic Governors, from 29 to 16.
• Control of state legislatures, and redistricting, from 59% to 31%. (over 1000 state leg seats)
• Double digit losses in the Senate.
• Over 5 dozen loses in the House.

Why would even the most psychopathic Democrat, or Jim Manchin (but I repeat myself) want even a small piece of such a disaster?

The answer is that they don't which indicates that the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) might actually have a small learning curve.

I never believed that I would be able to write that in a non-ironic way.

Headline of the Day

How Amy Coney Barrett and Barack Obama Transcended Petty Partisanship To Crush Community Activists in Chicago

—Jacobin

This is an Architectural Atrocity

This details how Obama's need for a monument to himself by way of his Presidential library will, as I noted about a year ago, desecrate one of Fredrick Law Olmstead's crown jewels, and that his has been aided and abetted by one Federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett:

Proving that architectural narcissism isn’t a quality limited to the outgoing forty-fifth president, Barack Obama is currently attempting to erect a hideous 235-foot tower, a monument to himself and his presidency, in a park in Chicago, over the objections of community groups. Local organizations fighting the project recently suffered a defeat at the hands of a federal review, which concluded in Obama’s favor. But according to the Wall Street Journal, a key ally in the approval process last summer was then judge Amy Coney Barrett, who has since, of course, become Trump’s latest addition to the Supreme Court.

Obama’s papers will live elsewhere; this $500 million project is not a presidential library but a museum celebrating the former president, overseen by the Obama Foundation, whose board is made up of a distasteful gang of financiers, with private equity well represented. As Wall Street Journal opinion writer James Freeman sardonically noted last week, Obama is impinging on “treasured green space to realize his vision of a self-tribute in stone and glass.” The groups fighting the project argue that it will wreak environmental damage on Jackson Park. They argue that the project will destroy much of the natural life in the park, including four hundred trees. They also say the tower will interfere with needed sunlight during the day, cause light pollution at night, and interfere with bird migration (the park is apparently a well-known route for birds).

The community activists also fear that the project will lure a large number of tourists and car traffic, disrupting what is currently a relatively calm and natural retreat. They also find the design of the project garish and vulgar, at odds with the aesthetics of the Frederick Law Olmsted–designed park, a historic 1893 World’s Fair site which was restored back to naturalistic parkland after the fair. The activists have presented alternative designs and traffic plans, but the Obama Foundation has ignored them — as arrogant multimillionaires tend to do when faced with suggestions from the little people.

This is tremendously apropos of the legacy of a man why my brother calls, "Our President Harding."

He looked the role, and he gave great speeches, but when push came to shove, he never put anything ahead of himself, and now, he's going to befoul one of the great public spaces in the world, (plus a f%$#ing luxury golf course) because it's always about him.

Today in Language

Tim Anderson asks what to call former Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama hanging out as a group.

I offered a suggestion:

A clusterfuck of Oligarchs

— Jack Dorsey Is Objectively Pro-Nazi (M.G. Saroff) (@40_Years) August 4, 2020

Your suggestions below are appreciated.

Quote of the Day

Central to this narrative is the presentation of the difference between Trump and Obama as akin to the difference between Hitler and Gandhi. A better analogy – especially when it comes to foreign policy – would be the difference between John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer who was known for dressing up as a clown at public events, and Ted Bundy, the tall, handsome serial killer who enticed his victims into his car with his charm and good looks.

—Peter Bolton at Counter Punch

He's writing about how Joe Biden has stapled himself to Barack Obama's increasingly dubious legacy.

It's a wonderfully evocative turn of phrase.

H/t Naked Capitalism.

A Monument to His Ego

This is an Architectural Atrocity

I am referring of course to Barack Obama's proposed Presidential library.

I think that his presidential complex would rip the heart out of one of Fredrick Law Olmstead's most significant works, and the Federal Highway Administration's review of the project has determined that it would diminish the integrity of the park.

Here's hoping that this, along with the fact that Obama crony Rahm Emanuel is no longer mayor, will result in some much need accountability on this project.

There is also the matter that the Obama Foundation has refused to even consider a community benefits agreement, which would provide guarantees for the local residents regarding jobs and affordable housing:

Construction of the $500 million Obama Presidential Center will have an “adverse impact” on historic Jackson Park that must be mitigated, a federal review has concluded.

In a report triggered by Jackson Park’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the Federal Highway Administration homed in on the negative impact the four-building complex would have on the majestic Midway Plaisance and the Jackson Park Historic Landscape District.

The project would diminish the “the historic property’s overall integrity by altering historic, internal spatial divisions that were designed as a single entity” by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the FHA concluded.

It also concludes the “size and scale of new buildings” would “diminish the intended prominence of the Museum of Science and Industry building and alter the overall composition and design intent of balancing park scenery with specific built areas.”

………

The finding puts pressure on the Obama Foundation to find a way to “resolve adverse effects” and turns up the heat on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to order the foundation to make those changes.

“The Obama Foundation has yet to show any interest in compromising on any of this. It may take [Lightfoot] to bring them to the table,” said Margaret Schmid, co-president of Jackson Park Watch.

“It means there are lots of new obstacles facing this proposal. A big question is, does Chicago want to go on record as having allowed a project that has major adverse impacts on this important historic park or can the project be redesigned to be compatible with this historic landscape?”

It's not a surprise that the Obama Foundation is refusing to do anything for the poor and minority residents of the neighborhood, that was pretty much the Obama administration's policy for or the poor and minority residents of the country.

They were too busy, "Foaming the runway," for the big banks.

Trump Is Still Not the Deporter in Chief

There has been a lot of outrage over how DoJ Lawyer Sarah Fabian has been saying that children in detention do not need mattress, or soap, or toothbrushes or real blankets in detention facilities kept so cold that they are nicknamed "Refrigerators".

Well, it turns out that she's done worse things.

In particular, she argued for putting children in solitary confinement under the Obama administration:

………

The United States’s loathsome argument—that it is “safe and sanitary” to confine children without soap, toothbrushes, dry clothes, and on concrete under bright lights—is morally indefensible. It’s also a spectacularly foolish argument to raise in the famously liberal Ninth Circuit, where the United States should have expected exactly the reception that it got. And even though the litigation began under the Obama administration, it was the Trump administration that elected to bring this appeal and ask the court to bless these inhumane conditions as “safe and sanitary.” That’s an extremely aggressive legal argument, and one that suggests that the disturbing conditions being reported at confinement centers are intentional, not a sign of mere neglect.

It is right and fit to condemn the Trump administration for its argument and its treatment of children. But it’s wrong to think the problem can be cured with a presidential election. Trump will depart; the problem will not depart with him. This administration is merely the latest one to subject immigrant children to abusive conditions. It’s been 35 years since Jenny Flores was strip-searched in an adult facility. Before Sarah Fabian defended concrete floors and bright lights for President Donald Trump, she defended putting kids in solitary confinement for President Barack Obama.

Remember, the UN has defined solitary confinement as torture, and the DoJ, and ICE, and CBP asked the courts to allow them to torture children with solitary confinement in 2015:

The Department of (in) Justice recently submitted a motion in opposition to a lawsuit filed by mothers and their children who want ICE to stop torturing their children by placing them in solitary confinement.

The DOJ now can be called the DOIJ for its monstrous defense and advocacy for the following policy:

ICE also has family residential standards that govern discipline and cover, among other things, a situation where a resident has participated in the offense of “insurrection,” which is defined as “[p]articipation or encouraging another to participate in unauthorized activity such as protesting or rioting.” See ICE/DRO Residential Standard, Discipline and Behavior Management, at 17, attached hereto as Exhibit O.6

The ICE disciplinary standards state that their purpose is to “provide a safe and orderly living environment” at ICE family residential facilities, and to “manage discipline and behavioral problems in a manner that ensures the safety and welfare of staff, residents, and visitors.” Exhibit O at 1. “Insurrection” is considered a major offense at ICE family residential facilities, and under the standards requires separation from the general population. Id. at 16-17. Medical observation rooms may be used to facilitate this separation.

In other words, if a mother protests or encourages another to protest, DOJ,  led by the lawyer-warrior in favor of locking up toddlers and children, Sarah B. Fabian, ICE has a right to punish the mothers’ children with solitary confinement.

I would note that the pace of deportations under the Obama administration are still outpaced by those of the Obama administration.

There is a special place in hell for both of them.

Fonder of Ilhan Omar by the Day

About a week ago, she observed that Obama caged children on the border and relentless droned brown people and stated that he was A pretty face who got away with murder.

She retracted the statement later, but I appreciate her insight and honesty.

Tweet of the Day

Obama not yet endorsing Ocasio, and then deciding that his first political ad should be for a billionaire, is an absolutely perfect commentary https://t.co/JHyJjGmhJZ

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) August 21, 2018

If you want to know who Barack Obama REALLY is, this is all you need to know.

What more would you expect from the man who hired Timothy Geithner?

Trump Caves

Returning to an Obama administration policy

Trump blinked, and issued an executive order changing the asylum policy to something marginally less heinous.

Ironically enough, it appears to be very similar to Obama's 2014 policy:

President Trump caved to enormous political pressure on Wednesday and signed an executive order meant to end the separation of families at the border by detaining parents and children together for an indefinite period.

“We’re going to have strong — very strong — borders, but we are going to keep the families together,” Mr. Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office. “I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.”
But ending the practice of separating families still faces legal and practical obstacles. A federal judge could refuse to give the Trump administration the authority it wants to hold families in custody for more than 20 days, which is the current limit because of a 1997 court order.
………
The president’s four-page order says that officials will continue to criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the border illegally, but will seek to find or build facilities that can hold families — parents and children together — instead of separating them while their legal cases are considered by the courts.
………

Justice Department officials said the legal authority to end family separation relies on a request they will make in the coming days to Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Federal District Court in Los Angeles, the daughter of immigrants from China who was appointed by President Barack Obama. She oversees a 1997 consent decree, known as the Flores settlement, which prohibits immigration authorities from keeping children in detention, even if they are with their parents, for more than 20 days.

The 1997 case imposes legal constraints on the proper treatment of children in government custody, which stopped Mr. Obama after his administration began detaining families together during a similar flood of illegal immigration several years ago.

“It’s on Judge Gee,” said Gene Hamilton, the counselor to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “Are we going to be able to detain alien families together or are we not?”

As for those of you who are wondering why I'm bringing up the contemptible policies of the Obama administration, it is because Trump's even more despicable policies did not spring fully grown out of his head:  They were a logical progression of Obama's eager embrace of his role as, "Deporter-in-Chief."

The past is prologue, here, and it is not by accident.

Fundamentally, the issue of illegal immigration is driven to a large demand for low cost labor, and if we were to aggressively target employers, and increase the perceived risk and perceived cost to potential employers, our immigration enforcement system would be both more humane and more effective.

Interesting Insight into the Origins of Trump's Child Snatching Policy

Ian Welsh has come across how Barack Obama's truly horrific immigration policies led directly to Trump's even more contemptible child snatching:

So, you’ve all heard about this by now.

It is, obviously, a terrible crime. And yeah, evil.

It is an extension of Obama’s policy of holding families (without splitting them up, but still in terrible conditions). If you want to understand the link, read this Twitter thread.

Thread: How did we get here?
In 2015, I shook President Obama’s hand, thanked him for DACA, and asked him to reverse course & close the for-profit baby jails (also known as “family detention centers”) he opened in Dilley & Karnes City, Texas. What he said shook me to my core 1/ pic.twitter.com/K5vi6S2RPj

— R. Andrew Free (@ImmCivilRights) June 19, 2018

It is rather telling that (read the whole tweet storm) it is clear from the exchange that putting families in detention was intended as a deterrent by the Obama administration, because they thought that no one but a few immigration lawyers would care.

Sounds familiar.

Trump's immigration policies are not an abberation, they are a natural progression from prior administrations.

So Not a Surprise

If there is one safe US Senate seat for the Democrats this election cycle, it's California.

But this time around, the not only did the California Democratic Party not endorse Dianne Feinstein,^* she actually lost to her challenger by a significant margin, though not enough to actually get the endorsement. (Kevin De León beat her 54% to 37%, and he needed 60% for the endorsement)

So, now that she has a viable primary challenge, and the top two finishers will almost certain Feinstein and De León, which given California's jungle primary means that they will face off in the general.

Once again proving that Republicans fear their base, and Democrats hate their base, so given that Feinstein is far more conservative than the state, and De León is not, the establishment has pulled out the stops for Dianne, including an endorsement from Barack Obama.

Not a surprise. Barack Obama has always hadd nicer things to say about conservatives than he ever did about progressives:

Former President Obama is endorsing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) as she faces a prominent Democratic challenger.
Obama said in a Friday statement that he was giving his "strong endorsement" and calling Feinstein "one of America's most effective champions for progress to the Senate.”

"She’s always been an indispensable leader for California, and we became dear friends and partners in the fight to guarantee affordable healthcare and economic opportunity for everybody; to protect our planet from climate change, and our kids from gun violence," he added.

Feinstein's reelection campaign blasted out the announcement on Friday, noting the two had worked on "shared priorities" when Obama was a senator and during his administration.

Feinstein, 84, has held her the seat since 1992 but is facing frustration from liberals who believe her old-school Senate collegiality is out of touch in the era of President Trump.

The problem is not her , "old-school Senate collegiality," it's her support for the surveillance state, Wall Street, Iraq, the Death Penalty, the Flag Burning Amendment, Internet Censorship, expansion of the H1B program, and her opposition to marijuana legalization that puts her out of step with California voters.

It isn't her "Senate collegiality" that people have a problem with, it's her policies.

^*Full disclosure, I've never met her, but she is my 2nd cousin once removed.