The Disturbing Absence of Outrage

In light of today's indictments of twelve Russian operatives in the hacking of computers and the theft of files from the DNC and the DCCC (previously well documented in the book Russian Roulette by Corn and Isikoff) as well as the outright interference in the American electoral process, the president should have immediately expressed outrage at this intrusion into the functioning of our internal institutions, demanded  the extradition of the accused, considered  the expulsion of key Russian diplomats, confronted Vladimir Putin with this finding, and praised the investigating efforts of his intelligence agencies. Instead, the White House issued a statement focused only on the administration's culpability in the matter. In so doing, Trump (once again) abdicated his responsibility as the leader of this Republic in condemning the war-like actions of a foreign government against the people of the United States. His lack of proper response to these attacks resembles the actions more of a Manchurian candidate than a national leader.

Refusing to Observe the Obvious

It was interesting to note how MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell chose to frame the recent election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the House of Representatives as some sort of a demographically determined (in fact, she drew widespread support) anomaly while ignoring 1) the overwhelming margin of victory 2) the fact that she was grossly outspent 3) that she brought out the vote (an essential element to any Democratic strategy going forward), and 4) that she spoke to progressive issues that the Democratic establishment has heretofore thought 'too risky' to address.
What entrenched party apologists like O'Donnell fail grasp is that Ms Ocasio-Cortez's victory was not a fluke but rather a signal that progressive policies in fact resonate with people across a broad range of demographic categories and that the open discussion of these issues is being embraced as a fresh antidote to the stasis far too long embodied by traditional Democratic candidates. Congratulations to Alexandria...you go on ahead with your bad self, girl!!!