The name of this newsletter is The Warning. There are many media destinations to choose between where delusion, political idolatry, denial and propaganda are served up hot and cold 24/7, 365 days a year. This will never be one of them. I deeply believe that the United States of America is facing the greatest crisis to its survival since the Civil War. I am not alone in this view. It is
Menendez is recidivist grifter, but has upped his game considerably since marrying his current wife, who appears to be his muse, go between, and enforcer. The Democrats need to loudly and forcefully denounce him and punish him politically and officially as a Senator. I hope Mikie Sherrill soon announces she’ll run against him if he doesn’t resign.
I have, and have had for years, issues with David Brooks. He’s smug, holier than thou, falsely modest, way too enamored of and unable to move beyond his University of Chicago “classical” conservative education, condescending, unconvincing in his concerns and arguments, quick to pass judgment, seems phony in every way. I think he’s an insufferable prick.
Not knowing the man personally, I would agree that David Brooks is the lightweight, 'Norman Vincent Peale-avatar model of contemporary conservatism, a more mellow version of free marketeer, University of Chicago, Midwest boosterism; nothing profound, but definitely averse to alienating potential readers and possible sources from which to launch weekly opinion columns. An evangelist for all that is good and decent (and without cant or internal inconsistency) Brooks obviously is not. Still, taking the middle route ends up cutting the baby in two. Brooke is like a clock with two hands on its face, that the hour hand tells us approximately where we are, and the minute hand that adds or detracts from the hour hand because time is always a moving target, and Brooks' public face as an opinion columnist for one of the last great liberal newspapers in the world compels him to want to take a stand and say his piece preciselyeven as the subject of his commentary is all mush.
David Brooks himself is an avatar for a middle-of-the-road economic conservatism that never had sufficient courage to admit that it's central tenets were bullshit. He knows that the current state of the Republican Party is seriously off course, but they're not yet on parity with the Talaban. That's damning him with faint praise. Brooks is a humanist in the service of an unswerving dogma of economic determination and absolutism. It is his misfortune that in his calling, the extremist is always able to command the larger megaphone and propounding its views. The Chicago school of economics is never really serious about economics, per se, but it was always about maximizing business profits. Its tenets were always attractive to marginally educated newspaper propagandists and businessmen who stumbled into lucrative situations, but prefer to think of themselves as economic geniuses. That wasn't true then and it certainly is not true now.
Conservatism and liberalism by definition each have floating decimal points because both are viewed through the prism of stochastic events. For Democrats, this is a tough year to become overly self-righteous. Do take time to remember that we in the West won World War II only with the help and participation of the Soviet Union, the antithesis of every human value we stood for. And our hands were hardly clean in handling our own theater of action on the Western Front. In the name of human freedom, we fought in Vietnam, Iraq (twice), and Afghanistan, seeking to impose our vision of world order. In the Bush administration's justification for invading Iraq, it was all about WMDs, weapons of mass destruction, but within hours of launching the invasion, it was clear to everyone who could read and calculate, that the real objective was Iraq petroleum reserves. Anyone who could spell Texas, Cheney, or Bush knew to an absolute certainty that the great oil fields in southern Iraq were their real objective. Along with the oil barons' greed was the incalculable stupidity of dismantling the institutions of Iraqi civil society, their military and civilian administrators, and setting up the ages-old conflict between Sunni and Shia populations to reemerge with the United States in the middle. The point is that we had no dog in that fight, and our friends and allies happened to be the Kurdish tribes of Northern Iraq. Pre-invasion, nothing was said about the potential for our soldiers to be held hostage in a decade-long civil war. Our effort to suppress the Islamic State in Afghanistan was rendered ineffective because of Bush administration's willful ignorance about who was responsible for the September 11, 2001, aerial attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon. Most of this was on the watch of the Republican Party, who squandered American wealth and lives in South Asia, because they have neither the interest in effective governance, nor the the capacity to learn from their mistakes. Compound these mistakes with their asleep-at-the-switch administration of the American economy during the run-up to the 2008 elections, we can see why ordinary Americans might be upset with their government. The Republican respons was to blame the Democrats for the twin debacles of a failed oil-driven foreign policy, and their reckless financial policies at home. Republicans got very good at winning elections because their messaging to older and more rural folks living in the Old South and agrarian Midwest was pitch-perfect; but the problem was that the policies Republican Party candidates espoused would further empoverish the people who most benefitted from governmental assistance programs proposed and enacted by Democratic majorities in Congress over the years. Republican policies are much like fentanyl poisoning -- They kill people, whether it comes from slashing nutrition programs for school children, or transportation programs for the elderly and disabled, it's all of one piece. The make loud pronouncements about 'freedom', whether their target is public health in the form of getting vaccinated against contagious disease, like Covid, or their 'unlimited firearms for all' when it comes to regulating fireams trafficking and control. I spent some time examining the statistics for individual states shown on Statistica.com. They list each state in rank order between the highest death rate (Arizona at 455 deaths/100K) to the lowest (Hawaii, 130/100K). Doing an accurate statistical analysis for each cohort, i.e. Republican-leaning versus Democrat-leaning could not be fairly accomplished within the amount of space allocated to reader comments, but on balance, just from looking at these statistics, a fair estimate would be that deaths in Republican-leaning states would be about fifty percent higher than in Democrat-leaning states, even where the two states share a common border (Arizona, 455/100K compared with California (256/100K), compounded by the fact that Arizona's population is smaller and more widely dispersed than California's. Ron DeSantis' home state of Florida comes in at 404 deaths per 100K residents, and Florida's population is now approaching 22 million, as compared with California's 39 million. California's population exceeds Florida's by more than 77 percent; and yet Florida's covid death rate is 1.578:1 over California with nearly fifty percent fewer people, but with a 57 percent higher death rate per 100K deaths. Those numbers tell the story.
We fight to keep others from overrunning our national borders. In the name of our national interest and internal security, that is what we do, and the poverty-stricken would-be immigrants from conflict states in our world hemisphere are doomed to wait forever for permission to cross our border to seek a better life for themselves and families. We, the progeny of immigrants say with a straight face and a loud voice, No More. Such is the nature of competition on this planet.
Andy Kim of Congress is now running for the Senate against Menendez. I agree with your suggestion of Mikie Sherrill, too. She's the Congresswoman from my district, and would be excellent in the Senate.
It is a throw up your hands moment. I am not a fan of Schumer and now even more so. Great Patriot accused of taking bribes. Good grief can we be any more stupid than this? Where is the damn leadership? Where is the fight for right? Let me know if you find it.
Schumer has always been an ineffective idiot. I have loathed Menendez since his first trial. This is not who the Democrats need.
Since Mitt Romney said 20% of the senators do 100% of the work, I have been trying to guess the 20. I figured all Ds and/ or I. I guess a lot of women, Duckworth, Warren, Hasan, Hirono, Baldwin, Klonuchar, Shaheen, Stabenow, Murray and Smith. But I wouldn't include Schumer or Menendez. And that's pathetic. Vote smarter Dems!
When Representative Katie Porter of California was interviewed on CNN, she was asked her opinion of what was happening with Menendez. She took a deep breath, and said, "He should not be in the Senate. He needs to leave. Now." I already loved her, but now -- even more! Brava Katie! (As soon as she announced her run for Senate, I became a monthly donor, albeit only very small amounts.)
“Bob Menendez has been a dedicated public servant and is always fighting hard for the people of New Jersey. He has a right to due process and a fair trial.”--Chuck Schumer
I agree with you Steve. Democrats needs to hold a higher moral ground and for the most part we do.
When Franken was accused of boorish behavior, he was forced out of the senate, not be republicans, but by his own party for conduct that would have drawn maybe a censure by the ethics committee. Yet, that same conduct or worse (rape, sexual assault) in the Republican party gets you the presidency or a promotion.
Schumer is an idiot. I met him several times when he was a Congressman and I wasn’t impressed. Yet, Menendez was stripped of his chairmanship which is key for getting big donors to contribute to his campaign. Agreed, the charges, if true are serious, and if convicted, I hope he finds himself in the same correctional wing of the prison as Trump.
However, he is entitled to due process, which is the point. There is no conduct that republicans can do that will ever get them thrown out of Congress or censured.
MTG spent her first several months in Congress stalking AOC and look at her now. She recently moved up in the world by showing D-picks at a congressional hearing. Gaetz was implicated in an underage sex trafficking ring, and look at him now; he’s considering running for governor or senator.
Unless you’re a democrat in McCarthy’s House, they won’t even kick you off of committees. Oh wait, both Swalwell and Schiff were kicked off of their committees for doing what exactly? Exactly!
So let’s not conflate the crimes of one democratic senator from NJ, with the republican crime syndicate that only believes that laws apply to everyone, but themselves; it’s a false equivalency.
I do, however, get your point. Democrats need to be more forceful in how they communicate Menendez’s predicament, and he needs to be held to account.
I don’t think he was conflating -- I think his point is more that Schumer should have said nothing and democrats need to take a hard line on criminal behavior of their own. What Schumer said will be used to equivocate the likes of trump, Gaetz, MTG--even Giuliani, “Americas Mayor”.
He gave the MAGA republicans an in ramp “we are not so bad ...everyone is bad”.
Franken wasn't even allowed to give his side of the story. Schumer told him to resign or be censored and stripped of all committee assignments. Oh, but that was before the American people elected Trump as president, and all guard rails protecting a modicum decency fell down.
I don't think he's conflating the two. He's merely pointing out that right is right, wrong is wrong and it's not that complicated. People should stand on the side of honor and dignity. Call me Pollyanna, but I'm hoping there are still enough voters longing to see that in their leaders.
Yep. Chuck Schumer missed yet another opportunity to be a leader and show the Republicans and everyone else (Republican voters and the rest of the world) how ethical standards are executed within the US Senate. Too bad Nancy Pelosi isn't there as the House Speaker to prop up Chuck like she did for so long. :-(
I have a feeling of “nauseating disgust”. (I really liked Mendez) that is how easy it is when we are raised to Trust our elected officials. Those days have been over for a long time, now here we are.
This was a hard one (for me) to wake up to this morning.
Why, when there is hard evidence, are these people allowed to walk free. They should be handcuffed and put in jail immediately. Sure, they are innocent until proven guilty, I get that. However, they should have to wait for their innocence IN CUSTODY.
That’s all I have right now as I am truly upset. 🇺🇸
He goes to court next week I think . I expect he will have to post bail unless they consider him a flight risk....but I doubt they will do that. They didn't for Trump but it is tough to run for president when you flee the country. There could be a job waiting for him in Egypt paying in gold bars. I find that part of the charges pretty interesting. Now if he does make a run for it, your wish will come true, just like on TV. I am disgusted too but it really isn't new. There will always be corrupt politicians. Trump is in a different category so I am sorry people will conflate the two.
Good point, Martha. Sitting here reading comments this morning I have had some of your same thoughts. Mendez is/was not our president. All you say is true (job in Egypt). This particular case is much like Clarence and Ginny. I still stick to my favorite in these sort of $ matters. “GREED is the root of all EVIL”. Thanks for your reply, it helps that we have a decent place to comment.🇺🇸
Yup. One thing though, Clarence disturbs me greatly, because he is not elected and his decisions have impact on the future. We can't un-elect him. Because we seem to be without recourse, except peer pressure, Clarence is more disturbing than Trump, the failed coup leader and Menendez, the arrogant crook. The Senate can impeach Menendez but I think now that he has been indicted it would not be wise.
YESSS!!! Clearance with his guilt-inducing: "high tech lynching" (oh, how the liberal whites put down their heads, and their reservations, and immediately voted him in). Now Menendez with his "how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino". I call BULL SHITE!!!
He should have gone to jail the FIRST time he was caught! That he was allowed to return to the Senate without censure, without ANYTHING, was a complete mystery to me.
Agreed, but democrats are now experiencing a Santos moment. They need Menendez to pass legislation. You can’t count on Manchin or Sinema. Without Menendez, democrats don’t control the senate.
It’s a conundrum, but do they allow the Omnibus spending bill to fail because of this charlatan? The stakes are too high.
That said, the man is scum and needs to either resign, or an ethics investigation needs to be opened, and he needs to be expelled!
The Democratic governor of NJ will name his replacement so if he steps down, and he should for the good of the party that supported him for fifty years, it will be just a hiccup.
I wasn’t sure of the process as to whether the position would stay vacant until a special election is held or whether the NJ governor can chose his replacement. I just read about it in the WP; Governor Murphy asked for his resignation and would replace him.
I agree. Thanks for the correction; much appreciated...:)
I feel it’s all about accountability regardless of who it is! Character and integrity shouldn’t be camouflaged for political reasons! Truth must prevail!
This is the second indictment of Menendez. The charges this time is alarming and if true, he is presumed innocent, it is on par with the charges against trump. Based on the photos, could he be that careless and arrogant? Senator Schumer has always been a poor majority leader in my estimation. He does deliver quite well for the State of New York however. I feel he still operates as if he’s the minority leader. Granted he has two vipers in his nest. The Menendez indictment does show that the DOJ is not weaponized against trump and his MAGA confederates.
I suggest we keep an eye on Fox as I’m sure David Brooks will be hosting a show there shortly.
I saw a disturbing photo in an article about Clarence Thomas and an event he attended called the Conclave. A trip not reported by him. The photo is of Ken Burns being flanked by Thomas and one of Thomas’ benefactors. I would really like to know the story behind the photo.
Was Ken there as a paid speaker and the others wanted a picture with the revered documentarian? I don't know. However there was a clarification in Variety: “Around ten years ago, Ken was stopped and asked to take a photograph with a Supreme Court Justice and David Koch, who was a supporter of public television and would later provide some funding for his film, ‘The Vietnam War.’ So he took the photo, as he has done with many, many others. Other than the taking of that photograph and innocuous pleasantries, that’s the extent of his contact with Justice Thomas,” a spokesperson for Burns said in a statement to Variety
I was shocked to see that picture and received a demonstration of how the mind employs it's trickiest tool; denial. I immediately said to myself "wow, this guy really looks like Ken Burns, I wonder who it is?"
I’m not sure the rest of the country outside of New Jersey realize how pissed and angry we Jerseyans are at Sen. Menendez. Gov. Murphy’s response was spot on. ‘GET OUT’. It’s intolerable and wreaks with the smell of a Jersey landfill 24/7-365. If the NJ DCCC had any sense (which I’m not so sure if that either) they would move quickly and support his replacement with Congresswoman Mike Sherrill (NJCD11). But you know, the good ‘Ol Boys club of the US Senate may not like that too much.
No matter how robust or feeble the Democrats’ denouncing of Menendez is, I think we can be sure that they will not start accusing the DOJ of corruption and playing dirty politics. They won’t threaten Merrick Garland, the prosecutors, or the FBI. They will not call for hearings, nor will they pillory the department in the press. There lies the big difference between the Democrats’ tolerance and treatment of criminality in their own ranks and the Republicans.
On Sen Mendez while Schumer is supporting him the NJ Governor and NJ House Members told him to go Notice no one calling out DOJ for their action. The Senator should resign
OnMr Brooks the only silver lining is the free publicity the restaurant received. Wondering if Mr Brooks might want to consider his lifestyle and use of social media. David Brooks was even roasted on last PMs PBS New Hour
Clear light of day for both of these. Best disinfectant available
Honestly I think the point of Schumer's statement got lost in translation as many of Schumer statements do. He said 3 things: 1. Menendez has been accused of doing a very bad thing. 2. As a body we aren't rushing to judgment because in the US he is innocent until proven guilty (is that part of the constitution they promise to uphold?) and 3. He has been removed from his leadership position (according to Dem rules, or the senates?) I scream at Schumer all the times for saying things poorly or saying stupid things...but NY keeps electing him and I'm not from NY. It was a routine badly worded statement because he is mealy mouthed most of the time. This anger toward him is a tempest in a teapot. He will survive and remain the majority leader.
At times, I feel that the media can be trusted in their reporting of ‘facts’ and at times the reporting is slanted towards the MAGA reins. D. Brooks intentionally told a lie on social media to see where it would take him. Fortunately, the post was DOA because there are good people in our universe that believe in the truth. It appears that Brooks wanted to harm the Democratic Party and its constituents by photographing a ‘meal’ and stating the cost of it. As was said, he neglected to add in the cost of ‘booze’ which is already known to be the backbone of any restaurant that serves alcoholic beverages. His intent was to present a falsehood about inflation. Yes, the cost of restaurant food has escalated and that has been well established in the media, but to intentionally exaggerate the cost will be an embarrassing moment and besides he mentioned a negative by naming the restaurant, who made the correction to protect their name. The MAGA group needs to put their heads in the sand and let the Democratic Party run this State/Federal government because it works with a firm leader, who will keep it operating despite the knives being thrown their way.
It is very, very hard to be a republican supporter these days. Guys got to make a buck. Tongue in cheek. Truly, it was pathetic, unprofessional, and smug...he won the trifecta!
I have admired David Brooks for a very long time, mostly for the way his mind works, that said some things come to mind; no one I know goes to an airport to eat, so he must have been going somewhere, he either has a drinking problem, which anyone can have, or he has a lot of anxiety about flying which I suppose can be true or it could be the reason he was flying, either way 3 or 4 doubles can cloud a man’s judgment which it evidently did in this case. He needs to post an apology and admit that he has a problem which it looks like he might have, forgiveness is easy in this case. Mendez is another issue altogether, he seems to be fundamentally corrupt, and not to have learned anything from his narrow escape previously. To not have learned anything from his hung jury experience is telling and he has no business in the senate. If you or I had experienced a close encounter with a prison sentence like he did we would have been walking the straight and narrow, not the case here. Hundreds of thousands in cash would be nice to have I am sure, but how do you spend it without drawing attention to it and it’s lack of providence, it can buy a lot of nice meals I suppose, and it could grease your life like yard and pool service etc, so maybe it’s easier to dispose of than I would have thought. Here’s a guy serving in the senate that’s not smart enough to know that there is a lens looking at him because of his past behavior and he still puts his hand out for a bribe. You don’t have to be a maggot to be corrupt, case in point.
You are 1,000% wrong on Brooks. He is a pompous elitist and all around prick. This post was cynical, purposeful and totally dishonest. He should not apologize, he should resign, and the Times should apologize he worked for them.
This Brooks post really set me off as you can tell. It is everything that is wrong with America today-performative in the extreme, misleading and shilling for his own often hidden agenda.
He deserves EVERYTHING he gets on this. I am so glad for the overwhelming pushback on this. This is what we need with ALL the other crap we see from Trump and his wannabes.
A lot of shopping malls have metal exchange places, they would buy them, but they might be problematic if they crossed the $10K threshold which has to be reported, the bars didn’t appear to be huge but might have easily been worth more.
I wrote a comment earlier, but had time to digest Steve’s newsletter and read more about Menendez’s indictment. Plus a few commenters offered additional reasons why Menendez isn’t fit for office.
I agree. The man is a scum-bag and democrats need to force him to resign immediately. He’s not even a good criminal. He left forensic fingerprints (digital) through emails and the FBI found stashes of money and gold bars.
Next time I’ll make sure to fully comprehend the issue before adding my two cents.
I stand corrected and agree with Steve’s original post: democrats need to hold themselves to a higher standard than republicans, if they are to prove to the public that they won’t put up with criminal behavior, no matter what!
Menendez is recidivist grifter, but has upped his game considerably since marrying his current wife, who appears to be his muse, go between, and enforcer. The Democrats need to loudly and forcefully denounce him and punish him politically and officially as a Senator. I hope Mikie Sherrill soon announces she’ll run against him if he doesn’t resign.
I have, and have had for years, issues with David Brooks. He’s smug, holier than thou, falsely modest, way too enamored of and unable to move beyond his University of Chicago “classical” conservative education, condescending, unconvincing in his concerns and arguments, quick to pass judgment, seems phony in every way. I think he’s an insufferable prick.
Happily, my life has never had to suffer David Brooks; until now. As Charlie Brown would say, “ Rats!!!”
Not knowing the man personally, I would agree that David Brooks is the lightweight, 'Norman Vincent Peale-avatar model of contemporary conservatism, a more mellow version of free marketeer, University of Chicago, Midwest boosterism; nothing profound, but definitely averse to alienating potential readers and possible sources from which to launch weekly opinion columns. An evangelist for all that is good and decent (and without cant or internal inconsistency) Brooks obviously is not. Still, taking the middle route ends up cutting the baby in two. Brooke is like a clock with two hands on its face, that the hour hand tells us approximately where we are, and the minute hand that adds or detracts from the hour hand because time is always a moving target, and Brooks' public face as an opinion columnist for one of the last great liberal newspapers in the world compels him to want to take a stand and say his piece preciselyeven as the subject of his commentary is all mush.
David Brooks himself is an avatar for a middle-of-the-road economic conservatism that never had sufficient courage to admit that it's central tenets were bullshit. He knows that the current state of the Republican Party is seriously off course, but they're not yet on parity with the Talaban. That's damning him with faint praise. Brooks is a humanist in the service of an unswerving dogma of economic determination and absolutism. It is his misfortune that in his calling, the extremist is always able to command the larger megaphone and propounding its views. The Chicago school of economics is never really serious about economics, per se, but it was always about maximizing business profits. Its tenets were always attractive to marginally educated newspaper propagandists and businessmen who stumbled into lucrative situations, but prefer to think of themselves as economic geniuses. That wasn't true then and it certainly is not true now.
Conservatism and liberalism by definition each have floating decimal points because both are viewed through the prism of stochastic events. For Democrats, this is a tough year to become overly self-righteous. Do take time to remember that we in the West won World War II only with the help and participation of the Soviet Union, the antithesis of every human value we stood for. And our hands were hardly clean in handling our own theater of action on the Western Front. In the name of human freedom, we fought in Vietnam, Iraq (twice), and Afghanistan, seeking to impose our vision of world order. In the Bush administration's justification for invading Iraq, it was all about WMDs, weapons of mass destruction, but within hours of launching the invasion, it was clear to everyone who could read and calculate, that the real objective was Iraq petroleum reserves. Anyone who could spell Texas, Cheney, or Bush knew to an absolute certainty that the great oil fields in southern Iraq were their real objective. Along with the oil barons' greed was the incalculable stupidity of dismantling the institutions of Iraqi civil society, their military and civilian administrators, and setting up the ages-old conflict between Sunni and Shia populations to reemerge with the United States in the middle. The point is that we had no dog in that fight, and our friends and allies happened to be the Kurdish tribes of Northern Iraq. Pre-invasion, nothing was said about the potential for our soldiers to be held hostage in a decade-long civil war. Our effort to suppress the Islamic State in Afghanistan was rendered ineffective because of Bush administration's willful ignorance about who was responsible for the September 11, 2001, aerial attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon. Most of this was on the watch of the Republican Party, who squandered American wealth and lives in South Asia, because they have neither the interest in effective governance, nor the the capacity to learn from their mistakes. Compound these mistakes with their asleep-at-the-switch administration of the American economy during the run-up to the 2008 elections, we can see why ordinary Americans might be upset with their government. The Republican respons was to blame the Democrats for the twin debacles of a failed oil-driven foreign policy, and their reckless financial policies at home. Republicans got very good at winning elections because their messaging to older and more rural folks living in the Old South and agrarian Midwest was pitch-perfect; but the problem was that the policies Republican Party candidates espoused would further empoverish the people who most benefitted from governmental assistance programs proposed and enacted by Democratic majorities in Congress over the years. Republican policies are much like fentanyl poisoning -- They kill people, whether it comes from slashing nutrition programs for school children, or transportation programs for the elderly and disabled, it's all of one piece. The make loud pronouncements about 'freedom', whether their target is public health in the form of getting vaccinated against contagious disease, like Covid, or their 'unlimited firearms for all' when it comes to regulating fireams trafficking and control. I spent some time examining the statistics for individual states shown on Statistica.com. They list each state in rank order between the highest death rate (Arizona at 455 deaths/100K) to the lowest (Hawaii, 130/100K). Doing an accurate statistical analysis for each cohort, i.e. Republican-leaning versus Democrat-leaning could not be fairly accomplished within the amount of space allocated to reader comments, but on balance, just from looking at these statistics, a fair estimate would be that deaths in Republican-leaning states would be about fifty percent higher than in Democrat-leaning states, even where the two states share a common border (Arizona, 455/100K compared with California (256/100K), compounded by the fact that Arizona's population is smaller and more widely dispersed than California's. Ron DeSantis' home state of Florida comes in at 404 deaths per 100K residents, and Florida's population is now approaching 22 million, as compared with California's 39 million. California's population exceeds Florida's by more than 77 percent; and yet Florida's covid death rate is 1.578:1 over California with nearly fifty percent fewer people, but with a 57 percent higher death rate per 100K deaths. Those numbers tell the story.
We fight to keep others from overrunning our national borders. In the name of our national interest and internal security, that is what we do, and the poverty-stricken would-be immigrants from conflict states in our world hemisphere are doomed to wait forever for permission to cross our border to seek a better life for themselves and families. We, the progeny of immigrants say with a straight face and a loud voice, No More. Such is the nature of competition on this planet.
Arthur, please see my reply that I missposted as a comment. Thanks, Tom Stephenson
Andy Kim of Congress is now running for the Senate against Menendez. I agree with your suggestion of Mikie Sherrill, too. She's the Congresswoman from my district, and would be excellent in the Senate.
It is a throw up your hands moment. I am not a fan of Schumer and now even more so. Great Patriot accused of taking bribes. Good grief can we be any more stupid than this? Where is the damn leadership? Where is the fight for right? Let me know if you find it.
I sent emails to my two senators & Schumer. What are they, morons??? This is their moment if done correctly. I’m so frustrated by all of them!
I sent one to Schumer. Both of my Senators are Republican.
Schumer has always been an ineffective idiot. I have loathed Menendez since his first trial. This is not who the Democrats need.
Since Mitt Romney said 20% of the senators do 100% of the work, I have been trying to guess the 20. I figured all Ds and/ or I. I guess a lot of women, Duckworth, Warren, Hasan, Hirono, Baldwin, Klonuchar, Shaheen, Stabenow, Murray and Smith. But I wouldn't include Schumer or Menendez. And that's pathetic. Vote smarter Dems!
When Representative Katie Porter of California was interviewed on CNN, she was asked her opinion of what was happening with Menendez. She took a deep breath, and said, "He should not be in the Senate. He needs to leave. Now." I already loved her, but now -- even more! Brava Katie! (As soon as she announced her run for Senate, I became a monthly donor, albeit only very small amounts.)
“Bob Menendez has been a dedicated public servant and is always fighting hard for the people of New Jersey. He has a right to due process and a fair trial.”--Chuck Schumer
I agree with you Steve. Democrats needs to hold a higher moral ground and for the most part we do.
When Franken was accused of boorish behavior, he was forced out of the senate, not be republicans, but by his own party for conduct that would have drawn maybe a censure by the ethics committee. Yet, that same conduct or worse (rape, sexual assault) in the Republican party gets you the presidency or a promotion.
Schumer is an idiot. I met him several times when he was a Congressman and I wasn’t impressed. Yet, Menendez was stripped of his chairmanship which is key for getting big donors to contribute to his campaign. Agreed, the charges, if true are serious, and if convicted, I hope he finds himself in the same correctional wing of the prison as Trump.
However, he is entitled to due process, which is the point. There is no conduct that republicans can do that will ever get them thrown out of Congress or censured.
MTG spent her first several months in Congress stalking AOC and look at her now. She recently moved up in the world by showing D-picks at a congressional hearing. Gaetz was implicated in an underage sex trafficking ring, and look at him now; he’s considering running for governor or senator.
Unless you’re a democrat in McCarthy’s House, they won’t even kick you off of committees. Oh wait, both Swalwell and Schiff were kicked off of their committees for doing what exactly? Exactly!
So let’s not conflate the crimes of one democratic senator from NJ, with the republican crime syndicate that only believes that laws apply to everyone, but themselves; it’s a false equivalency.
I do, however, get your point. Democrats need to be more forceful in how they communicate Menendez’s predicament, and he needs to be held to account.
I don’t think he was conflating -- I think his point is more that Schumer should have said nothing and democrats need to take a hard line on criminal behavior of their own. What Schumer said will be used to equivocate the likes of trump, Gaetz, MTG--even Giuliani, “Americas Mayor”.
He gave the MAGA republicans an in ramp “we are not so bad ...everyone is bad”.
Fair enough, and I agree. Menendez needs to go. Thank you...:)
Franken wasn't even allowed to give his side of the story. Schumer told him to resign or be censored and stripped of all committee assignments. Oh, but that was before the American people elected Trump as president, and all guard rails protecting a modicum decency fell down.
I don't think he's conflating the two. He's merely pointing out that right is right, wrong is wrong and it's not that complicated. People should stand on the side of honor and dignity. Call me Pollyanna, but I'm hoping there are still enough voters longing to see that in their leaders.
How well I remember this. Franken recently said that he wished he hadn't left.
Well said...:)
Yep. Chuck Schumer missed yet another opportunity to be a leader and show the Republicans and everyone else (Republican voters and the rest of the world) how ethical standards are executed within the US Senate. Too bad Nancy Pelosi isn't there as the House Speaker to prop up Chuck like she did for so long. :-(
I’m waiting for a Jamie Raskins excoriating
Always. That man is pure gold.
He’s the best. Thank goodness he is there.
I have a feeling of “nauseating disgust”. (I really liked Mendez) that is how easy it is when we are raised to Trust our elected officials. Those days have been over for a long time, now here we are.
This was a hard one (for me) to wake up to this morning.
Why, when there is hard evidence, are these people allowed to walk free. They should be handcuffed and put in jail immediately. Sure, they are innocent until proven guilty, I get that. However, they should have to wait for their innocence IN CUSTODY.
That’s all I have right now as I am truly upset. 🇺🇸
He goes to court next week I think . I expect he will have to post bail unless they consider him a flight risk....but I doubt they will do that. They didn't for Trump but it is tough to run for president when you flee the country. There could be a job waiting for him in Egypt paying in gold bars. I find that part of the charges pretty interesting. Now if he does make a run for it, your wish will come true, just like on TV. I am disgusted too but it really isn't new. There will always be corrupt politicians. Trump is in a different category so I am sorry people will conflate the two.
Good point, Martha. Sitting here reading comments this morning I have had some of your same thoughts. Mendez is/was not our president. All you say is true (job in Egypt). This particular case is much like Clarence and Ginny. I still stick to my favorite in these sort of $ matters. “GREED is the root of all EVIL”. Thanks for your reply, it helps that we have a decent place to comment.🇺🇸
Yup. One thing though, Clarence disturbs me greatly, because he is not elected and his decisions have impact on the future. We can't un-elect him. Because we seem to be without recourse, except peer pressure, Clarence is more disturbing than Trump, the failed coup leader and Menendez, the arrogant crook. The Senate can impeach Menendez but I think now that he has been indicted it would not be wise.
YESSS!!! Clearance with his guilt-inducing: "high tech lynching" (oh, how the liberal whites put down their heads, and their reservations, and immediately voted him in). Now Menendez with his "how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino". I call BULL SHITE!!!
Menendez can defend himself as a private citizen.
He should have gone to jail the FIRST time he was caught! That he was allowed to return to the Senate without censure, without ANYTHING, was a complete mystery to me.
Because they can afford it. Period.
I have a feeling that Menendez will be forced to step down.
Agreed, but democrats are now experiencing a Santos moment. They need Menendez to pass legislation. You can’t count on Manchin or Sinema. Without Menendez, democrats don’t control the senate.
It’s a conundrum, but do they allow the Omnibus spending bill to fail because of this charlatan? The stakes are too high.
That said, the man is scum and needs to either resign, or an ethics investigation needs to be opened, and he needs to be expelled!
The question is when?
The Democratic governor of NJ will name his replacement so if he steps down, and he should for the good of the party that supported him for fifty years, it will be just a hiccup.
I wasn’t sure of the process as to whether the position would stay vacant until a special election is held or whether the NJ governor can chose his replacement. I just read about it in the WP; Governor Murphy asked for his resignation and would replace him.
I agree. Thanks for the correction; much appreciated...:)
I feel it’s all about accountability regardless of who it is! Character and integrity shouldn’t be camouflaged for political reasons! Truth must prevail!
The only thing that got me through the Trump years was my fervent personal belief that right is might and the means justifies the end.
Any talk of who his replacement might be?
Hope so. He's scum.
When your Governor wand US House say go you should go
Agree!
Sure hope that you're right.
This is the second indictment of Menendez. The charges this time is alarming and if true, he is presumed innocent, it is on par with the charges against trump. Based on the photos, could he be that careless and arrogant? Senator Schumer has always been a poor majority leader in my estimation. He does deliver quite well for the State of New York however. I feel he still operates as if he’s the minority leader. Granted he has two vipers in his nest. The Menendez indictment does show that the DOJ is not weaponized against trump and his MAGA confederates.
I suggest we keep an eye on Fox as I’m sure David Brooks will be hosting a show there shortly.
I saw a disturbing photo in an article about Clarence Thomas and an event he attended called the Conclave. A trip not reported by him. The photo is of Ken Burns being flanked by Thomas and one of Thomas’ benefactors. I would really like to know the story behind the photo.
Was Ken there as a paid speaker and the others wanted a picture with the revered documentarian? I don't know. However there was a clarification in Variety: “Around ten years ago, Ken was stopped and asked to take a photograph with a Supreme Court Justice and David Koch, who was a supporter of public television and would later provide some funding for his film, ‘The Vietnam War.’ So he took the photo, as he has done with many, many others. Other than the taking of that photograph and innocuous pleasantries, that’s the extent of his contact with Justice Thomas,” a spokesperson for Burns said in a statement to Variety
That’s good to know, but Ken needs to come out now hard and denounce them both. Now.
I’m glad to read this. I hope they make a more public statement.
Mike, I saw that too on Joy Reid last night. I admire Ken Burns and his work. This really tainted my attitude towards him…
I felt the same. It crushed me to see Ken Burns with Thomas and that photo. Ken needs to make a statement about that.
I agree. It crushed me too. Hope he makes a statement.
I was shocked to see that picture and received a demonstration of how the mind employs it's trickiest tool; denial. I immediately said to myself "wow, this guy really looks like Ken Burns, I wonder who it is?"
I was so shocked to see him in the picture.
I know that there will be a good explanation. It does not look like a recent picture, but so what?
Since it was brought up during Joy Reid’s show last night, I’m told, a more public repudiation of the photo I think is in order.
I’m not sure the rest of the country outside of New Jersey realize how pissed and angry we Jerseyans are at Sen. Menendez. Gov. Murphy’s response was spot on. ‘GET OUT’. It’s intolerable and wreaks with the smell of a Jersey landfill 24/7-365. If the NJ DCCC had any sense (which I’m not so sure if that either) they would move quickly and support his replacement with Congresswoman Mike Sherrill (NJCD11). But you know, the good ‘Ol Boys club of the US Senate may not like that too much.
Mikey Sherrill would be a dream come true! So bright, so articulate, and such a Patriot!
U.S. Naval Academy graduate, military background, and loves the Constitution!
Who could want more in a Senator? (I am not her Mother!)
From your lips to the DCCCs ears. I bet in this case the good old boys club would like to evict him. He makes them all look bad.
My cynicism thinks they’re only pissed because he’s sloppy and got caught. Makes the Ol Boys more concerned then embarrassed.
No matter how robust or feeble the Democrats’ denouncing of Menendez is, I think we can be sure that they will not start accusing the DOJ of corruption and playing dirty politics. They won’t threaten Merrick Garland, the prosecutors, or the FBI. They will not call for hearings, nor will they pillory the department in the press. There lies the big difference between the Democrats’ tolerance and treatment of criminality in their own ranks and the Republicans.
On Sen Mendez while Schumer is supporting him the NJ Governor and NJ House Members told him to go Notice no one calling out DOJ for their action. The Senator should resign
OnMr Brooks the only silver lining is the free publicity the restaurant received. Wondering if Mr Brooks might want to consider his lifestyle and use of social media. David Brooks was even roasted on last PMs PBS New Hour
Clear light of day for both of these. Best disinfectant available
Honestly I think the point of Schumer's statement got lost in translation as many of Schumer statements do. He said 3 things: 1. Menendez has been accused of doing a very bad thing. 2. As a body we aren't rushing to judgment because in the US he is innocent until proven guilty (is that part of the constitution they promise to uphold?) and 3. He has been removed from his leadership position (according to Dem rules, or the senates?) I scream at Schumer all the times for saying things poorly or saying stupid things...but NY keeps electing him and I'm not from NY. It was a routine badly worded statement because he is mealy mouthed most of the time. This anger toward him is a tempest in a teapot. He will survive and remain the majority leader.
Sadly.
I had hoped he would step aside like Nancy did.
Menendez is a sad reminder that many become 'gods' after years of winning elections. Term limits must be updated.
I am really glad I'm not David Brooks.
At times, I feel that the media can be trusted in their reporting of ‘facts’ and at times the reporting is slanted towards the MAGA reins. D. Brooks intentionally told a lie on social media to see where it would take him. Fortunately, the post was DOA because there are good people in our universe that believe in the truth. It appears that Brooks wanted to harm the Democratic Party and its constituents by photographing a ‘meal’ and stating the cost of it. As was said, he neglected to add in the cost of ‘booze’ which is already known to be the backbone of any restaurant that serves alcoholic beverages. His intent was to present a falsehood about inflation. Yes, the cost of restaurant food has escalated and that has been well established in the media, but to intentionally exaggerate the cost will be an embarrassing moment and besides he mentioned a negative by naming the restaurant, who made the correction to protect their name. The MAGA group needs to put their heads in the sand and let the Democratic Party run this State/Federal government because it works with a firm leader, who will keep it operating despite the knives being thrown their way.
It is very, very hard to be a republican supporter these days. Guys got to make a buck. Tongue in cheek. Truly, it was pathetic, unprofessional, and smug...he won the trifecta!
I have admired David Brooks for a very long time, mostly for the way his mind works, that said some things come to mind; no one I know goes to an airport to eat, so he must have been going somewhere, he either has a drinking problem, which anyone can have, or he has a lot of anxiety about flying which I suppose can be true or it could be the reason he was flying, either way 3 or 4 doubles can cloud a man’s judgment which it evidently did in this case. He needs to post an apology and admit that he has a problem which it looks like he might have, forgiveness is easy in this case. Mendez is another issue altogether, he seems to be fundamentally corrupt, and not to have learned anything from his narrow escape previously. To not have learned anything from his hung jury experience is telling and he has no business in the senate. If you or I had experienced a close encounter with a prison sentence like he did we would have been walking the straight and narrow, not the case here. Hundreds of thousands in cash would be nice to have I am sure, but how do you spend it without drawing attention to it and it’s lack of providence, it can buy a lot of nice meals I suppose, and it could grease your life like yard and pool service etc, so maybe it’s easier to dispose of than I would have thought. Here’s a guy serving in the senate that’s not smart enough to know that there is a lens looking at him because of his past behavior and he still puts his hand out for a bribe. You don’t have to be a maggot to be corrupt, case in point.
You are 1,000% wrong on Brooks. He is a pompous elitist and all around prick. This post was cynical, purposeful and totally dishonest. He should not apologize, he should resign, and the Times should apologize he worked for them.
This Brooks post really set me off as you can tell. It is everything that is wrong with America today-performative in the extreme, misleading and shilling for his own often hidden agenda.
He deserves EVERYTHING he gets on this. I am so glad for the overwhelming pushback on this. This is what we need with ALL the other crap we see from Trump and his wannabes.
I’m with you Rick!!
Agree about Menendez, but not a fan of Brooks, who has always struck me as pompous.
I find myself wondering, how does one spend a gold bar?
Apparently his wife tried to sell some of them.
A lot of shopping malls have metal exchange places, they would buy them, but they might be problematic if they crossed the $10K threshold which has to be reported, the bars didn’t appear to be huge but might have easily been worth more.
Steve, you always set the record straight about despicable behavior and calling it out.
I wrote a comment earlier, but had time to digest Steve’s newsletter and read more about Menendez’s indictment. Plus a few commenters offered additional reasons why Menendez isn’t fit for office.
I agree. The man is a scum-bag and democrats need to force him to resign immediately. He’s not even a good criminal. He left forensic fingerprints (digital) through emails and the FBI found stashes of money and gold bars.
Next time I’ll make sure to fully comprehend the issue before adding my two cents.
I stand corrected and agree with Steve’s original post: democrats need to hold themselves to a higher standard than republicans, if they are to prove to the public that they won’t put up with criminal behavior, no matter what!
My apologies!..:)