The Commentariat -- April 1, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges on Wednesday, setting the stage for a bitter court fight and putting his political future in doubt. Mr. Menendez was charged with seven counts of bribery, which carry up to 15 years in prison on each charge. He was also charged with conspiracy, fraud, and making false statements on government documents, the Justice Department said. Mr. Menendez is the first senator to face federal bribery charges since another New Jersey Democrat, Harrison A. Williams Jr., was indicted in 1980 in the Abscam scandal."

Campbell Robertson & Timothy Williams of the New York Times: "Facing a backlash from businesses and gay rights advocates, Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas on Wednesday called on state lawmakers to either recall or amend legislation billed as a religious freedom measure so that it mirrored a federal law approved in 1993. Mr. Hutchinson, a Republican, said he understood the divide in Arkansas and across the nation over the question of same-sex marriage and its impact on people's religious beliefs. His own son, Seth, he said, had asked him to veto the bill, which critics say could allow individuals and businesses to discriminate against gay men and lesbians."

John Bresnahan & Rachel Bade of Politico: "The Justice Department will not seek criminal contempt charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner, the central figure in a scandal that erupted over whether the tax agency improperly targeted conservative political groups. Ronald Machen, the former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a seven-page letter this week that he would not bring a criminal case to a grand jury over Lerner's refusal to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in March 2014."

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program will be extended for a second day beyond Tuesday's deadline, as Secretary of State John F. Kerry announced he would stay in Switzerland to continue the talks into Thursday. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said progress had been made, but she pointedly said Kerry would be staying 'until at least Thursday morning.' The short time period appeared to reflect a sour turn in negotiations on Wednesday, as the six world powers negotiating with Iran failed to reach a preliminary agreement over restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in return for relief from crippling international sanctions imposed on Tehran."

*****

Neil Eggleston of the White House: "Building on his commitment to address instances of unfairness in sentencing, President Obama granted 22 commutations [Tuesday] to individuals serving time in federal prison. Had they been sentenced under current laws and policies, many of these individuals would have already served their time and paid their debt to society. Because many were convicted under an outdated sentencing regime, they served years -- in some cases more than a decade -- longer than individuals convicted today of the same crime."

Louis Jacobson of PolitiFact: "In a recent speech marking the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama [said the ACA has] helped reduce hospital readmission rates dramatically. It's a major reason why we've seen 50,000 fewer preventable patient deaths in hospitals.... The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so we rate it Mostly True." CW: That's impressive, especially if you're one of the not-dead people.

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The White House on Tuesday introduced President Obama's blueprint for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by nearly a third over the next decade. Mr. Obama's plan, part of a formal written submission to the United Nations ahead of efforts to forge a global climate change accord in Paris in December, detailed the United States' part of an ambitious joint pledge made by Mr. Obama and President Xi Jinping of China in November.... [SO, NATURALLY,] Republican leaders immediately savaged the plan Tuesday and announced their intent to weaken or undo it -- and, by extension, to block the international efforts to reach a climate accord in Paris."

John Bresnahan & Manu Raju of Politico: "An indictment of Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez on federal corruption charges is expected as early as Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the case."

Department of Justice: "The Justice Department announced today the filing of a lawsuit against Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern) and the Regional University System of Oklahoma (RUSO) for violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against a transgender employee on the basis of her sex and retaliating against her when she complained about the discrimination."

Stating the Obvious. Bernie Becker of the Hill: "The IRS commissioner on Tuesday brushed aside GOP proposals to abolish his agency, insisting the U.S. would have to have a tax collector one way or another. 'You can call them something other than the IRS if that made you feel better,' the agency's chief, John Koskinen, said after a speech at the National Press Club."

A Rocky Transition, After All. Burgess Everett & Manu Raju of Politico: "A feud between Sens. Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer escalated further on Tuesday, with spokesmen for the two Democratic leaders offering sharply different on-the-record accounts of whether the two men reached a power-sharing deal. Durbin's office insists Schumer agreed last week to support him as the party's whip when current Minority Leader Harry Reid retires at the end of 2016. But Schumer's office is denying any such deal was struck.... Schumer is said to be open to elevating Sen. Patty Murray of Washington to the whip job...."

David Dayen in Salon: In his autobiography, Barney Frank provides another reminder that Barack Obama could have forced banks to provide foreclosure relief in exchange for TARP money, as Frank wanted. But Obama refused to do so. CW: Obama's abandonment of homeowners with underwater mortgages is, in my mind, the low-water mark of his legacy. You might say it is drone killings of civilians, & I won't disagree, but there is an argument to be made that drone attacks are simply another gruesome war tactic not much unlike "collateral damage" by other means.

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "U.S. officials said Tuesday that they might continue negotiating a preliminary Iran nuclear deal past a midnight deadline as they struggled to resolve key issues." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update. Jordan Fabian & Kristina Wong of the Hill: "The Obama administration's effort to reach a nuclear deal with Iran stretched past its latest deadline Tuesday, as U.S. officials expressed confidence that they could still reach an agreement. 'We've made enough progress in the last days to merit staying until Wednesday,' State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said. 'There are several difficult issues still remaining.'" ...

     ... Update 2. Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry renewed his push on Wednesday to secure a preliminary accord that would limit Iran's nuclear program, a day after negotiators extended the March 31 deadline. With the diplomacy at a pivotal point, President Obama convened a teleconference on Tuesday night with Mr. Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz and other top members of the administration to review the status of the negotiations."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Seeking to patch up relations with a longtime regional ally at a time of spreading war and instability in the Middle East, President Obama on Tuesday lifted an arms freeze against Egypt that he first imposed after the 2013 military overthrow of the country's elected government. Mr. Obama removed his holds on the delivery of F-16 aircraft, Harpoon missiles and M1A1 tank kits and in a telephone call assured President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt that he would continue to support $1.3 billion in annual military assistance for the Cairo government...."

Nicholas Kulish of the New York Times: "The co-pilot at the controls of the German jetliner that crashed last week had informed Lufthansa in 2009 about his depressive episodes, the company said Tuesday. In a statement, Lufthansa said the co-pilot had conveyed the information when he sought to rejoin the airline's flight school after a monthslong pause in his studies. Lufthansa said that it had shared with prosecutors email correspondence between the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, and the flight training school, which included medical records about a 'deep depressive episode.' Lufthansa is the parent company of Germanwings, the operator of the Airbus 320 on which Mr. Lubitz was co-pilot." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jack Gillum of the AP: "Hillary Clinton emailed her staff on an iPad as well as a BlackBerry while secretary of state, seemingly contradicting her explanation that she exclusively used a personal email address on a so-called 'homebrew' server so that she could carry a single device, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... AFP: "A US congressional panel investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks has called for Hillary Clinton to testify by May 1, following a scandal involving her exclusive use of private emails while secretary of state." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race

Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: "... two leading campaign finance groups charged on Tuesday that the spread of ... unofficial campaigns in recent months was not only deceptive, but also illegal. The groups, the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, filed formal complaints with the Federal Election Commission against four undeclared candidates for president: Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Rick Santorum, all Republicans, and Martin O'Malley, a Democrat.... Among the prospective White House candidates, those four have been particularly aggressive in appearing at fund-raisers, visiting crucial states like Iowa and New Hampshire, hiring staff members and setting up offices, and positioning themselves for a possible bid, Paul S. Ryan, a lawyer for the center, said in an interview. Yet they have skirted federal election law that requires candidates who are 'testing the waters'..."

For the umpteenth time, Elizabeth Warren says she's not going to run for president. Also, she's not exactly endorsing Hillary Clinton. But Warren is willing "'to give her a chance to decide if she's going to run and to lay out what she wants to run on,' ... when asked whether the Clinton would be the right Democratic candidate to fight for the middle class."

Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "The national debate over an Indiana religious-liberties law seen as anti-gay has drawn the entire field of Republican presidential contenders into the divisive culture wars, which badly damaged Mitt Romney in 2012 and which GOP leaders eagerly sought to avoid in the 2016 race. Most top Republican presidential hopefuls this week have moved in lock step, and without pause, to support Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) and his Religious Freedom Restoration Act.... The position puts the Republican field out of step with a growing national consensus on gay rights, handing Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats a way to portray Republicans as intolerant and insensitive." ...

... Dana Milbank: "Pence backed down Tuesday and called for new legislation 'that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone.' Alas for Republican 2016 hopes, the leading candidates had already backed the original, discriminatory version of the law.... The candidates' rush to endorse the now-doomed law doesn't even make much political sense: GOP voters place gay issues at the bottom of their list of concerns."...

... Dominic Holden of BuzzFeed: "Sen. Rand Paul said he doesn't buy into the concept of gay rights because they are defined by a gay person's lifestyle. 'I don't think I've ever used the word gay rights, because I don't really believe in rights based on your behavior,' the Kentucky Republican told reporters in a videotaped interview ... recorded in 2013." ...

... Steve M.: "... Senator Paul is one of the most uncompromising supporters of gun rights in Washington (which is quite a high bar to clear).... I guess he thinks gun ownership is so fundamental to the makeup of certain human beings, is so hard-wired, that it simply can't be considered 'behavior.'... Gay sex? A choice. Owning an assault rifle? An essential part of who you are." CW: C'mon, Steve. GOP rationales for discrimination don't have to make sense or be intellectually consistent.

Jebbie's Secret Admirers. Ed O'Keefe & Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "Jeb Bush has given his tacit endorsement to a new group that can collect unlimited amounts of money in secret, part of a bold effort by his advisers to create a robust external political operation before he declares his expected White House bid.... While ideological nonprofits have become major players in national politics in recent years, this marks the first time one has been so embedded in the network of a prospective candidate." ...

... Making New Hampshire as Antediluvian as Iowa & South Carolina. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Taking aim at Jeb Bush, a group of leading New Hampshire conservatives and libertarians are preparing to stage their own caucus three months before the state's first-in-the-nation primary -- and then unify behind the winner. Sick of the string of centrist GOP-ers who’ve dominated the state's primary in recent years -- including John McCain (twice) and Mitt Romney -- conservatives and libertarians are hoping to defy the conventional wisdom that the Granite State is moderate-friendly turf between the evangelical-dominated Iowa caucuses and socially conservative South Carolina."

CW: I skipped over Scott Walker's dog dander dilemma, but Margaret Hartmann of New York handles it with all the seriousness it deserves.

Harry Reid assesses the GOP field.

Beyond the Beltway

** My Religious Beliefs Are Your Problem. Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "... the idea of religious practice seems to have morphed to include a vague sense of offense at the lives of others." ...

... Campbell Robertson & Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "Despite intensifying criticism from business leaders both within and outside of Arkansas, the state legislature on Tuesday passed its version of a measure billed as a religious freedom law, joining Indiana in a swirl of controversy that shows little sign of calming. The Arkansas bill, passed when the General Assembly concurred on three amendments from the State Senate, now goes to the state's Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, who expressed reservations about an earlier bill but more recently said he would sign the measure if it 'reaches my desk in similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states.' The Arkansas Senate passed the measure last week." ...

... Dominic Rushe & Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "Walmart ... came out swinging on Tuesday against state legislation legalising discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, calling the move against its 'core basic beliefs'. The retail giant is headquartered in Arkansas...." ...

... Margaret Hartmann: Way last month, the Arkansas bill was all about the right to discriminate against teh gays, but (even though the language of the bill hasn't changed) suddenly it isn't anymore. Something about hamburgers & pizzas. CW: And here's a factor that makes the bill even worse: it works in conjunction with a law the Arkansas legislature passed last month "which prevented cities and counties in the state from passing their own anti-LGBT discrimination ordinances." Because discrimination needs to be statewide. Also, what's with gay people complaining about discrimination when mean people discriminate against white, straight, married politicians? Also, it isn't fair for gay people to have a "special right" to marry each other when straight people always get stuck in opposite-sex marriages. (On this last point, also see Steve Beshear story, linked below.)

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) vowed Tuesday morning that the state would alter a religious liberties bill that has drawn widespread criticism, even as he defended the law and insisted it was being unfairly portrayed in the media. Pence urged lawmakers to pass legislation making it clear 'that this law does not give businesses the right to deny services to anyone.'... He did not support a repeal of the legislation, nor did he say that language would be added explicitly protecting gay or transgender people. He also spent a significant portion of the news conference defending the bill and criticizing the media, insisting that the current legislation did not allow for discrimination. 'This law has been smeared,' he said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

By Tom Stiglich.

... Jill Lawrence of US News: "... maybe, cosseted in the Christian right echo chamber, [Mike Pence] was oblivious to how all of this would be received in the wider world.... His action, and its reflection on his party, is about as forward-looking as the revived Republican hostility to immigration reform. Forget about the future, it doesn't even acknowledge the world as it exists today."

... Jonathan Chait: "One lesson to draw from this chain of events is that Pence and his allies either overreached or blundered, and were properly forced to retreat when liberal opponents raised well-founded objections. Instead, conservatives have reached the opposite conclusion: They have been victimized by bullying social liberals, delirious with culture-war victory." ...

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "'Smoking Doesn't Kill' And Other Great Old Op-Eds From Mike Pence. The Indiana governor ... wrote some interesting op-eds 15 years ago." Or this one that begins, "Global warming is a myth." "He also mixes up India and Indonesia." ...

... CW: I remain surprised that all of the commentary concentrates on discrimination against gays. It's true, of course that this was -- from the beginning -- the primary motivation for passing the law. But the law also permits rampant discrimination against myriad other groups. Suppose the owners of a big, family-held company like Hobby Lobby "believed" that it was disgraceful for pregnant women to go out in public. Under the law, they could refuse to allow obviously pregnant women into their stores. Suppose a corporate owner believed men should sport facial hair. Or that tank tops were inappropriate attire. Whatever. As long as the particular group is not "protected," large corporations as well as mom-&-pop bakers & florists can claim a religious exemption from serving any number of classes of people. ...

... CW: I wasted little time on David Brooks' Politeness Pitch yesterday, but Driftglass goes to the heart of it: "... for Republican apologists like Mr. Brooks, inconvenient facts are always sent out of the room so he can set up yet another, simple-minded morality puppet show about the virtues of not making people like Mr. Brooks uncomfortable, Because once a hated out-group has fought its way to a place where the in-group is forced to stop treating them like vermin (even though they still may really, really want to) Mr. Brooks' answer to their grievances is always to make them step back into a posture of supplication and ask pretty, pretty please for the basic human rights which every member of Mr. Brooks' privileged in-group takes for granted as their birthright." ...

... AND Charles Pierce lets Brooks have it: "David Brooks, who would like all those hysterical gay people to start using their inside voices and to understand that their desire for equal protection under the law would be better served if they understood the feelings of the people who think they are sodomite insects who are all going to hell."

Try to Wrap Your Head around This. Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier-Journal: "Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear [D] says the state's ban on gay marriage should be upheld in part because it is not discriminatory in that both gay and straight people are barred from marrying people of the same gender. In an argument labeled absurd by gay marriage advocates, Beshear's lawyer says in a brief filed last week at the U.S. Supreme Court that 'men and women, whether heterosexual or homosexual, cannot marry persons of the same sex' under Kentucky law, making the law non-discriminatory. The argument mirrors that offered by the state of Virginia nearly 50 years ago when it defended laws barring interracial marriage there and in 15 other states, including Kentucky, by saying they weren't discriminatory because whites were barred from marrying blacks just as blacks were barred from marrying whites. The Supreme Court in 1967 rejected that argument in the historic case of Loving v. Virginia...." Thanks to contributor Forrest M. for the lead.

Privacy Rights, Arizona-Style: Between a Woman and Her Doctor & the State Legislature & the Governor. Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: Arizona "Gov. Doug Ducey [R-Misogynist] on Monday signed into law a bill that requires physicians to tell women receiving medication-induced abortions that the procedure can potentially be reversed. Senate Bill 1318 also bars insurance companies from providing abortion services to women who purchase medical coverage through the federal health-care exchange, except in cases of rape and incest." ...

... Arizona, a Good Place to Leave. Steve Benen: "Under the new law, consumers who want to receive health care coverage through an exchange will be prohibited from buying private insurance through a private business covering a legal medical procedure that Republicans don't like.... Medical professionals will now be legally required to give patients unscientific information, simply because far-right politicians in the state say so. Or as Amanda Marcotte recently put it, 'You should be able to get through an abortion without having to indulge a right-wing delusion.'"

Jaime Fuller of New York: "A new Chicago Tribune poll has incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel with 58 percent of the vote, and Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia with 30 percent."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Cynthia Lennon, the first wife of the Beatles' John Lennon, who chronicled their troubled marriage in two memoirs, died on Wednesday at her home in Mallorca, Spain. She was 75. The cause was cancer, according to a memorial on the website of her son, Julian."

Los Angeles Times: California "Gov. Jerry Brown, standing on a patch of brown grass in the Sierra Nevada that is usually covered with several feet of snow at this time of year, on Wednesday announced the first mandatory water restrictions in California history. 'It's a different world,' he said. 'We have to act differently.'"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "'Guilty,' Judge Jerry Baxter read the jury's verdicts for conspiracy for 11 of the 12 defendants in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial. The conspiracy charge was the most serious and could bring sentences up to 20 years. Only one defendant, Dessa Curb, walked away with no conviction on any charge.... The scandal, one of the most notorious to strike a U.S. school district, was uncovered by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2008, when it found improbably improved scores on on the tests."

Los Angeles Times: "Authorities investigating the death of Andrew Getty, an heir to the Getty oil fortune, said a preliminary investigation suggests foul play was not involved.The death appeared to be natural or an accident, said Ed Winter, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office."

Comments

[Unwashed]

Interesting that CT Gov. Dannel Malloy was the first to boycott Indiana since Pence signed their RFRA law, yet CT has had its own religious freedom statute since 1993. Big difference though in that CT has additional laws prohibiting discrimination but "also limits denial of service based on religious freedoms to religious institutions" and not to any mom & pop store or corporation.

[Forrest Morris]

@Barbarossa: You should probably check with Combover Trump, the
birther expert, with your question as to why it's no problem with Cruz
running while being born in Canada and why it's a problem when
someone like Obama is running, even though he was born in Hawaii.
I can give you my thought on it. It has nothing to do with where
anyone is born. It's skin color, plain as the nose on your face.

[Jack Mahoney]

Jason Whitlock said on Pardon the Interruption last evening that the issue is policy vs. philosophy (I can't find a quote, so I'm paraphrasing because I so liked what he said.) There isn't much one can do to change other people's philosophies, but we can draw the line at policies that socialize hateful behavior. I guess he's a bit late on that score, because the spirit behind the Indiana law is the same spirit that inspired the Bush Administration to redefine torture as "nothing we're doing."

[D.C.Clark]

I had a shock this morning. Stepped outside to get the newspapers and saw this headline: "Fracking Moratorium Passes in House".

Holy Crap, I thought. How did that happen? Did the Koch brothers keel over? Did Sheldon get sane? Did Boehner grow some balls? Then I realized I was looking at the local paper, and the house referred to is the Maryland House of Delegates. Oh well, dream on.

BTW, It passed by a 2:1 majority with polls showing 68% of Marylanders in support. Now to see if our new Republican governor will sign it.

[Akhilleus]

D.C.,

A lot of very bad people would have to keel over or come to their senses for fracking to be halted, even momentarily, in this country. There is just too much money to be made and too many politicians' pockets need lining.

The amount of water and chemicals used in the process is staggering. 280 billion gallons of water are used every year (and that may go up dramatically as fracking expands) in this country. I tried to put that into perspective because a good visual helps one appreciate what numbers so large actually mean. This is enough chemically laced water to fill 425,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. Every year.

A guy out in Nebraska also likes the idea of good visuals. At a hearing of the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a Mr. James Osborn stepped up to the mic to address industry claims that the water runoff from fracking is perfectly safe. An industry group from neighboring states has petitioned Nebraska to allow them to dump 10,000 gallons of fracking wastewater into wells in that state. That's 10,000 gallons a day, every day for the foreseeable future.

Mr. Osborn pours the gentlemen on the commission a glass of this water, one for each, and challenges them to drink it.

The water is filthy. It fairly oozes with sludge and chemicals, the composition of which, as Osborn points out, is unknown to all but industry insiders. They apparently don't have to make that public.

And the best part? Osborn is not some tree hugger. He worked in the oil and gas industry and his brother works for a fracking operation.

Wouldn't you love to see oil and gas shills like Joe Barton and other congressional supporters of poisoning American water supplies be forced to drink a glass of this shit?

[Forrest Morris]

Marie: You're so right about the ramifications of the "Hide behind
religion discrimination bills " being passed. Wait until some of the
other minorities wake up to the fact that it's more than just keeping
the GLBT from having the same rights as everyone else. But all
these politicians have to do is put "gay" into anything and out come
the bigots and bible thumpers to jump on the bandwagon.
And every time I read something about the "gay agenda" with no
further explanation of what that actually is, I could scream. It's not
about a place at the lunch counter with bigots and homophobes. If
we wanted that there's always that restaurant chain with the rocking
chairs on the porch. It's about paying the same or more taxes that
married straights and not getting the hundreds of benefits that should
come with paying taxes and being a member of this society called
the US of A.
Thanks for letting me rant a few minutes.

[D.C.Clark]

Akhilleus,

You will also be aware that fracking has been linked to earthquake activity, and may remember that almost 4 years ago we had a fair sized quake here in the MD,DC,VA region. That one however, I confess, was probably my fault:

Many years ago, growing up in northern Virginia, near the epicenter, I predicted that Hell would freeze before I saw a Social Security check. The quake occurred the day before my 62nd birthday. QED

Or, it may have been God's punishment for Eric Cantor (his district) or Eric may have been God's punishment on the rest of us. I am an insufficiently gifted metaphysician to sort it out so I'll guess "All of the above".

[Akhilleus]

Forrest,

You're right about the magical properties of the word "gay" for wingnuts.

Confederates like very few groups (white, far-right Christian males with money. A lot of it.) and pretty much hate everyone else. But invoking "gay" this or "lesbian" that gives them a kind of Get Out of Bigotry Accusations Free card. They can't very well come out and say that women are either virgins or sluts and should shut up, stay in the kitchen and never think about exerting control over their own lives. Can they? Oh wait.....they do say that. A lot. Well, never mind. They can't come right out and complain that black people are lazy, no-good criminals who live off the rest of us and drive pimp cars paid for by taxes collected from little old white Christian ladies from Kansas, can they? Ummm...yeah....they do say that. Assholes R Us, I guess.

But anyway...."gay" has a magical power for them that other words, even "blahs" and "immigrants" and "sluts" and even "socialism" don't seem to have.

Google "gay agenda" and you get over 23 million hits. You can read about the Homosexual Agenda Revealed! God's plan for the Gay Agenda (spoiler: make them not gay), and--my personal fave--the Gay Jihad.

About the closest I've found to a definition of the Gay Agenda comes from the wonderful Betty Bowers:

"Many a well-intentioned person has asked me, 'Betty, what exactly is The Homosexual Agenda?' Well, if you have to ask, you are probably already under its pernicious influence and blithely hop-scotching your way straight to Hell."

And like that...

But seriously folks...the genius of using religious freedom to discriminate against any group they happen to hate this week (and that's a gigantic boatload of people--everyone not a member of their tribe) is particularly nefarious. It's like saying "god gave me permission to hate you and to tell you to fuck off".

And then we have David Brooks telling everyone that they must back off, shut up and respect the religious beliefs of the haters. One possible response might be this one, from the comedian Patton Oswalt:

"'You’ve gotta respect everyone’s beliefs.' No, you don’t. That’s what gets us in trouble. Look, you have to acknowledge everyone’s beliefs, and then you have to reserve the right to go: 'That is fucking stupid. Are you kidding me?' I acknowledge that you believe that, that’s great, but I’m not going to respect it. I have an uncle that believes he saw Sasquatch. We do not believe him, nor do we respect him!"

Which brings us to the problems we have with tribal membership that requires belief systems that others wish to impose on the rest of us through laws based on those systems. One of the links Marie offers today posits that Mike Pence, and virtually all the rest of the members of the Republican governing tribe, remain sealed off from the rest of America, enclosed in an echo chamber which bounces back their worst ideas as great ones and confirms the rightness of their every crazy thought.

This isn't just bad for them, it's bad for everyone.

So how come no one talks about the Radical Right's Religious Agenda? This one is real and it degrades all of us.

[D.C.Clark]

Sorry, I inadvertantly posted the following to yesterdays comments. Hope the duplication is not a problem.

I often hear wingers assert that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not the same as racial discrimination, because sexual orientation is "a choice".

Rest of the conversation goes like this:

Me: "Oh, than you are saying that you are bisexual."

Winger: "No I'm not."

Me: "Sure you are, If sexual orientation is a choice to you, then you are by definition bisexual. It's not a choice for me. I could never enjoy relations with someone of my sex, the thought is repellant".

Winger: "Well, it's not a choice for me either."

Me: "Then how could you possibly know that it's choice for anyone? Besides, I thought you were all about freedom of choice. So come out of the closet, you'll feel better. Hey everybody, R.W. just told me he's bi..."

[Akhilleus]

Mike Pence claims he had no idea that his Religious Hate law could be used to legally discriminate. No idea at all. And that wasn't the intent.

Thirty legal scholars disagree.

A letter sent to the Indiana Legislature makes it clear what would happen if the Hoosier Haters passed that law and the number of legal problems that would ensue:

"This confusion and conflict will increasingly take the form of private actors, such as employers, landlords, small business owners, or corporations, taking the law into their own hands and acting in ways that violate generally applicable laws on the grounds that they have a religious justification for doing so. Members of the public will then be asked to bear the cost of their employer’s, their landlord’s, their local shopkeeper’s, or a police officer’s private religious beliefs."

They knew. Of course they knew. That was their intended purpose. But now they're all claiming to be surprised by the "misinterpretations" and "misunderstanding" of their Hate Law.

Don't you wish that just once these pricks would just tell the truth? Come right out and say "Yeah, we passed this law and we did it so our supporters could fuck with anyone they didn't like."

Scoundrels, bigots, and liars, the lot of them.

[safari]

From AKs comment above: "Members of the public will then be asked to bear the cost of their employer’s, their landlord’s, their local shopkeeper’s, or a police officer’s private religious beliefs."

Et voilà, la raison cometh forth. This law constitutes a wet dream for confederate bigots everywhere, and they knew damn well what kind of recipe they were cooking up. Not only could Christians chide the degenerates to their black heart's content, but then they even get to pass the financial burden of their personal bigotry onto that hated socialist experiment commonly as "society", where conformism and general politeness are the ordre du jour. Fuck them and fuck that (snark).

I'm kinda hoping Pence holds his line as his political and business support unravels before his eyes, cheered on by the haters, until reality chex and he is finally forced to lay on his sword, thus becoming a very public example of the price you pay for directly legislating discrimination in today's society. Others will inevitably try as the confederate forces are always alert looking for ways to cut others down, but Pence's feet are feeling the flames of public fury and few elected GOPers want to be in that hot seat on prime time, bigot or not.

[Marie Burns]

@Akhilleus: If you read Margaret Hartmann's piece, linked above, you'll see that in Arkansas, legislators were quite willing to be frank about their objectives up thru February -- or till they got the memo titled "Re: Indiana," I guess.

Even in Indiana, some of the law's supporters are still admitting the purpose was to allow individuals & corporate entities to discriminate against gays. Funny thing, Mike Pence invited some of those same openly-anti-gay activists to his secret signing ritual.

The push for these laws is a ploy to put the holy imprimatur of Jesus on dirty little prejudices & to give the finger to the majority who support same-sex marriage.

By broadening those who have the "freedom" to assert their "rights" under the law, the legislators & governors can pretend it's some citizens' private religious convictions that are to blame for any "inadvertent" discrimination, at the same time they're winking rapidly at their "base," who are in on the joke.

I think Amy Davidson made an important point when she remarked that "religious freedom" has become "a vague sense of offense at the lives of others." The purpose of the federal RFRA was to allows people to practice rites that might otherwise have been illegal -- like, ferinstance, "serving" wine without a liquor license, and to minors, during communion. It was not to impose one's religious beliefs on others or to harm others because of a person's peculiar beliefs.

If Joe & Moe decide to marry & ask me to make some nice floral arrangements for the wedding, it does not affect in any way the religious service in my church or the doctrines of my church or how I practice my religion in my own life.

My right to swing my fists should stop at your nose. That's what happens most of the time. Millions of times a day, business owners perform their services for people with whom they don't share religious beliefs. I'm sure there are plenty of Roman Catholic wedding vendors who don't believe in divorce, but how often do you think they turn down business because one or both of the marrying couple has been divorced? I reckon that over at the Santorum Bakery the owners don't believe in premarital sex, but do you think they question the couple about their virginity before baking them a cake? Similarly, there are very likely church ladies working at no-tell motels who are just shocked by the goings-on, but the ladies are still pretty such Jesus will be beaming them up to heaven for their righteousness. They don't blame themselves for other people's "moral failings."

These laws are just a last-ditch poke-in-the-eye at not only gay couples but also at the majority of straight people who support gay marriage.

And my congratulations to Joe & Moe.

Marie

[safari]

Maybe the Georgian caller is just pulling legs, but if so he's got the act down well. Some of the best CSPAN action we'll get for a while just happened... A sample:

"According to the caller, the EPA and Sierra Club think “white people and black people, by abortions and turning people into homosexuals, will clear the way for them to have these Latinos come in and be the main population. Could you say anything about this?”"

with video
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/learn-about-the-epas-gay-latino-agenda-in-the-best-cspan-clip-youll-see-all-year/