Baltimore Sun Responds To Trump Tweets About Elijah Cummings And Charm City
[guest post by Dana]
The Baltimore Sun responded to President Trump’s Twitter rant about Maryland’s 7th congressional district and Rep. Elijah Cummings. This after Trump’s descriptions included “no human being would want to live there,” it is a “very dangerous & filthy place,” “Worst in the USA” and it is a “rat and rodent infested mess”:
Finally, while we would not sink to name-calling in the Trumpian manner — or ruefully point out that he failed to spell the congressman’s name correctly (it’s Cummings, not Cumming) — we would tell the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office, the mocker of war heroes, the gleeful grabber of women’s private parts, the serial bankrupter of businesses, the useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and the guy who insisted there are “good people” among murderous neo-Nazis that he’s still not fooling most Americans into believing he’s even slightly competent in his current post. Or that he possesses a scintilla of integrity. Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one.
P.S. This morning, Trump upped the ante, and referred to Cummings as “King Elijah”.
–Dana
Welp.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:33 amWell, I’m glad to see they took the high road.
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:35 amThe last mayor of Baltimore – forced out of office on charges of corruption – complained in 2018 about the city’s rat and filth problem. It’s not like this is a secret. Trump is right to call Cummings (and any other Baltimore-serving politician) out on it.
And there’s nothing racist about it. The conditions are an absolute disgrace.
Colonel Haiku (cdb06f) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:40 amDavid Simon is in denial too, I guess he was serving up fiction in homicide and then the wire (I couldn’t get into that one, it’s like real life spawn)
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:40 amA newspaper editorial that finds Trump lacking. Not something you see everyday.
Munroe (0b2761) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:41 amI have to give Trump credit for this. He’s making the Democrats devalue the word “racist” faster than a Zimbabwe dollar.
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:45 amThey really put that “Vulgar” Trump in his place. Look for the next Sun Op-ed to pompously demand a return to civility and good manners. As if this was never written.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:45 amBlue on blue
Buttache on buttache
https://pjmedia.com/trending/who-will-liberals-back-veiled-muslim-woman-goes-at-it-with-lgbt-rainbow-flag-marcher/
Colonel Haiku (cdb06f) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:46 am7… yep… eff ‘em where they sit.
Colonel Haiku (cdb06f) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:47 amBTW, how many people read Newspaper Op-eds anymore? Personally, I skip them unless its a local matter. On national and international matters, say nothing of interest and simply parrot the party line. If you’ve read the NYT Op-ed, there’s no reason to read the Chicago Tribune’s or the LA Times or the Seattle Times. Its all from the same cookie cutter.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:48 amIt’s so rare like the 17 years cicada, this is what the third mayor out on their keister in as many years?
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:49 amCrazy Bernie Sanders recently equated the City of Baltimore to a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY! Based on that statement, I assume that Bernie must now be labeled a Racist, just as a Republican would if he used that term and standard! The fact is, Baltimore can be brought back, maybe……
….even to new heights of success and glory, but not with King Elijah and that crew. When the leaders of Baltimore want to see the City rise again, I am in a very beautiful oval shaped office waiting for your call!
Love that Trump!
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:50 amRC,
Trump isn’t a racist because he bashes America or its cities all the time. Trump is a racist because he engages in prejudice based on the belief his race is superior. It’s not that complicated.
Dustin (6d7686) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:52 amGuess they forgot their own stories about the rat infested sh..hole. Short memories as to the truth when it doesn’t fit their agenda
joetote (ca8fe2) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:54 amThe editorial board sounds very enamored of Cummings’ district. Just don’t ask them to go live there.
Munroe (0b2761) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:54 amNew York with the German idiot mayor who calls himself diblasio is much thd same, so is gay white mayor howdy, but they can do for us what they did to their towns
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:58 amKamala Harris theres another winner, they pick the wrong lizard all the time.
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:03 amDid you hear the latest joke about Baltimore?
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:04 amIts a riot…
This is a trope of Trump’s. I live in John Lewis’ district, which got the Trump tweet tratment in 2017. Let me assure you — it’s full of million dollar homes, million dollar condos, and new development. Trump thinks black congresspeople usually represent slums.
Appalled (d07ae6) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:08 amWell so sorry for you, another one of these gerrymandered affairs, hes been dining out on events 60 years ago.
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:13 amAnd now Trump is going after Sharpton, saying that the MSNBC dude “Hates Whites & Cops!”
Paul Montagu (dbd3cc) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:15 amI have to say, Sharpton is a better target than Cummings, so there’s that. It wouldn’t surprise me if some enterprising African Americans and Hispanics set up a march in DC against Trump, just to get under his skin even more.
He funded private maytags little shindig that fooled you, Paul, yes Sharpton should have been taken to the cleaners after that da committed suicide or freddy’s fashion Mart or colin Ferguson, but vampires rarely stop feeding
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:19 am20 — Luckily, I escaped Cynthia McKinney by a few blocks…Hank Johnson, by being a mere nonentity, was a vast improvement.
Appalled (d07ae6) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:19 amYes. That’s what the &^%$ing Republicans “won” in the gerrymandering case. The Democrats’ right to form 60% Democrat and 40% Republican districts any way they can until there is not a single Republican district possible.
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:20 amSo why are the dems whining them, so the Guam expert gives good constituent service?
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:24 amDems are always whining. They’re the Party of Grievance.
This clown Cummings, and I swear that I’m not making it up, was whining that Paul Ryan was sleeping in his office. And for “reparations”, and I swear I’m not making it up, he wanted a housing allowance for Congressmen who do not sleep in their offices.
There’s nothing they won’t complain about.
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:33 amCummings: Is that People magazine? Who’s that on the cover?
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:52 amStaffer: That’s Prince William and Kate Middleton, Congressman.
Cummings: Wow! Look at that yacht, the planes, the banquets. What’s he ever done to get treated like royalty?
Um, I really don’t understand this piece of bad pidgin. What “fooled” me?
Paul Montagu (dbd3cc) — 7/29/2019 @ 10:57 am23… apologies to Tony Joe White…
A
Rainy NightThievin’ Pol in GeorgiaHooverin’ by the suitcase
Tryin’ to find a quiet place to bank the take
A heavy rain a fallin’
FBI will soon be callin’
All those laws you break
A thievin’ pol in Georgia
A thievin’ pol in Georgia
Some say they’re thievin’ all over the world
Neon signs a flashin’
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:08 amStill they’re busy cashin’ in ev’ry day
The distant moanin’ of the poor
Will not stop the knockin’ on that door
A thievin’ pol in Georgia
Such a thievin’ pol in Georgia
Some say they’re thievin’ all over the world
Right on thru to Baltimore
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:12 amThey got to catch me now
Take the cash and run on
Feets don’t fail me now
Sharpton national youth alliance,
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:12 am3… as mentioned… https://www.theblaze.com/news/baltimore-democratic–mayor-complained-about-conditions-last-year
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:15 am13… MAGA triggered…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:16 am“no human being would want to live there,”
Baltimore has lost a tremendous amount of population over the years. It used to be the 5th largest city in the United States, I think.
I havent verified this, but I think people in Elijah Cummings’ district have voted with their feet and the only reason he’s still in Congress is because of gerrymandering.
His district now takes in parts of two suburban counties, and is (or was in 2010) only 53% black. (The city of Baltimore is 63% overall. These are all probably 2010 Census figures(
Sammy Finkelman (3ce3e5) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:20 amLet’s not over-generalize about Baltimore….it is also the home to the Inner Harbor which includes the National Aquarium, the Science Center, Camden Yards, the USS Constellation, and scores of great restaurants, bars, and 5-star hotels….kind of far from a hell hole. The 7th includes world-respected research institutions like Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland. It is also a good alternative from DC for ethic foods, especially Ethiopian and Afghani (the Helmand….two thumbs up) and great venues for concerts and shows….like the Hippodrome. It sure does have its bad parts that one learns and avoids…just like any big city…like Chicago….like Philadelphia.
The thing is how does sanitation, schooling, and policing become federal matters that Cummings must address? I thought this was conservative gospel that these are local issues….that say the Republican Governor or mayor or city council should be on the hook for, no? Is Trump offering federal dollars to round up these rats? Of course not….he’s just trying to divert attention from border chaos…Mueller Report obstruction conclusions….and why Kushner couldn’t pass his background security investigation…..and there are many useful individuals providing cover….
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:23 am>> people in Elijah Cummings’ district have voted with their feet and the only reason he’s still in Congress is because of gerrymandering
Trumo, and even his partisan cheerleaders on TV, are probably to ignorant even to think of this point. Trump got it all from a Republican leader in Baltimore County who appeared on Fox and Friends.
Sammy Finkelman (3ce3e5) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:24 amFeb 26, 2018:
“Rat Film,” a documentary that takes the decades-long fight waged against Baltimore’s rat population and uses it as a lens through which to look at how the city has addressed myriad social issues over the decades, airs tonight on PBS.
They must have fixed the problem.
harkin (ca0a5f) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:26 am10. rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:48 am
What;s really from the same cookie cutter is “conservative” talk radip. Every point is repeated. Including the errors. Although you may need to read or hear several to collect all the points.
Sammy Finkelman (3ce3e5) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:28 amMr. Finkelman at 34 and 36, that is reminiscent of the Illinois/ Chicago districts of Bobby Rush CD #1 which had to borrow a lot of Blue Dog Lipinski voters in the SW suburbs and Robin Kelly CD #2 which extends south/SE from Chicago proper to nearly Champaign.
urbanleftbehind (f8ad62) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:36 amLawyers here would be better able to find this, but I recall a case where it was legally decided (in Illinois?)that requiring rat mitigation was racist. The case was so far-reaching, that even county health depts in Tx refrain from requiring rat mitigation. So there.
felipe (023cc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:37 amRat mitigation for residential, not commercial entities, I think.
felipe (023cc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:38 am#21, that Nipsey Hustle memorial procession didnt work out so well…and Steve King smiled.
urbanleftbehind (f8ad62) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:39 amThey keep on saying that Elijah Cummings has been in Congress for 40 years, but he was first elected in 1996. (He was in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1982 to 1996 and in his last term, was Spealer Pro-Tem and had been chairman of the Legislative Caucus, whatever that is, by his second term.))
According to the 2004 almanac of American Politics in the post-2000 Census redistricting, they removed some black Baltimore neighborhoods (to strengthen the chances of winning the 2nd district) and added Howard County and culturally liberal well off people, like in the famous planned city og Columbia, Maryland. His district at that time went down from 75% to 59% black (after the 2010 Censis it was 53%) and included a ring of heavily black suburbs west of the city.
Sammy Finkelman (3ce3e5) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:47 amfelipe (023cc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:38 am
Or is it “private”, not “public” rather than residential vs commercial?
felipe (023cc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 11:51 amThe average size of a Congressional distruct also grows with time, and even if the state as awhole gains population, ao that the number of CDs in the statestays the same, as has been the case with MAryland, certain places lose housing and people.
Here’s somwthing from the 2004 Almanac of American Politics (published in 2003 maybe not long after the 2002 election)
It sounds from a Cummings tweet he’s still living in West Baltimore. He said he went home to his district every day and each morning he wakes up and goes and fights for his neighbors.
Sammy Finkelman (3ce3e5) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:02 pmanyone guess the inner harbor was where the stimulus funds went to,,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:11 pmBetween 2002 and 2002 his winning percentage in the general election in November went dw=own from 87% to 74% (as a result of redistricting)
The number of votes cast went up from close to 154,000 to 186,000.
Sammy Finkelman (3ce3e5) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:12 pmHistory rhymes…
‘The Great Silent Majority’ is listening.
And watching.
And white.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:16 pmbaltimore is a sh*t hole run by corrupt grifters. Trump is right! Cummings cares about power not the people of his district. You trump haters have been run out of power in the republican party. Republican party is now the party of populism. You free trade creative destruction free enterprisers at any cost are thru in the republican party. Join the dope smokers in the libertarian party and don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
lany (b7b5b3) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:30 pmThe Baltimore Sun is one of the oldest newspapers in the country. The editors there were just defending their city. But they should have pointed out that the rat-infested, disgusting places where nobody wants to live are Kushner slums, which are being subjected to numerous city, county, state, and federal lawsuits.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:35 pmBiggie Rat and Itchy Brother…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:35 pmAmerica embraced and welcomed the bigot, Archie Bunker, into their living rooms for 8 years on one show and 4 more years on a spinoff.
He was from Queens, too
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:37 pmit’s like flashing that laser pointer,
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/07/29/elizabeth-warrens-passionate-embrace-of-al-sharpton-demonstrates-that-trump-is-blessed-with-the-best-enemies/
narciso (d1f714) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:39 pmjust nabbed another one
https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1155889141600661504
narciso (d1f714) — 7/29/2019 @ 1:24 pmwhich op eds should we take seriously,
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-baltimore-disaster-20161109-story.html
narciso (d1f714) — 7/29/2019 @ 1:29 pmTrump never tweeted about “Atlanta slums”. In any case, Trump has never claimed every single person in every single house, is living in poverty – either in Cummings district or Lewis’. That’s just a straw man you put up, to knock down.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 1:38 pmrcocean:
To quote Trump from 1-15-2017:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-blasts-civil-rights-icon-john-lewis-in-twitter-attack/
He didn’t use the word slum. So what? It’s what he meant. His tweet was an extremely inaccurate charactarization of a rapidly gentrifying part of the city, and was based on assumptions that seem kinda racist.
Appalled (d07ae6) — 7/29/2019 @ 1:52 pmunlike say allusions to concentration camps, that triggered a terrorist attack, yes that was very subtle,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:01 pmIn 2015, apparently, Trump said that Baltimore’s problems were all Obama’s fault, whereas he himself would “fix it fast” with “proper leadership.”
Because Trump can do anything more easily than anyone else. (Just ask him!) And if Trump doesn’t get it done, then it must be someone else’s fault.
Oh, and if you point out Trump’s colossal arrogance and dishonesty … then you’re deranged!
Radegunda (3578a5) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:08 pmwasn’t Obama the miracle worker, besides inflaming the freddy gay case, he sent a billion or two, which probably ended up in the inner harbor, like the scam he pulled with the Annenberg fund,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:10 pmI’m glad to know how many people think it’s appropriate for the President of the United States to publically bash an American city in this way.
For me, it’s highly inappropriate, in much the same way that it would be inappropriate for a CEO to publically bash one of the divisions of the company they are running.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:15 pmnk, i’d be happy to have a national standard which prohibited that kind of gerrymandering.
but until and unless such a standard exists, i can think of no reason why one side should unilaterally refrain from doing it.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:18 pmnk, at #2: pretty much only a saint would take the high road after their home had been publically trashed the way Trump publically trashed Baltimore.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:19 pmHere is the take of NAtioonal Review’s Jim Geraghty:
(I’d expect them to be all pro-Trump because of his stance on immigration (well they want even more restirction and I suppose are afriad he might compromise) and just about every other thing but it’s not so:
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/were-donald-trumps-attacks-on-elijah-cummings-racist
Excerpts:
I think he did because that way he had a tu quo quo.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:20 pm“He didn’t use the word slum. So what? It’s what he meant. His tweet was an extremely inaccurate charactarization of a rapidly gentrifying part of the city, and was based on assumptions that seem kinda racist.”
Again, you’re asserting that Trump was claiming every single part of lewis’ district was “falling apart” which is a straw-man. And then knocking it down by saying that one part is “Rapidly gentrifying” and that somehow makes Trump “Kinda racist”. This doesn’t even pass logic 101, unless you have some special insight into Trump’s soul. which i doubt. If all the Never trumpers & democrats just want to chant “orange man racist” – keep it up. He’ll win more votes.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:24 pmHave you seen a map of Cummings District? Its shaped like a barbell. Where were the Federal Judges and the ACLU ruling on this terrible Gerrymandering? Oh that’s right. It helps the Democrats. Never mind.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:27 pm(I’d expect them to be all pro-Trump because of his stance on immigration (well they want even more restirction and I suppose are afriad he might compromise) and just about every other thing but it’s not so:
You must be joking. Is this satire? Or don’t you read NR on a regular basis?
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:29 pm60 — Didn’t Republicans across the land scoff at the cult-worship of Obama, and his narcissism and excessive self-regard, and bluster about his “divisiveness”?
Haven’t most of those Republicans taken a totally different view of Trump’s even more gargantuan ego, while many of them proudly bestow hero-worship upon him?
Yes, they have.
They have also taken a “nothing to see here” view of Trump’s scams and lies.
The number of Obama-critics who try not to be hypocritical when it comes to judging Trump appears to be vanishingly small, and they are called vile names by the Trump cult.
Radegunda (3578a5) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:29 pmI’m glad to know how many people think it’s appropriate for the President of the United States to publically bash an American city in this way.
I wish that he wouldn’t do this. But one thing we have known know for the last three years is that Trump doesn’t care for the traditional rules. As a conservative, I find that pretty disconcerting, but I do have to acknowledge that he is in fact changing the stale and fetid media narrative we’ve dealt with for pretty much my entire life. Trump is in his own awkward way telling the pompous windbags like Cummings that they should be paying some attention to their own districts before trying to thrust themselves into the national conversation; as a strong believer in the principle of subsidiarity, I am kind of sympathetic to that argument.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:30 pm50… all lies aside…
The nation’s leftwing newspapers and advocacy entities have banded together (shocka!) to expose mice infestation and a couple hundred violations out of thousands of apartments in the Baltimore area.
As always, if they ever held those who receive and administer money in these cities accountable, we’d learn the rest of the story.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2019/07/28/jared-kushner-owns-lots-apartments-near-baltimore-and-some-are-infested-with-mice/SgdeJGstYtOK64MCx7RC7K/story.html?outputType=amp
Colonel Haiku (cdb06f) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:31 pmD’s in the Media and Congress should just stop want everyone times with their endless, insincere attacks on Trump and pompous calls for “Civility”. just get a big Banner “Orange Man bad” and wave it.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:34 pmTrump and his minions are masters at manipulating the media, keeping them reactive, not pro-active, and telegraphing their message to the ‘Great Silent Majority.’
You’re working class white sitting in your Milwaukee split level sipping a cold one after a day at the brewery, or in an Akron bar after your third shift at Firestone, or in your trailer outside Wheeling sipping some Rolling Rock… you flip on your TeeVee and see angry, talking head guy-and-gal black folk in a variety of garb and hair-dos railing and raging over race against Trump on the cablers.
You put down your brew, nod in silence, clinch your teeth and know what you’re going to do come November, 2020.
The strategy will work.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:45 pmRcocean — the District Court of Maryland ruled that the Maryland gerrymander was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court took the appeal, bypassing the appeals court, and ruled that it was an unjusticiable political question.
So in this case, the district court ruled *the way you wanted them to*, while the conservative majority of the supreme court disagreed (and the liberal minority agreed).
I think your allegation that the federal judges were biased in their handling of the case is bizarre, to say the least.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:51 pm“I’m glad to know how many people think it’s appropriate for the President of the United States to publically bash an American city in this way.”
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:15 pm
He’s bashing an entrenched representative, not a city, who came into Congress poor and in debt and will leave a multimillionaire wheeled out on a gurney.
Munroe (0b2761) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:53 pm> Trump is in his own awkward way telling the pompous windbags like Cummings that they should be paying some attention to their own districts before trying to thrust themselves into the national conversation; as a strong believer in the principle of subsidiarity
The job of a congressman is to work on national policy and national issues, on behalf of their constituents. The allegation that they shouldn’t be “thrusting themselves into the national conversation” is … confusing.
And this kind of attack on a city, claiming that no human would want to live there, is not something I think we should welcome into the national conversation. Or will you be ok hearing similar rhetoric from Kamala Harris about rural areas?
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:55 pmMunroe — he said flat-out that no human being would want to live in Baltimore. I don’t understand how you can read that statement as bashing a representative rather than bashing the city itself.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:56 pmRcocean — for me, it’s not that a president claiming no human would want to live in an american city is bad because it’s Trump saying it; quite the opposite. Trump is bad because he says stuff like this.
From where I sit, it looks an awful lot as though people like you are suddenly deciding that things which seemed like they ought to be universally viewed as bad behavior are in fact good behavior, just because it’s Trump doing them.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:58 pmnk, at #2: pretty much only a saint would take the high road after their home had been publically trashed the way Trump publically trashed Baltimore.
Heh! I was not being sarcastic, just riffing a little on their opening sentence. When it comes to talking about Trump that is the high road. There is not one unkind or untrue word in that paragraph. If anything, it is on the mild side.
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 3:03 pmTan… rested… well-coiffed… ready… just give him a call, Cummings…
https://youtu.be/DensjNSrH1o
Colonel Haiku (cdb06f) — 7/29/2019 @ 3:10 pmThe job of a congressman is to work on national policy and national issues, on behalf of their constituents. The allegation that they shouldn’t be “thrusting themselves into the national conversation” is … confusing.
Not quite what I wrote, though aphrael. I wrote that a Congressmember needs to be making sure that he/she is looking out for the interests of his/her own district before they start pontificating about issues that are thousands of miles away, lest they look like utter blowhards.
Here’s how I think these things ought to work: a city councilmember for that dilapidated area of Baltimore ought to be working hard with fellow councilmembers and the mayor to provide adequate services and combat the gross blight that has encroached upon the neighborhood. The state representative(s) for that area should be working hard with his/her colleagues and the governor to see what state resources should be brought to bear. United States Representatives and Senators should be working in a supporting capacity to see what federal resources might help.
But we know it doesn’t work that way in Baltimore. Instead, Charm City is a cesspool for corrupt grifters and lazy time-servers who are far better at bitching and moaning about problems than they are in solving them. The city, and for the most part the state, is also dominated by a political party that prioritizes the comfort and privileges of public employees who are the driving force in their political machines. Trump, in his clumsy and oafish way, is at least kind of reminding everyone of that, even if he doesn’t seem to be clever enough to explicate it in a way that avoids casting doubt on his true intentions.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/29/2019 @ 3:25 pmthe irony, is that he was considering sending more money down the ratholes, like Baltimore, Detroit, et al, with the stimulus, sans any accounting of how the previous stimulus was spent,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/29/2019 @ 3:27 pmI guess you’ll concur in part,
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/07/trump-as-crazy-eddie.php
narciso (d1f714) — 7/29/2019 @ 3:46 pm80… well said, JVW.
Colonel Haiku (cdb06f) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:12 pmTrump isn’t prejudiced against Blacks, per se. He’s postjudiced against race-baiting Democrat politicians whose policies are imbecilic and whose districts are turning into beautiful downtown Beirut.
Does he have a solution? I doubt it. But calling him a racist for criticizing failing and flailing politicians is lame.
Hell, boys and girls, if you can’t take being called out on your records, you’re in the wrong business.
C. S. P. Schofield (9eb8bc) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:21 pmaphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:55 pm
New York Mayor Ed Koch ran into some kind of trouble about that when he was running in the Democratic primary for Governor of New York State in 1982.
He had given an interview for Playboy and was asked about living in the suburbs.
https://www.syracuse.com/vintage/2017/03/throwback_thursday_nyc_mayor_ed_koch_insults_rural_life_cny_responds.html
Koch later explained that as he was speaking about himself, and had wanted to give amusing answers. And that it was “in no way a reflection on the people who live there and make that choice.”
Sammy Finkelman (f61675) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:22 pm80. JVW (54fd0b) — 7/29/2019 @ 3:25 pm
Trump doesn’t even get to that.
By the way, that was the one thing the Obama Administration found wrong in Fergusin, Missouri. They were fining people to get money. Now for what? To pay the public employees.
Trump, in his clumsy and oafish way, is at least kind of reminding everyone of that, even if he doesn’t seem to be clever enough to explicate it in a way that avoids casting doubt on his true intentions.
Sammy Finkelman (f61675) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:28 pmTrump, in his clumsy and oafish way, is at least kind of reminding everyone of that, even if he doesn’t seem to be clever enough to explicate it in a way that avoids casting doubt on his true intention He’s not trying because he wants this to be a personal attack on Elijah Cummings because Cummings, in effect, attacked the way he (Trump) is running things.
Sammy Finkelman (f61675) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:30 pmIf I read those words correctly, they did not dispute the POTUS assertion on facts. Instead, they said that POTUS was not a nice person.
Correct?
Is this like the advice to trial lawyers that:
– when the facts are on their side, argue the facts
jim2 (a5dc71) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:34 pm– when the law in on their side, argue the law, and
– when neither are on their side, bang on the table and raise their voice?
He told the truth about Baltimore, they told the truth about Trump. Even Steven.
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:41 pm77. aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/29/2019 @ 2:55 pm
It’s true.
People vote with their feet.
Look at this graph:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MDBALT5POP
The populatin of Baltimore went from just over 900,000 in 1970 (and it was 939,024 in the 1960 Census) to 786,741 in 1980, and 735,632 in 1990 and 648,746 in the year 2000, and 621,026 in 2010 and as of 2018, it’s estimated at 602,495. And parts of Baltimore are all right.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau – estimates f population by county. 1970 and 1980 are actual Census totals.
Sammy Finkelman (f61675) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:42 pmHeh:
Dana (bb0678) — 7/29/2019 @ 5:13 pmIt’s an “accounting problem”. Which means they don’t know how to list the disbursement for Department Head X’s Caribbean cruise, so they just leave it out altogether.
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 5:56 pmA.j. please see Dana’s 5:13.
BuDuh (3a0b82) — 7/29/2019 @ 6:00 pmSammy at 85: while I agree that was rude of Koch, surely the mayor of a major city and the President of the United States are in different positions with regard to insulting parts of the US outside the city of which the person is mayor?
aphrael (3f0569) — 7/29/2019 @ 6:30 pm“A.j. please see Dana’s 5:13.”
The primary people in place to plan and spend grant money are the city council, mayor, and governor. Look, Cummings may still be corrupt as hell….or at minimum really playing the system….but in the end, his job is to bring home some pork….it seems like he is at least modestly effective at this. The fact that accounts don’t balance in Baltimore…..tells you more about the purveyors of local government than it does about Cummings…..and I’m no fan of Cummings. Is the argument that inner cities are administered much better in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, LA, etc.?
AJ_Liberty (165d19) — 7/29/2019 @ 8:40 pmWell the current mayor was indicted, the previous one, she and the local prosecutor spent all her time going after cops not criminals the one before was Governor of Maryland
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 8:50 pmI couldn’t have phrased his connection to how “sanitation, schooling, and policing become federal matters that Cummings must address” any better that that.
BuDuh (3a0b82) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:23 pm#65 — rcocean
I think the only way you see racism is if Trump dresses in blackface on national TV, and uses the n-word repeatedly in the same speech.
I did try looking into Trump’s soul one time. All I saw was Putin smiling, a boarded up casino and a sign saying “This Space for Rent.”
Appalled (d07ae6) — 7/30/2019 @ 6:00 amPutin has lost probably 10 billion, his long time foe has javelin missiles to take out his proxy tanks, the Wagner group had to be relocated to Libya and Sudan after their pasting in eastern syria.
Narciso (72d34b) — 7/30/2019 @ 6:04 am85. 94.
Ed Koch said that before he knew he was going to run for Governor of New York State.
I don’t think it was rude, just maybe unfair and parochial, and, of course, impolitic.
His critcisms weren’t the same kind of criticisms that Trump made of the city of Baltimore. They were less harsh, but also actually less reversible.
Sammy Finkelman (7cd5f4) — 7/30/2019 @ 6:32 amO page 8 of the August 5, 2019 issue of TIME magazine (printed Friday July 26) there is an advertisement (locked in even earlier) called The Hotspot that gives a paragraph and a link for 7 advertisers (developed by MNI it says)
Number 5 is Visit Baltimore.
Sammy Finkelman (7cd5f4) — 7/30/2019 @ 8:57 am98. Rats infest Baltimore. The schools there are beyond dismal, and blacks continue to be routinely killed in Chicago.
But Decaf-Mocha-Latte types care about this the Right Way-not by doing anything about it, of course. Not by holding those leaders to account. God forbid no. Tres impoli! Flying net jets to conferences to tell others to stop wasteful flying –that’s the OK to protest. Writing a nice note to the NR editors–that’s the Right Way.
Because The Avocado Toast Emporium crowd would recoil from someone actually calling out politicians in harsh terms for letting people live among rats.
So for sure, when someone is outraged enough by Baltimore and its “leaders,” someone not jaded enough to let the festering status quo pass by –speaks up–the Avacodo Toast regular some will call him a racist. Or be appalled by his manners. Like some French were upset at US troops on D day, making all that racket and making passes at girls.
Such are very hipster things to do. It shows they care. They’re not racist.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (6b1442) — 7/30/2019 @ 11:03 amRat 🐀 photobombs live report in Baltimore…
https://twitter.com/FOXBaltimore/status/1155945892148420615
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/30/2019 @ 12:15 pmNow they keep on saying that Elijah Cummings has been there 26 years (Trump) or 25 years (Hannity) and that he’s in his 13th term, (Hannity) but he was first elected to Congress in 1996. He’s been there 23 years, and is in his 12th term.
Why the need to exaggerate (even a little) and who’s putting this out?
Sammy Finkelman (7cd5f4) — 7/30/2019 @ 12:55 pmFrom the 2002 Almanac of American Politics for thhe 7th district of Maryland: 74.6% black (1990?)
Population 1990: 597,702 down 9.7% 1990-2000
Sammy Finkelman (7cd5f4) — 7/30/2019 @ 1:10 pm104. Elijah Cummings was elected to Congress 13 times, but the first time was in a special election in April 1996 when Kweisi Mfume, Chairman of the Congressional black caucus, resigned to become president of the NAACP.
So in a way it’s his 13th term, but the first was for about eight months.
Sammy Finkelman (7cd5f4) — 7/30/2019 @ 1:13 pmThanks for mind-reading me. Too bad you need a better crystal ball.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/30/2019 @ 1:18 pmI looked into Hilary’s soul. And i saw the Chicom’s smiling. I looked into David French’s soul, and saw Google’s Board of Director’s smiling.
See how easy that is. And prove me wrong!
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/30/2019 @ 1:21 pmIf you will settle for hank Johnson who calls jewush settlers termites you’ll settle for anything
Narciso (72d34b) — 7/30/2019 @ 1:41 pm“We may be liars and grifters living in a vermin-infested city who’ve never done anything worthwhile for our constituents and never have gotten anywhere in life but for our government connections, but at least we never insulted prominent Democrats in a harsh or unforgiving manner!”
Really, the NeverTrump motto writes itself!
Cato the Toddler (d7d435) — 7/30/2019 @ 9:02 pm