The Commentariat -- Feb. 8, 2014
Internal links removed.
The President's Weekly Address:
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The National Security Agency is collecting less than 30 percent of all Americans' call records because of an inability to keep pace with the explosion in cellphone use, according to current and former U.S. officials. The disclosure contradicts popular perceptions that the government is sweeping up virtually all domestic phone data. It is also likely to raise questions about the efficacy of a program that is premised on its breadth and depth...." ...
... The New York Times report, by Charlie Savage, is here.
Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "The CIA has confirmed that it is obliged to follow a federal law barring the collection of financial information and hacking into government data networks. But neither the agency nor its Senate overseers will say what, if any, current, recent or desired activities the law prohibits the CIA from performing -- particularly since a section of the law explicitly carves out an exception for 'lawfully authorized' intelligence activities. The murky episode, arising from a public Senate hearing on intelligence last week, illustrates what observers call the frustrations inherent in getting even basic information about secret agencies into public view...."
David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "The president traveled to ... [East Lansing, Michigan] to tout the passage of a $1 trillion farm bill this week, a rare bipartisan achievement by Congress that the president was eager to highlight. Six congressional Democrats flew aboard Air Force One -- but none of the two dozen Republicans invited by Obama showed up.... House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was busy.... A day earlier, Boehner [said of Obama, 'He is running around the country telling everyone he's going to keep acting on his own. And he's feeding more distrust about whether he is committed to the rule of law.'" CW: Right. Boehner said this after refusing to "run around the country" with Obama at the President's invitation. Maybe he's afraid AF1 has cooties. More likely the ballless (hey, 3 L's!) wonder is petrified Fox "News" would run a segment showing the two leaders in the same room & pitchforkery would ensue.
Jonathan Weisman & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: Boehner couldn't introduce immigration reform legislation because all the Tea Party people were picking on him. CW: Weisman & Parker seem unimpressed with Boehner's claim that it's all Obama's fault. ...
... Gail Collins isn't buying it, either: "Listen, there's widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws,' [Boehner] told a press conference. 'And it's going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes.' ... Under this president, half of all federal crime prosecution involves immigration crime. The government now spends more on enforcing immigration laws than it spends on the F.B.I., Drug Enforcement Administration, Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives combined. We have more than 650 miles of fencing along the Mexican border. Plus, don't forget all the drones. And 21,391 border patrol agents." ...
... CW: I'll give President Obama credit for this: the bifurcation (or shattering) of the Republican Party. True, Obama succeeded mostly just by "being," but his being has been enough to turn the party into Rumpelstiltskin. Absent Obama, there probably would be no Tea Party to challenge every semi-normal member of the GOP and styme every effort to advance rational legislation. So when Republicans say they can't do this or they must do that because Obama, they're not entirely wrong.
Charles Blow: "The latest talking point is that the president is a 'lawless' 'dictator' hellbent on operating outside, and indeed above, the law.... This lawlessness talk is simply another iteration of the 'othering' of this president. Paint him as a criminal, an enemy to the rule of law, and by extension, to the construct of America. America is, after all, a nation of laws." ...
... CW: And a dangerous one. It suggests to the crazies that maybe someone should "take the law into his own hands" & do away with the President. The Secret Service should despise Republican leaders & Members of Congress who repeatedly encourage violent nut jobs.
Obama 2.0. Send in the "B" Team. Catherine Thompson of TPM: Noah Mamet, "a bundler for President Barack Obama who is nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to Argentina, [admitted to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing] Thursday that he's never actually been to that country.... But Mamet didn't have half as bad a time during his hearing as George J. Tsunis, a businessman and Obama donor nominated as the U.S. ambassador to Norway, did. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) skewered Tsunis last month for his lack of knowledge about the country -- he said Norway has a 'president' when it is actually a constitutional monarchy -- prompting a Norway website to describe his testimony as a 'jaw-dropping diplomatic blunder.'" ...
... Erik Loomis of Lawyers, Guns & Money: "... it would be nice if the appointees had marginal knowledge of the nation of appointment. Or you know, had been there before. I mean, does the fact that Norway feels insulted matter on a geopolitical level? No, not really. But it does reinforce stereotypes of Americans being insensitive clods who know nothing of the world."
Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "Helping the terminally ill end their lives, condemned for decades as immoral, is gaining traction. Banned everywhere but Oregon until 2008, it is now legal in five states. Its advocates, who have learned to shun the term 'assisted suicide,' believe that as baby boomers watch frail parents suffer, support for what they call the 'aid in dying' movement will grow further."
Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "A former State Department arms expert pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to disclosing national defense information to a Fox News reporter. Stephen Jin-Woo Kim admitted sharing information from a top-secret intelligence report on North Korea with Fox chief Washington correspondent James Rosen. Investigators in the case also targeted Rosen, calling him a possible 'co-conspirator' in order to obtain a search warrant for his personal e-mail. The law enforcement tactics used in Kim's case -- and in another case involving the phone records of Associated Press journalists -- led the Justice Department to tighten its policies last summer for pursuing unauthorized disclosures of classified information to journalists."
Your Tax Dollars at Play. Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Amid a flurry of ethical scandals vexing the military comes a new transgression: The Navy has rebuked three admirals for taking a questionable trip to Britain and thereby flunking what was termed 'The Washington Post Test.' The admirals went on an official, seven-day trip to Britain in April 2012...." They were friends & took their wives. "In June, after a year-long investigation that resulted in a 68-page report and an intensive audit of every penny spent, the Naval Inspector General concluded that the admirals had flunked. It found that Rear Adms. Mark F. Heinrich, David R. Pimpo and Donald L. Singleton -- each of whom held important Navy supply and logistics jobs -- had violated federal travel regulations by staying at London hotels that cost more than $400 a night and booking unnecessarily expensive flights."
Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: This week "AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong ... angered employees, insulted parents with sick babies and shined a light on a practice seeping its way into corporate America that threatens to rob workers of thousands of dollars in 401(k) savings.... The changes undercut a central virtue of the 401(k) system, which in theory should make it easier for employees to switch companies and take their savings with them.... Retirement experts say that the cut in benefits not only hurts those who leave the company midyear, but also those who stay put, because they lose the compounding benefits of having more money put into their accounts throughout the year.... There was no word on why a company with about 4,000 employees would not be able to absorb the expenses of two employees with abnormally high medical bills." See also yesterday' Commentariat.
Senate Races
Al Jazeera & the AP: "Montana's governor [Steve Bullock (D)] picked Lt. Gov. John Walsh on Friday to be interim U.S. senator, an appointment that could kick-start Walsh's election campaign and potentially allow Democrats to keep a seat in a typically Republican state, increasing their changes of retaining control of the U.S. Senate. Lt. Gov. John Walsh, 53, is to be sworn in Tuesday to serve the remainder of Democratic Sen. Max Baucus' term, who is leaving to become the U.S. ambassador to China. That will give Walsh nine months to build a record as an incumbent as he looks to a potential general-election campaign against a formidable opponent, Republican U.S. Rep Steve Daines."
Joseph Gerth of the Louisville Courier-Journal: "Former President Bill Clinton ... will come to Louisville this month for a campaign event for [Alison Lundergan] Grimes, who is running for the U.S. Senate and trying to topple Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.... According to a Bluegrass Poll published Thursday, Grimes leads McConnell 46-42 in a head-to-head matchup." ...
... Catherine Thompson: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is ratcheting up his criticism of former President Bill Clinton, suggesting Democratic candidates return any money he helped raise for them in protest of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. 'They can't have it both ways. And so I really think that anybody who wants to take money from Bill Clinton or have a fundraiser has a lot of explaining to do,' Paul said in a C-SPAN 'Newsmakers' interview set to air Sunday, as quoted by the Washington Times." ...
... CW: Yeah, and I suggest Republican candidates return any money Paul helped raise for them in protest of the Acqua Buddha scandal. Boinking the intern is pretty damned bad; kidnapping a college girl is worse.
He Got Outta Dodge. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: Sen. Pat "Roberts [R-Kansas] is now desperate to re-establish ties to Kansas and to adjust his politics to fit the rise of the right in the state. But his efforts underscore the awkward reality of Republicans who, after coming of age in an era of comity and esteem for long-term service, are trying to remake themselves to be warriors for a Tea Party age. In an interview, the three-term senator acknowledged that he did not have a home of his own in Kansas. The house on a country club golf course [in Dodge City] that he lists as his voting address belongs to two longtime supporters and donors -- C. Duane and Phyllis Ross -- and he says he stays with them when he is in the area. He established his voting address there the day before his challenger in the August primary, Milton Wolf, announced his candidacy last fall...." ...
... Kindly Old White Senator from Kansas Invites Ethnic-Indian Surgeon General Nominee to Dodge City, "because we have a lovely doctor from India. She's in her mid-30s, and she's highly respected by the community..., and I think you'd be right at home." CW: Murthy is not "a doctor from India." He was born in England & grew up in Miami, Florida. This would be like Roberts calling Barack Obama a president from Kenya, something he'll probably do during his re-election campaign.) ...
... Beyond the Beltway ...
... Who Would Want to Live in Kansas Anyway? Sarah Posner in Al Jazeera: "If a bill approved by the Kansas House Committee on Federal and State Affairs Thursday becomes law, businesses and government employees could legally refuse service to citizens because of their sexual orientation or marital status, claiming it violates their religious beliefs. HB 2453, if passed, would permit 'any individual or religious entity' to claim an exemption, based on religious views.... Although the bill would require government agencies to make another employee available to provide the service if one employee objects, opponents of the bill say that arrangement could prove unworkable in small locales. The Kansas measure is an extreme permutation of a wave of new bills in state legislatures that purport to bolster religious freedom, but that opponents say constitute a troubling new trend to craft a license to discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital or family status."
Suppress the Vote. Aviva Shen of Think Progress: "Gainesville, Florida, in an attempt to avoid the six-hour lines that characterized last Election Day, sought approval to use the University of Florida's student union as an early voting site. Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner [R] denied the request, sparking outrage. Detzner justified the decision by claiming that the Reitz student union does not fit the list of eligible early voting sites, which was expanded last year to reduce lines. Now, municipalities can use fairgrounds, government-owned community centers, convention centers, stadiums, courthouses, civic centers, and county commission buildings. 'The terms "convention center" and "government-owned community center" cannot be construed so broadly as to include the Reitz Union,' the state's Division of Elections argued. Local officials contend that the Reitz Union qualifies as a government-owned community center, as it is part of a public university.... UF students will have to travel more than five miles off campus in order to cast their vote in the March special election -- a difficult trip for a mostly car-less population."
Meanwhile, in New Jersey
Another Thing Chris Christie Had No Idea Was Happening Right under His Nose. Maggie Haberman & Elizabeth Titus of Politico: "The memo from Gov. Chris Christie's office attacking former appointee David Wildstein's credibility ... was a striking and deeply personal broadside coming from a chief executive of a state, and even his allies called it a mistake. But one important person hadn't seen the missive ahead of time: the governor himself. Christie's aides did not run the document -- which took the extraordinary step of highlighting incidents from Wildstein's high school days -- by the governor before they sent it out, according to two people familiar with the matter. Instead, someone tucked the high school lines into a daily briefing email to the governor's supporters, and blasted it out earlier than planned." ...
... Fort Lee Mayor Changes His Story. Mike Kelly of the Bergen Record: "Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, in his most extensive comments yet, said Governor Christie's aides courted him for over two years with gifts from the Port Authority to his town -- like shuttle buses, pothole repair and emergency radios -- as well as a personal tours of the 9/11 Memorial in a effort to win his endorsement."
Jenna Pizzi of the Star-Ledger: "Although he has proclaimed his innocence since FBI agents raided his home and City Hall, Trenton[, New Jersey,] Mayor Tony Mack was found guilty [Friday]. A jury returned the verdict after seven and a half hours of deliberations, saying that the first-term mayor is guilty of all counts in his corruption trial. Mack stood trial beside his brother Ralphiel Mack who was found guilty of three of the six counts against him."
Presidential Election 2016
Bob Moser of the American Prospect has a very readable, short piece -- an appreciation, really -- on Joe Biden.
News Ledes
Washington Post: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is outraged by American diplomat's leaked "Fuck the EU!" comment.
AP: "The nation's largest electricity provider, state regulators and an environmental group issued differing data Thursday about the levels of toxins detected in a North Carolina river following a massive spill of coal ash. Test results released by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Duke Energy showed arsenic and other potentially harmful contaminates were detected in the Dan River, but at levels considered safe for both people and fish.... Water samples tested by a lab hired by the Waterkeeper Alliance contained levels of arsenic nearly nine times higher than the state's results, along with readings for other hazardous chemicals at levels far above state standards."
AP: "Former CIA Director James Woolsey says anti-Semitism could be a factor in the U.S. refusal to release a Jewish American jailed for spying for Israel. Woolsey told Israeli Channel 10 TV Saturday that Americans who spied for other countries including Korea and Greece were freed after short sentences, while Jonathan Pollard is still jailed after 25 years."
Reuters: "The United States on Friday issued a fresh travel alert for Americans attending the Sochi Winter Olympics, citing cybersecurity threats and warning them to have 'no expectation of privacy' using Russian communications networks. The U.S. State Department's alert - coming the same day that Turkish security forces in Istanbul seized a Ukrainian man accused of trying to hijack an airliner and redirect it to Sochi - updates one issued two weeks ago."
AFP: "US Department of Justice officials on Friday dropped an antitrust investigation into whether Samsung abused essential mobile gadget patents in its ongoing battle with Apple."
Guardian: "Seven months after the controversial acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin, a case with some striking similarities has reignited debate over gun control, racism and self-defence laws. The jury in the trial of Michael Dunn, which began in Jacksonville, Florida, on Thursday, will hear how a 47-year-old software developer -- who is white -- grabbed a 9mm pistol from his glove box and fired repeatedly at 17-year-old Jordan Davis, a black student, during a November 2012 altercation that started as an argument over loud music blaring from the car Davis was sitting in at a Florida gas station."
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Reader Comments (10)
Sidebar to Rand Paul attacking Clinton. Clinton is heading to Kentucky to attach McConnell on behalf of Alison Lundergan Grimes.
I wouldn't say Fort Lee mayor, Sokolich ("that little Serbian") who is not so little and is not a Serb, has not changed his story so much as added to it. Perhaps those so called gifts–––and why are they called gifts in the first place?––fixing potholes? but given that perhaps our good mayor didn't realize at the time he was being courted and now looking back realizes he was. Although he does recall that Wildstein said to him, "We were told to be good to you." Who told WHOM here? It's like Pauli Walnuts (in the Sopranos) saying to the guy he plans to deep six but is giving him one more chance to abide by the code: "Hey, I'm gonna treat you real nice and you gonna do that job–-you fuck it up, I fuck you up.It's my gift to youse."
And you would think if you've been tapped for an ambassadorship in a country you've never been to and know little about you'd get that old geography book down off the shelf (or google) and do some brushing up. The fact that neither one of these guys bothered to do that before they faced the Congress is a puzzlement. Wouldn't the White House have prepared for this? My head hurts from all the shaking.
@ PD Pepe: Yeah, Tsunis also testified that a Fiord was an excellent Norwegian family car.
Marie
Yes. Good morning to all from (the N.S.A.)
...even more head-shaking here after reading a 'headline' on an article by Will Dunham over at Huff Post today re (U.S.) concerns of PRIVACY at the Olympics:
"WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday issued a fresh travel alert for Americans attending the Sochi Winter Olympics, citing cybersecurity threats and warning them to have "no expectation of privacy" using Russian communications networks."
Yep, our spies are bigger than yours! Our privacy invasion is bigger and (?) better! too.
Whatever!
P.S. Have you drive a Fjord lately? Catchy slogan!
Damn, I hate it when I 'preview' and still don't catch the typo.
Driver, not drive. Aggh.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/philip-seymour-hoffman-heroin-death-points-to-broader-opioid-drug-epidemic/2014/02/07/42dbbc5a-8e61-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
Joel Auchenbach in WaPo.
The addictive qualities are well known, but that stop people. When I was in Vietnam 1970-71, toward the end of my tour, tiny empty vials began showing up around the enlisted barracks. They had contained very pure heroin. A vial cost about $5. The troops naively thought that if they smoked it, they wouldn't be addicted, which was very wrong. It took the Army almost 10 years to eradicate the drug problem. Now young people are again believing that smoking or snorting are barriers to addiction. The article discusses the even worse problem of mixing opioids with heroin.
Depressing.
I meant to say "The addictive qualities of opiates are well known, but that doesn't stop people."
@MAG: You mean "driven," not "driver," not "drive." Thankfully, I never make tyops.
As for your original point, I believe the appropriate slogan is "Fix, Improvise Or Repair Daily."
Marie
@CW Third time's the charm!
I'm taking the rest of the day off and try to recover!
To anyone concerned about typos.... I bet there is not a single soul here that has any difficulty transposing or filling in the gaps of any typo. There. One less thing for you to worry about.