August 15, 2019 6:16 AM
HomePoliticsMorning Reads – Thursday, August 15, 2019

Morning Reads – Thursday, August 15, 2019

By  Politics  19 Comments

Today is the 105th birthday of the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal was officially opened to commercial traffic on this date in 1914 as an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The first vessel to pass through the canal was the American cargo and passenger ship SS Ancon. 

Peaches

Jimmy Carter

Sweet Tea

About Author

Jessica Szilagyi

19 Comments
  1. Dave Bearse

    Is the talk today going to be about how Trump has built economic and military relationships with our allies, readied a tool box that includes interest rate cuts and a more balanced national budget, and united the country around his full team of remarkable experience and qualifications, only things he can do, yo fight a trade war, even though trade wars are easy to win?

    Or will it be about is there anybody left at a gutted State Department to issue an advisory to the UN that US gun violence has elevated the threat for foreign visitors that would travel to the US has increased to level 3, reconsider travel?

    • Grindelwald

      My concern arises from the knowledge that the White House’s economic brain trust consists of a guy the entire field of economics has disowned as a nutjob, the producer of the Lego Batman Movie, and a guy who plays an economist on TV.

      With specific regard to Kudlow, I’ll note the following:

      • In December 2007 he went on his CNBC show and boldly pronounced: “There’s no recession coming. The pessimists were wrong. It’s not going to happen. At a bare minimum, we’re looking at Goldilocks 2.0.”

      • In February 2008 he proudly proclaimed that the economy was going to rebound that summer “if not sooner.”

      • In July 2008, he stated the housing market was as strong as it had ever been and it was “a pity the mainstream media” was “searching for more and more pessimism.”

      The only competent economic policymakers we have right now are over at the Fed, a group the White House is actively attempting to discredit.

      We’ve been incredibly fortunate – to this point – that this White House hasn’t been tested by a major economic or geopolitical incident.

      • Dave Bearse

        “A guy who plays an economist on TV…LOL…certainly compliments a reality TV star that plays the President on twitter.

        No mention of Kudlow qualifications is complete without mention that he supports returning the country to the gold standard.

  2. Benevolus

    That voter registration groups name is ACRONYM, which I thought would be, well, and acronym, but apparently it’s not, at least I don’t see any explanation of it on their website. So why would you name a political organization “acronym”? I suppose it’s some ‘inside joke’ sort of thing, as their website is ‘anotheracronym.org’ and so their emails are like ‘[email protected] ‘.

    So one could speculate that a bunch of young media types were sitting around getting stoned and came up with something like ‘A Concerted Rejection Of New York Media’ or something equally mundane.

  3. Benevolus

    Rolling back the “Citizens United” decision isn’t the same as Radically Curtailing Freedom of Speech. Wish I had time to discuss further.

    • xdog

      You haven’t spent enough time with ‘one dollar, one vote’ libertarians. Some of those folks break out in hives if they have to walk on public sidewalks.

    • Dave Bearse

      It’s just more GOP hypocrisy, it’s BS that their court appointees support norms and tradition, and decisions Dems agree with are always a slippery slope.

      The idea that “corporations are people too” (or unions for that matter) with respect to politics (Citizens United), and with respect to health benefits (Hobby Lobby) are new developments. The interpretation of the second amendment (Heller) as an individual right to bear arms is a new development.

      The GOP, having elevated Kavanaugh after he lied under oath on TV (not about the sexual assault allegations which were hardly investigated so he could lie of not and very few could be sure, but rather about himself as a teenager), has of course set its sites on Roe.

      Reason may be upset because they’re well aware of the new standards the GOP is setting concerning respect for traditions and norms, and interpretation of law.

  4. chamblee54

    Yesteday, there was a discussion here about the term Cross Keys. Here is what I found. In four years at Cross Keys High School, I never heard anyone say what it meant.

    • Mr. Bear

      Nice nosing around c54. As with any good research, the answers spur a new set of questions. Like bringing up the subject of restaurant sit-ins and of why Herren’s survived a lot longer than Leb’s and the Pickrick. I’m old enough to remember the demonstrators who were outside my high school baccalaureate ceremony. And that the issues which were raised found remedy later that summer. A different time. Thanks.

      • chamblee54

        The buildings that housed Leb’s and Herren’s are still standing. Herren’s is now a theater. The Pickrick was bought by Georgia
        Tech, of course, used as a storage building, and demolished. I always thought it should be remembered in some way. When you tell a story, you should tell about the villains, as well as the heroes.
        I worked with this man once who claimed to have worked at the Pickrick. He said they had a parrot, which he taught to cuss.
        The night Lester was on the Dick Cavett show, Truman Capote was one of the other guests. Mr. Capote said, in his own inimitable manner, that he had eaten at the Pickrick. “All I’m going to say is that it was not finger lickin’ good.”

        • Mr. Bear

          In my feeble bear brain, I seem to remember the cussing parrot story. It’s funny what gets remembered and what doesn’t. People who make it a point to know such stuff make a point of remembering the ax handles and his penchant for riding a bicycle backwards, but they forget his opening the governor’s office to all comers for “Little People’s Day” and for his efforts toward prison reform in Georgia. However odd he might have been, he was honest.

          I’ve got an ax-handle story from 1968 that is probably best lost to the mists of memory……

          • chamblee54

            The time I went to “Little People’s Day” it was held at the Govenor’s Mansion. “The migration north continued to West Paces Ferry Road when the current Governor’s Mansion officially opened on January 1, 1968. Lester Maddox was the first governor to occupy the current Governor’s Mansion.”
            The previous GM was on The Prado in Ansley Park. “The large granite home sat impressively on three hilltop acres, but the scale of the house was not considered large enough for many state functions. The grandness of the house was also not enhanced … by the goats and cows that were kept on site during the terms of both Eugene Talmadge and Herman, his son and later governor.”

    • Dave Bearse

      The US can shaft our partners, stiff banks, and if need be go to the Russians for a cash infusion, until some more marks are identified and conned. Trump ought to know. He’s done it a half dozen times. It’s what happens when a dad gives his dimwit son over $400 million. And as the GOP been saying for decades, government ought to be run like a business.

      I may’ve noted this on georgiapol not long ago—first half 2019 US railroad traffic is down 3.1% over last year and intermodal is down 4.1%. Week to week decreases 2019 vs 2018 have been pretty every week if not every week this year. It’s worsening, based on the week ending July 6: carloads down 8.2% compared with the same week in 2018, and intermodal down 6.9%.

      As your link indicates, a 0.25% rate cut won’t do squat. Low rates and piles of corporate cash make bonds a poor investment. The little guy’s choices are equities or a mattress.

      Brexit is the end of October, a month that has a reputation in stock markets, so we got that going for us. Besides that, Trump evangelicals will tell you we’ve been blessed that Nancy Pelosi hasn’t run Trump out of office yet, since only he can fix it.

      MAGA.

  6. armanidog

    Even if you have the money, your children will be under more stress when you get too old. I wonder if immigration could help supply taxes and workers?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/this-will-be-catastrophic-maine-families-face-elder-boom-worker-shortage-in-preview-of-nations-future/2019/08/14/7cecafc6-bec1-11e9-b873-63ace636af08_story.html

  7. Dave Bearse

    It’s from a leftist site and I can’t vouch for the integrity of all the information:

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/15/1879224/-Federal-court-slams-Georgia-for-security-failures-and-bans-use-of-paperless-voting-machines-for-2020

    Federal court slams Georgia for security failures and bans use of paperless voting machines for 2020

    “Totenberg’s decision also ordered election officials to fix errors in Georgia’s voter registration database and provide paper backups for the electronic poll books at each polling place, which are used to track whether a registered voter has cast a ballot or not when a voter shows up on Election Day.”

    Darn, that DPG hack of the SoS database on Kemp’s watch really did a number. Thank goodness Raffensperger got on it like white on rice, or we’d really be in a fix.

  8. Dave Bearse

    Trump tweeted to urge Israel not to allow two of the squad to visit the country: “It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit.”

    We all know it’s Presidential to urge a foreign government to bar duly elected members of Congress from visiting in an official capacity.

    And Israel complied of course: https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2019/8/15/20807125/rashida-tlaib-ilhan-omar-israel-ban

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