September 19, 2022

Czechia first, Ukraine second

Mass protests against the Russia sanctions in Prague have shocked Europe. While it is worrying, there are several reasons not to lose one’s head

https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/czechia-first-ukraine-second-6192/



On Saturday, 3 September 70,000 people gathered in the centre of Prague to protest against the Czech government and its policies. Upper half of the huge Wenceslas square was filled with people carrying Czech flags. The demonstration had been co-organised by an unholy coalition of several fringe left and right parties, including the Communist party and anti-immigrant Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD). They demanded, among other things, to stop supplying Ukraine with arms and sanctioning Russia, and for the start of negotiations for the supply of cheap Russian gas. Some even called to exit the EU and NATO.

The gathering, arguably the biggest of its kind in Europe, sent a wave of anxiety across the continent. Has the Western solidarity fractured? Will the Czech Republic turn into another weak link like Orban’s Hungary? The answer is, most likely, no. Such a big gathering demanding from the government to cease supporting Ukraine is certainly worrying, but there are several reasons not to lose one’s head.

Protesting economic hardship

Firstly, the Czech Republic has a mature civil society and a strong tradition of peaceful protests. The Velvet Revolution of 1989 culminated in a 800,000-strong anti-government meeting. Since then, Czechs of all political views regularly go to the streets to protest against governmental actions. The demonstration of 3 September was quite big, but by no means the biggest in recent years. For instance, in 2018-2019, the opposition to then prime-minister Andrej Babiš organised a series of demonstrations with 100,000-250,000 participants each. There is nothing extraordinary about the last anti-government demonstration, except that it happened in extraordinary times.



Secondly, though the organisers of the gathering can be called pro-Russian, many of the people who went to Wenceslas square don’t care about Russia or Ukraine. Instead, they went to vent out their frustration about their financial grievances. The government was late to react to the gas supply crisis and, by some estimates, the energy prices in the Czech Republic are currently the highest in Europe. In August, electricity bills for some households reportedly increased 4- and even 6-fold. People are predictably unhappy and demand from the government to do something to put the prices under control. In the last weeks, the government finally started to address the problem in earnest, so there’s hope that these people will have fewer reasons to be angry. But even if the situation won’t improve, it doesn’t mean that the political course of the Czech Republic will change.

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September 19, 2022

Jan. 6 Panel Unveils Election Guardrails To Prevent Future MAGA Election Steal

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/jan-6-committee-eca-reform-proposal



The House Jan. 6 Committee on Sunday outlined its proposed reforms to the Electoral Count Act (ECA) to stop ex-President Donald Trump or anyone else from trying to overturn an election. Committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the panel will officially unveil its proposal this week that would “protect the rule of law and ensure that future efforts to attack the integrity of presidential elections can’t succeed.”

Then Cheney and Lofgren laid out the “four fundamental principles” of the committee’s proposed changes to the ECA. The first principle strikes right at the heart of Trump’s election steal scheme: A reform that solidifies the vice president’s role in counting states’ electoral votes as purely ministerial, not one that has the power to hijack the process — which Trump, of course, tried to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to do.

Secondly, Cheney and Lofgren wrote, objections during Congress’ electoral count would be limited to “explicit constitutional requirements for candidate and elector eligibility.” Additionally, the threshold to be able to challenge the count would be raised to one-third of the lawmakers in each chamber.

The committee’s third proposed reform aims to address a situation in which a governor or another state-level official tries to withhold election results from Congress. If the governor or official does so, presidential candidates “should be able to sue in federal court to ensure that Congress receives the state’s lawful certificate.”

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September 19, 2022

The UK is staring into an economic abyss for which it is wholly unprepared.

Fresh-start Truss faces a ‘sudden stop’

https://socialeurope.eu/fresh-start-truss-faces-a-sudden-stop

PAUL MASON 19th September 2022


A photo distributed by Downing Street from Liz Truss’ first cabinet meeting as prime minister—the smile may not last

‘The scary thing about civil servants,’ a Labour Treasury minister once told me, ‘is the way they anticipate the levers you want to pull. They say: “Minister, if you are thinking of pulling this lever, please let me apprise you of the following likely effects …”’ That was in the depths of the Lehman Brothers crisis. Co-ordinating the UK Treasury’s response at the time was a civil servant called Tom Scholar.

The first act by Liz Truss as new British prime minister was to sack Scholar, who had risen meantime to become the Treasury’s most senior civil servant. He had led the institution through the pandemic and was fronting its response to the energy crisis, but his services were no longer required. It is hard not to conclude that Truss and her chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, intend to pull economic levers unimpeded by any appreciation of their complex effects, and indeed without any overall plan.

The first lever Truss pulled was an energy price cap—for households and businesses—which looks set to require £130 billion of extra borrowing over two years. Labelled the biggest fiscal event in British history, it is certainly the biggest state subsidy to the private sector since Lehman Brothers. The second—if Truss fulfils the pledges on which she won the Tory leadership after the demise of the former premier, Boris Johnson—is likely to be tax cuts for corporations and the middle class, amounting to £39 billion. Unfortunately, such dramatic yanks on the levers of economic power can have unforeseen consequences. Indeed, in the wrong hands they can come to look like the actions of a doomed driver on a runaway train.

Flashing red

To understand why, we need to look at six dials on the dashboard of the UK economy: inflation, investment, trade, debt, sterling and the current account. They are all flashing red. Inflation is currently 9.9 per cent—the highest for 50 years and set to peak at 13 per cent next year. As a result, real wages are falling more quickly than at any time since modern records began and consumer spending is contracting. There will, says the Bank of England, be a five-quarter recession, as it raises interest rates, ostensibly to choke off inflation and demand. Investment rose rapidly in the years before the ‘Brexit’ referendum. But it stagnated after 2016, fell sharply during the pandemic and has barely recovered—despite huge tax breaks for capital expenditure.

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September 19, 2022

Trump the Master

Important context here from TPM Reader and Alum WT …

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-the-master/sharetoken/8dElEcuYvMOV

Cannon’s order denying the DOJ’s stay request is insane enough that it seems to have overshadowed the other thing she did yesterday: issuing the attached “order appointing a special master.” The actual details of the order are gobsmackingly bad: the order neuters Dearie’s authority before the process begins, boxes in the DOJ, and puts Trump’s counsel in the driver’s seat of the entire process.

Normally, a special master would step in as a neutral party to sort out privilege matters — essentially, he would do the same thing that DOJ’s taint team did, but with the imprimatur of impartiality. This means a special master reviews the documents, identifies those where privilege might arise, and then consults with the party to come to a resolution on whether privilege exists or not (ruling on the matter if the parties can’t agree). Cannon’s this order subverts that setup, giving Trump’s counsel a lead role in the process and consigning the special master to a backseat role.

Pages 3-5 are worth a look. Cannon imposes an insane “precise workflow” that gives Trump’s team full access to all of the seized documents, including the classified ones, and then allows Trump to sort the documents into four buckets. The four buckets are designed to block the DOJ from continuing to make some of the major arguments raised in its briefing — namely, that many of the seized documents are government records not subject to the PRA. The special master only weighs in afterwards this review, and Cannon goes out of her way to make explicit that she will review all of his decisions de novo (aka without any deference to his recommendations). On top of all this, Cannon instructs the DOJ to secure all necessary clearances for Trump’s team — which, if WaPo’s reporting is to be believed, means reading his lawyers into a cabinet-level SCI compartment usually cleared for only a handful of people.

Honestly, there’s barely a reason to appoint a special master if this is going to be the process. Which, of course, is presumably what Cannon wants.

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September 18, 2022

This Roasted Acorn Squash Is the Ultimate Cozy Fall Dinner

Made with taleggio, honey, and almonds, this recipe only requires one casserole dish.

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/roasted-acorn-squash-recipe



When it comes to developing recipes, Melissa Clark is a master. She’s penned over three-dozen cookbooks and has been reporting on food and writing recipes for The New York Times since 2007. Despite this, there is always room to explore new recipes, cooking methods, and tactics, which is how she challenged herself in her latest cookbook, Dinner In One, which is all about cooking using a single Dutch oven, sheet pan, or casserole dish.

“I want people to cook every night and enjoy it and for it not to be a huge stress,” Clark begins, noting that the stress of clean up often deters people from wanting to cook. “I really believe that if you like to cook, even just a little, you can find a way to make cooking dinner for your family pleasurable a few nights a week. I think it adds to your mental health.”

It certainly does for Clark, who considers food a loving form of communication that has enveloped her since childhood. “I grew up in a household where food was our love language,” she explains. “We cared about one another, and showed it by making a great meal or planning a celebration in a restaurant. When I’d come home from school, my mother would say, ‘How was your lunch?’”

It’s something that has stuck with Clark—the idea of expressing love and understanding using food—and she asks her husband daily what he had for lunch, much to his own exasperation. “He’ll say, ‘My day was fine, thanks, how was your day?’” she laughs. “Don’t you understand? Me asking what you had for lunch is asking you how you are.”

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September 18, 2022

super irritating pop-up EVERY time I change screens on DU (on all my comps & phones)

September 18, 2022

Trump Rally Plays Music Resembling QAnon Song, and Crowds React

In Ohio, a dark address by the former president featured music that was all but identical to a theme song for the conspiracy theory movement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/us/politics/trump-rally-qanon-music.html

https://archive.ph/qXCaQ



Former President Donald J. Trump appeared to more fully embrace QAnon on Saturday, playing a song at a political rally in Ohio that prompted attendees to respond with a salute in reference to the cultlike conspiracy theory’s theme song.

While speaking in Youngstown in support of J.D. Vance, whom he has endorsed as Ohio’s Republican nominee for the Senate, Mr. Trump delivered a dark address about the decline of America over music that was all but identical to a song called “Wwg1wga” — an abbreviation for the QAnon slogan, “Where we go one, we go all.”

As Mr. Trump spoke, scores of people in the crowd raised fingers in the air in an apparent reference to the “1” in what they thought was the song’s title. It was the first time in the memory of some Trump aides that such a display had occurred at one of his rallies.

Aides to Mr. Trump said the song played at the rally was called “Mirrors,” and it was selected for use in a video that Mr. Trump played at the conservative meeting CPAC and posted on his social media site, Truth Social. But it sounds strikingly like the QAnon theme song. Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, said, “The fake news, in a pathetic attempt to create controversy and divide America, is brewing up another conspiracy about a royalty-free song from a popular audio library platform.”

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September 17, 2022

Farewell to Outlook, and nearly 70 years of essays, arguments and criticism

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/16/farewell-outlook-section/

https://archive.ph/UkXTp



Outlook, the print section of commentary and analysis that has graced this newspaper’s Sunday edition for nearly 70 years, came into the world quietly on Dec. 19, 1954. No birth announcement appeared in that day’s paper. No explanation for curious readers as to why the section formerly called Editorials had a new name. Nothing to indicate that the change was more than cosmetic.

This is Outlook’s last edition. A few weeks ago, The Washington Post informed subscribers by email that “the essays and analysis appearing in Outlook will now be found exclusively in Opinions in the A section and online.” Befitting the mission that the section eventually embraced — to interpret and witness and seek out unheard voices, and perhaps help Post readers make a little more sense of the world — Outlook will end its run by telling its own story.

Fortunately, there’s plenty of material for a rich obituary. Outlook’s life was a full one. There were triumphs, embarrassments, hits and misses in the section’s weekly quest to provide a mix of significant reporting, opinions worth arguing about, occasional splashes of humor and tragedy, and new ideas that otherwise might never have made their way into the paper. The work of Outlook’s many editors and contributors provoked and enlightened generations of print readers.

It has fallen to the two of us, editors of Outlook from different eras, to give Outlook a proper send-off. We can’t pretend to be neutral. We loved our time running it. We’re proud of its accomplishments, humbled by its shortcomings and determined, with the help of our many Outlook colleagues, to stick with the mission, to provoke and interpret.

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September 17, 2022

This orange blossom honey cake starts Rosh Hashanah on a sweet note

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/09/14/orange-blossom-honey-cake-recipe-rosh-hashanah/

https://archive.ph/1ExUM



For me, September has always felt like the start of a new year, more than January ever did. With the return to school and Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, following one another in quick succession, there are new and renewed routines, goals and resolutions. Besides celebration, Rosh Hashanah invites personal reflection, as you take stock of the closing year and contemplate your intention for the new one. Symbolic and traditional dishes — apples dipped in honey, pomegranates and round challah (to symbolize the completion of the year) — are just some of the foods that grace the holiday table. And a typical greeting may include, “L’shanah tovah tikatevu v’tichatemu,” which means “May you be inscribed and sealed [in the Book of Life] for a good year.”

This year, I wanted to do something new but still feature a traditional ingredient. I found inspiration in the delightfully charming new cookbook “Gâteau” by Aleksandra Crapanzano. The book, featuring beguiling illustrations in lieu of photographs, is an exploration of French home cooks’ baking repertoire. In her introduction, Crapanzano notes that while the French bake a great deal, the recipes are unfussy and far simpler than we might think. “The French master the classics,” she writes, which allows them to “improvise with confidence and panache,” making seasonal riffs based on what’s on hand. You won’t find recipes for laminated pastry in the book but instead cakes ranging from everyday to special occasion, including a simple yogurt cake that’s taught to all French children in nursery school.

While looking for Rosh Hashanah inspiration, I came upon an unassuming recipe with a charming name, Orange Blossom Honey Cake. Crapanzano describes the cake — made with honey, orange blossom water and orange zest, and dressed in a lovely honey-orange-blossom-water syrup — as a “gentle cake, subtly sweet and floral.” Given my preference for cakes with reserved, rather than aggressive, sweetness, and my instant affection for desserts featuring orange blossom water, I was sold.

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September 17, 2022

The Problem for Trump's Intellectual Heirs

The “national conservatives” know what they dislike, but not what to do about it.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/trump-national-conservatism-conference-miami/671462/

https://archive.ph/ZxQby



Donald Trump will be remembered as one of the most consequential presidents in American history. On a political level, he attempted to overturn an election—an unusual enterprise for a president—and popularized the idea that democratic outcomes can be rejected outright if you don’t like the results. Oddly enough, however, Trump’s impact may prove more distinctive and perhaps even more lasting on an intellectual level.

Trump had an instinct that something had gone fundamentally wrong in America and felt that his supporters should be angry as a result. And he came to channel that impulse viscerally. That such an anti-intellectual president could provide inspiration for a distinct intellectual orientation is an amusing twist. The struggle to codify Trumpism and transform it into a working philosophy is under way, to mixed results so far. Earlier this week, self-described “national conservatives” descended upon Miami for a major conference of a movement whose members “understand that the past and future of conservatism are inextricably tied to the idea of the nation.” For them, the nation is a distinct cultural unit, whose independence and sovereignty must be jealously guarded against globalists, international institutions, and large-scale immigration. These are not neoconservatives or even just conservatives. For the national conservatives, the George W. Bushes and Mitt Romneys of the world are the problem. And they themselves are apparently the solution.

These partisans of the new right have the potential to push through a genuine reorientation of the Republican Party—not just the haphazard shift that Trump touched off. Because America’s winner-take-all electoral system practically guarantees a two-party system, to transform one of those parties will be to transform American public life. The problem for the national conservatives, however, is that they have defined themselves in opposition to something real but have not necessarily defined what they want to do about it.

https://twitter.com/shadihamid/status/1570388787875971073
As president, Trump demonstrated remarkable flexibility and little regard for ideology. Self-interest trumped all. And it was his self-interest to draw a stark contrast with a Republican Party that was long oriented around the ideas of limited government, free trade, comprehensive immigration reform, and neo-imperial adventures abroad. Through bumper-sticker slogans, such as “America First” and “Make America great again,” Trump elevated the nation as a sort of transcendent political community. In doing so, he gave conservatives permission to think beyond the bipartisan assumptions—prioritizing the individual at home and globalization abroad—that had structured postwar American politics. And that consensus, if it wasn’t already dead, was clearly dying.'

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