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
Monday
Nov042013
The Commentariat -- Nov. 5, 2013
Paul Kane & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The Senate cleared a critical hurdle Monday on legislation banning discrimination against gays in the workplace, demonstrating the latest shift in a dramatic transformation of political views toward gay rights over the last decade. Seven Republicans joined 54 members of the Democratic caucus Monday evening in a vote to formally begin consideration of the bill -- virtually guaranteeing passage later this week -- on legislation that would prohibit discrimination in the workplace against gays." ...
... Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) speaks in favor of ENDA:
... Benjy Sarlin of NBC News: "Not a single Republican Senator delivered a speech opposing its passage." ...
... Thomas Ferraro of Reuters: "House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Monday opposed a bill to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, dimming the chances of the White House-backed measure becoming law." ...
... Sarlin (linked above) explains why Boehner's opposition to ENDA is a BIG MISTAKE for the GOP. ...
... "Barack Obama Is a Terrible Blogger." Jonathan Chait: "Not long ago, Barack Obama gave a highly publicized speech in which he disparaged bloggers as a class of people who, along with lobbyists and talk-radio hosts, ought to be ignored. Just what Obama holds against bloggers was never entirely clear.... Today, Obama has a blog item of his own in the Huffington Post, urging Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. A consideration of its polemical merits makes clear the source of his mysterious resentment of bloggers: rank envy.... He resents bloggers because he is a failed blogger himself. Obama should not quit his day job. Whatever that is." Obama's post is here.
I can't always quote everything perfect. I'm not perfect. I do make mistakes. In the book in fact we made a mistake, it should have been blocked off or indented to show that it was a quotation. It was footnoted at the end. We didn't try to pass off anything as our own. And they're coming up with these absurdities. -- Sen. Rand Paul, to Sean Hannity Monday night ...
I can't always quote everything perfect. Look, adverbs and adjectives confuse me. And 'they' expect me to indent? -- CW Rough Translation
... The Plagiarist, Ctd. Linguakleptomania. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Sections of an op-ed Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul wrote on mandatory minimums in The Washington Times in September appear nearly identical to an article by Dan Stewart of The Week that ran a week earlier. The discovery comes amid reports from BuzzFeed that Paul plagiarized in his book and in several speeches. Paul also delivered testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 16, 2013, that included the copied sections.... Paul's office did not return a request for comment." ...
... Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who in recent weeks has had to explain how Wikipedia entries came to be incorporated into his speeches with no attribution, faced charges of direct plagiarism on Monday night.... Aides to Mr. Paul declined to comment about the apparent plagiarism, which was first reported by BuzzFeed." ...
... NEW. UPDATE. Wait, Wait, There's More! Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "A section of Rand Paul's 2012 book Government Bullies appears to be plagiarized from a Forbes article from earlier in that year. BuzzFeed had previously reported that more than three pages plagiarized from The Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute were the only instances of copying in the book. As was the case with cut-and-pasted sections from The Heritage Foundation and a Cato scholar, Paul included a link to the Forbes article in the book's footnotes, but made no effort to indicate that not just the source, but the words themselves, had been taken from Forbes." ...
... MEANWHILE. David Edwards of Raw Story: Paul's staff has been "scrubbing transcripts" from his Website to eliminate evidence of plagiarism.
The first time I came here to Cape Town I almost got in a fight with the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, because he was refusing to let AIDS be treated.... That's the closest I've come to getting into a fist fight with a head of state. -- President Jimmy Carter
The Real Reason the Cancer Patient Writing in [Monday's] Wall Street Journal Lost Her Coverage," a terrific piece by Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "The [insurance] company, [United Healthcare,] packed its bags and dumped its beneficiaries because it wants its competitors to swallow the first wave of sicker enrollees only to re-enter the market later and profit from the healthy people who still haven't signed up for coverage." CW: We are all really fortunate to have bloggers like Volsky & Tommy Christoper of Mediaite to debunk &/or give nuance to these MSM stories. ...
... AND Steve M. of NMMNB finds convincing evidence -- some of it in the WSJ op-ed writer's own words from earlier pieces -- that the ObamaCare "victim" isn't telling the truth about her current health insurance. CW: Mind you, I feel great sympathy for anyone who is enduring a severe illness, but illness is still a poor excuse for trying to make oneself a minor celebrity. ...
... "The Memo that Could Have Saved ObamaCare." Ezra Klein on woulda, shoulda, (maybe) coulda on ACA implementation. They wuz warned. ...
... Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post emphasizes a key point: "What the GOP gleefully calls a train wreck was a self-fulfilling prophesy courtesy of Republican sabotage.... The federal exchange that Republicans said wouldn't work ended up not working because it was starved of the money needed to help make it work.... The federal exchange that Republicans said wouldn't work ended up not working because the GOP pressured Republican governors to not form their own state exchanges. This made the federal task more complex and difficult, thus ensuring its failure." CW: Which is more likely to get a rock to the top of a hill? -- Pushing it up the hill with help from the neighbors or pushing it uphill while the neighbors throw stones at you? ...
... Amy Goodnough of the New York Times: Kentucky demonstrates how ObamaCare was supposed to work. CW: You won't be hearing this story from Goodnough's report on Fox "News":
The woman, a thin 61-year-old who refused to give her name..., had come to the public library here to sign up for health insurance through Kentucky's new online exchange. She had a painful lump on the back of her hand and other health problems that worried her deeply ... but had been unable to afford insurance as a home health care worker who earns $9 an hour. Within a minute, the system checked her information and flashed its conclusion on [an ACA navigator's] laptop: eligible for Medicaid. The woman began to weep with relief. Without insurance, she said as she left, 'it's cheaper to die.'
... CW: A Washington Post headline writer is a liar. The headline, which is attached to a Sarah Kliff video: "Kliff Notes: Will Obamacare cancel my plan?" If Kliff wrote the headline, & she may have, no one knows better than she that the headline is misleading. "ObamaCare" can't cancel a policy; only an insurance company can. The ACA mandates that health insurance policies provide certain basic benefits. This forces carriers to enhance substandard policies, not to cancel them.
Gentlemen don't read other gentlemen's mail. -- Secretary of State Henry Stimson, 1929 ...
... Pew Research Center: "In the wake of reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been listening to phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other heads of state, a 56% majority of Americans say it is unacceptable for the U.S. to monitor the phones of allied leaders, while 36% say the practice is acceptable. There are virtually no partisan differences in these opinions."
David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Obama administration has told allies and lawmakers it is considering reining in a variety of National Security Agency practices overseas, including holding White House reviews of the world leaders the agency is monitoring, forging a new accord with Germany for a closer intelligence relationship and minimizing collection on some foreigners. But for now, President Obama and his top advisers have concluded that there is no workable alternative to the bulk collection of huge quantities of 'metadata,' including records of all telephone calls made inside the United States."
New York Times Editors: "Secretary of State John Kerry's trip to Egypt, included in his Middle East itinerary at the last minute, served only to add to the confusion over the Obama administration's policy toward this critically important Arab nation. Mr. Kerry was the highest-ranking American official to visit Cairo since Mohamed Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, was deposed in July. Mr. Kerry seemed to go further than necessary or prudent to make common cause with the authoritarian generals who led the coup and are now running the country." CW: The U.S. has a long, inglorious history of bolstering Middle East tyrants. Let's call Kerry a traditionalist!
Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "In an important, if likely temporary, victory for abortion rights, the Supreme Court took a major abortion case off its docket on Monday. The Court's brief order does not explain the justices’ reason for doing so -- it simply provides that '[t]he writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted.['] Nevertheless, it is likely that the justices decided that a recent Oklahoma Supreme Court decision muddied the issues presented by the case to such an extent that it made sense to wait to decide an important question regarding the ability of states to restrict the use of medication abortions.... the fact that the justices turned aside an opportunity to uphold the very broad Oklahoma law may offer a small ray of hope to supporters of abortion rights. For the moment, the justices seem uninterested in endorsing an expansive ban on medication abortions, even if there may be five votes to uphold a narrower ban like the one in Texas." CW: See also Local News below re: Texas anti-abortion law. ...
Local News
Matt Sloane of CNN: "On Monday abortion-rights groups filed an emergency motion asking the Supreme Court to block Texas from enforcing part of the [anti-abortion] law, which is considered among the most restrictive in the country. Justice Antonin Scalia has given the state until November 12 to respond.... The motion comes four days after a federal appeals court reinstated a key part of the law -- a provision that requires doctors to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic at which they're providing abortion services. The appeals court's decision allowed that provision to remain in place, but Monday's motion asks the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling." ...
... Jesse Wegman of the New York Times: "On Monday morning, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia allowed the charade to continue for at least another week when he declined to grant an emergency request by the law's challengers to stay the appeals court's ruling, and ordered the state to file a response by Nov. 12. (Justice Scalia hears all emergency-stay applications out of the Fifth Circuit.)
Already we have lost 14 states in this union to the most corrupt group of citizens I've ever known. They make up the heart and the thinking in the minds of those who would belong to the Ku Klux Klan. They are white supremacists. They are men of evil. They have names. They are flooding our country with money. They've come into to New York City -- they are beginning to buy their way in to city politics. They are pouring money into Presbyterian Hospital to take over the medical care system. The Koch brothers, that's their name. -- Harry Belafone, at a campaign event in Harlem for mayoral candidate Bill De Blasio
Seth Masket of Pacific Standard on the Northern Colorado secessionist effort. "Secession is the conservative equivalent of moving to Canada.... It represents a rejection of representative democracy. It's a refutation of the idea that if you're losing, you make better arguments, recruit better candidates, and run better campaigns until you win." Via Jonathan Bernstein.
He's No Twit. I don't twit. I only walk. I don't email. I don't Facebook.... I'm an old-school politician. I return calls. I know neighborhoods. I know Mrs. Lopez. -- Newark Mayor Luis Quintana, who replaced newly-elected Sen. Cory Booker
Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Democrats and unions, fearful that a landslide victory by Gov. Chris Christie will reshape New Jersey's political landscape, have poured tens of millions of dollars into a record-breaking outside spending campaign that has transformed the state's election season. The effort, designed to preserve Democrats' dominance of the State Legislature and complicate Mr. Christie's plans to build a record of legislative achievement as he considers a presidential bid in 2016, has inundated some legislative districts with millions of dollars in negative ads on a scale never before seen in New Jersey." ...
Guns, Governors & Angry White People
Emily Schultheis of Politico: "New polling finds that the gun control issue favors Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governor's race." ...
... Ben Pershing of the Washington Post: "How McAuliffe became the frontrunner: 8 turning points in the race for Virginia governor." CW: Not sure any of these is a "turning point"; let's call them "significant events."
Tom Jacobs of Pacific Standard: "A research team led by Kerry O'Brien of Monash University in Australia reports a high score on a common measure of racial resentment increases the odds that a person will (a) have a gun in the house, and (b) be opposed to gun control. This holds true even after other 'explanatory variables,' including political party affiliation, are taken into account." ...
... Charles Pierce: "The obviously coded subtext of a great deal of the NRA and general gun-mongering propaganda concerns scaring white people about black criminals.... The election of a black president, I suspect, acted merely as what the arson squad would call an accelerant. The fire already was lit and, frankly, the NRA didn't light it."
CW: Yesterday I was applauding Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), a candidate for governor, for coming out of the closet, albeit for practical political reasons. But now -- via Charles Pierce -- I learn that he may be all for his own sexual rights, but for women, not so much. Republican Sherry Huber elaborates in the Portland Press Herald.
An Angry White Man. Darryl Isherwood of NJ.com: "Gov. Chris Christie's official Facebook page is awash in comments attacking him for his treatment of a teacher during a campaign stop this weekend.... Accounts differ, but [teacher Melissa] Tomlinson said the governor snapped at her, telling he is 'tired of you people.'" CW: Accounts may differ, but here's a snapshot of Christie during the exchange with the teacher. You be the judge:
How Not to Run for President. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie chats up a New Jersey schoolteacher. He's a shoo-in for the masochist vote. ...
... CW Update: Contributor Patrick credibly argues that the picture doesn't tell a thousand rants because "... the off-kilter framing gives the viewer the initial impression that CC is leaning into, towering over, his interlocutor. Straighten the frame and he is not so intimidating.... With that canted frame, it also appears that CC is gesturing aggressively...." See Patrick's full comment below. Here are two more photos taken by Dave Weigel of Slate, who also posted the one above (I wasn't certain about this earlier, so didn't give proper credit):
Ah, you put the proper angle on your pic & Christie looks like a real sweetheart.... Weigel writes, "... here's what I saw. After the rally, Christie made his way back to his campaign bus, flanked by low-key security guards. Tomlinson, who had been carrying a sign and handing out fliers from her Badass Teachers Association, asked Christie why he'd called New Jersey schools 'failure factories.' Christie rounded on her, blurting out that he was sick of 'you people.'" Weigel goes on to the report the entire exchange he overheard. CW: I've found Weigel, a libertarian, to be a fair reporter. I'll go with his first-hand report. This is a confrontation, not a conversation. Contrast Christie's response to the schoolteacher with Romney's response to hostile, jeering fair-goers -- "Corporations are people, my friend" -- & you realize that even Mitt Romney is a better politician than Christie -- unless you have a fondness for boors.
... Presidential Election 2016
Paul Waldman of the American Prospect on the coming (brief) "explosion of Christie mania." CW: Read it & enjoy. ...
... Charles Pierce: "If anything drives me out of political blogging before my time, it [will be] ... a full two-years of fiery bro-love among the media for Chris Christie, not merely among Republicans looking for a winner, but for Democrats who are prepared once again to fall for a straight-talkin', two-fisted man o' the people who you'd like to have a beer with.... Chris Christie's only claim to being a Republican 'moderate' is that he condescended to accept the president's help when half of Christie's state had been blown out to sea. Beyond that, he's a rich guy who will do what richer guys than he is want him to do. He has a gender gap wider than the Dardenelles."
CW: So far the GOP's top choices for its 2016 presidential nominee include a megalomanic (that would be Tailgunner Ted), a zombie-eyed granny starver (see Charles Pierce), an unrepentant kleptomaniac & a serial bully. On the Democratic side, we have Hillary Clinton or Hillary Rodham Clinton. I am not at all convinced she can beat each & every one of the deranged boys on the other team.
Congressional Race
Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "The long-running battle for the heart and soul of the national Republican Party will play out [in Alabama] on Tuesday in the form of a nasty little House special-election primary, pitting business-oriented establishment Republicans against angry and energized tea party insurgents who have become a dominant voice in the GOP. Dean Young is the insurgents' candidate. Bradley Byrne is the establishment choice."
News Ledes
Another Day in the Land of the Free. New Jersey Star-Ledger: "Hours after a volley of shots were fired in Garden State Plaza, trapping customers and store workers for hours as police searched for the gunman, the suspect was found dead inside a construction zone within the mall, authorities said this morning." ...
... Star Ledger: "The sound of shots fired inside one of New Jersey's largest shopping malls just before closing last night triggered a lockdown and frantic evacuation, as police launched a massive manhunt to find the apparent lone gunman. Police preliminarily identified the suspect in the shooting at the Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus as Richard Shoop, 20, of Teaneck...."
Washington Post: "Roughly one in every five sunlike stars is orbited by a potentially habitable, Earth-size planet, meaning that the universe has abundant real estate that could be congenial to life, according to an analysis of observations by NASA's Kepler space telescope. Our Milky Way galaxy alone could harbor billions of rocky worlds where water might be liquid at the surface, according to the report, which was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and discussed at a news conference in California."
Reuters: U.N.-Arab League "Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met U.S. and Russian officials on Tuesday to discuss convening long-delayed Syrian peace talks this year despite disputes over President Bashar al-Assad's future and whether his ally Iran can attend. Hours earlier, Damascus reiterated that Assad will stay in power come what may, casting doubt on the political transition that is the main focus of the proposed 'Geneva 2' conference."
AP: " India on Tuesday launched its first spacecraft bound for Mars, a complex mission that it hopes will demonstrate and advance technologies for space travel."
Guardian: "A court in Bangladesh has sentenced 152 people to death for their actions in a 2009 border guard mutiny in which 74 people, including 57 military commanders, were killed.... Human rights groups have criticised Bangladesh for the mass trial.... New York-based Human Rights Watch last week said at least 47 suspects have died in custody while the suspects have had limited access to lawyers, and to knowledge of the charges and evidence against them."
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Reader Comments (13)
Re: picture of Christi having a to-do with what we believe to be a teacher. If this is true, why does Mrs. Christi have such a great big smile on her face?
My understanding is that besides Hillary, Joe Biden wants to give it another old college try but his dilemma seems to be when he should start the process––before Hillary announces or after and after might be too late. And Hillary, bless her heart, is just stringing us along which is what lovers complain their loved ones do. "Where's the ring!"
I am seriously looking forward to Chris Christie's (i.e. Gov. Kardashian) move to the national stage. His run for POTUS will bring serious attention to his record and behavior. To sum it up: liar, classic cowardly bully, totally uncontrolled behavior including his weight and liar.
Re: Belly-aching; Hey; look at the picture. If you had to suck in "big tummy" for hours of quality time with your adoring fans you'd be a little pissy too. Let loose the belt, govn'er; let loose the belt. He reminds me of Mr. Creosote; "somebody better get a bucket!"
@PDPepe: Didn't realize that was Mrs. CC in the photo, hence I Googled to verify. At first had assumed the woman in red was a campaign aide, but you are correct. She is Mary Foster Christie. If you look at her Google images, that 'smile' is her characteristic photo mien. If I were to draw a balloon bubble above head to 'imagine' what she is thinking at that moment ...it might well say :
(Bubble thoughts): "I-live-with-this-jerk-and-he-does-this-yelling-hollering-insulting-thing-all-time-around-the-house-and-IF-I-can-handle-it-24/7-well,-deal-with-it-sweetie!"
@CW My vote will still go to Michaud, (perhaps now that he is out, he will rethink his positions re: women) just hope Elliot Cutler (voted for him last time, but felt he wasn't proactive in his campaigning) doesn't turn out to spoil the vote again. The thought of LePage as a second term governor would be the worst of fates.
Christie photo, "You be the judge."
First let us stipulate that we know CC to be a bully, from many of his actions previously reported. And apparently, he enjoys being a bully.
However, the photo per se does not allow us to make that judgment. Some observations:
-- the off-kilter framing gives the viewer the initial impression that CC is leaning into, towering over, his interlocutor. Straighten the frame and he is not so intimidating
-- with that canted frame, it also appears that CC is gesturing aggressively. A straight frame gives the impression that he is lecturing more than haranguing. (Lecturing is also a bully tactic -- just not as overtly aggressive.)
-- the off-kilter framing (of any action grouping) also conveys an impression of "exitement" that is reduced when the frame is straightened
-- Mrs. C's smile is not "genuine", it is a mouth-only rictus. Her eyes are not smiling. MAG has interpreted her basic message: "I'm here because I have to be ..." But there is nothing in her face that shows she is witnessing a problem (there could be a problem and she's oblivious ... just her facial muscles don't register a problem)
-- CC's facial expression (eyes, head angle, neck muscles) shows that he is actually engaging with the teacher. He seems to be in preacher/lecture mode, but he is focused on her face and seems to be communicating, not just dumping.
-- the teacher appears to be talking at the same time. So it appears that they are talking loudly to get over on one another and over the crowd noise. But because we can see CC's face, he is the one who appears to be shouting. However, CC has a big mouth (in all senses of the phrase), and ANYTIME he is photographed talking, he appears to be shouting.
So, yes, he's a bully. And he may have been bullying the teacher. But this picture is an artifact that does not allow us to make that judgment. HOWEVER -- it allows us to receive the strong impression of him as a bully.
No one has ever explained to Christie that the "bully pulpit" is a metaphor. He just thinks you get extra God points for intimidation.
According to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/lists/2012/12/ceo-compensation-12_land.html) the CEO pay of Unitedhealthcare group's Stephen J. Hemsley was $46,000,000 last year.
Next time some someone says whats wrong with the healthcare system and blames Barry O and the Democrats, trot that number out as a representative drain on non-medical costs of healthcare.
@citizen625: Thanks. I'll be using this in tomorrow's Commentariat.
Marie
This is a great piece by Petula Dvorak, on how Virginia women are taking charge at the polls. It is in the WaPo "Local" section so doesn't pop out on the Post's website. Best line, about a third of the way in, "... the majority male (82 %) Virginia legislature has had the laser-like focus of a high school sophomore on women's reproductive systems."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/female-voters-in-virginia-are-poised-to-send-a-message/2013/11/04/c4fa0750-4591-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html
@citizen25 and @Marie. I looked at the Forbes website on executive pay which citizen25 cites:
(http://www.forbes.com/lists/2012/12/ceo-compensation-12_land.html)
and sure enough there at #8 is Stephen Hemsley of United Health Group at $48,830,000.00 for one year, BUT note that the top dog is John Hammergren of McKesson at $131,190,000.00 for the year (McKesson delivers medicines, pharmaceutical supplies, information and care management products and services) and #6 is George Paz of Express Scripts at $51,520,000.00 for one year (Express Scripts is a pharmacy benefit management company)
These are all obscene salaries that we are paying for through our insurance premiums or cost of care if uninsured. What to do? SINGLE PAYOR!
A followup to the part in yesterday's thread about NSA spying:
Don't know much about VICE, the magazine, or about Ray Downs (in whom I detect a libertarian bent), the article's author, but found this brief history of American spying on its citizens interesting:
http://www.vice.com/read/a-brief-history-of-the-united-states-governments-
In sum, it's only spying's extent, made possible by technology, that is new. Of course, quantitative changes, when great enough, become qualitative. So possibly with the upset Snowden's revelations have occasioned.
The surveillance slope is indeed slippery. In these day of rapid and unplanned change, most are.
I found this an interesting read:
“It is hard to believe we are, given that America's foreign policy record since the end of the Cold War is mostly one of failure. And that leads me to suspect that one of two things is true. Either 1) the NSA is good at collecting gazilla-bytes of stuff but not very good at deciding what to collect or figuring out what it means, or 2) the rest of our foreign policy establishment is not very good at taking advantage of the information the NSA has worked so hard to acquire. In other words, either the NSA is not worth the money we're paying for it, or the rest of our foreign policy establishment is less competent than we thought. To be frank, I'm not sure which possibility I prefer.” -- Stephen M. Walt
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/11/04/nsa_spying_wheres_the_beef
@RE: NSA and Snowden: To clarify what I and others think about NSA spying on us. We DON'T like it even a little bit. But we do think Snowden was reckless in some of his other revelations. As Marie pointed out yesterday, if he had stopped at domestic spying, that would have kicked off a needed debate.
I understand that there are competing bills in the Senate on the NSA. Senator Feinstein's bill makes much of what the NSA does legal, and gives it even more power. Senator Leahy's bill reins in the NSA,, which in my book, is the way to go.
In a way, we the people brought this on ourselves after 9/11 by not protesting enough about passage of the so-called Patriot act. I well remember many of my coworkers cheering it on, as well as the invasion of Iraq.