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The Ledes

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Washington Post's liveblog of developments in the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse is here: “Divers recovered the bodies of two construction workers who died when a massive cargo ship struck and collapsed a Baltimore bridge, as investigators revealed Wednesday that hazardous material was leaking from breached containers on the stranded vessel and state and federal lawmakers rushed to begin the recovery from the disaster that crippled the Port of Baltimore. Rescue crews found the victims shortly before 10 a.m. trapped in a red pickup truck in about 25 feet of water in the Patapsco River near the mid-span of the hulking wreck of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maryland State Police Secretary Roland L. Butler Jr. said at a news conference. The conditions were treacherous for the divers, so Butler said they were suspending the search for the bodies of four other construction workers who plunged to their deaths when the container ship in distress struck the bridge shortly before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, causing it to fall.

“The workers are believed to be the only victims in the disaster.... The victims recovered were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, Md. Other victims identified Wednesday were Maynor Suazo Sandoval, 38, from Honduras, and Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, who was the father of three. The names of the remaining two victims have not been released.” ~~~

~~~ CNN's live updates are here.

The Wires
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The Ledes

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Washington Post: “As a cargo ship the size of a skyscraper drifted dangerously close to a major Baltimore bridge that carried more than 30,000 cars a day, the crew of the Dali issued an urgent 'mayday,' hoping to avert disaster Tuesday. First responders sprang into action, shutting down most traffic on the four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge just before the 95,000 gross-ton vessel plowed into a bridge piling at about 1:30 a.m., causing multiple sections of the span to bow and snap in a harrowing scene captured on video.... Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) hailed those who carried out the quick work as 'heroes' and said they saved lives, but the scale of the destruction was catastrophic and will probably have far-reaching impacts for the economy and travel on the East Coast for months to come.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ A Washington Post liveblog of developments is here: “Six people [-- bridge construction workers --] were presumed dead Tuesday evening, authorities announced as they shifted from a search and rescue operation to a recovery effort.... The governor declared a state of emergency, and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) announced that the city has deployed its emergency operations plan. Vessel traffic into and out of the Port of Baltimore was 'suspended until further notice.'”

Public Service Announcement

The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705

The Hollywood Reporter has the full list of 2024 Oscar winners here.

Ryan Gosling performs "I'm Just Ken" at the Academy Awards: ~~~

Marie: If you don't like birthing stories, don't watch this video. But I thought it was pretty sweet -- and funny:

If you like Larry David, you may find this interview enjoyable:


Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Allison Hope comments in a CNN opinion piece:

~~~ Here's Chapman singing "Fast Car" at the Oakland Coliseum in December 1988. ~~~

~~~ Here's the full 2024 Grammy winner's list, via CBS.

He Shot the Messenger. Washington Post: “The Messenger is shutting down immediately, the news site’s founder told employees in an email Wednesday, marking the abrupt demise of one of the stranger and more expensive recent experiments in digital media. In his email, Jimmy Finkelstein said he was 'personally devastated' to announce that he had failed in a last-ditch effort to raise more money for the site, saying that he had been fundraising as recently as the night before. Finkelstein said the site, which launched last year with outsize ambitions and a mammoth $50 million budget, would close 'effective immediately.' The New York Times first reported the site’s closure late Wednesday afternoon, appearing to catch many staffers off-guard, including editor in chief Dan Wakeford. As employees read the news story, the internal work chat service Slack erupted in what one employee called 'pandemonium.'... Minutes later, as staffers read Finkelstein’s email, its message was underscored as they were forcibly logged out of their Slack accounts. Former Messenger reporter Jim LaPorta posted on social media that employees would not receive health care or severance.”

Washington Post: “The last known location of 'Portrait of Fräulein Lieser' by world-renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was in Vienna in the mid-1920s. The vivid painting featuring a young woman was listed as property of a 'Mrs Lieser' — believed to be Henriette Lieser, who was deported and killed by the Nazis. The only remaining record of the work was a black and white photograph from 1925, around the time it was last exhibited, which was kept in the archives of the Austrian National Library. Now, almost 100 years later, this painting by one of the world’s most famous modernist artists is on display and up for sale — having been rediscovered in what the auction house has hailed as a sensational find.... It is unclear which member of the Lieser family is depicted in the piece[.]”

CNN: “Jon Stewart is heading back to 'The Daily Show.' The comedian, who during his 16-year run as host of the Comedy Central program established it as an entertainment and cultural force, will return to host the show each week on Mondays starting February 12, Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios announced Wednesday. Stewart, who returns as the 2024 presidential election season heats up, will also executive produce the show and work with a rotating line-up of comedians who will helm the program the rest of the week, Tuesdays through Thursdays.”

~~~ Marie: I don't know if this podcast will update automatically, or if I have to do it manually. In any event, both you and I can find the latest update of the published episodes here. The episodes begin with ads, but you can fast-forward through them.

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Friday
Aug172012

The Commentariat -- August 18, 2012

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. ABC News story here.

The Way We Were When the South Was Away. Charles Pierce writes an excellent piece on the Morrill Act of 1862. Really, read it. Pierce's essay -- and Morrill's vision -- are antidotes -- and a retort -- to everything the "zombie-eyed granny-starver" stands for. And, in my opinion, another argument against the Civil War. The North shoulda let 'em get away & stay away.

David Adams & Alex Dobuzinskis of Reuters: "The Obama administration's new policy to grant temporary legal status to millions of young illegal immigrants will end the immediate threat of deportation but may not give them the same privileges as legal residents. Within hours of the policy's going into effect on Wednesday, Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, issued an executive order denying public benefits such as driver's licenses to illegal immigrants who are given temporary legal status.... Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, a Republican, issued a statement on Friday saying the state will continue to deny driver's licenses, welfare benefits and other public benefits to illegal immigrants even if they are granted temporary legal status."

Presidential Race

Two new Obama-Biden ads with significant buys in swing states:

In this Web video, Stephanie Cutter of the Obama campaign does a great job of explaining the differences between whatever the Romney-Ryan plan is & Obama's Medicare plan:

** "Buyer's Remorse?" Ezra Klein: "Here's the weird thing about Paul Ryan being named to the Republican presidential ticket: It's all part of Barack Obama's campaign plan -- a plan that's working better than his strategists could have hoped. It could also backfire more disastrously than they could have ever imagined.... By pitting his presidency against Ryan and his budget, Obama helped make Ryan the de facto leader of the Republican Party. As Mitt Romney emerged as the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee, the Obama administration began calling Ryan's budget the 'Romney-Ryan budget.' ... If Obama loses, Republicans will have won the presidency with a mandate to enact a deeply conservative agenda."

Just looked at this PolitiFact page of recent campaign ads & remarks: Obama gets a lot of "Mostly True"s; Romney gets only "Mostly False"s. (And PolitiFact is notoriously tough on Democrats.)

Road to Ruin. Charles Blow: "Shady money, voter suppression, shifting positions, murky details and widespread apathy. If there is a road map for a Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan win in November, that's it."

Web of Greed. John Swaine of the London Telegraph: while Romney was governor of Massachusetts "appears to have profited from a marketing company that was contracted by the state of Massachusetts after receiving $5 million (£3.2 million) in financial backing from Bain Capital, Mr Romney's investment firm. One of [Paul Ryan]'s brothers, who is a former Bain consultant, was at the time of the investment a senior executive at the marketing company, Imagitas, which was co-founded by another former Bain executive. Both Mr Romney and Tobin Ryan, who omits his work at Imagitas from his corporate biography, also apparently stood to benefit from the $230 million (£146 million) sale of the company in 2005, while Mr Romney remained in office. Massachusetts law requires that all state employees divest themselves of financial interests in private sector contracts with state agencies. At the time, failure to do so could have resulted in a $2,000 (£1,273) fine or a 2.5-year prison sentence." ...

     ... CW: Now we're beginning to see why Romney won't release his tax returns. They would, for instance, show his profits from Imagitas, which appear to be ill-gotten gains.

R&R Admit to Smoke & Mirrors Strategy. Mike Allen & Jim Vandehei of Politico: "The Romney strategy is simple: Hammer away at Obama for proposing cuts to Medicare and promise, in vague, aspirational ways, to protect the program for future retirees -- but don't get pulled into a public discussion of the most unpopular parts of the Ryan plan. 'The nature of running a presidential campaign is that you're communicating direction to the American people,' a Romney adviser said. 'Campaigns that are about specifics, particularly in today's environment, get tripped up.'" ...

... Greg Sargent: "As Steve Benen asks: 'what does it say about the merit of Romney's policy agenda if voters are likely to recoil if they heard the whole truth?' And this is coming after the campaign touted the selection of Paul Ryan as proof that the GOP ticket is deeply serious about policy and committed to making the tough decisions Democrats won't." ...

... Imani Gandy in Balloon Juice: "Better to be vague and accuse President Obama of being black than to tell voters what you stand for, (or, as the case seems to be, than to tell voters just how much you're going to screw them when you get elected.)"

Steve Benen has an interesting lead-in to his 30th installment of "Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity": In a speech this week, Romney said "'How can you go out there and tell people things that just aren't true? ... This is a time for truths.' ... Romney was referring to Obama's claim that 'we're adding jobs in the coal industry.'" This is true. "Romney was looking for an example of the president saying something that 'just isn't true,' and he pointed to an Obama quote that happened to be accurate, though he told his audience the opposite. It's hard not to appreciate the ironic circle -- the president said something true, Romney lied when he said the accurate claim is false, and then he complained about falsehoods in the campaign.... It's actually a little scary to think of a leader ... who can convince himself that his falsehoods are true, and that others' truths are falsehoods." ...

... Speaking of falsehoods, reader Jeanne B. reminds us that Romney & his team have previously (and repeatedly) lied to the public about what was in his tax returns.

Kaili Gray of Daily Kos: "After weeks of insisting that the Romney campaign had learned the hard lessons of 2008 and would very deliberately do the opposite of everything McCain did, including seeking an 'incredibly boring white guy' for the VP spot to avoid any Palintastrophes, the fact that the campaign ... is now following the same disastrous roadmap McCain did, starting with, in McCain's own words, 'a pretty bold choice' for the VP slot, is pretty shocking." ...

... This commentary by Frank Rich on the Ryan roll-out is a few days old but still worth reading. Rich was not impressed.

** Paul Krugman: "what [Ryan's] budget actually proposes (as opposed to vaguely promises) in its first decade...:

Spending cuts: $1.7 trillion
Tax cuts: $4.3 trillion

     "This is, then, a plan that would increase the deficit by around $2.6 trillion. How, then, does Ryan get to call himself a fiscal hawk? By asserting that he will keep his tax cuts revenue-neutral by broadening the base in ways he refuses to specify, and that he will make further large cuts in spending, in ways he refuses to specify. And this is what passes inside the Beltway for serious thinking and a serious commitment to deficit reduction." ...

     ... CW: instead of having Joe Biden debate Ryan, why can't we have Paul Krugman fill in? ...

... Harsha Natata in Think Progress: "A Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis shows that Ryan voted to add a grand total of $6.8 trillion to the federal debt during his time in Congress, voting for at least 65 bills that either reduced revenue or increased spending."

Now that Romney & Ryan are "on the same page," whatever page that might be, Gail Collins write a handy column to help the uninformed voter tell them apart. She includes this aside:

Practically the only person in America who claims to have no idea who he's going to vote for is Senator Joseph Lieberman, who recently declared himself absolutely and totally undecided. People, do you think it's possible that the entire presidential campaign is now being waged just for the benefit of Joseph Lieberman? On the one hand, that's a real waste of about $1 billion. On the other, it's exactly what Joseph Lieberman has been waiting for all his life.

      ... CW: The only sad thing about saying goodbye to Joe Lieberman is that we might be saying hello to the super-rich wrestler lady. Please, Connecticut voters, you have already saddled us with Loathsome Joe. Don't add insult to injury.

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: Romney has such a lousy personality, the GOP convention will focus on his business acumen instead of his person qualities -- which is the usual thrust of conventions. CW: I'm paraphrasing.

Romney to Ryan: "Keep yer mouth shut, kid." Steve Peoples of the AP: "Ryan has been directed to avoid taking questions from reporters who travel with his campaign and to agree only to a handful of carefully selected interviews.... Romney's Boston headquarters -- so far, at least -- seems to prefer that ... [Ryan] talks about camping and milking cows instead of the transformational budget proposals that made him a conservative hero.."

Jerry Markon & David Fallis of the Washington Post: Paul Ryan "has often ... [sought] federal funds for his Wisconsin district, sometimes from existing pools of money and other times in ways that would increase federal spending.... It complicates the image that Ryan, and now the Romney campaign, have sought to project of a man who is single-mindedly focused on sharply cutting the federal budget and erasing the nation's deficit.... In several instances, he sought earmarks opposed by the George W. Bush administration. In 2009, he urged the Obama administration to award millions of economic stimulus dollars for 'green' jobs in his district, even though he had voted against the stimulus package that year.... [His] stance ... drew more attention this week when he [twice] denied that he had ever sought stimulus dollars.... He backtracked Thursday and acknowledged he had sought stimulus funds, but he said his office had mishandled the requests. He continued to voice opposition to the stimulus program, which he has called a 'wasteful spending spree.'"

Friday Afternoon News Dump. Craig Gilbert of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Paul Ryan and his wife Janna paid an effective tax rate of 15.9% in 2010 and 20% in 2011, according to tax returns provided by the Romney-Ryan campaign to the Journal Sentinel Friday."

David Firestone of the New York Times: "Among the many falsehoods in the Romney campaign's new Medicare ad is this remarkable line pitched to the elderly: 'The money you paid in for guaranteed health care is going into a massive new government program that's not for you.' ... The implication is that Obamacare is for the poor, the uninsured, blacks, Hispanics, immigrants, anyone but the upstanding older Americans that the Romney-Ryan ticket is suddenly very afraid of losing. 'It's not for you.' As it happens, the ad is incorrect. For instance, the president's health care bill eliminated the notorious Medicare 'doughnut hole,' which forced beneficiaries to use their own money for prescription drugs after they reached a limit. That hole, created by President George W. Bush and Congress, had a serious health effect on millions of older Americans."

Juliet Lapidos of the New York Times on "Paul Ryan & the Auto Bailout." Ryan said at a campaign stop & in an interview Thursday that the auto bailout didn't work because GM shut down its Janesville, Wisconsin, plant. "What's his argument? That the auto bailout, which saved GM, was a failure because it didn’t save one particular GM plant? That Janesville proves the president might as well have let Detroit go bankrupt? ... On Talking Points Memo, Benjy Sarlin reports that the Janesville plant closed in 2008, before Mr. Obama took office. Mr. Ryan, moreover..., supported the Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act in the waning months of the Bush administration. That bill, which died in the Senate, would have extended a $14 billion loan to Chrysler and GM." CW: just an all-around tip-top Olympic-calibre hypocrite.

CW: in honor of its new favorite son, Janesville should at least temporarily change its name to Janusville because that guy is so incredibly two-faced.

Steve Kornacki of Salon: the whole point of the untrue Romney-Ryan Medicare attack ads is to obfuscate, and it could work. "Just because Romney's running mate is the author of a reviled Medicare plan doesn't necessarily mean that the GOP ticket will pay a price for it."

Ready for His Close-Ups. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, has emerged as the choice to play Representative Paul D. Ryan in mock debates with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr."

CW: Ed Klein, author of a"stunning exposé" of "the real Barack Obama," reveals that "As recently as a couple of weeks ago, the White House was putting out feelers to see if Hillary Clinton was interested in replacing Joe Biden on the ticket." Klein said Bill Clinton was encouraging the move. "Klein ... quoted unnamed sources who revealed that top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett put the vice presidency on the table during a lunch with the secretary of state."

Hillary Clinton's spokesman Philippe Reines responded, sort of "Cat in the Hat" style:

This did not happen
They did not have lunch
They did not have any meal
They did not meet this month
They did not meet last month
They did not meet in 2012
They did not meet in 2011, 2010, 2009
This is not happening
Truth is that Ed Klein is an idiot with not a shred of credibility
Truth is that Ed Klein's motto is 'If at first you don't succeed, lie lie again.'

Congressional Races

Alison Cowan of the New York Times: "According to a criminal complaint unsealed on Friday..., Ofer Biton ... schemed to commit immigration fraud and other illegal acts.... According to the complaint, Mr. Biton deceived the government in June 2010 about the source of $500,000 that he claimed to have put into a new business that was to make him eligible for a permanent visa.... While it was not mentioned in the complaint, Mr. Biton has also emerged as a key figure in the 2009-10 Congressional campaign of Representative Michael G. Grimm, a Republican who represents Staten Island and Brooklyn.... Though Mr. Biton is barred from raising money for federal election campaigns because he is an illegal immigrant, he is said to have raised much of Mr. Grimm's campaign money...."

Local News

Rich Abdill of Wonkette: "Kentucky Republicans passed education legislation in 2009 that made it easier to compare the state's students to other states. Now they're very upset that the results came back Stupid. ACT, the state's testing company, interviews professors to figure out the things most important to student readiness for college, which sounds like a smart thing to do. Unfortunately, those professors have bad news: If you want students to do well in biology classes, they have to know about evolution."

News Lede

Politico: "Lost in the hubbub last weekend over Rep. Paul Ryan's selection as Mitt Romney's running mate was the fact that Obama signed a bill that eliminates the need to obtain Senate confirmation for about 170 executive branch posts: the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011. The bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), addresses concerns that the Senate's confirmation process has become so constipated that in many cases, especially with lower-profile posts, nominations were being held up without anyone really trying."

Reader Comments (10)

This is an actual question: If R&R eliminate the "mortgage deduction loophole," won't the value of current housing plummet? I recently bought a house, and part of my decision was based on the ability to write off part of my interest. Had I not been able to factor that in, it's likely I would not have made as large a financial commitment.

Second: If eliminating the mortgage interest deduction will indeed hurt housing prices, aren't there a lot of "good, decent Americans," who regularly pull the red lever because they have no problem ending "welfare" for others, who might be aghast if they were told that their house would lose value and any mortgage they're paying would be a lot more expensive? And all because R&R think that the "job creators" need a few more bucks as kindling in order to start that, I don't know, job fire?

Third: In a deeply depressed housing market in which keeping people in their houses isn't good for just them but also for their neighborhoods and society as a whole, wouldn't eliminating the mortgage deduction be remarkably irresponsible?

Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks.

August 17, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoneyy

@Jack Mahoney : While the Romney deal is scary let us not forget that unless the Republicans also gain control of the Senate which requires a 'majority' of 60, the Democrats only have to repeat the current Republican plan. Vote no.

August 17, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

@Jack Mahoney. Not sure where you get the idea Romney, et al., would eliminate the mortgage deduction. As you say, his base are apt to be homeowners, albeit ones who may have paid down their mortgages. What he's said -- to a bunch of rich donors in a display of "courage" -- is that he might eliminate the mortgage deduction on 2nd homes for the wealthy. Since many of them don't have mortgages anyway, I shouldn't think this bold move would have any noticeable effect on the deficit. Even if they have mortgages, they're smart enough to move those mortgages on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th homes to the 1st home.

On Thursday, Romney said in an interview, "I've indicated for middle income people there will have to of course continue to recognize the importance of those deductions. For higher income people I think some of those deductions will be limited in order to keep the progressivity in the code."

And, yeah, removing the mortgage deduction would have a negative impact on the housing market. I don't think most people decide to become homeowners because of the mortgage deduction, but realtors do mention it as a sweetener for first-time buyers, a certain percentage (maybe a small percentage) of whom are aware of it anyway.

@Marvin Schwalb. I don't think it's just Democrats who would vote against removing the deduction. The Grover Norquist Party would split their collection guts if R&R gave them marching orders to vote it out since Grover would certainly characterize removal of the deduction as a "tax increase." Besides, all those Congressmembers know homeowners tend to be voters.

August 18, 2012 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

A quick look at the Ryan tax returns posted online gave me a bit of a pause. Mr. Ryan is touted as this financial/budget/monetary policy wonk...but, he's has investments with a company that features what I believe is called a "front-end load" and takes 5.75% right off the top of monies invested. If this is how a so-called savvy financial genius chooses to manage his own money then...(well, you know where I am heading with this)...just how smart is he?

August 18, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

@MAG. Good point. Ross Kerber of Reuters agrees with you:

"Paul Ryan and his wife have accumulated far more savings than the typical American couple, but they still face an all-too-common investing problem: holding an unwieldy collection of mutual funds.... But despite their riches, Ryan and his wife Janna appear to have made the same mistakes as many less wealthy investors: owning too many mutual funds that duplicate one another thereby increasing their costs and their risk.

"It is easy for even wealthy families to wind up with 'a patchwork of investments that is not a strategy,' said Derek Holman, managing director EP Wealth Advisors in Los Angeles.

Several other financial advisers rolled their eyes at a June 6 disclosure in which Ryan listed investments held by himself and his wife.

August 18, 2012 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

In re: to CW's suggestion Janesville be renamed Janusville:

In mythology the Roman god Janus was the god of beginnings, of doorways, and public gates, of departures and returns. The statue of Janus in his temple had two faces, a young one that looked toward the rising sun and an old one that faced the setting sun. At his temple in Rome the doors were shut only in times of peace, which were extremely rare. Now, given that little summary, here’s my fantasy: I am Janus’s daughter, also called Janus (known in the super world as The Two Faced Janus) and I, too, have duel faces. I am an odd looking creature in my natural state but since I have the power to transform myself into any human being I can become a lovely lady or a Tony Soprano. My function is as an infiltrator–––an undercover girl seeking out the evil doers and changing bad beginnings of things to be better in the end. I’m in a way, a body snatcher. If a certain idiot congressman is spouting nonsense about drilling in the Arctic , I, posed as a waiter,would put a drop of magic potion in his coffee that overnight will allow me to enter his body and mind and the next day on the floor I’ll say, “Whoa, what a dummy I am, don’t know what the hell I was thinking” and take a complete reversal. I, of course, would want to be able to fly, but like Clarence, I’d have to earn my wings: Two wars prevented; two dictators down for the count; global warming on its way toward the greening of the planet; dirty dealings in Washington slowed to a snail’s pace, and finally exposing the R&R railroading of the American public. And after I earn my wings there is just no telling how far I can go with this.

August 18, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Jack, Asking questions about the "what would happen if's" of their plans is exactly what none of their supporters seems to be doing at all. What happens to the people no longer served by medicaid, Pell Grants, food stamps, etc. Why is no one forcing the candidates to explain what becomes of those people? Do they think the cuts will force the disabled, elderly, and poor mothers with children back into work? Even if they could work, the jobs they could do would most definitely not provide healthcare! It is utter madness that people don't seem able to think about the consequences.

August 18, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterLisa

Marie,

Jack's intimation that R&R are planning on (or could plan on--very little actual planning so far, at least as far as they've let on) eliminating the home mortgage deduction is not as outrageous as it sounds (with the understanding that "stupid" and "outrageous" are often the same thing in right wing world).

Even though Mr. "I'm a better economist than Paul Krugman" has offered up a couple of large piles of offal to which he has given the laughable name of "budget", his assertions, completely unsupported by any details, that he will be able to offset the enormous tax cuts for the rich by closing off loopholes which, according to every economist not owned outright by the GOP, would be impossible to accomplish without tearing out some of biggest loopholes one of which (the second largest) would be the home mortgage deduction. According to the Joint Committee for Taxation, estimates for 2015 pin that particular "loophole" (I always thought that word should apply to the sort of slimy things done by people like Romney, not me and my wife and a hundred million other Americans) at around $113 billion. Just think of the slobbering excitement that Sad Paul must have at the idea of taking $113 billion from people he doesn't care a thing about and handing it on a silver monogrammed platter to the one tenth of one percenters. Even his tiny organ would be semi-erect.

Also, Ryan has already put his imprimatur on the idea of swiping that money from homeowners. On August 2, 2012, Ryan voted a great big NO and double NO to a Democratic motion to add a codicil to a House bill (HR8) that would maintain the home mortgage deduction in the face of any new tax code shenanigans by Republicans and Conservadems. (The motion failed.)

So, although the Rat has not specifically come out and said he wants to shiv homeowners in the back, Ryan has done so in no uncertain terms. At least if you accept his vote as an honest one, with an appreciation that the concept of Honesty is somewhat (no, strike that; wholly) anathema to both of these schmoes.

August 18, 2012 | Unregistered Commenterakhilleus

The following is a quote from Charley James on Paul Krugman's blog today. I don't have a link, so I'm asking for help here.

"Romney was asked about Viet Nam today at a campaign stop and said "I was too important to go ..." referring to his Mormon missionary assignment in France. He made it sound like he was roughing it while trying to get the heathens to see the light. What he didn't mention was that, as a missionary, he lived in a chateau with a private chef who cooked Cordon Bleu meals for him.

"I was a reporter in Nam in 70-71 and saw how those poor kids - mostly poor, mostly minorities, mostly from squalid inner cities and hard-scrabble farms - who weren't important enough to be sent to a French villa lived an awful year in a miserable country and died horrible deaths for no reason. Only an Upper Class Twit like Romney could manage to show such disrespect to so many with so few words."

August 18, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

@Jack Mahoney. I'm pretty certain the Krugman commenter made that up about Romney's saying he was too important to go to Nam. In June, the satirical Website Free Wood Post published a fake news story "quoting" Romney: "... So I did what I could to make sure that I would be around to serve my nation, as well as serving God by teaching very important religious principles to a broader audience overseas. My father did not want me serving, and he convinced me that yes, I was too important to go to Vietnam. I had a greater purpose in life. I wasn’t neglecting my nation, but rather preparing myself for a future of service."

Commenters on a few Websites evidently took the story seriously & "quoted" Romney again. But I'm not aware he ever said any such thing.

Marie

August 18, 2012 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns
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