Thursday
Oct152015
The Commentariat -- October 16, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
And You Read It in the New York Times. Patricia Cohen: "Given the gains that have flowed to those at the tip of the income pyramid in recent decades, several economists have been making the case that the government could raise large amounts of revenue exclusively from this small group, while still allowing them to take home a majority of their income. It is 'absurd' to argue that most wealth at the top is already highly taxed or that there isn't much more revenue to be had by raising taxes on the 1 percent, says the economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel in economic science, who has written extensively about inequality. 'The only upside of the concentration of the wealth at the top is that they have more money to pay in taxes,' he said." CW: Gosh, you'd almost think the NYT had become a librul newspaper.
Simon Maloy of Salon takes a look at what-all Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, et al., consider "tyrannical," acts or conditions, against which patriots must take up arms: gay rights & ObamaCare figure prominently. Further, the evil despots have infiltrated all three branches of government: the presidency, the Congress (the entire Democratic caucus), the Supreme Court. "... so much of the conservative movement has come to define 'tyranny' as 'something the Democrats did that I disagree with.' They actively encourage conservative voters to believe that they're being persecuted and having their rights stripped away as part of a broader agenda to purge religious liberty from the land. When you pair that message with a passionate call to arm oneself to defend against the voiding of your rights, you're crossing into insurrectionist territory...." See also today's comments along this vein.
*****
Jeremy Scahill of the Intercept: "From his first days as commander in chief, the drone has been President Barack Obama's weapon of choice, used by the military and the CIA to hunt down and kill the people his administration has deemed -- through secretive processes, without indictment or trial -- worthy of execution. There has been intense focus on the technology of remote killing, but that often serves as a surrogate for what should be a broader examination of the state's power over life and death. Drones are a tool, not a policy. The policy is assassination.... The Intercept has obtained a cache of secret slides that provides a window into the inner workings of the U.S. military's kill/capture operations at a key time in the evolution of the drone wars -- between 2011 and 2013." ...
... AJ Vicens & Max Rosenthal of Mother Jones: "Amnesty International called for an immediate congressional inquiry into the drone program, saying the leaked documents 'raise serious concerns about whether the USA has systematically violated international law, including by classifying unidentified people as "combatants" to justify their killings.'" Vicens & Rosenthal summarize key findings of Scahill's reports.
Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "At least a dozen more people were subjected to waterboard-like tactics in CIA custody than the agency has admitted, according to a fresh accounting of the US government's most discredited form of torture. The CIA maintains it only subjected three detainees to waterboarding. But agency interrogators subjected at least 12 others to a similar technique, known as 'water dousing', that also created a drowning sensation or chilled a person's body temperature -- sometimes through 'immersion' in water, and often without use of a board."
Ken Dilanian of the AP: "American special operations analysts were gathering intelligence on an Afghan hospital days before it was destroyed by a U.S. military attack because they believed it was being used by a Pakistani operative to coordinate Taliban activity.... It's unclear whether commanders who unleashed the AC-130 gunship on the hospital -- killing at least 22 patients and hospital staff -- were aware that the site was a hospital or knew about the allegations of possible enemy activity.... The new details about the military's suspicions that the hospital was being misused complicate an already murky picture and add to the unanswered questions about one of the worst civilian casualty incidents of the Afghan war. They also raise the possibility of a breakdown in intelligence sharing and communication across the military chain of command."
Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration is predicting a meager increase next year in the number of Americans with private insurance through the Affordable Care Act -- a forecast, far below previous government estimates, that signals the obstacles to attracting people who remain uninsured."
Is Not a Witch Hunt! Rachel Bade of Politico: "GOP Benghazi Committee chairman Trey Gowdy blasted fellow Republican Rep. Richard Hanna on Thursday for claiming his investigation was aimed at hurting 2016 Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton." CW: One does have to wonder if a guy whose head & haircut could serve as a mold for a witch's hat is maybe the real witch (or warlock or wizard, if you prefer).
Howard Berkes of NPR & Michael Grabell of ProPublica: "Nearly 1.5 million workers in Texas and Oklahoma do not receive state-mandated benefits under heavily regulated workers' compensation and are dependent instead on alternative, largely unregulated benefits plans controlled by employers. State laws in both Oklahoma and Texas allow employers to opt out of workers' compensation and develop their own workplace injury plans. Those plans generally cover fewer injuries, cut off benefits payments sooner, control access to doctors and even impose mandatory settlements, according to an NPR and ProPublica investigation. In Oklahoma, we found that most plans blatantly violate the law, yet regulators say they are powerless to respond.... In the past 13 years legislatures in 33 states have cut benefits, made it more difficult to qualify for benefits or given employers more control over medical treatment." Read the whole story. It could happen to you. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.
The Times has not had enough of "the damn e-mails." Matt Apuzzo & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Federal agents were still cataloging the classified information from Hillary Rodham Clinton's personal email server last week when President Obama went on television and played down the matter. 'I don't think it posed a national security problem,' Mr. Obama said Sunday on CBS's '60 Minutes.'... [His] statements angered F.B.I. agents.... Investigators have not reached any conclusions about whether the information on the server had been compromised or whether to recommend charges.... Officials ... saw an instance of the president trying to influence the outcome of a continuing investigation -- and not for the first time." They blame comments by President Obama for Eric Holder's decision to let David Petraeus off the hook. ...
... CW: This story sounds mostly like a report about employees griping that the boss doesn't appreciate their hard work. Their point about Petraeus seems like a stretch, given what Obama actually said publicly. However, Holder made himself infamous for shilling for Bill Clinton in the Marc Rich parson case, so it's hardly inconceivable that he was, or thought he was, doing Obama's bidding re: Petraeus. And I sure didn't know this: Petraeus "remained an informal White House adviser." In context, I think that "remained" means "remains." That is, Petraeus still rings up President Obama & offers his advice. Or maybe he sneaks in the servants' entrance to chat with Ben Rhodes. Whatever.
Tim Egan: "... most of the tenets of what is considered democratic socialism have majority support in the United States.... This week, Donald Trump called [Bernie Sanders] a 'communist.' If so, you can find broad public support for most of the things advocated by the commie from Brooklyn.... For true socialism in action, look to the billionaire Trump. As a developer, he's tried to use eminent domain -- 'state-sanctioned thievery,' in the words of National Review Online -- to get other people's property. There's your communist.... said, 'We are not Denmark.' Nope. Not by any stretch. Denmark has a slightly higher tax load on its citizens than the United States. But it also has budget surpluses, universal health care, shorter working hours, and was recently rated by Forbes magazine as the best country in the world for business."
David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Obama administration is exploring a deal with Pakistan that would limit the scope of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, the fastest-growing on earth. The discussions are the first in the decade since one of the founders of its nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was caught selling the country's nuclear technology around the world." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has charged a hacker in Malaysia with stealing the personal data of U.S. service members and passing it to the Islamic State terrorist group, which urged supporters online to attack them. The charges, announced Thursday, are the first ever against a suspect for terrorism and hacking, and they represent a troubling convergence of the techniques used in cyberattacks with terrorism, U.S. officials said. Ardit Ferizi, a citizen of Kosovo, was detained in Malaysia on a U.S. provisional arrest warrant, officials said."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Make That "Fraud 'News.'" Dylan Byers, now dishing for CNN: "Wayne Simmons, a recurring guest on Fox News who claimed to have 27 years of experience with the CIA, was arrested Thursday after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he lied about his service. Simmons is accused of falsely claiming that he worked as an 'outside paramilitary special operations officer' for the CIA from 1973 to 2000. On Fox, this was often shortened to 'former CIA operative.' He was also indicted for using that false claim to gain government security clearances and an assignment as a defense contractor, where he advised senior military personnel overseas. Simmons is a familiar face to Fox News viewers.... In his appearances on Fox, Simmons regularly made extreme and factually dubious statements pertaining to terrorism and national security. Just this January, he claimed there were 'at least 19 paramilitary Muslim training facilities in the United States.'" ...
... Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "In court documents, federal prosecutors alleged that Simmons had a 'significant criminal history, including convictions for a crime of violence and firearms offenses, and is believed to have had an ongoing association with firearms notwithstanding those felony convictions.' They successfully petitioned a judge to keep Simmons' indictment sealed until his arrest today, noting that Simmons 'has a history of acting in an aggressive manner, and is likely aware of the imminent nature of the charges in this case.'" ...
... Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post has a bit more on Simmons. It sounds as if he's a very convincing liar.
Presidential Race
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "R.T. Rybak, the former mayor of Minneapolis and a vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, on Thursday accused the party's leader, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of making 'flat-out not true' statements about another top party officer, questioned her political skills and said he had 'serious questions' about her suitability for the job."
Matea Gold, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Democratic presidential contenders dramatically outpaced their Republican counterparts in the race for campaign cash last quarter, spotlighting how the parties are taking divergent paths in their pursuit of 2016 funding. The emphasis by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders on raising money directly for their campaigns has helped them amass large donor pools critical to generating the estimated $1 billion each party's candidate will need to raise by Election Day. While GOP candidates put an intense focus early in the year on raising huge sums for independent groups, many have had less success in attracting smaller donations that are the lifeblood of campaign operations...." ...
... Nicholas Confessore & Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: "In the Republican and Democratic primaries alike, upstart candidates shunned by their parties' major donors are now financially competitive with -- and, in some cases, vastly outraising -- opponents who have spent months or even years wooing the big-name donors and fund-raisers who have traditionally dominated the money race.... Republicans with strong ties to the party's donor elite -- Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas -- were forced out of the race for lack of cash." ...
... CW: Notice how stories like Confessore & Lichtblau's barely hint at who the small donors are: on both sides, they are people who could have found other good uses for their $27 or $2,700 donation, but they were willing to give up something to counter those huge contributions from billionaires, contributions that are not only are a drop in the bucket but are "dropped" for personal and/or business gain.
... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Hillary Clinton's campaign brought in $29.45 million in the third quarter, spending $25.8 million in the process -- both totals that eclipse any other candidate in the race for the second straight quarter. The campaign raised roughly $28.8 million in primary money and accepted around $691,000 in general election funds, ending the quarter with roughly $33 million cash on hand -- another mark higher than any of her rivals. But its nearly $26 million in spending was by far the biggest number of any White House aspirant...." ...
... Gabriel Debenedetti: "Bernie Sanders had $27.1 million in cash on hand at the end of the third quarter, a considerable sum that comes after a $26.2 million quarter for the Vermont senator. He has also raised more than $3.2 million since Tuesday's debate, his campaign said, with an average donation of $32.28." ...
... David Nather of Stat in the Boston Globe: "Martin Shkreli, chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals ... [and t]he man who has become the public face of rising drug prices says he has donated to presidential candidate Bernie Sanders -- who has been bashing Big Pharma on the campaign trail -- to try to get a meeting so the two can talk it out. Sanders isn't interested. His campaign said Thursday that he's giving the money to a Washington health clinic instead -- and the drug executive isn't getting the meeting." CW: Shkreli gave $2,700 to the Sanders campaign. At $750 a pill, which is the price Shkreli's charges for a tablet that cost $13.50 till Shkreli's company bought the rights, that's about the profit Shkreli made on the sale of four pills.
Paul Krugman: "Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had an argument about financial regulation during Tuesday's debate -- but it wasn't about whether to crack down on banks. Instead, it was about whose plan was tougher. The contrast with Republicans like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, who have pledged to reverse even the moderate financial reforms enacted in 2010, couldn't be stronger. For what it's worth, Mrs. Clinton had the better case."
Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "In what could be the earliest snapshot of the 2016 Democratic ticket, party frontrunner Hillary Clinton stood hand in hand with former San Antonio mayor Julián Castro after receiving his endorsement at a campaign rally in his hometown. Castro, who currently serves as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, told the crowd that Clinton had a 'strong vision for America's future' and unlike Republicans, he said switching to Spanish, 'she respects the Latino community'."
Forty percent of guns are sold at gun shows, online sales. -- Hillary Clinton, at Manchester Community College, N.H., Oct. 5, 2015
By any reasonable measure, Clinton's claim that 40 percent of guns are sold at gun shows or over the Internet -- and thus evade background checks through a loophole -- does not stand up to scrutiny.... The 40-percent figure, even if confirmed in a new survey, refers to all gun transactions, not just gun sales. A large percentage of the gun transactions not covered by background checks are family and friend transactions -- which would have been exempt from the universal background checks pushed by Democrats. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Joe Biden is still playing coy with reporters on his political plans. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Maggie Haberman: "An aide to Donald J. Trump has raised the possibility of the candidate not attending the next Republican presidential debate unless the criteria set by CNBC is changed, according to two people briefed on a conference call where the matter was discussed on Thursday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
CW: Jeb!, assuming he'll be our next POTUS, has published on his campaign Website a medical report on his health & fitness for office. Via Politico. ...
... BUT. Matea Gold & Phlip Rucker of the Washington Post: "No more 'shock and awe': Jeb Bush [is] now just another presidential aspirant."
Strange Man on Book Tour Accidentally Becomes POTUS. Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "Republican presidential contender Dr. Ben Carson has put his public campaign events on hold for two more weeks to go on book tour for his new tome 'A More Perfect Union' and catch up on fundraising events." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Ed Kilgore: "However you slice it, this development is going to remind the chattering classes of 2012 candidates Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, who were frequently accused of using their campaigns to sell books and videos and so forth. Indeed, most candidates release their 'campaign books' either before or early in their candidacies, as appetizers, not ends in themselves." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: "I'm not sure Sarah Palin could do any better at the GOP grifter act than this." CW: And you thought Donald Trump was the big publicity hound in this campaign. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... CW PS: We learn from the Confessore & Lichtblau piece linked about that Carson relies to a great extent on telemarketers to raise money. Wouldn't you love to hear the pitches they use on the gullible? The neurosurgeon has become a serious profiteer.
We're seeing our freedoms taken away every day and last night was an audition for who would wear the jackboot most vigorously. Last night was an audition for who would embrace government power for who would strip your and my individual liberties. -- Sen. Ted Cruz, Wednesday, commenting on the Democratic debate, which he did not watch
The 2nd Amendment ... is a Constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny -- for the protection of liberty. -- Sen. Ted Cruz, fundraising letter sent earlier this year
... Ed Kilgore: "... I think this sort of rhetoric is a serious matter. Why? Because Cruz is one of those presidential candidates (along with Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee for sure; the exact position of several others is unclear) who claim the Second Amendment gives Americans the right to revolutionary violence against their own government if it engages in 'tyranny' or doesn't respect our rights.... I really think Cruz, Carson and Huckabee need to be asked very specifically on the campaign trail and in debates exactly which circumstances would justify the armed insurrection they defend.... All this talk about liberal 'tyranny' also illustrates the fundamentally anti-democratic nature of 'constitutional conservatism.'... If you feel your own POV is the only legitimate set of ideas consistent with the Constitution or even the structure of the universe and the Will of God, then you are not going to be interested in compromise or limits on your exercise of power...." ...
... Well, Ed, those heavily-armed, freeedom-loving patriots are already coming thru for Tailgunner Ted. Katie Zezima & Tom Hamburger: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) reported more money in the bank than any other GOP presidential candidate as the last quarter ended, according to figures released by the Federal Election Commission Thursday. Cruz's campaign raised $12.2 million last quarter, giving him a total of $26.5 million raised during the campaign so far. He reported having $13.8 million in cash on hand, meaning he spent about 50 percent of what came in since his campaign started...."
Scott Keyes of Think Progress: "The United States criminal justice system could be improved if we sell poor people convicted of crimes into slavery, according to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.... Huckabee's comments, which come 150 years after the 13th Amendment's adoption, appear to be the first time in modern history that a credible presidential candidate has joined the fringe call to reinstate slavery." CW: I've been ignoring Huckabee, & will continue to do so, but I thought endorsing slavery (because the Bible tells us so) was super-special. (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Winnie Hu of the New York Times: "A New York police officer who arrested a photographer on assignment for The New York Times on a Bronx street in 2012 was convicted on Thursday of falsifying a record to justify the arrest. The officer, Michael Ackermann, 32, was found guilty of a single felony count of offering a false instrument for filing.... Officer Ackermann had claimed the photographer, Robert Stolarik, interfered with the arrest of a suspect by repeatedly discharging his camera's flash in his face. A subsequent investigation found that Mr. Stolarik did not own a flash or have one on his camera at the time." CW: Just a reminder that many cops will lie on even the most trivial cases.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Hungary said on Friday that it would close its border with Croatia to migrants at midnight to control the flow of thousands of migrants and refugees across Europe." CW: I thought they did that weeks ago. I can't keep up.
Toronto Star: "... 81-year-old [Ken] Taylor, who died Thursday, made his mark as Canada's most celebrated and internationally-acclaimed ambassador: known as the moving force behind the daring 'Canadian Caper' that saw six Americans escape from Iran during the 1979-81 hostage crisis."
New York Times: "Turkish fighter jets shot down a drone aircraft close to the Syrian border on Friday after it violated Turkey's airspace, the military said in a statement. 'An aerial vehicle of unknown origin was detected inside our airspace on the Syrian border,' the statement said.... Reuters quoted an anonymous United States official as saying that American officials suspected that it was Russian."
Washington Post: "Palestinian protesters set fire to a Jewish holy shrine on the West Bank on Friday as the militant group Hamas called for another 'day of rage' against Israel, already shaken to its core by two weeks of violence."
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Reader Comments (16)
I was lucky to be able to go to The Nation's 150th anniversary celebration in Portland, OR Tuesday night. What food for thought and pleasure for my brain and heart to listen to the brilliant people who make up The Nation staff: Katrina vandenHeuvel, Richard Kim, Walter Moseley, Dave Zirin, John Nichols and, especially, Naomi Klein! I felt a kinship with this tribe of progressives who
care deeply about what happens to our country and are so not subsumed by the demons of either greed or riches.
John Nichols--from my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin--was the master of ceremonies, and was by turns sardonic and hilarious. It was clear these colleagues share a trust and respect I have not seen in the corporate media. I would say this was the highlight of my year so far! Geez--wish I could afford to go on The Nation Cruise in December and spend time schmoozing with these delightful people!
How are the remarks of Ted Cruz, and the many like his, not incitements to kill police? The police are, after all, the authority that these, I'm searching for a word here - insurgents, are railing against. So many of the assassinations of police that I have read about are perpetrated by right wing, anti government obsessives. It's the anti-government, second amendment solution rhetoric of the TP that is, to my simple mind, the real threat to police, BLM officers and other government officers. We progressives tend to be such law abiding, respectful, dweebs! Speaking for myself!
@ Gloria,
Very interesting how in your post, you use BLM to refer to Bureau of Land Management as targets of the violence. In yesterday's links, Senator Cruz was quoted saying the other BLM group - Black Lives Matter - were the ones inciting violence against authority.
This seems like another case of Rs blaming others for the things they or their followers do. For a long time it's been "runaway government spending." Now it seems to be targeting law enforcement.
@Gloria & NiskyGuy: Thanks for your comments. It seems to me that anyone who promotes the Second Amendment as "a Constitutional right to protect ... our lives ... against governmental tyranny" is, by definition, an anarchist. I'm not talking about some bozo who ignorantly expresses this opinion to his friends, but about people who hold or aspire to positions of authority. Cruz's remarks are particularly egregious as he was an assistant U.S. attorney general & the Texas solicitor general. He has argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court. Moreover, he has designated targets for assassination: the five Democratic candidates for president.
This is a free speech issue like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater is a free speech issue. You can't do it.
Officials who make the kinds of statements that Cruz has made violate their oath of office. The Senate should impeach him.
It is reasonable to take a more sanguine view of Cruz (& Carson) than I do, but it is also important to remember that they are not just entertainers. They're scary guys who each has at least an outside chance of becoming president.
Marie
Could someone read "All Breitbart's Children" by Joshua Green, page 52, Bloomberg Business Week, Oct. 12-18 and comment. I read it quickly before bed last night. I'm in the middle of a project and can't comment on it in a reasonable manner.
thank you,
Dede Carlsten
Generals Cruz and Carson's Call to Arms.
I suppose one should not complain that provisionary calls for readiness to take down the hated guv'mint have no provenance whatsoever in or connection to the events 'baggers and dangerous provacateurs like Ted Cruz claim for them, the American Revolution. It would be like complaining that six year olds are not conversant in basic American History.
Tricorn Ted demands everyone acknowledge that his bomb throwing with regard to weaponry kept at the ready for violent and murderous revolution place him alongside Sam Adams and Paul Revere. It doesn't. It does, however, place him, and Carson, and the rest of their revolutionary horde nicely in the company of criminals, political opportunists, and actual bomb throwing anarchists.
For a group that loves to play dress up and pretend to be members of the Continental Army circa 1776, 'baggers and lovers of armed insurrection and talk of standing up bravely to tyrants, Confederates and their congressional puppets seem to know less about the real revolution than your average fifth grader.
Let's do a little comparison, shall we? Let's see if the all this Cruz/Carson talk of tyranny depriving Real 'Mericans of their Rights, to the point where they're being warned to keep their powder dry and their muskets at the ready measures up to the "long train of abuses" adumbrated by Jefferson in the Declaration and whether the "abuses" listed by the current "patriots" oblige them to set about "...abolishing the forms [of government] to which they are accustomed."
Jefferson's list is staggering in its length and depth of insults, grievances, lawlessness, and reckless injustice imposed on the colonies by the crown.
Among the complaints we find efforts to make self-government, even for the purposes of taking care of state and local business, impossible, with representative bodies being routinely abolished by the king. Standing armies kept in the midst of colonists who are obliged to house and feed them. Immunity given by the crown to army personnel who murder or otherwise injure colonists. Deprivation of colonial subjects to a trial by jury. Dispensing with charters, abolishing laws and "...altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments". Impressing colonial citizens and forcing them to take up arms against their own people. Cutting off colonial trade with other parts of the world. Imposing taxes without representation. And for abdicating "Government here, by declaring us out of [the King's] Protection and waging War against us."
But Cruz and Carson are readying their troops for violent revolution because....the majority of Americans see the need for reasonable controls on deadly weapons? For a tax rate that is the lowest its been in a generation? Because a majority of Americans see the need for controls on greehouse gas emissions? Because the immigration situation in this country cries out for some kind of reform? For a more equal distribution of resources? For....for what? What?
This is crazy talk. Jefferson himself, if these fools cared to find out for themselves, counsels talk of revolution as a last resort, stating clearly that experience has demonstrated "...that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves [by means of revolution]"
The colonists took a lot. And plenty of people even then were not big on the idea of armed insurrection. But they had suffered decades of outrages and indignities before talk of revolution became seen as a viable consideration.
Not for the current "patriots". If they don't get what they want, if everyone doesn't knuckle under to them, it's "Break out the guns, boys!! Kill 'em all!"
In any reasonable state of affairs, this is treason and should now be counted thusly.
These people are traitors and violently irresponsible rabble rousers, basing their calls for violent overthrow of the government on fantasy slights and dangerously immature understanding of a democratic republic.
The idea that anyone espousing such talk could be considered presidential timber beggars rationality itself.
@Dede C: As far as I can tell, "All Breitbart's Children" appears only in the print edition, so I don't have access to it. I don't know whether or not Bloomberg later puts print-only BusinessWeek stories up on its Website.
Green can be a fairly insightful writer, & the subject-matter sounds as if would be of interest to Reality Chex readers. However, we don't generally provide an on-call reader's digest service.
Marie
Here is an article in today's WaPo in which the cognizant DOJ official says that DOJ is getting serious about domestic terrorists:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/10/15/how-the-justice-department-is-stepping-up-its-response-to-domestic-extremists/
This is going to run into the 2nd Amendment and 1st Amendment interpretations of some of the mouthy RWNJs (Cruz; Huckabee; Carson) during the primary season.
The "problem" that the FBI has is that, if a terrorist can be identified as foreign-inspired or complicit, federal laws (and the FBI) own the case; but for pure-domestic terrorists (sovereign citizen types, aryan nation types, etc.) their acts generally come first under state criminal laws. So when the feds try to deal with domestic terrorists (essentially, people who use or incite violence for political purposes), they really don't have the tools unless they can invoke hate crime legislation and similar laws providing fed jurisdiction.
If the DOJ really steps up the pace here, we should see some interesting political fireworks that will make the Bundy Ranch fiasco look like a Sunday school picnic, especially in the context of the 2016 campaign.
Domestic terrorism - baby steps? The Southern Poverty Law Center indicted the Support the Flag group in Georgia earlier this week. "Ten men and five women were charged with issuing terroristic threats and participating in gang activity."
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2015/10/12/fifteen-confederate-%E2%80%98flaggers%E2%80%99-indicted-terroristic-threats-and-gang-activity-georgia
I was interested in Petraeus advising the WH. From everyone's friend Google... it was widely reported in March of this year. The information came from Josh Earnest in a press conference. I found it quoted in the blog Hot Air.
“[Petraeus] is, I think, legitimately regarded as an expert when it comes to the security situation in Iraq, so I think it makes a lot of sense for senior administration officials to, on occasion, consult him for advice,” Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during Monday’s press briefing. ................
“General Petraeus is somebody who served for a number of years in Iraq, he commanded a large number of American military personnel in that country,” Earnest said. “Over that time he developed strong relationships with some of his Iraqi counterparts and with some of Iraq’s political leaders.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/03/16/despite-criminal-charge-david-petraeus-emerges-as-key-white-house-advisor-on-iraq/
Personally, I think the guy is an asswipe, but it doesn't sound like he's on speed dial to the Oval. Seems more like an intel gathering relationship rather than advice on policy.
After Dede's recommendation to look at the Joshua Greene piece about Breitbart, I did a little digging and came up with a longform piece he did about Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News and an influential Confederate Svengali. I don't know if this is the same article that appears in the print edition but it's pretty good. Haven't had time to read the whole thing but it digs deep into the movers and shakers who have been riling up the idiots who now hold the Republican Party hostage. A take no prisoners bunch, the kind who believe Paul Ryan is five jumps to the left of Lenin.
Looks like a good read. It's a compendium of the players, most of whom remain in the background, on the fringes of the far-right. A band of zealots who, to quote Bannon's motto, don't give a shit. Still remains to be understood how you can not give a shit when you're full of it...
More dangerous and irresponsible people who have never found a lie beyond the pale if it suits their purpose.
Re: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and even Germany.
If my Scandinavian Studies still hold true, I believe the correct phrasing should be Social Democrats/Democracies, not Democratic Socialism/ists. Word order does influence perception.
Also thanks to Akhilleus to the ProPublica link to the article on workers' non-compensation. Will use its information on our local "We Do the Work" radio show.
And a final comment on the gulf between the pundits' and the public's reaction to the Democratic debate, which we've discussed here, sent to me by my radio co-host. As you can see, neither of us wrote it.
“What does lacking in knowledge mean? Not knowing people well. The writers and artists do not have a good knowledge either of those whom they describe or of their audience; indeed they may hardly know them at all. They do not know the workers or peasants or soldiers well, and do not know the cadres well either. What does lacking in understanding mean? Not understanding the language, that is, not being familiar with the rich, lively language of the masses. Since many writers and artists stand aloof from the masses and lead empty lives, naturally they are unfamiliar with the language of the people. Accordingly, their works are not only insipid in language but often contain nondescript expressions of their own coining which run counter to popular usage.”
Mao Tse-tung
I'd guess simply quoting Mao would convince Trump that I, too, am a communist.
Hold on kids, I think I'm gonna faint!
They've found a LIAR at Fox "News"!!!!
OMG! Who'da thunk it?
Not just a liar, but a liar under arrest for being a lying liar. On Fox. A lot. One of Fox's "experts", a guy who claims to have worked for the CIA for about 150 years (he invented it right after the Civil War when THOSE people started gettin' all uppity and shit) and who is regularly on with Loofah Boy and InsHannity saying cuckoo stuff like there are a whole crapload of secret Mooslim insurgency killers training at bases in the US ready to come out at night and cut the throats of Americans just as they're all sitting down to breakfast to hold hands and repeat the Confederate approved part of the 2nd Amendment (heads bowed, of course, concealed weapons in place).
"Wayne Shelby Simmons was arrested following his indictment by a federal grand jury for fraud, accused of lying about his employment at agency, the U.S. Attorney's Office of Eastern Virginia announced. Simmons was often a guest on Fox News and touted as a national security analyst. He is being charged with major fraud against the United States, wire fraud, and making false statements to the government, the U.S. Attorney's Office press release said."
Wow, a lying liar. And at Fox! Anti-possible. Does this make Simmons a lying expert of an expert liar?
It appears Confederates even at the highest levels don't care for background checks on anything. If you're gonna invite a guy on to spew inflammatory bullshit about national security, of all things, and a simple phone call would vett the guy, why not do it?
Why? FOX!! Wingnuts! Idiots! Bill O'Reilly! Roger Ailes! Right Wing "Journalism".
That's why.
(Fox says now they really don't who this guy is. He's not affiliated with the network and they don't really know how he ever got on the air. Must be an Obama plant.)
But seriously, folks...This is yet another reason why the right is to blame for 90% of the problems in this country. They let lying douchebags spout nonsense and millions of couch-bound, live-free-or-die Confederate flag wavers are whipped up about the shit he spits out. All made up. And now just consider how many of the other "experts" Fox relies on to enrage the idiots are complete frauds as well.
These people really do have a lot to answer for.
@Akhilleus: Ben Nelson of Salon reproduces some of the nonsense that came out of Wayne's World & traversed the cable boxes of gullible Foxbots. Also, earlier, I linked some of the news about the charges against Simmons, who is a piece of work.
Marie
@Unwashed: Your Scandinavian Studies are still current, at least as far as Denmark is concerned. Your point about Tim Egan's word order is well taken as most Danes would politely correct some one who suggested that their country was socialistic. Denmark is a social democracy and the Social Democrats compose the second largest political party in the Danish Parliament. The country's first woman prime minister was a Social Democrat.
There is further information available at
http://www.thedanishparliament.dk/Democracy/Political_parties.aspx
I can't add anything about Denmark except that I LOVED the TV Danish series Bergen.