Be Forewarned

++The good news is that this blog is in its 7th year. So that will be my New Year's Resolution--to add up the numbers for this quirky diary of the Obama years.

++Having said that, Jennifer Rubin writes in today's Imperial Post that we should feel optimistic because 9 seasoned conservatives won Senate seats,the elections were a rebuke against the President on every policy issue,that Americans now realize America is the indispensable nation, the economy is coming back without government intervention (Cough) and that there is a strong conservative reform movement. The latter got trashed last year and Paul Krugman could teach you about Keynes. It is true that the Obama recovery lacks the significant public sector investment of all others. But none of the politics makes one feel any bit optimistic. Oh and by the way she thinks the Presidential field of candidates for the GOP is refreshing. P.S. Marco Rubio is supposed to tell us about his plans within a month.

++Jeb has left all his boards and non-profits to clean the slate for 2016. He now has a core 23% support and he is maneuvering to make a move to put a lock on the nomination by Iowa. 

++The AP wrote the story everything has been wondering "What if Hillary doesn't run?" Draft Jerry Brown. But it would open a hole so big no one on the horizon could fill. I think the Democrats need a Western flare. I really think the self-destruction of Gary Hart wounded the Democrats' possibilities.

++We will have more demographic speculation about the fate of the parties this year. It is true the Democrats start the electoral college with 247 votes. But look at the state houses and the legislatures the GOP controls. Watch for more debates on splitting electoral votes to give the GOP a chance.

++Jennifer Rubin who annoys me no end is like a less literate David Brooks who refuses to recognize how extreme the GOP has become. Jennifer likes to show that the acceptance of gays demonstrates how more inclusive the country has become. Like the GOP on immigration and on its abortion platform.

++Another person who annoys me these days is my old Harvard Divinity Schoolmate Chris Hedges. I have seen more of Noam Chomsky the last two years than in all my previous life. See Hedges interview Chomsky on democraticunderground today. Chomsky has evolved into the nice,wise Jewish grandfather recounting real history in nice coherent chunks. But Chris as he does with other academic heroes won't let the guy the time to unwind his thoughts. Chris, he will get there. He just interrupts Chomsky's thoughts by driving his pet hobby horses--that the service industry workers are the new working class and that this country will experience Revolution just like Central Europe where both us saw the incredible democratic revolutions in the 80s and 90s. Chomsky is more interesting.The riff that got cut off was Chomsky explaining that the United States until Woodrow Wilson was strongly pacifist. It was Wilson's Red Scare that ended pacifism as a national trait. It also ended authentically Left-wing politics. 

++ I saw the trailer for the new Terminator. Arnold is back! Looking a bit ragged but he is in full force.

++The New York Times mimicked the Imperial Post with a long article about how the racism of David Duke has become mainstreamed in Louisiana politics.The Southern Poverty Law Center says Scalise's statements proclaiming ignorance about the group he spoke to was  nonsense. The Hotel itself and even a minor league baseball team tried to avoid the venue. David Duke has invited every extreme right party to Louisiana to form an alliance. The British National Party showed up in force. By the way their American headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia.

++But the Washington Monthly asks why are we surprised by the embrace of racism. South Carolina's Governor Haley spoke to the Republican Governor's Association about how corporations aren't avoiding the state because of the confederate flag. Our soon to be jailed Governor Bob McDonnell tried to proclaim a Southern Heritage day. There is a long list of such incidents in the past few years.

++Thom Hartman had a panel on his show discussing the David Duke flap. Hartman ran a clip of Lee Atwater explaining how to encode race-baiting in campaign speak to the point that "cutting taxes" is the easier pitch because southerners know that African-Americans will bear the brunt. One of Jennifer Rubin's new conservative reformers piped up that Scalise's speaking to an extreme right white supremacist conclave is just like Barack Obama knowing Bill Ayres. I guess--sort of.This movement has a lot of mental firepower.

++President Obama keeps slipping detainees out of Gitmo. Even the Hill has noticed that he was repatriated more since the mid-terms than in the previous two years.

++Mahmoud Abbas wants Palestine to be a member of the International Criminal Court so he can press Israel on war crimes. The United States strenuously objects. But remember the United States had refused to join even though the court has made exceptions for our military personnel. So how can we in good conscience block such a move. Well, we are threatening to hold up aid to the Palestinian Authority.

++Palestine lost its bid to be recognized by the Security Council by only 1 vote. They thought they were going to win with 9 or 10 and only gathered 8 as the United States pressured countries to either vote no or abstain.

++The Huffington Post today had an article about the rise of anti-semiticism around the globe. They attribute this to the global media covering the Palestinian situation.

++I think this will become a larger problem in 2015 because the rise of extreme right parties in Europe have a large component of the old fashion WWII anti-semiticism. Palestine is an excuse because these parties are also anti-Muslim immigrants.