Ain't nothing so bad that Donald Trump can't make it worse: hot on the heels of alleging people had "congratulated" him on "being right" mere hours after the Orlando shootings, Donald Trump suggests that maybe President Obama was somehow in on it. Without having the guts to just come out and say so, of course! Two things: one, constantly complaining about people who do not string together the words "radical Islamic terrorism" is the very soul of political correctness. Two, just as George W. Bush did not plan, execute, or allow 9.11 to happen, Barack Obama did not plan, execute, or allow the Orlando attack to happen; "people can't believe" these theories because they're too stupid to believe.
The "liberal" media seems obsessed with the notion that the Orlando shooter was able to buy guns even though the FBI had questioned him three times in connection with two separate cases.. Note well, however, that Mr. Mateen was not actually convicted of anything before Sunday morning. And just as we should not shut down websites accused of copyright theft, we should not deny gun purchases to folks merely because they've been accused of something (and the FBI didn't even go that far with Mr. Mateen), not least because anyone can accuse anyone of anything at any time for any reason. (I'm no great fan of taking away people's rights after they've been convicted of crimes, either, as I've repeatedly noted when discussing laws taking the vote away from felons.)
Alex Press, writing at The Nation, reminds us that the Trans-Pacific "Partnership" won't help farmers, but will help seed-making big ag corporations. I mean, of course you know corporations will benefit and people won't, but you may have forgotten that corporations patent their GMO seeds, and then contractually bar farmers from ever replanting seeds they could harvest from the plants the original seeds produced -- exactly the thing that has helped drive so many Indian farmers to suicide. Now, they couldn't force that on other TPP signatories, but they got the next best thing -- patents for "inventions derived from plants," and you could drive a Mack truck through that loophole.
The lead story on the excellent Daily Kos Elections blog yesterday morning was how unexpectedly close Survey USA found the race in Utah's 4th Congressional district -- they actually have the Democrat leading, and by six points! -- but the bigger story may be that Survey USA also finds the Presidential contest tied in Utah, with Libertarian Gary Johnson in third place at 13%. Utah hasn't gone Democrat in a Presidential election since LBJ in 1964, so maybe they'll come back to Mr. Trump once the Hillary-hate ads start running, but if Utah Republicans really want to assert themselves, they could do worse than supporting Mr. Johnson.
Finally, Bloomberg visits "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Lives in the Future," the future being situated "in the middle of nowhere in Florida." Read and you'll be amazed how Mr. Fresco's utopian vision hasn't evolved over the years -- he thinks a computer can distribute resources more equitably than people because they're not "susceptible to corruption," though their programmers might be -- and I figure the relative absence of money has profoundly slowed the building even of yesterday's dreams. Still, I give him credit for sticking to his vision, much of which is pretty useful (roundish buildings) or worth the striving whether you reach it or not (getting past the need for money).
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