Weekend Open Thread: Obama on Drugs, It’s All About The Banks, a White Power Trip, & More!

Just in case you don’t have the good sense to follow my Facebook feed, here’s a nice quartet to keep you busy this weekend.

(1) Obama interviews “The Wire’s” David Simon in the White House, Discusses Lessons for Drug Policy

Now here’s something you don’t see a U.S. President do every day. Let’s hope that Obama not only gets it, but does something significant about it. A bit over 12-minutes long.

(2) Banks, Upset at Sen. Warren’s Criticism of Immense Political Power, Threaten to Prove It’s True

The message is apparently intended as a shot across the bow of Hillary Clinton, however.

Big Wall Street banks are so upset with U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren’s call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said.

Representatives from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, have met to discuss ways to urge Democrats, including Warren and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, to soften their party’s tone toward Wall Street, sources familiar with the discussions said this week.

(3) A Harrowing Tale of a Women Whose Husband Dragged into the White Supremacy Movement — and He Has Custody Over Their Daughter

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be Nazis. This story will shake you up, especially if you’re a parent.

“So, are you a white supremacist?”

That was one of the first questions I asked my future husband, Kyle Bristow, back in December 2010. We were parked outside a bar in his dark green Jeep, an hour into our first date, and I wanted to know if there was any truth to his online reputation. I was a recently graduated “campus conservative” who had gained my fifteen minutes on Townhall.com and the Sean Hannity Show. But I wasn’t that kind of conservative—nor did I desire to be.

He looked me in the eye and said, “No.”

“Are you sure?” I asked again, recalling what the Southern Poverty Law Center had written about him in his “extremist file.”

“Everyone says you’re a white supremacist, or a neo-Nazi or something.”

“No,” he said again, adamantly. “I’m not.”

He was lying, of course. And that was the very beginning of my three-year trip through his weird world of white supremacy, one that finally ended in the living hell where I currently reside.

Read it if you can stand it.

(4) And Because We Want to End on a Happy Note

I can’t get Post-Modern Jukebox’s cover of the most pleasingly parodyable song of the moment to embed, so you’ll have to click this link instead.  Enjoy!

This is your Weekend Open Thread.  Talk about these or whatever else you’d like, within reasonable bounds of discretion and decorum.Postmodern Jukebox - All About That Base

About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)