Tables Turned

Yes, Dan Bongino is a carpet-bagging professional congressional campaigner who has a profanity-laced meltdown in talking to Politico reporter Marc Caputo. But after listening to the tape of the call, Caputo comes of as bad as Bongino as a smug, trolling reporter goading Bongino into anger by pestering him and splitting hairs about whether he called a tweet or a story propaganda. 

No one comes out looking good in this exchange.

Higher Bill

I don't seem to recall it ever being mentioned in the primaries, but it is hard to believe that former President Bill Clinton's position and compensation as "honorary chancellor" of the for-profit Laureate Education colleges never got mentioned at all in all of the debates and conversations around student debt, Bernie Sanders' free college tuition plan, and the controversies surrounding Trump University. Perhaps even harder to believe is that the revelations about Hillary Clinton's husband came about because of the release of their tax returns. Truth really is stranger than fiction.

More Brexit Hysteria

The media elite love whipping up hysteria about the dire consequences of Brexit, esepcially on the poor bastard voters who supported it but didn't know any better (according to the elites' narrative).

The front page story in yesterday's Washington Post is a perfect case in point. The headline in the hard copy edition read, "Britain's Hot Housing Market Might be Making its Way Out the Brexit Door." (Curiously, the online edition of this story has a different, more accurate, headline - "London's lavishly high home prices take a Brexit hit."

First is the question of whether this story even belongs on the front page of the paper. Must have been a really slow news day.

Second, the story breathlessly warns that the "This is still the land of the $200 million condo, with prime central London real estate forming the foundation of British wealth. But a flood of price drops and canceled contracts is coursing through London's streets, hitting even the immaculate enclaves of celebrities and oligarchs and becoming the most tangible sign yet of economic trouble in the aftermath of Britain's vote to exit the European Union."

The story then goes on to cite several anecdotes of million dollar estates having to be sold for about 5-10% less than the asking price. Clearly this is a One-percenter problem as the story notes, "the uncertainty is pitting the megarich against one another in a high-stakes game of who blinks first."

And, indeed, it isn't till the 20th paragraph when the reporters reveal that, actually, the price drops might be a good thing because, "Unaffordable housing has beome a chronic problem here [London] - with a new report this week showing home ownership falling to a 30-year low."

Did you get that? Brexit is causing housing to become more affordable in London?! Egads! Of course, that doesn't fit the dire predictions of Brexit catastrophe and is certainly at odds with the portrait of Brexit voters as rubes who voted against their economic interests in supporting a British pullout of the EU. But the Post suggests, upon closer reading, that the voters knew exactly what they were doing and are reaping tangible economic benefits in the form of more affordable housing.

Why Does Girardi Hate A-Rod So Much?

Word now comes that Yanks' manager Joe Girardi denied Alex Rodriguez's request to play 3B in the final game of his career. It's the final indignity for a Hall of Fame player who also, inconveniently enough, is a world class jerk.

Which is why there isn't more outrage and questioning of Girardi's spiteful action. Girardi claims it's because A-Rod hasn't played 3B all season and the Yankees are "still in the business of winning games." And yet, Girardi continues to play Mark Texeira and his .197 average. Bizarre.

The disparity in treatment makes you wonder why amidst the Yankees' youth movement Texeira is being allowed to retire at the end of the season while A-Rod is leaving - abruptly - right in the middle of it. And what was the point of giving A-Rod a week of games between the announcement of his pending retirement and his final game if Girardi was only going to play A-Rod as a spot DH and sometime pinch hitter?

Of course, this isn't the first time Girardi's animosity toward A-Rod has come through - and also not questioned. During the 2012 playoffs vs. the Tigers, A-Rod was benched twice in favor of Eric Chavez. I'll say again, Eric Chavez. During that series, all of the Yankees struggled. Yes, A-Rod wound up hitting .111 but even the sainted Derek Jeter hit only .200. Texeira didn't get above .200. Russlel Martin hit .143. Curtis Granderson didn't get a hit, and Robinson Cano hit .057 (not a misprint). And yet A-Rod was benched twice and Granderson sat too. But, really, in Girardi's mind the biggest problem in the Yankees lineup was A-Rod? By the way, Eric Chavez went 0-8 with 4 strikeouts in the two games he replaced A-Rod.

I'll say it again, Alex Rodriguez is a very unsympathetic athlete, but there is no denying that he is a world class ballplayer. There's also non denying that Joe Girardi is treating  him - and has treated him - very shabbily. 

In his last game, A-Rod really does deserve better. Let him play.

Assassination?

There's a deserved uproar over Donald Trump's remarks about the 2nd Amendment, gun owners, and Hillary Clinton's safety. 

But am I the only one that remembers the controversy when Hillary Clinton cryptically suggested that Barack Obama could be assassinated? Apparently so, as I haven't seen any reference to the 2008 controversy in any of the stories on the current kerfuffle.

Here are excerpts from the NYTimes in 2008.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defended staying in the Democratic nominating contest on Friday by pointing out that her husband had not wrapped up the nomination until June 1992, adding, "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California."
Her remarks were met with quick criticism from the campaign of Senator Barack Obama, and within hours of making them Mrs. Clinton expressed regret,...
Still, the comments touched on one of the most sensitive aspects of the current presidential campaign — concern for Mr. Obama's safety. ...
Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, which has refrained from engaging Mrs. Clinton in recent days, said her statement "was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign."
Privately, aides to Mr. Obama were furious about the remark.
Concerns about Mr. Obama's safety led the Secret Service to give him protection last May, before it was afforded to any other presidential candidate, although Mrs. Clinton had protection, too, in her capacity as a former first lady....
It was against that backdrop that Mrs. Clinton's mentioning the Kennedy assassination in the same breath as her own political fate struck some as going too far. Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, an uncommitted superdelegate, said through a spokeswoman that the comments were "beyond the pale."...
Friday was not the first time Mrs. Clinton referred to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in such a context. In March, she told Time magazine: "Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn't wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual."