The Commentariat -- December 4

Maureen Dowd writes a pretty good column on the history of Newt Gingrich's writings & remarks on matters racial. My column on Dowd's is up now at the New York Times eXaminer. The eXaminer front page is here. ...

... Also in NYTX, see Alex Kane's interview of Adbusters Editor Kalle Lasn; he talks about New York Times writers smearing Occupy & Adbusters as anti-Semitic (and one of those NYT writers was Our Mister Brooks, a tidbit I noted in an earlier NYTX column), then refusing to print Lasn's rebuttal.

** Max Blumenthal in the Exiled Online: "Israeli occupation forces ... trained U.S. police for a coordinated crackdown on 'Occupy' protests.... The Israelification of America’s security apparatus, recently unleashed in full force against the Occupy Wall Street Movement, has taken place at every level of law enforcement, and in areas that have yet to be exposed.... The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) is at the heart of American-Israeli law enforcement collaboration.... Through its Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP), JINSA claims to have arranged Israeli-led training sessions for over 9000 American law enforcement officials at the federal, state and municipal level.... Some of the police chiefs who have taken part in JINSA’s LEEP program have done so under the auspices of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).... PERF gained notoriety when [its director Chuck] Wexler confirmed that his group coordinated police raids in 16 cities across America against 'Occupy' protest encampments. As many as 40 cities have sought PERF advice on suppressing the 'Occupy' movement.... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has positioned itself as an important liaison between American police forces and the Israeli security-intelligence apparatus." Read the whole article, which Kate M. called to my attention. ...

... See also this Democracy Now! "discussion on policing and the Occupy Wall Street movement with Chuck Wexler, director of [PERF] ... and with Norm Stamper, the former police chief of Seattle." Video & transcript...." ...

... Norm Stamper in The Nation: "US police forces have become increasingly militarized, and it’s showing in cities everywhere.... The paramilitary bureaucracy and the culture it engenders — a black-and-white world in which police unions serve above all to protect the brotherhood — is worse today than it was in the 1990s. Such agencies inevitably view protesters as the enemy. And young people, poor people and people of color will forever experience the institution as an abusive, militaristic force—not just during demonstrations but every day, in neighborhoods across the country." ...

... To your left: what the well-dressed, militarized riot policeman will be wearing when s/he confronts you.

For you masquerade fans, the New York Times depicts more Riot Cop Fashion Design through the Years here. Or what not to wear when attempting to impersonate an officer. It's so outre.

A brief overview by Chi Birmingham & Alex Vitale is here. Even the writers' names sound like those of fashion designers.

Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times (Dec. 1): "Citing extensive abuses of troubled borrowers across Massachusetts, the state’s attorney general sued the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders on Thursday, seeking relief for consumers hurt by what she called unfair and deceptive business practices. In addition to creating a new and significant legal headache for the banks named in the suit — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and GMAC Mortgage — the Massachusetts action diminishes the likelihood of a comprehensive settlement between the banks and federal and state officials to resolve foreclosure improprieties." ...

... Justin Elliott of Salon: "Coakley’s suit comes just as Occupy Wall Street organizers are planning a campaign focusing on the foreclosure crisis that will likely feature eviction defenses, protests at banks and the like. The Occupy Our Homes project is launching on Tuesday."

Neela Banerjee of the Los Angeles Times: "Environmentalists and other nations say U.S. policy changes raise questions about whether it is committed to substantially cutting emissions and aiding developing nations in their efforts to do so."

Nick Miroff & William Booth of the Washington Post: "Arrests of illegal migrants trying to cross the southern U.S. border have plummeted to levels not seen since the early 1970s, according to tallies released by the Department of Homeland Security last week, a historic shift that could reshape the debate over immigration reform.... Experts say ... it appears that the historic flood of Mexican migration north has slowed dramatically."

Dafna Linzer & Jennifer LaFleur in the Washington Post: "White criminals seeking presidential pardons over the past decade have been nearly four times as likely to succeed as minorities, a ProPublica examination has found."

Perpectual War, Con'd. Glenn Greenwald: "Given the theories used to justify Bush/Cheney powers — ones that were just repeated almost verbatim by Obama lawyers when asked about the Awlaki assassination — how can anyone coherently have objected to the Bush/Cheney Guantanamo detention system but support Obama’s assassination powers now?"

     ... The underlying AP story by Matt Apuzzo: "U.S. citizens are legitimate military targets when they take up arms with al-Qaida, top national security lawyers in the Obama administration said Thursday. The lawyers were asked at a national security conference about the CIA killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen and leading al-Qaida figure. He died in a Sept. 30 U.S. drone strike in the mountains of Yemen. The government lawyers, CIA counsel Stephen Preston and Pentagon counsel Jeh Johnson, did not directly address the al-Awlaki case. But they said U.S. citizens do not have immunity when they are at war with the United States."

The Little King & His Enforcer. Alex Pareene of Salon: "The mayor of New York and his police commissioner reveal just how comfortable they are with autocracy."

Glenn Thrush of Politico: Newt Gingrich joins Team Obama in attacking Mitt Romney.

Right Wing World

Justin Elliott takes a look back at Newt's "impressive record not only of flip-flops, but also of policy positions that are profoundly unorthodox, some would say outlandish."

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: Mitt Romney "says he learned about expanding employment during his time heading a private equity firm. But under his leadership, Bain Capital often maximized profits in part by firing workers."

Steve Benen takes a fond look back at his favorite Herman Cain moments. CW: They're pretty funny, until you remember a whole buncha people said they were going to vote for this guy for president.

News Ledes

ashington Post: "The Occupy D.C. campaign, largely peaceful since its launch two months ago, turned confrontational Sunday when police detained about two dozen protesters during a tense day-long standoff in McPherson Square. It marked the first-ever arrests at the group’s base camp in Washington, and it resembled clashes between police and Occupy protesters in other cities across the country."

New York Times: "Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record last year, upending the notion that the brief decline during the recession might persist through the recovery."

New York Times: "Telling Italians that the fate of their country and the euro was at stake, Prime Minister Mario Monti unveiled a radical and ambitious package of spending cuts and tax increases on Sunday, including deeply unpopular moves like raising the country’s retirement age."

New York Times: "The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, is expected to offer a new plan on Monday for extending the payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits that otherwise would expire this month, a fellow Democratic senator said on Sunday."

Reuters: "Russian voters dealt Vladimir Putin's ruling party a heavy blow on Sunday by cutting its parliamentary majority in an election that showed growing unease with his domination of the country as he prepares to reclaim the presidency. Incomplete results showed Putin's United Russia was struggling even to win 50 percent of the votes, compared with more than 64 percent four years ago. Opposition parties said even that outcome had been inflated by fraud." New York Times story here.

AP: "Europe's government-debt crisis, which has dragged on for more than two years, is entering a pivotal week, as leaders across the continent converge to prevent a collapse of the euro and a global financial panic that could result.Expectations are rising that Friday's summit of leaders of the 27 countries in the European Union will yield a breakthrough."

AP: "Iran's armed forces have shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along the country's eastern border, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. An unidentified military official quoted in the report warned of a strong and crushing response to any violations of the country's airspace by American drone aircraft."

AP: "President Barack Obama has told Pakistan's president [Asif Ali Zardari] that the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers were not deliberate attacks and that the U.S. is committed to a full investigation." New York Times story here. ...

... Reuters: "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday, again offering U.S. condolences over the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in NATO air strikes last week, the State Department said in a statement."

AP: "Facing bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service is pushing ahead with unprecedented cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery and, for the first time in 40 years, eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day. The estimated $3 billion in reductions, to be announced in broader detail on Monday, are part of a wide-ranging effort by the cash-strapped Postal Service to quickly trim costs, seeing no immediate help from Congress."

New York Times: "The Republican presidential candidates were competing on Sunday, openly or more subtly, for the backing of former supporters of Herman Cain, a day after he suspended his presidential campaign with the defiant vow that, accusations of sexual misconduct aside, he 'would not go away.'”