The Commentariat -- Feb. 26, 2015
Internal links removed.
Christi Parsons & Lisa Mascaro of the Los Angeles Times: "Senate leaders moved toward a deal Wednesday to avoid a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department, sidestepping a fight over immigration policy, as President Obama declared his administration would curtail deportations of immigrants in the country illegally despite losing a court fight on the issue this month." ...
... Washington Post Editors: "CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS are so busy this week flirting with a partial government shutdown -- their target is the Department of Homeland Security and its 240,000 employees -- that they may have missed fresh evidence of how badly out of step with the American public they are on the issue of illegal immigration.... In a large and important new survey, majorities in all 50 states favored a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants." ...
... Patricia Mazzei of the Miami Herald: "Likening immigration reform to the great civil-rights movements in U.S. history, President Barack Obama vowed in Miami on Wednesday to veto any legislation from Congress undoing his executive order protecting from deportation up to 5 million people who are in the country illegally." ...
... Mike Lillis of the Hill: "A top House Democrat said Wednesday that President Obama is eying a partial launch of his new deportation-relief programs, despite a federal court's recent decision to block them. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) said the administration is weighing whether it has the authority to initiate the executive actions in the states not involved in a lawsuit against them." ...
... Dana Milbank: "John Boehner ... can defy conservatives by abandoning their fight to undo President Obama's immigration actions and perhaps lose his speakership in the process. Or he can stand with the conservatives and be blamed for shutting down the Department of Homeland Security." Milbank goes on to the recount Boehner's responses -- make that "response" -- at his press conference Wednesday. It's not nice to laugh at someone when he's down, but my lips keep'a curling upward. ...
... CW: Boehner may be about to lose his speakership, and what does he do? ...
... He Enforces the Dress Code. Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) halted floor proceedings Wednesday to remind members of chamber decorum. During the final vote series of the day, Boehner reiterated the rules for proper behavior on the House floor. Boehner, who is known for ribbing lawmakers and reporters for their attire, has made reminding members of House rules a regular practice."
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Almost four months after Loretta E. Lynch was picked by President Obama to be the next attorney general, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to approve her nomination on Thursday, with a handful of Republicans joining the committee's Democrats in backing her. Ms. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, will then face a challenge on the Senate floor from Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and other staunch conservatives. They have called on all Senate Republicans to reject her nomination, in part because she has defended Mr. Obama's executive actions on immigration." ...
... UPDATE. Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to confirm U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch as the next attorney general, sending her nomination to the full Senate, where it is expected to be voted on in the coming days.... Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) voted with the committee's nine Democrats to approve Lynch's nomination.... A vote on the Senate floor could come as early as next week."
Dominic Rushe of the Guardian: "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) looks set to pass strict new rules to govern broadband internet in the US on Thursday, following one of the most intense -- and bizarre -- lobbying battles Washington has ever seen.... At [today's] meeting the commission's two Democrat members, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, are expected to approve the plan put forward by the Democratic chairman, Tom Wheeler, with some objections. They will overrule the two Republican commissioners who have already lambasted the plan...." ...
... Mario Trujillo of the Hill: "The Senate Commerce Committee is slated to grill all five Federal Communications Commission members during an oversight hearing on March 18, according to Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.). FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the four other commissioners will answer questions about the agency's 'over-reaching' net neutrality order expected to be approved on Thursday."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a Washington Post op-ed on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement: "Agreeing to [Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions] in this enormous new treaty would tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations. Worse, it would undermine U.S. sovereignty. ISDS would allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws -- and potentially to pick up huge payouts from taxpayers -- without ever stepping foot in a U.S. court."
Jonathan Chait explains why a government loss in King v. Burwell would not permanently cripple the ACA. Short explanation: middle-class citizens of all political stripes who are already benefiting from the tax subsidies will raise hell. Also Chait doesn't think Chief Justice Roberts will decide for the plaintiffs, thus wasting the Court's political capital on a farcical lawsuit that would hurt Republicans & ultimately fail anyway. ...
... BUT Joshua Green of Business Insider: "The immediate effect of a ruling against the ACA would be to hurl the political system, and no small part of the economy, into chaos. Yet there's little sign that Washington is preparing for that scenario." ...
... Greg Sargent: A few Republicans get this: "... a Republican Senator, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, is sounding similar warnings in the Wall Street Journal. Sasse tells fellow Republicans they'd better have an alternative to deal with those who might lose insurance, to avert a political nightmare for Republicans: 'Chemotherapy turned off for perhaps 12,000 people, dialysis going dark for 10,000. The horror stories will be real.'"
... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Some Republicans say they simply do not believe that the Obama administration isn't developing a fallback plan in case the Supreme Court dismantles a piece of the healthcare law this summer. Sylvia Burwell, the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), has repeatedly said there is no plan B if the high court rules that subsidies for insurance cannot be distributed through the federal exchange HealthCare.gov." CW: I do believe "some Republicans" are right.
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court seemed inclined Wednesday to agree with a Muslim woman who charged that retailer Abercrombie & Fitch violated antidiscrimination laws when it denied her a job because her head scarf conflicted with the company's dress code."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A Florida fisherman narrowly defeated the federal government at the Supreme Court Wednesday, winning a 5-4 ruling that the three undersized red grouper he threw overboard to avoid an inspector were not covered by an obstruction of justice provision in a financial fraud statute." CW: The Justices can be amusing.
Catherine Thompson of TPM: "Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opposition to a potential nuclear deal with Iran, calling it as wrongheaded as the prime minister's backing of the Iraq War. 'Israel is safer today with the added time we have given and the stoppage of the advances in the nuclear program than they were before we got that agreement, which by the way the prime minister opposed,' Kerry said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. 'He was wrong.'"
Seumas Milne & Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian: "Al-Qaida has developed a seaborne unit to attack targets around the Mediterranean, according to a confidential report from Russian intelligence, one of a cache of secret documents from spy agencies around the world tracking jihadi terrorist groups. According to the Russians, North African al-Qaida (Aqim -- al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb) has established a 60-strong team of suicide bombers to plant mines under the hull of ships and to use small, fast craft for kamikaze attacks."
Rosalind Helderman & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "The Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars from seven foreign governments during Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, including one donation that violated its ethics agreement with the Obama administration, foundation officials disclosed Wednesday." ...
... Josh Gerstein: "In hundreds of documents released to Politico under the Freedom of Information Act, not a single case appears where the State Department explicitly rejected a Bill Clinton speech. Instead, the records show State Department lawyers acted on sparse information about business proposals and speech requests and were under the gun to approve the proposals promptly. The ethics agreement did not require that Clinton provide the estimated income from his private arrangements, making it difficult for ethics officials to tell whether his services were properly valued.... The pact ... imposed no vetting on donations to the Clinton Foundation by individuals or private companies in the U.S. or abroad."
Jessica Roy of New York: "A senior State Department official was arrested on Tuesday on charges of soliciting sex from a minor.... Director of Counterterrorism Daniel Rosen was busted in a sting operation by a detective posing as a child online, because life imitates To Catch a Predator. Rosen was charged with use of a communications device to solicit a juvenile, and shuttled off to jail in D.C.... The State Department is already working hard to distance itself from him...." Here's the AP story. ...
... CW Orange Alert: So how come the State Department's tippy-top counterterrorism "expert" can't tell a little girl from a police detective? If Rosen represents the high-water mark of expertise employed to defend us from slippery bad guys, this is the Scariest Story of the Day.
"The Chairman's Flight." Jessica Roy notes that it's great to be the chairman of the New York & New Jersey Port Authority. It appears to include "bespoke air travel.... Kids, one day you too could have your own airline route, if only you are rich in money or bankrupt in morals." CW: I'll bet United didn't break his guitar, either.
Mike DeBonis & Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: "Flanked by members of the D.C. Council and the city's top lawyer, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced on live television Wednesday that marijuana possession will become legal in the District at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. 'We believe that we're acting lawfully,' Bowser said, offering a direct retort to House Republicans who late Tuesday urged the mayor -- and even threatened prison time -- to reconsider moving forward with legalization.... House Republicans said Wednesday that they are not preparing to take legal action against the city should it proceed in defiance of a congressional funding rider. Instead, one congressman said, it would fall to the Justice Department to intervene -- a much less likely scenario under the Obama administration." ...
... Marc Fisher, et al., of the Washington Post provide some background & write that "legalization is ... a pivotal moment for the nation and the city." CW P.S.: Certain limited-government Congressional Republicans still think the limited government should boss around black people.
Annals of "Journalism, Ctd.
Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "Craig Spencer, the doctor who was found to have Ebola days after returning to New York City from Guinea, wrote in an essay published on Wednesday that he was mistakenly cast as a 'fraud, a hipster, and a hero' by the media as he fought for his life from a hospital bed." Spencer's essay is here.... 'The media and politicians could have educated the public about Ebola,' he wrote. 'Instead, they spent hours retracing my steps through New York and debating whether Ebola can be transmitted through a bowling ball.'"
The Return of Forrest Gump. Olivia Marshall of Media Matters: "Bill O'Reilly has claimed repeatedly that he witnessed the execution of nuns while reporting in 1981 on the civil war in El Salvador, an apparent fabrication that is at odds with both history and what O'Reilly himself has said about arriving in the country after the event took place, according to new information unearthed by Media Matters." ...
... Geez, he even lies to his sainted mother:
Both Sides Do It. Charles Pierce: "One of our Beltway fave-raves, Ron (Keep Up The Fight) Fournier of the National Journal, is back with another survey of the deplorable fashion in which politics keeps getting involved in our politics. Like the veteran journalist that he is, Ron gets right to it in what we call the lede. "Who's at fault for the looming Homeland Security Department shutdown? Everyone in power." ...
... CW: BTW, Pierce's claim that Obama "had a nominal veto-proof majority in the Senate, where all the easily reached chokepoints are, from his inauguration day until Ted Kennedy died in September of 2009" is just wrong. There wasn't a 60-vote Senate majority (which included the Despicable Lieberman, et al., & Sen. Robert Byrd, who was sick & not in attendance most of the time) till Al Franken won the Minnesota vote recount & was sworn in in early July. Also, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick replaced Kennedy with Paul Kirk, a Kennedy factotum who was a reliable Democratic vote. The Democratic supermajority (in name only because of Byrd's last illness) lasted between July 7, 2009, till Scott Brown (R) was sworn in February 10, 2010."
Presidential Race
Ariel Edwards-Levy of the Huffington Post: "'The fundamental challenge for my side is the seemingly inexorable change in the composition of presidential electorates,' Republican pollster Whit Ayres ...said.... 'And there's no reason to believe that that's going to stop magically.' The demographic change poses little problem for the GOP in midterm elections, when young and minority voters are far more likely than older, white voters to stay home.... That's the stunning part for me in running these numbers -- to realize that the last Republican to win a presidential election, who reached out very aggressively to minorities, and did better than any Republican nominee before or since among minorities, still didn't achieve enough of both of those groups in order to put together a winning percentage' for 2016, Ayres said."
A War of His Own. Margaret Hartmann: "During a radio interview on Wednesday, [winger] host Hugh Hewitt brought up a concern about a third Bush presidency that probably hadn't occurred to most people: Would Jeb 'be overly cautious about using force for fear of having a "third Bush war" occur?' Everyone can rest easy, because the answer is no."
Jack Schafer of Politico: "A candidate like [Scott] Walker who can't answer a question that isn't in his briefing book or campaign white paper fails one of the most elemental tests for becoming president: how to handle the unexpected/undesired. Pouting or playing the victim when asked a hazing question just makes a bad situation worse. Just ask Sarah Palin."
Gail Collins writes that Chris Christie's presidential hopes just bit the dust in a pretty boring way: his "signature achievement" -- reforming the state's public pension system -- is a disaster.
Beyond the Beltway
... Mary Walsh of the New York Times: "First in Detroit, then in Stockton, Calif., and now in New Jersey, judges and other top officials are challenging the widespread belief that public pensions are untouchable. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey delivered the latest blow on Tuesday, when he proposed to freeze that state's public pension plans and move workers into new ones intended not to overwhelm future budgets or impose open-ended demands on taxpayers." ...
... Matt Arco of NJ.com: "Hours before Gov. Chris Christie delivers his annual budget address today, the state's largest teacher union is seeking to make clear today that a deal has not been struck between the union and the governor on overhauling New Jersey's ailing pension system.... The statement comes after Christie's office said Monday the governor will announce today he's teaming up with the NJEA on 'groundbreaking changes' to tackle New Jersey's pension woes. The governor's office did not say it had reached a deal with the union." ...
... Matt Arco: "The governor declared Tuesday during a joint legislative session that the commission he appointed to propose solutions to fixing New Jersey's pension system 'reached an unprecedented accord with the NJEA.' But the governor's declaration appeared to take the union by surprise." Christie blamed the media's "careless reporting" for any misunderstanding between the teachers' union & him.
Julie Bosman of the New York Times: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel "won more than 45 percent of [Tuesday's] vote to [Jesús 'Chuy'] Garcia's 34 percent, but the gap was close enough to raise sharp questions about whether Mr. Emanuel, a former congressman and chief of staff to President Obama, could easily shake off the insurgent." ...
... E. J. Dionne: "Garcia is unabashed in making this contest an ideological struggle. He has cast Emanuel -- who received an endorsement from his old boss, President Obama, and vastly outspent his opponent -- as a local reincarnation of Mitt Romney, 'Mayor 1 Percent.'"
American "Justice," Ctd. Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "Vic Suter, a protester arrested before the 2012 Nato summit in Chicago, has told the Guardian about her experience of being detained inside Homan Square, a warehouse where multiple detainees allege they have been unable to contact legal counsel. Suter described a situation in which she was neither booked nor permitted a phone call.... Suter's account echoes that of Brian Jacob Church, whose story of extended detention without public notification and delayed legal access was featured in a Guardian's exposé on Tuesday."
Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Jonathan Gruber, the consultant who said ObamaCare became law due to the 'stupidity of the American voter,' was fired from the board of the Massachusetts health exchange on Wednesday.Gov. Charlie Baker (R) asked Gruber, an MIT professor, to resign, along with three other members of the board, according to the governor's office."
Oliver Laughland of the Guardian: "Three officers unloaded a volley of 17 bullets at Antonio Zambrano-Montes, of which 'five to six' struck the unarmed Mexican national during a fatal encounter with police in Pasco, Washington, the police unit investigating his death has revealed. Zambrano-Montes was killed on the evening of 10 February at a busy intersection in the majority Hispanic city. Video footage of the incident, uploaded to YouTube and viewed more than a million times, shows Zambrano-Montes running away from three officers, at one point raising his arms, before he turns to them and is gunned down."
News Ledes
New York Times: "An Argentine judge on Thursday dismissed the criminal allegations against President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner that had been brought by Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor who had accused her of conspiring to shield Iranian officials from responsibility for the deadly bombing of a Buenos Aires community center in 1994.The judge, Daniel Rafecas, decided that the criminal complaint Mr. Nisman put forward before his mysterious death last month was not sufficient to open an investigation into the president."
New York Times: "Continuing its assaults on a string of Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria, the Islamic State militant group has seized scores more residents over the past two days, bringing the number of captives to as many as several hundred, Assyrian organizations inside and outside Syria said on Thursday."
Guardian: "A British man has been identified as the knife-wielding militant who appears in Islamic State (Isis) videos claiming responsibility for the beheadings of US, British and other hostages. The Guardian understands that Mohammad Emwazi, a 26-year-old west Londoner and university graduate, is the militant."
Weather Channel: "Winter Storm Remus dumped as much as a foot of snow on the South, and its trek will continue up the East Coast on Thursday. In addition to heavy snow, the storm system left hundreds of thousands without power. Businesses and schools were closed as the entire region slowed to a halt when the snow began to fall. Northern Alabama's roads were extremely treacherous. Overnight Wednesday along Interstate 65, multiple motorists were stranded on the highway and had to spend the night in their vehicles, according to My Fox Alabama."
Share Article
Reader Comments (26)
Frank Rich was recently questioned, does the latest Guiliani outburst indicate the end of him as a figure with any real political influence? Answer: "That end came long ago..."
And Rich comes up with the best Guiliani snipe... Rudy Giuliani Is Now Trump! "When he periodically emerges to spew venom against Obama, he has all the public stature of Donald Trump — minus the hair and a prime-time television show."
And the clown car keeps driving in circles!
This time Trump REALLY means it. "...said in an interview Wednesday that he is “more serious” than ever about pursuing a run for the White House in 2016."
I have been personally interested in the NJ pension story because two of my daughters are involved. But for me I was a full time NJ state employee for 38 years and I don't have a state pension. Hmmmm.
And to note, Christie's budget talk was all about pension but not a mention of the equally big problem of the crumbling infrastructure because that will require a new tax which will cost him one vote in Iowa, so fuck NJ.
I'm loving the World Cup 2015. Afghanistan just beat Scotland and UAE lost to Ireland in a fluke. So many, and such diverse people all focussed on one complex and nuanced game, that has been played in some recognisable form for perhaps five centuries. I believe it was also the first international sporting event - between the U.S. and Canada, played in 1844. It's fabulous to watch on many levels.
Gloria--sounds great. Maybe I'll look for it to get my mind off Scott Walker's rise to popularity on the backs of Wisconsin's workers. Our state senate just passed right-to-work legislation--and in what is becoming commonplace, broke a gavel trying to subdue the outraged shouts from the gallery.
Here's the link:
http://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2015/02/republican-senate-rtw-hearing-charade.html
Btw, we can hope that Gail Collins will eventually write a column about Walker quite similar to today's about Christie. Walker's only difference is that he hasn't been in the Spotlight ght as long and is hoping to get elected president just before voters figure out what he's up to.
This is a tough one but my brain is voting to give the Republican plan to use a threat to homeland security as a political weapon as the dumbest idea in the history of American politics.
If John Boehner ever loses his day job he could apply to Abercrombie & Fitch as a consulting fashionista. I find this case, (NOT Boehner) interesting on many levels: Appearances are important whenever one is applying for a job in which appearances are important––and obviously a place like A.& F fits that bill. They have every right to hire those that fit their idea of attractive salespersons. When, however, in this case the woman in question is suing because of religious discrimination it becomes a sticky wicket. Personally I hate the idea of women having to cover themselves because of some religious edict, so I feel conflicted here, and would like to say A.&F had every right to reject her on the basis of that headscarf––it wouldn't do in their stores of high end clothing, but that headscarf shouted Muslim, therefore not hiring her meant discrimination on religious grounds––yet how do you prove it?
"... CW Orange Alert: So how come the State Department's tippy-top counterterrorism "expert" can't tell a little girl from a police detective? If Rosen represents the high-water mark of expertise employed to defend us from slippery bad guys, this is the Scariest Story of the Day."
Perhaps Daniel, being of lustful intentions, became clouded in his otherwise wise sniff-dog senses––sex can do that, so I've heard. OR–-the one who was impersonating a young girl was really skillful at impersonating a young girl. This was via the written word, after all.
PD Pepe, I agree with the conflict issue regarding A&F not hiring the women wearing a headscarf. However I see no evidence of religious discrimination. That idea only fits if A&F would have rejected her if she was a Muslim without a headscarf. There is no evidence of that. I suspect that A&F and lots of other clothing stores reject sales clerk positions for all sorts of dressing habits.
@PD Pepe & Marvin Schwalb: Hooters.
The linked article, published in TNR, is an excerpt from a book by Deborah Rhode on hiring practice that discriminate on the basis of appearance & dress.
Abercrombie is claiming that Elauf violated their dress code, which forbids wearing hats. But the interviewer didn't ask Elauf about her hijab; s/he just assumed Elauf would violate the dress code. In addition, it appears A&F is okay with yarmulkes, which also violate the A&F dress code. So maybe this is gender discrimination as much as or more than religious discrimination.
Marie
Re; the A&F head scarf case -- time flies. Where I live, seeing a sales rep in a head scarf in upscale retail stores is commonplace. Properly worn, they are just as becoming as any other fashion item. We see lots of yarmulkes on the men, too.
This issue is different than was the case in Europe a few years ago, where countries (France) and employers forbade apparel that hid the face. That was about identification more than about religious identity.
I have no real opinion about the A&F case, other than I think it is now out of date because seeing working women in headwraps is much more common than it was even a few years ago.
"While those who seek to ban hijab refer to it as a symbol of gender based repression, the women who choose to don a scarf, or to wear hijab, in the broadest sense of the word, do so by making personal decisions and independent choices. They view it as a right and not a burden. Nor do these women regard hijab as a sign of oppression. Women who wear hijab often describe themselves as being “set free” from society’s unrealistic fashion culture."
"Hijab frees women from being thought of as sexual objects of desire or from being valued for their looks, or body shape rather then their minds and intellect. No longer slaves to consumerism, hijab liberates women from the need to conform to unrealistic stereotypes and images dictated by the media. Women wearing hijab have expressed that dressing modestly and covering their hair, minimises sexual harassment in the workplace. The aura of privacy created by hijab is indicative of the great value Islam places upon women."
So given this I wonder––why would this women in question here want to work in a place where its main focus is consumerism writ large. No longer slaves to this unrealistic culture of sexy dressing and allure? Last summer I had the experience of entering into an A.&F. because my granddaughter has become besotted with this place. The whole atmosphere reeks of sensuality accompanied by soft music along with a flowery scent wafting throughout. So I wonder–-why?
Oh, gee, and here I thought the delay of Lynch's confirmation was because the Republicans couldn't bear to see Holder go––holding on to Holder because they love him soooo much.
@PD Pepe writes, "... the one who was impersonating a young girl was really skillful at impersonating a young girl."
What would make me think a counterterrorism expert who can't see thru a local police officer's ruse would be smart enough to see thru a terrorist's machinations? Don't we presume that counterterrorists are expert at telling the difference between your remarks & those of terrorists in any setting -- online, on the phone, in person? Any sophisticated terrorist is going to use the same skill set the police sting operator used. Rosen's gullibility makes me think that the only terrorist plots the feds are capable of unraveling are those perpetuated by complete dummkopfs. And, in fact, a good number of the terrorism cases I've seen the feds bring are against blockheads. I would not presume that all terrorists are blockheads who e-mail, chat & phone each other with the details of their dastardly plots.
Marie
@Marie: your "Hooters" link––thanks, most insightful and your " Rosen's gullibility makes me think that the only terrorist plots the feds are capable of unraveling are those perpetuated by complete dummkopfs," made me laugh. I think you may be right.
Replace Boehner? Will the Oligarchy do that? Can they find a more obedient lackey?
GOP: Groveling to Oligarchs and Plutocrats
Well that didn't take long.
Yesterday I posited that pulling on a few strings in Loofah Boy's career as a "journalist" would yield many more lies.
But his lies are so stupid. They're not even close to being believable. You'd think a sharp liar or con man would know that saying he was an American journalist who had witnessed, close up, the nuns who were raped and murdered by El Salvadoran troops (thanks again, Ronald Reagan!) was not very believable. Why? He's still alive, that's why. You think soldiers who had just raped four nuns then shot them in the head wouldn't mind that an American reporter was hanging around watching? Oh, wait, unless he was a special envoy from Saint Ronnie with orders to rape and murder.
So he was in a combat zone on the Falkland Islands, he was a player in the Kennedy assassination fallout, he saved a cameraman's life after soldiers had shot at them in Buenos Aires, and now he was in El Salvador watching nuns getting shot in the head, something he even told his mother.
Check.
It's just sad now that he's trying to say that what he meant was that he had seen pictures of those nuns. Oh yeah? Me too. But I would never say I had witnessed them being shot.
Anyway, just for shits and grins, I checked to see exactly how long Loofah Boy was a field reporter because, Christ, someone with all those wild stories must have been at it for decades. It wasn't all that long. Less than 10 years. But while checking that out, I came across another self-aggrandizing statement of his indicating some kind of deep seated need to promote himself as a big man in every possible way at every opportunity.
O'Reilly attended Boston University, studying broadcast journalism, and graduated in 1973. One of his classmates was Howard Stern. Loofah says he specifically remembered Stern for one special reason. He was the only guy taller than O'Reilly on the BU campus. O'Reilly is 6'4". BU has a basketball team. Most of the players on that team, including James Garvin (6'7"), who went on to play in the NBA were taller than O'Reilly. A lot taller.
I guess it didn't matter if black guys were taller. The only ones he cared about were the white dudes, and how dare Howard Stern be taller than him anyway.
Did you ever know one of those guys who had a counter story for every story of yours? Only his were much bigger, more grandiose, and baroque? And it never mattered what you said, this guy would always trump you. "Hey, I once went fly fishing in a river in the Grand Tetons, it was great." "Oh really? Well, I went fishing for sharks with Hemingway. I caught one with nothing but a drop line and my bare hands using 20 lb test line. Papa said he never saw anything like it. I called him a pinhead and we laughed and drank for three straight days."
That's O'Reilly.
Seriously, anyone who goes out of his way to say "I only remembered the guy because he was the only one bigger than me" has a lot of problems.
Can't wait for the next fabrication.
Here's a link to the piece PD Pepe cites at length. If you're going to quote somebody, you needn't link it, but do tell us whom you're quoting.
@PD Pepe: Your question is moot. Why doesn't anybody apply for a job that isn't positively wonderful in every respect? Because s/he needs a job. A young woman wishing to work in an upscale clothing store doesn't sound at all odd to me. But Elauf's motives are immaterial.
Even if she did apply for the job to make a political point -- & there's no indication she did -- the problem is with A&F, not with Elauf. I doubt if civil rights workers sat down at Walgreen's lunch counters because Walgreen's made the best burgers; they did so to make a point & change the laws & rules of society. Do their motives undermine the outcome? I don't think so.
Marie
@Patrick: As Rhode suggests in the excerpt I linked above, you're putting the cart before the horse. It wasn't "commonplace" to see men or older, married women in airline attendants' uniforms until the law forced the airlines to quit discriminating against these people.
The question is, is the product itself any better if served or sold by an "attractive" person: i.e., someone who fits some executives' or middle managements' ideas of what constitutes "attractive"? If the product is entertainment, then the answer is yes: nobody goes to a strip club to see naked fat men in thongs or less. The airlines tried to make it "Coffee, Tea or Me," but in fact, the "Me" part could not be legally written into the job description -- the legal product was the coffee, the tea, the pillows, etc. And a passenger would be just as comfy with a pillow provided by an older man than with one brought by a hot young thing. Same with whatever is on the Hooters menu. And whatever they sell at Macy's or Abercrombie's.
A certain class of people (say, businessmen) might not like anti-discriminatory policies because they'd rather have a well-endowed young thing leaning over them when she pours that cup of coffee. The discriminators will get over it, but only if we change the standard of who can work at places like Hooters & A&F.
Marie
The Real Thing.
We had a short burst of Jamesiana here not long ago which brings to mind one of his funnier short stories, "The Real Thing". Okay, not so much funni-er as just funny. There aren't many of them, so you take what you can get.
Anyway, the idea in this one involves a commercial artist in need of models who could look appropriately upper-crusty. This provides an opportunity for a couple of actual upper-crusters who had fallen on hard times, to make a few pounds on the side. The problem is that although they were "the real thing", they were terrible at looking like it. The artist ends up hiring a poor couple who could pass as Victorian nobility.
Oh the irony!
So why bring this up now? I was thinking of the difference between a real journalist and someone who plays a real journalist but is nothing of the kind; a charlatan, an imposter, someone who playacts. The second kind we know all too well, just about everyone on Fox, including, and especially, you know who.
These people pass on lies and pure ideologically based speculation as if they were hard facts. They contaminate the public discourse and measurably diminish the nation's collective IQ. They don't fix problems, they cause them.
But now and then, we can find an example of the Real Thing, a journalist, commentator, pundit, who has the ability demonstrate the real world impact of dry policy debates and do it in a memorable way.
If there is a subject drier (to most people--and most journalists outside the telecom and internet fields) than net neutrality, I'm blanking on it. But a couple of weeks ago, Marie posted a link to a piece that John Oliver had done on that subject. And he may well have, as the CSM suggests, "turned the tide on the net neutrality debate". No mean feat.
If you haven't seen it, take a few minutes. It's not only accurate on its exposition of the policy and economics, it's howlingly funny, and an excellent example of this sort of thing done very well.
If shady, shallow, shouting, shabby Bill O and his ilk have you depressed about the state of accurate and informative journalism, watch Oliver's piece. At least in this story, the real thing actually is The Real Thing.
P.S. It's also a reminder of the quality of stuff you find out here in RC land, another Real Thing.
How many ways can you spell "stupid"?
How about T-E-X-A-S? That's always a good start...
A Texas state senator, Donna Campbell (do we even need the R anymore when we're talking stupid?), has introduced a bill to stop the UN from taking over the Alamo. Yes. The UN. The Alamo. Taking it over.
Is the Alamo in imminent danger of being surrounded by soldiers in blue berets?
Ahh...don't even bother. So why am I pointing this out and seemingly wasting your time with more wingnut lunacy? Simply because this person believes that there are enough voters out there, after a generation of right-wing propaganda and attacks on reason and real education, who will see her as some kind of hero for doing this and vote her back into office and even worse, at some point, to higher office.
But is this believable even to wingers? Of course! After all, isn't the UN trying to steal all our golfs, as Charlie Pierce is fond of saying? Don't they allow Mooslims and black and brown people to sit in the same room as white people? Don't they have people who speak languages other than 'merican?
It used to be that appeals like this truly were directed at the fringiest of fringers. Not anymore. This is something you could easily imagine becoming the next Fox scandal. Can't you see Sean Hannity breathlessly interviewing this lady about her brave foresight in protecting a national landmark from filthy foreigners?
The right has a lot to answer for in this country. I'm proposing dropping "Remember the Alamo" in favor of "Remember the Ass-a-holes". And don't forget, there are hundreds of stupid bills like this being proposed every day by wingnut imbeciles somewhere, by idiots who 20 years ago hadn't a chance of being elected to lick postage stamps. And Some of these bills DO get adopted. And those idiots are voted right back in the next time around.
Right bastards they are, the lot of 'em.
@Marie: I disagree that my question wondering why a woman of Muslim faith who wears a hijab that signifies, according to the parts of the article I posted, (but neglected to cite) a freedom from society's unrealistic culture, frees women from being thought of as sexual beings, and are no longer slaves to consumerism would then want to work in an atmosphere that promotes all that she negates. It's as if I hated the idea of "Hooters" hiring and promoting big breasted women, but applied nonetheless.
Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I certainly agree that the problem is with A&F, but if Elauf wasn't trying to make a political point then my wondering why she would pick that particular store is legitimate.
Regarding A and F, they have been notorious for hiring based on looks for many years. Almost two decades ago my daughters loved to shop there, and it was well known that they approached the most attractive kids directly offering to discuss employment. And the interior of the store was indeed dark and sensual. I was glad when my kids outgrew the place.
As for the issue of legalized pot in DC all I can say is, it's about time. As a young lawyer practicing in the District in the 70s I was just appalled at the targetting of minorities for petty drug crimes when white professionals - including some prosecutors - were enjoying drugs even including cocaine with a fair amount of impunity. This really distressed me and was one reason I never considered becoming a prosector.
There are lots of reasons interviewees don't get hired. Headscarfs is probably number 98 in a list of 50.
Marie,
Thanks for the reminder about the veto-proof canard, which for some reason is repeated by many who should know better.
Why? Laziness?
Though it makes sense for the Koch Party to spout such nonsense, thereby blaming Obama and the Dems for even more, it makes none for any progressive voice to do the same. Surely the Left, where Pierce sits most comfortably, can't claim ignorance.
Maybe it's just another false "Truth" created by repetition.
@PD Pepe: What you're suggesting is that a nice, religious, 17-year-old high school girl shouldn't be interested in high-school status markers, in her appearance or in sex. That's antithetical to feminism & totally unrealistic.
Elauf had a friend who worked at the store where she applied, no doubt she had other friends who liked the A&F look (Elauf wore an Abercrombie outfit to the interview), & she wanted to fit in with other girls, Muslim or not. In addition, I assume (tho I'm not sure) that she was living at home at the time, so it's entirely possible that even if she wasn't religious herself, she had little choice but to wear the hijab to conform to her parents' wishes.
Every one of us goes through life facing conflicts among our own desires & what the various elements of society expect of us. This is magnified several times over for teens, especially for those who are minors & dependent upon their parents both financially & legally, not to mention emotionally.
While I don't doubt A&F places more emphasis on sex than do some other businesses, a majority of advertising & marketing is designed to appeal to potential buyers' wishes to be considered sexually attractive. Why do they do it? Because it works. And most of us, whether we're 17 & looking for partners or 70 & happily coupled, attempt to look attractive in public. Do you comb your hair before you go to the grocery store? Do you wear nicer-than-usual clothes when you go to the opera? While we all differ on what constitutes an "appropriate" appearance & "dress code," most of us have some standard, & that standard is set in part by society: our peers, marketers, customs & laws.
Elauf is not different from the young women you & another contributor mentioned. If anything, her situation is more fraught, because she lives in a multicultural environment in which her dressing "differently" makes it more difficult for her to fit in. That she should want to minimize this difference, that she should want to appear more "mainstream" is perfectly natural. And for teens, "mainstream" here & everywhere, means looking one's best. Looking one's best, for young people especially, means looking sexy. That is perfectly natural.
Marie
@Marie: Re: your first paragraph: No, that is not what I was suggesting. My query had to do with her religious reasons for her wearing the hijab which seemed to conflict with her desire to work at A.&F. But after doing some digging it turns out you are correct in assuming she is like most young women who covet society's idea of what's cool in the fashion world. She has her own web site devoted to all things current and cool and stylish.. No wonder she wanted to work in a store like A.&F. This job interview with A.&F. happened five years ago and it was for a job in the kid's department, not the main store.
I started this discussion commenting on my bias with the covering up of women's heads and bodies because of "Allah's will." I'll own that and realize this isn't part of the conversation of the lawsuit.
I appreciate your post––shows generosity and understanding of the young––and not so young.
And yes, Marie, I was and am a woman who takes pride in my appearance even on all these snow days when I don't venture forth. I sometimes wish I didn't care and maybe my bias is because of a secret wish to be covered in hijabs and burkas–-just a thought.
Samatha Elauf's website:
http://stylesetter.simon.com/blog/samantha-elauf