The Commentariat -- June 12, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "House Democrats rebuffed a dramatic personal appeal from President Obama on Friday, torpedoing his ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating power — and, quite likely, his chance to secure a legacy-defining trade accord spanning the Pacific Ocean. In a remarkable rejection of a president they have resolutely backed, House Democrats voted to kill assistance to workers displaced by global trade, a program their party created and has stood by for four decades. By doing so, they brought down legislation granting the president trade promotion authority — the power to negotiate trade deals that cannot be amended or filibustered by Congress — before it could even come to a final vote.” ...
... David Nakamura & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: “The House voted 302 to 126 to sink a measure to grant financial aid to displaced workers, fracturing hopes at the White House that Congress would grant Obama fast-track trade authority to complete an accord with 11 other Pacific Rim nations. 'I will be voting to slow down fast-track,' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the floor moments before the vote, after keeping her intentions private for months. 'Today we have an opportunity to slow down. Whatever the deal is with other countries, we want a better deal for American workers.'... Fast-track authority ... was later approved with overwhelming Republican support in what amounted to a symbolic vote because it could not move forward into law without the related worker assistance package.”
Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "As of Friday morning, the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules became the law of the land when a federal court rebuffed a plea by Internet providers to block the regulation."
*****
David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama’s campaign for congressional approval to complete a sweeping Pacific Rim free trade accord comes to a head Friday, capping a months-long lobbying blitz and setting up one of the biggest tests of his presidency. The House has scheduled a vote on fast-track trade legislation..., which Obama has called central to his economic agenda at home and his foreign policy strategy in Asia. In a sign of how high the stakes are, House Democrats called an emergency caucus meeting for 9:30 a.m. Friday.... Obama will attend the meeting to make a last ditch attempt to save his trade agenda." ...
... William Finnegan of the New Yorker can't figure out President Obama's motives.
David Jones & Nicholas Bagley, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the states are almost completely underprepared for the Supreme Court’s decision in King.... Republicans, who control at least one house in the legislature in all but three of the 34 states that use the federal exchange, told us that while they fear being blamed if people lose insurance, they also worry about the political repercussions of supporting any element of Obamacare, including the creation of a state exchange…. The states aren’t prepared for King, and any debates over whether to create state exchanges will be turbulent and difficult.
Washington Post Editors: "IF A federal appeals court ruling issued Tuesday stands, states will be able to all but deny access to abortion on a phony pretext of concern for women’s health. The impact on poor women will be particularly severe. The Supreme Court cannot allow this to be the last word on a constitutional guarantee.
The problem is not that I don't understand the global banking system. The problem for these guys is that I fully understand the system and I understand how they make their money. And that's what they don't like about me. -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Jamie Dimon's 'mansplaining' banking to her
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The United States is considering establishing additional military bases in Iraq to combat the Islamic State, the top American general said on Thursday, a move that would require at least hundreds more American military advisers to help Iraqi forces retake cities lost to the militant Sunni extremist group. President Obama’s decision this week to send 450 trainers to establish a new military base to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, could signal the beginning of similar efforts in other parts of the country, said Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michael Isikoff the Yahoo News: "A watchdog group today asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the National Rifle Association for failing to disclose $33.5 million in political expenditures on its tax returns over a six-year period. In a letter to the IRS and a separate one to the Federal Election Commission, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) cited a recent story in Yahoo News as evidence of what it believes are multiple violations of campaign finance and tax laws by the country’s premier gun-rights group." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Frank Rich: "Writing about the [Mark Foley] case in Vanity Fair in 2007, Gail Sheehy quoted a source who accused [then-Speaker Dennis] Hastert of having 'attempted a cover-up' of his dereliction of duty in the Foley case — a cover-up that involved coordination with John Boehner (then the majority leader), Roy Blunt (then majority whip, now a senator), and Thomas Reynolds (a New York congressman who also slinked away into retirement in the scandal’s aftermath). If the church and Penn State could finally clean house, surely the House of Representatives must do the same.' Also, too. Rich enters the rotating First Lady game: "... given that he’s proposed only one woman for this role, his sister, maybe he means 'rotating' like on a rotisserie." ...
... The only victim here is Denny Hastert. -- Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., on the Hastert indictment
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Charles Pierce gives an excellent account of one reason I almost never link to any post by Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post.
Annals of Fake Journalism. Emily Steel & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "Rupert Murdoch, the 84-year-old chief executive of 21st Century Fox, is planning to hand over the reins of the media conglomerate to his son James, two people briefed on the plans said Thursday. The elder Mr. Murdoch will remain at the company as executive chairman, and his son Lachlan is moving from Australia to Los Angeles to become co-executive chairman, the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. The exact timing for the changes is unclear...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Annals of Fake Economics. Jonathan Chait: "For Niall Ferguson, the commission of error is ... a cherished way of life. Ferguson’s distinct contribution to the contemporary political debate is the fascinating juxtaposition of his prestige — author, Harvard professor, resident faculty member of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, omnipresent talking head, and all-around handsome authority figure — with an inability to get his facts straight.... Apparently aware that his habits require a broader defense than 'whoops,' his latest Spectator column assails his many fact-checkers for their literalness, and gestures toward a novel theory of truth." Thanks to Haley Simon for the link.
Presidential Race
Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "... the [Bernie] Sanders campaign has hired Blair Lawton, who served as field director in Iowa for the Run Warren Run effort, which announced it was shutting down last week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Ken Thomas of the AP: "Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called on Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday to say exactly where she stands on President Barack Obama's trade agenda now that Congress is considering it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Rodham Clinton, at a major outdoor rally planned for Saturday, will directly address concerns that have emerged in the early weeks of her candidacy, telling voters they can trust her to fight for the middle class and stressing that she cares about their problems, several people briefed on her plans say. The speech, at an event shaping up to be the most ambitious public gathering undertaken by the campaign..., will be shaped by symbolism as she seeks to make the case for why she should be president. It will be held in New York City on an island named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the shadow of diverse middle-class neighborhoods, as Mrs. Clinton tries to evoke the legacy of the New Deal...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Josh Marshall of TPM Explains College Stuff to a Prominent Dropout: "As he readies to run for president and grabs whatever low hanging fruit on the conservative agenda tree he can find, Scott Walker is now planning to strip tenure from professors in the University of Wisconsin higher education system.... The crown jewel of the Wisconsin university system is the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It is one of the top research universities in the country and the world. With this move, you will basically kiss that jewel goodbye. To me this is the more salient reality than whether you think academic tenure is a good thing or not in itself. If this happens, over time, the professors who can will leave. And as the top flight scholars and researchers depart, so will the reputation of the institution. So will graduate students who want to study with them, the best undergrads, money that flows to prestigious scholarship."
Charles Pierce: Ben Carson brings East Germany to Iowa. And the crowd loves it.
Bonita sends along this video of Rick Perry's Greatest Hits:
... CW: I'd add this one:
Charles Pierce: "... the Republican primary process already is spinning out of control. A television network and a local newspaper are calling the shots. And where, you might ask, is the stern, guiding hand of obvious anagram Reince Priebus, the emptiest suit in American politics? He's ducking behind a spokesman is where he is.... So I have a modest proposal before everything gets completely out of hand and we find Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson pitching blenders against each other on QVC. Why is it necessary at this point to have a formal Republican party structure at all?... This is now the second consecutive election cycle in which the Republican primary field is essentially made up of independent bodies orbiting their own private suns."
Jaime Fuller of New York: "Mitt Romney is hosting his third annual retreat in Utah, and 2016 candidates are rushing to the Deer Valley Ski Resort today like it's a Pizza Ranch in Iowa. Romney, who is not running, appears to have used his free time to plan an election-themed version of the Romney Olympics, a family sporting tournament involving events like 'Who Can Hammer the Most Nails into a Board in Two Minutes?' in the state where he planned an actual Olympics." ...
... Yo, Mitt, here's a fun sport for your Political Olympics shebang: "Arm-Wrestling for the Top Job." Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says supporters have suggested to him that he should team up with Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) on a GOP presidential ticket.... Asked by Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin if he would be open to announcing in December that the two of them would run as a ticket, and settle who would be the nominee for president and vice president later, Walker replied that some supporters had pitched that idea.... He added that he and Rubio have joked that people mention the two possibly pairing up and said they would likely 'have to arm wrestle over who would be top of the ticket.'" CW: I'd pick Halperin as the ref.
Beyond the Beltway
Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "A month and a half after six officers were charged in [Freddie] Gray’s death, policing has dwindled in some of Baltimore’s most dangerous neighborhoods, and murders have risen to levels not seen in four decades.... At the time of her announcement, [state's attorney Marilyn] Mosby’s charges were seen as calming the city. But they enraged the police rank and file, who pulled back. The number of arrests plunged, and the murder rate doubled.... The speed and severity of the police pullback here appear unlike anything that has happened in other major cities."
Richard Perez-Pena & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "A judge in Cleveland ruled Thursday that probable cause existed to charge two Cleveland police officers in the death of a 12-year-old boy, Tamir Rice, but the judge also said he did not have the power to order arrests without a complaint being filed by a prosecutor. In his ruling, Judge Ronald B. Adrine, presiding judge of the Municipal Court, found probable cause to charge Officer Timothy Loehmann, who fired the fatal shot, with murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide and dereliction of duty. He also found probable cause to charge Officer Loehmann’s partner, Officer Frank Garmback, with negligent homicide and dereliction of duty."
Respect for Life. Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "... in a country where the vast majority of police officers patrol with batons and pepper spray, the elite cadre of British cops who are entrusted with guns almost never use them. Police in Britain have fatally shot two people in the past three years.... That’s less than the average number of people shot and killed by police every day in the United States over the first five months of 2015, according to a Washington Post analysis.... Of course, British and U.S. police are patrolling different societies. The United States has some of the world’s loosest gun laws and some of the highest rates of gun ownership. Britain is the opposite, with handguns and assault rifles effectively banned."
Craig Jarvin & Colin Campbell of the Raleigh News & Observer: "In a matter of minutes, the state House on Thursday morning overrode the governor’s veto of the same-sex marriage bill that allows magistrates to decline to perform marriages. The Senate overrode the veto earlier this month, and now it is law. As a result, magistrates and employees of registers of deeds can opt out of performing marriage duties if they cite a religious objection. County offices in North Carolina must have established hours for performing weddings, as well." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Spokane, Washington, Spokesman-Review: "Controversy is swirling around one of the Inland Northwest’s most prominent civil rights activists, with family members of Rachel Dolezal saying the local leader of the NAACP has been falsely portraying herself as black for years. Dolezal, 37, avoided answering questions directly about her race and ethnicity Thursday, saying, 'I feel like I owe my executive committee a conversation' before engaging in a broader discussion with the community about what she described as a 'multi-layered' issue."
Way Beyond
Angelique Chrisafis of the Guardian: "Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, has been cleared by a French court of 'aggravated pimping' charges. The one-time French presidential hopeful, who has described seeking 'recreation' from the stress of world politics by having rough sex with strangers at orgies in Europe> and the US, was found not to have promoted or profited from the prostitution of seven women."
Paul Krugman: "... the ultimate example of a seriously bad idea is the determination, in the teeth of all the evidence, to declare government spending that helps the less fortunate a crucial cause of our economic problems. In the United States, I’m happy to say, this idea seems to be on the ropes, at least for now. Here in Britain, however, it still reigns supreme. In particular, one important factor in the recent Conservative election triumph was the way Britain’s news media told voters, again and again, that excessive government spending under Labour caused the financial crisis. It takes almost no homework to show that this claim is absurd on multiple levels."
News Ledes
New York Times: "A prison worker who befriended two killers before they escaped from a maximum-security prison in upstate New York was arrested on Friday for providing them with 'material assistance,' the authorities said. The worker, Joyce Mitchell, 51, of Dickinson Center, N.Y., was charged with promoting prison contraband in the first degree, a felony, and criminal facilitation in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor."
Los Angeles Times: Jack Warner, "the former FIFA vice president, who was among 14 people indicted as part of the U.S. Justice Department's investigation into bribery and corruption within the world soccer organization, said Wednesday he planned to fight his extradition to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago at a hearing July 9."
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Reader Comments (8)
How much you wanna bet that all the evil Murdochs jump ahead of the 10-15 million "illegal" immigrants on the citizenship line? Daddy already did jump to the head of that line; then again 'rules' are for the little people.
As for why Obama supports TPP: I think Barry O thinks that TPP will put everyone in the same competitive boat economically speaking and that is an issue of fairness as well as his perception of economic efficiency. And in this case Goldman Sach et al. rely on the fact that Barry O is a better community organizer than economist to sell this steaming pile of legislation that Krugman and Warren do not support.
As an addition to this TPP stuff: in 1995 I could buy my house for $90,000 in my fly-over state; in 1998 you could buy a "condo" in Vladivostok for $15,000 and a house in Kazakhstan for $5500. Now the Vlad and Kazakhstan places are 10 times the value and the fly-over is double in value. Have wages gone up accordingly? Of course not. The world bankersters are skimming more off the top to concentrate money in their pockets than ever before. Barry O's idea of economic efficiency he learned in college no longer resembles reality. The paradigm shift is complete and the yokels are being shafted by the best PR money can buy.
Today in incorrigibly fact challenged Right Wing World.
First up, the intellectually deficient Niall Ferguson, courtesy of a link posted on yesterday's RC by Haley, thank you very much, to a New York magazine article that tartly dismantles Ferguson's latest whines about the non-stop complaints stemming from his free and easy relationship with facts and truth.
So, facepalm number one, in which Niall trips over his own illogical premise:
"Ferguson’s column attacks 'correct politicalness,” a tendency he defines as “seek[ing] to undermine an irrefutable argument by claiming loudly and repetitively to have found an error in it.'"
Soooo, show of hands if you see the problem. Okay, put 'em down, you all see it.
The instant someone tries to defend their DOA argument by stating categorically, upfront, that it is "irrefutable", I immediately break out the magnifying glass. I mean, that's just asking for it. "Water is wet" is irrefutable. "The atomic number of hydrogen is 1" is irrefutable. At least in this universe. Arguments about the state of the economy that attempt to show that up is down are rarely irrefutable. Especially when errors are found. And not for nothin' but the party doing the fact checking was the publication Ferguson was writing for! Even they didn't believe him.
Duh.
Next up, a stunning bit of historical insouciance in which Carly Fiorina, Republican Candidate for President number 234, attempts to save the term "Feminist" for the Party of Legitimate Rape, save it, as she says, from liberals who have fucked it up royally, according to La Fiorina. Here's how she would redefine the term: “A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses. … A woman may choose to have five children and home-school them. She may choose to become a CEO, or run for President.”
Which brings us to a much larger facepalm number two.
Her "redefinition" sounds pretty basic, actually not a hell of a lot different than how many people would define it, except for that one little word "choose". Sorry Carly, your party has outlawed choice for women. This argument detonates on the launch pad.
And last but never least (he'd never hear of such a thing), Loofah Boy is once again ranting about how right-wing authoritarianism will save us all. Especially young people, who have no respect for his...er...adult authority. Kids today, I tells ya! Here's what Obergruppenführer O'Reilly has to say:
"Talking Points has been saying that for years and it's true. If an American child does not have guidance and supervision in the home, there is a good chance that kid will get involved with antisocial behavior quickly."
And here's what his daughter had to say about the kind of guidance and supervision, possibly leading to antisocial behavior quickly, that he provides in his home:
"M. reported—having seeing an incident where I believe she said her dad was choking her mom or had his hands around her neck and dragged her down some stairs." (O'Reilly's daughter is identified as M in the court transcript that outlines his style of right-wing guidance and supervision.). I guess O'Reilly was attempting his own redefinition of feminism.
No facepalm for this. This shit is way too far around the bend.
So, do what we say, not what we do, pay no attention to facts, and we can say whatever we want regardless of our history, and everyone has to believe us.
It's all the same to us in Right Wing World.
The "bro with no ho" and the reporter who doesn't seem to know that rotate and revolve do not mean the same thing.
Ah, me. To paraphrase our old pal Mark Twain, if you haven't heard something stupid from Confederates, just wait a minute. Same goes for another both-siders column from the press.
First, the stupidity. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) is at it again. Drop a quarter in the slot and he says something stupid. The "bro" in question here is that delicate South Carolina blossom, Lindsey Graham, who has been on about rotating first ladies. That makes him, according to Kirk, a bro with no ho. Cute, ain't he?
But never fear, the press is here to downplay Kirk's blurt into a hot mic by declaring that Democrats do this sort of thing too. John Kass of the Tribune, declares that Joe Biden has said things just as bad. Biden, he opines, was demonstrating his racism when he told a black audience that Romney would put them all back in chains. Ahh...not sure that qualifies as racist--or untrue--since a large portion of the Republican Party are pretty pissed that black people are NOT in chains, and they make it their business to at least see that as many as possible can be locked up. Which brings us back to Mark Kirk who suggested at one point that thousands of blacks be locked up at once. Now that's racist. But "both sides, both sides, both sides", so it doesn't mean as much.
Kass goes on to defend Kirk as a social moderate. Really? Someone who says that they drive faster when they're in a black neighborhood so they can get out quicker? Someone who advocates mass lockups of blacks? I suppose in certain Confederate enclaves that might be considered moderate. And correct me if I'm wrong, but would you call someone a moderate who referred to any woman as a "ho"?
Oh, but it's okay. He qualified it by saying that "...that's what we'd say on the South Side". Oh, you mean the South Side that you speed through to get away from as quickly as possible? That South Side?
Kass also seems to have difficulty remembering that rotate and revolve are not the same things. He freely exchanges one for the other several times in his piece. Dictionary, John, dictionary. Sheesh.
In their favor, the Trib offers up a different point of view from a less "both sides" reporter, Katherine Skiba, who doesn't seem to think it's her job to whitewash douchebags while attempting to put a spin on bad behavior by pointing to someone else.
Does it surprise anyone that Scott (Yes Mr. Koch, right away, Mr. Koch) Walker is panting to destroy his state's university system?
This is a guy who never graduated college, who spent most of his college career trying to rig an election for himself, who is one of the shining stars of a party that thrives on ignorance.
Years ago I read an interview with former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee who had a rocky relationship (as did all Sox pitchers in those days) with manager Don Zimmer. When asked about the reason for this, Lee said that Zimmer simply didn't get pitchers. "Here's a guy with a lifetime .235 batting average, someone routinely humiliated by pitchers, and a guy who has a steel plate in his head from a beanball. He hates pitchers!"
Scott Walker, like his party, hates education. The more educated people there are, the fewer votes he'll get. It's much easier to hoodwink the yahoos.
@Akhilleus: Re: Billo's (that's "Brillo" without the "r" but far more abrasive than the product) "family values": In the same transcript in which the daughter described O'Reilly's violent, brutal treatment of his wife, she also alleges, "... that he struggles to control his rage around his family; and that his daughter regards him as an absentee father."
Apparently O'Reilly sees "family values" as simply a means to control the "little people." Not that religion is for nothing, but we might update "opiate of the masses" to include "family values," in scare quotes, of course.
Marie
Marie,
Yeah. The rage certainly comes through. It's a staple of the Confederate constitution and it's amped up by the high priests of hate and rage like O'Reilly, his other Fox co-conspirators, and the hundreds who make their living off peddling hatred and victimization.
The permanence of rage makes it virtually impossible to break through with anything resembling rational discussion of issues. And given that rage has become part and parcel of any campaigns wingnuts run, we're on deck for some heaping helpings of it over the next year and a half.
Irrational anger is most always the product of fear. Wonder what someone is angry about? It's what they're afraid of:
Change, the "others", loss of power, status, control. Anything that threatens their smugly self-satisfied, simplistic and egocentric worldview. Damn near everything.
O'Reilly and his ilk are very easy to understand. He's a coward, hence a bully. And he's scared shitless, hence filled with rage at his own fear. Pitiful really. Nonetheless dangerous as a cornered rat, and potentially devastating in a mob.
The headline is provocative, "Michael Wolff Thinks We Could All Learn From Fox News ", but read on mes amies. Interviewer asks,"Hillary Clinton has been largely unavailable to the media. Do you think she has an obligation to take questions from the press?"
The response from Michael Wolff, "I certainly don’t. Again, this is one of those things.
Why does the press always become the center of its own story?" "
Charlie Pierce appears to hit a similar vein when he writes about today's TPP vote, as he "...declines to join the general chorus—led, in my case, by Andrea Mitchell and my man Chuck Todd, who were selling this snake oil high even before the vote—of criticism that has as its central theme the notion that, if the president only had made nicey-nice to the Congress in his first term, things would have worked out differently today."
As to the Ailes credo, Wolff sez: "We’re in a business (print) that’s dying everywhere. We said, “We’ll make everything for free.” On a very real level, you have a responsibility to make your own business work."