Many people are taking the primary victory by Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over a 20-year incumbent as a positive sign for more liberal policies, but Michael Tomasky sees her as part of the same demographic current that helped conservative Democrat Conor Lamb win in western Pennsylvania: Democrats are going younger. It’s an interesting take, highlighted by his take on Nancy Pelosi’s cringe-worthy lecture to Maxine Waters:
Pelosi seized an opportunity earlier in the week to demonstrate just how shockingly out of touch she is in how she rebuked Maxine Waters for her controversial remarks about the Sarah Huckabee Sanders restaurant matter. …[I]t wasn’t crazy for Pelosi to decide to put a little space between herself and Waters.
But get the language of Pelosi’s tweet: “In the crucial months ahead, we must strive to make America beautiful again. Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable. As we go forward, we must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea.”
What? Make America beautiful again? From sea to shining sea? What is this, the Children’s Television Workshop? We’re in a death match here—a struggle for the soul of the country. We’re in a crisis. And that is Pelosi’s response?
Another sign of changing demographics: An Oklahoma referendum on medical marijuana passed with nearly 57% of the vote, despite opposition from law enforcement, religious leaders and the business community. But then, Oklahoma state government isn’t in thrall to its state police force.
Best election news of the night came from Staten Island, where even the resident knuckle-draggers rejected the candidacy of ex-Marine, ex-FBI and ex-con Michael Grimm, who did time in the big house for his corruption and still doesn’t understand that people think he’s a steaming turd.
The Pittsburgh police shooting took a surprising turn: The officer who gunned down a fleeing 17-year-old has been charged with criminal homicide. The most shocking part of this story to me was that the officer had been sworn in as a police officer 90 minutes before he killed the boy. Isn’t hard to figure out why he wanted to join the force, is it?
There’s nothing I hate worse than stupidity, which is why I have for many years now despised Fox & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade, surely the dumbest man with a regular TV news gig. Here’s a clip of him interviewing a Democrat who wants to abolish ICE while turning over its duties to real police forces. He keeps trying to bait the guy, and instead ends up babbling pieties that would sound pathetic coming from a 12-year-old.
Normally I would dismiss an article arguing in favor of Trump’s handling of North Korea, but Patrick Lawrence is an experienced mainstream journalist who spent most of his career in Asia, which makes his opinion worth a read. His premise: Even if you hate Trump, he’s right to seize the opportunity to engage with Kim. He bases this on a belief that Kim wants to modernize his regime, which I’m sure he does, but North Korea also has a history of talking peace when convenient. I think he’s being startlingly naive to trust the “modernization” instincts of a leader who could best modernize the country by ending his family’s totalitarian rule. There’s no way to square that circle, Patrick, so I believe this is a ploy by a leader whose nuclear testing facility just collapsed. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose by playing this game right now. As to his complaint that Western media just wants to perpetuate hawkishness, which is true, he offers no compelling evidence that this stance isn’t prudent. He’s just pissed off that the pundits don’t agree with his brilliant analysis.