John McCain

WASHINGTON >> Sen. John McCain, who faced down his captors in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp with jut-jawed defiance and later turned his rebellious streak into a 35-year political career that took him to Congress and the Republican presidential nomination, died Saturday after battling brain cancer for more than a year. He was 81.

McCain, with his irascible grin and fighter-pilot moxie, was a fearless and outspoken voice on policy and politics to the end, unswerving in his defense of democratic values and unflinching in his criticism of his fellow Republican, President Donald Trump. He was elected to the Senate from Arizona six times but twice thwarted in seeking the presidency.

An upstart presidential bid in 2000 didn’t last long. Eight years later, he fought back from the brink of defeat to win the GOP nomination, only to be overpowered by Democrat Barack Obama. McCain chose a little-known Alaska governor as his running mate in that race, and turned Sarah Palin into a national political figure.

After losing to Obama in an electoral landslide, McCain returned to the Senate determined not to be defined by a failed presidential campaign in which his reputation as a maverick had faded. In the politics of the moment and in national political debate over the decades, McCain energetically advanced his ideas and punched back hard at critics — Trump not least among them.

The scion of a decorated military family, McCain embraced his role as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, pushing for aggressive U.S. military intervention overseas and eager to contribute to “defeating the forces of radical Islam that want to destroy America.”

Asked how he wanted to be remembered, McCain said simply: “That I made a major contribution to the defense of the nation.”

One dramatic vote he cast in the twilight of his career in 2017 will not soon be forgotten, either: As the decisive “no” on Senate GOP legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, McCain became the unlikely savior of Obama’s trademark legislative achievement.

Taking a long look back in his valedictory memoir, “The Restless Wave,” McCain wrote of the world he inhabited: “I hate to leave it. But I don’t have a complaint. Not one. It’s been quite a ride. I’ve known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war, and helped make a peace. … I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times.”

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Rivals pay tribute

Hawaii Primary Elections 2018

Election 2018
Ige defeats Hanabusa for governor
Josh Green defeats Tokuda, Carvalho, Iwamoto, Espero for lieutenant governor
Ed Case over Doug Chin and Donna Mercado Kim for U.S. House
Fukunaga wins handily over Hussey and Dos Santos-Tam (Council District 6)

Fox News on demographic change

The Trump Era does have one upside: people now feel comfortable saying the quiet parts out loud. You no longer have to decipher what they're really about-they'll just tell you straight-up. That's why it's a more and more common experience to wake up and see that one of the fabulously rich resentment-peddlers on the president's favorite news network spent the previous evening spouting unabashed white nationalism on-air. Usually, it's Tucker Carlson who pops up on Fox News to rail against "demographic changes" in America-that is, non-white people immigrating here. That kind of rhetoric has earned Carlson praise from Richard Spencer and David Duke.

But Laura Ingraham certainly gave Carlson a run for his money Wednesday night, unleashing a nakedly white nationalist rant that suggested "the America we know and love" has been destroyed by "massive demographic changes" due to both illegal and legal immigration:

This is no longer a dogwhistle. Ingraham is saying outright that allowing non-white people to come here-and, down the line, threaten the majority power enjoyed by White America-is tantamount to destroying America. In this formulation, what defines the United States is its whiteness, or at least the idea that white people are at the center of American life. Which they are, for now. To Ingraham, America is not a daring experiment in self-government based on the principles of liberty, equality before the law, and self-determination, which anyone can be a part of if they work hard and buy into these values. White people got here first-ignore those pesky Native Americans!-so it's white people's turf.

Like the Trump administration, which has tried to cut even legal immigration by any means possible, Ingraham is no longer pantomiming about how illegal immigration is the problem. The problem for these folks is that Certain People are coming here, full stop. They want more people from Norway, or they don't want anyone coming at all. You can tell because Ingraham backed her soliloquy with footage of...people farming? That seems like a pretty traditional American activity. Ah, but everyone featured in the video playing as you say "the America we know and love" is gone...is Latino. And now you're showing people climbing a border fence.

"None of us ever voted for" this, Ingraham said, apparently pining for the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act. No one needs to vote in favor of new people coming to America. It is the story of America. This discussion used to center on how we can better enforce our immigration laws. Now it's about whether anyone should be allowed in at all.

Ingraham went on to highlight the case of one undocumented immigrant who committed child rape as part of an attack on Philadelphia as a sanctuary city. This is a classic ploy among propagandists-to highlight one horrific occurrence and present it as representative of an entire group.

That is why the president, and Fox News, continually highlight MS-13 when discussing immigration, even though MS-13 makes up a tiny percentage of immigrants-and of the nation's gang members-and undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native citizens. (Meanwhile, ICE arrests of noncriminal immigrants have skyrocketed.) Oh, and the very basis for the current immigration crisis is bunk: illegal border crossings are at historic lows, a fraction of the level during the 1990s.

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Ingraham responds.

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Melania's parents becomes U.S. citizens via chain migration

NRA in financial trouble

The National Rifle Association says that it’s in “deep financial trouble” — so deep in fact that it may be “unable to exist.”

The group says it is under such financial distress because New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has convinced a number of financial service providers, banks, and insurance providers against doing business with the gun-advocacy group. As a result, the NRA claims that it will be forced to end its magazine publishing and television services, and will be forced to curtail rallies and potentially shutter some of its offices.

In April, Gov. Cuomo encouraged New York-based businesses to cut ties with the NRA. “New York may have the strongest gun laws in the country, but we must push further to ensure that gun safety is a top priority for every individual, company, and organization that does business across the state,” he said in a statement. “I am directing the Department of Financial Services to urge insurers and bankers statewide to determine whether any relationship they may have with the NRA or similar organizations sends the wrong message to their clients and their communities who often look to them for guidance and support. This is not just a matter of reputation, it is a matter of public safety, and working together, we can put an end to gun violence in New York once and for all.”

In response, the NRA sued, claiming that the governor was attempting to deny the group the ability to speak freely about gun-related issues. This week, it filed an additional claim, obtained by Rolling Stone, suggesting that the move has impacted its cash flow to the point that it may soon be forced out of existence.