Overnight Open Thread (9-7-2014)

The Unbearable Lightweightness of Obama's Spokesholes

Bill O'Reilly came under criticism from the Obama administration this week for stating that Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the State Department, "looks way out of her depth" and that "just the way she delivers, she doesn't look like she has the gravitas for the job."

...The more interesting question is why Team Obama selects obvious lightweights to hold forth to the press on U.S. foreign policy. There are two answers, I believe.

First, Obama is playing to a core component of his base - the young. Those of us of a certain age may be put off by seeing U.S. foreign policy explained by someone who looks like she just stepped out of a Student Congress session. But to Obama's youthful fans, it probably seems very cool. So, perhaps, does Psaki's widely ridiculed (by old people) hashtag diplomacy.

...But there's a second, and think more fundamental, explanation for the State Department's use of Psaki and Harf. I believe Team Obama is trying to "demystify" foreign policy - to make it look unthreatening almost to the point of child's play. Psaki and Harf provide visual expression of this view just by standing at the podium and talking.

Or maybe he just doesn't think spokespeople are all that important so why not reward the van drivers and children of big donors with a nice position and title.

JOHN adds: Yes, and let's not forget Tommy Vietor, a van driver for the Obama campaign who became a foreign policy spokesman for the Obama administration and famously said, in answer to a question about Benghazi, "Dude, this was like two years ago." Barack Obama proceeds, always, on the assumption that voters are idiots. I think his choice of spokesmen is just one facet of that cynical perspective, which so far has proved sadly accurate.

Support for Scottish Independence Hits 51%

And based on the current trend there's a decent chance the United Kingdom will be no longer after the Sep. 18th referendum. Which would be a political win for the new country of Scotland as well as an economic win for an England freed from supporting the welfare state in the north.

Prayers for Mandy Nagy

Mandy Nagy AKA 'Liberty Chick' had a stroke yesterday and underwent successful brain surgery to relieve pressure on her brain. Updates at Legal Insurrection.

Joan Rivers, Republican

According to her friend Peggy Noonan:

We met and became friends in 1992, but the story I always remember when I think of her took place in June 2004. Ronald Reagan had just died, and his remains were being flown from California to Washington, where he would lay in state at the U.S. Capitol. A group of his friends were invited to the Capitol to take part in the formal receiving of his remains, and to say goodbye. Joan was there, as a great friend and supporter of the Reagans.

...She was a Republican, always a surprising thing in show business, and in a New Yorker, but she was one because, as she would tell you, she worked hard, made her money with great effort, and didn't feel her profits should be unduly taxed. She once said in an interview that if you have 19 children she will pay for the first four but no more. Mostly she just couldn't tolerate cant and didn't respond well to political manipulation. She believed in a strong defense because she was a grown-up and understood the world to be a tough house. She loved Margaret Thostaer, who said what Joan believed: The facts of life are conservative. She didn't do a lot of politics in her shows-politics divides an audience-but she thought a lot about it and talked about it.

Federal Complaint Says Hog Farms Are Racial Discrimination

Apparently if disproportionate numbers of 'people of color' happen to live near a pig farm, that's racial discrimination.

The 48-page complaint explains that the farms create problems for surrounding neighborhoods such as foul smells and runoff in the water.

The crux of the complaint, which was filed by Washington-based EarthJustice and three other environmental groups in the Tar Heel State, is not these problems themselves, however. The four environmental groups object to seeing these problems occur in neighborhoods where "people of color" are more likely to live.

Is Ol'Sol Slowing Down?

Given how weak this current solar cycle has been there's a good chance that we may be heading into a new Maunder Minimum. And the effects of this could be more dire than those claimed about global warming. Note that unlike 'global warming' the sun's behavior can be directly measured and we have first-hand historical accounts of the effects of the last minimum.

Sometimes Kerning Matters

And yeah it took me a moment to figure it out.

Salsa Dancing with Barbara Eden and Elizabeth Montgomery

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The group. Never heard of it.

Where it's at - the Twitter

Tonight's post brought to you by Joan explaining Gaza:

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posted by Maetenloch at 10:18 PM

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