The Commentariat -- March 25, 2015
Internal links & defunct video removed.
NEW. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with black challengers who said Alabama’s redistricting plan improperly relied on race to draw legislative districts. The court voted 5 to 4 to send the plan back for further judicial review. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the opinion, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy sided with the court’s liberals to make up the majority." ...
... The opinion & dissents are here.
Kali Borkoski of ScotusBlog: "On Monday afternoon Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer testified before the House Appropriations Committee. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss the Court’s budget for the next fiscal year and the federal judiciary, but the legislators also took full advantage of the occasion to touch on other topics as well."
*****
Sarah Ferris & Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stands as the biggest hurdle to a rare bipartisan deal on Medicare backed by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The political maneuvering is even more unusual because it is splitting Pelosi and the House Pro-Choice Caucus from Planned Parenthood. The abortion-rights advocacy group on Tuesday slammed the deal, which would repeal a formula used to pay physicians under Medicare. It argued the legislation would also extend the reach of the Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of federal funds for abortions.... Pelosi on Tuesday sharply disputed that point, arguing the legislation, would do nothing to further restrict abortion rights.... Senate Democrats' ... objections include the fact that the package would only extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for two years instead of four."
Michael Shear & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The United States will halt the withdrawal of 9,800 troops from Afghanistan, half of whom were scheduled to leave in the months ahead, and instead keep them in the country through the end of 2015. President Obama’s decision not to pull American military forces out of Afghanistan as quickly as planned came after a direct entreaty from the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, who has been visiting the United States this week." ...
... Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "President Obama on Tuesday said that the possibility of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians seems 'very dim' in the wake of comments Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made before his reelection last week.... While Obama was careful to dismiss suggestions that there was a personal issue between the two leaders, calling their relationship 'very businesslike,' he was still sharply critical of his Israeli counterpart." ...
... Matt Duss of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, in Slate: "... as in any negotiation, incentives to change course must be coupled with disincentives for not doing so. Carrots alone don’t work. You need some sticks. And up until now, it’s basically been all carrots for Israel. 'I know what America is,. Netanyahu said in ...2001.... 'America is a thing you can move very easily.' This is what he’s still banking on, because up until this point, he has been correct. Let’s hope he’s wrong now." Duss suggests some "sticks."
David Sanger & Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "If an agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear capability is reached by deadline in the next seven days, one thing may be missing: an actual written accord, signed by the Iranians. Over the past few weeks, Iran has increasingly resisted any kind of formal 'framework' agreement at this stage in the negotiations, preferring a more general statement of 'understanding' followed by a final accord in June, according to Western diplomats involved in the talks."
Nobody Ever Tells Him Anything. Scott Wong of the Hill: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday he was 'shocked' and 'baffled' by [a Wall Street Journal report] the Israeli government had spied on sensitive U.S.-Iran nuclear talks and passed information to members of Congress to whip up opposition to a potential deal.... 'There was no information revealed to me whatsoever.'"
Adam Davidson in the New York Times Magazine: "Few of us are calling for the thing that basic economic analysis shows would benefit nearly all of us: radically open borders. And yet the economic benefits of immigration may be the most settled fact in economics.... The chief logical mistake we make is something called the Lump of Labor Fallacy: the erroneous notion that there is only so much work to be done and that no one can get a job without taking one from someone else.... Immigrants bring long-term benefits at no measurable short-term cost.... Whenever an immigrant enters the United States, the world becomes a bit richer.... For me, [our immigration policy is] close to proof that we are, collectively, still jealous, nervous creatures, hoarding what we have, afraid of taking even the most promising risk, displaying loyalty to our own tribe while we stare, suspiciously, at everyone else." ...
... CW: And no group better demonstrates this "jealous, nervous, hoarding, fearful, tribal, suspicious" syndrome better than the base of the Republican party, not to mention their so-called leaders.
Eliot Smilowitz of the Hill: "The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will listen to oral argument April 17 in the administration’s attempt to overturn a ruling last month by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen. Hanen put a temporary hold on Obama’s attempts to slow deportations and grant benefits to some people in the country illegally, saying the administration overstepped its authority. The White House’s appeal seeks to end the temporary hold...."
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Shailagh Murray, a former political reporter who has spent the last four years as a senior adviser to the vice president, will move to the West Wing as the top message strategist for President Obama, the White House announced on Tuesday. Ms. Murray will replace Dan Pfeiffer as one of the president’s senior advisers, and will help coordinate the president’s agenda during the final two years of his term."
During a committee hearing yesterday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz got really pissed off at Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy:
... Kurtis Lee of the Los Angeles Times: "Leaders of a House panel on Tuesday called for more transparency from the Secret Service and criticized the agency's director for being the sole official to testify about an incident earlier this month in which two agents allegedly drove into a White House barricade and disrupted an investigation."
Tom Hamburger & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Not long before he became governor of Virginia, Democrat Terry McAuliffe received special treatment on behalf of his electric-car company from a top official at the Department of Homeland Security, according to a new report from the department’s inspector general.... Intervention on behalf of McAuliffe’s GreenTech Automotive company by Alejandro Mayorkas, now the department’s No. 2 official, 'was unprecedented,' according to the report. The long-anticipated report found no evidence of law-breaking.... In addition to the case involving McAuliffe’s car company, the inspector general focused on actions Mayorkas took on behalf of a film project in Los Angeles that was backed by former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, and on the construction of a casino in Las Vegas supported by [Harry] Reid, who was Senate majority leader at the time." ...
... More Hillary Baggage. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The report also draws attention to the role played by [Tony] Rodham, who ran an EB-5 visa investment known as Gulf Coast Funds Management, which directed funds to GreenTech. Rodham’s sister [Hillary Clinton] was secretary of state during much of the time that Gulf Coast and GreenTech were pressing USCIS for approvals to accept investments that could lead to green cards for foreigners willing to front up more than $550,000 in principal and fees. Rodham wrote directly to Mayorkas in January 2013 about approval delays, the report said, and Mayorkas forwarded the email to other staffers 'with a "high importance" designation.'”
Presidential Race
Bill Press in the Hill: "It’s a huge mistake to treat the 2016 nomination as the coronation of Queen Hillary. Clinton’s got a lock on the White House, her supporters rhapsodize, because she has more experience and a more powerful political machine than anyone else. But this is exactly what we were told in 2008. Instead of gleefully climbing aboard the Hillary Express, Democratic leaders should be encouraging other Democrats to run in 2016 — not against Clinton, but for president."
Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee "is starting a campaign Tuesday aimed at pushing Hillary Rodham Clinton to adopt a full-throated liberal agenda in her all-but-certain presidential campaign, signaling that even some on the far left of the Democratic Party are now more focused on shaping Mrs. Clinton’s eventual platform than they are on finding an alternative to her. Over 200 Iowa and New Hampshire Democrats signed a petition at ReadyForBoldness.com, a website that plays on the name of the pro-Clinton group 'Ready for Hillary.'”
Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: The Hillary camp is happy to see "wacko-bird" Ted Cruz getting the spotlight & are counting on him to attack other GOP candidates.
Conservatives Weigh in on Ted Cruz
... for all his obvious talent Cruz’s rhetorical style frankly makes my hair curl a little. Striking a pose that lands somewhere between the oleaginousness of a Joel Osteen and the self-assuredness of a midwestern vacuum-cleaner salesman, Cruz delivers his speeches as might a mass-market motivational speaker in an Atlantic City Convention Center.... There is always a touch of condescension in the pitch -- a small whiff of superciliousness that gives one the unlovely impression that Ted Cruz believes his listeners to be a little bit dim. -- Conservative Charles C. W. Cooke of National Review. Via Steve M.
... Luke Brinker of Salon: "In a Tuesday editorial, the [Wall Street Journal]’s opinion editors cast significant doubt on the Texas Republican’s ability to assemble a winning coalition, arguing that Cruz’s assumption that he can win by turning out more white conservative voters is fundamentally flawed and warning that the Tea Party firebrand’s hardline stance on immigration makes him 'a dream come true for Hillary Clinton,' the likely Democratic nominee in 2016. Blaming Cruz for 'plunging' the GOP’s favorability by leading the 2013 government shutdown — part of a botched attempt to derail health care reform — the Journal depicts Cruz as a polarizing figure all too willing to reflexively oppose anything the Obama administration proposes." CW: Yes, once again the liberal media bash the most righteous true conservative. ...
... Matt Wilstein of Mediaite: “'We need intelligent debate in the country. Ted Cruz may be an intelligent person, but he doesn’t carry out an intelligent debate,' [Rep. Peter] King [R-N.Y.] said [to CNN's Wolf Blitzer]. 'He oversimplifies, he exaggerates and he basically led the Republican Party over the cliff in the fall of 2013. He has shown no qualifications, no legislation being passed, doesn’t provide leadership and he has no real experience. So, to me, he is just a guy with a big mouth and no results.' But would King support Cruz if he ended up becoming the Republican Party nominee for 2016? 'I hope that day never comes,' King told Blitzer. 'I will jump off that bridge when we come to it.'”
... Hahahahaha. Ted Cruz Will Be Signing up for ObamaCare & Getting an Insurance Tax Subsidy. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "CNN’s Dana Bash asked Sen. Ted Cruz ... how his family would get health insurance now that his wife has taken an unpaid leave from her job at Goldman Sachs. 'We’ll be getting new health insurance and we’ll presumably do it through my job with the Senate, and so we’ll be on the federal exchange with millions of others on the federal exchange,' the Texas Republican told her. Yes, there’s irony there, as Bash noted in her interview. Cruz’s statement means that he’ll be getting insurance through the Affordable Care Act, the same law he has committed himself to repealing.... Will he take the federal 'subsidy' that others on Capitol Hill accept to defray their costs? asked Bash. 'We will follow the text of the law,' Cruz said." How conveeenient. ...
... Too bad for Ted, the story made the Des Moines Register. "Congress pays most of the premium. But Cruz won't be getting any extra benefit under the Affordable Care Act that a member of Congress wouldn't have gotten before the ACA became law." CW: That's right. Congressional Republicans don't mind repealing ObamaCare because they've always given themselves practically free healthcare coverage, & you can bet they would do so again if they repealed the ACA. Too bad for the rest of the country. ...
... Steve M.: "Heidi Cruz is entitled to continue [her Goldman Sachs healthcare policy] for her family for 18 months under the federal COBRA law. Yes, that would be expensive for the Cruzes, undoubtedly more so than an Obamacare plan. But if Ted Cruz thinks Obamacare is worse than Stalin and Hitler combined, then you'd think he and his family would do anything to avoid it.... Why not take the COBRA option for as long as possible? Answer: It's all for effect." ...
... Greg Sargent: Ted Cruz has made his pitch to be the "evangelical Christian candidate," but his hardline position against immigration reform runs counter to the beliefs of many evangelicals, who "have advocated for reform on the basis of 'biblical imperatives' that require us to 'seek justice for immigrants.'...”
Wherein Ted Cruz Compares Himself to Galileo "who was branded a denier." Eric Dolan of the Raw Story: In an interview with the Texas Tribune, Cruz said, “'If you look at global warming alarmists, they don’t like to look at the actual facts and the data. Cruz claimed satellite data contradicted scientists’ climate models, which was a 'real problem for the global warming alarmists.'... Cruz claimed Al Gore and climate scientists were merely using the issue to enrich themselves financially, while the solutions they proposed would hurt 'millions of hardworking men and women.'” ...
... Cruz has made this claim before. Lauren Carroll of Politifact (March 20): On March 17, for instance, he said, "'... satellite data demonstrate for the last 17 years, there’s been zero warming. None whatsoever.'... [Satellite data show] temperatures spiked about 17 years ago in 1998 and have plateaued at similarly high levels ever since.... By starting his 17-year count with 1998 -- an abnormally hot year because of the El Nino -- Cruz exaggerated the nature of the pause.... Not only is one anomalous period not enough to undercut longer-term projections, but other types of measurements do show evidence of continued global warming over the past two decades, including rising ocean temperatures and shrinking sea ice." ...
... Chris Mooney of the Washington Post: Satellite scientist whom Ted cites disagrees with him on climate change. "Cruz doesn’t say why we should trust satellite data over, say, ground-based weather station data, or sea-based buoy data. Based on such surface temperature measurements, NASA and NOAA both called last year the warmest on record.... If you look at [physicist Carl] Mears’s blog post [which Cruz's spokesperson cited as the basis for Cruz's claim], while he agrees there has been a slowdown in the 'rate of warming' — which, again, is not at all the same thing as 'zero warming' — he disagrees that this undermines global warming concerns.
So in sum: In claiming the globe hasn’t warmed in 17 years, Cruz selectively highlighted satellite temperature data, rather than other data (which NASA and NOAA recently used to call 2014 the hottest year on record). He also selectively focused on one year (1998), rather than examining the aggregate temperatures of many years or decades. And finally, a key scientist who studies this type of satellite data, and whose work was cited by Cruz’s spokesman (as backup), criticizes Cruz’s approach and conclusions.
... CW: So in Cruz's pretentious analogy, he is not Galileo, but the geocentric Pope Urban VIII, who excommunicated Galileo for his proofs that the Earth revolved around the sun.
Al & the Climate Change God. Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he didn't know what the Republican party's environmental platform is, but he does know that GOP inaction on climate change is Al Gore's fault.... 'I said that [climate change is] real, that man has contributed to it in a substantial way,' Graham continued. 'But the problem is Al Gore's turned this thing into religion. You know, climate change is not a religious problem for me, it's an economic, it is an environmental problem.' The senator then said that Republicans do not have a clear stance on climate change, or a plan to address it."
Perry Bacon of NBC News dissects Scott Walker's standard stump speech. It isn't exactly peppered with lies, but he leaves out a lot of inconvenient facts. "... Walker's most accurate selling point" In an era of celebrity, millionaire candidates, Walker is truly an exception. He does not have any close relatives in politics. He did not graduate from college (a detail he sometimes leaves out of his speeches). He is truly a self-made pol." Via Paul Waldman.
Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: Mike Huckabee has been criticizing Hillary Clinton for her handling of emails, "But he might not be the best man to make that case. As Mother Jones reported in 2011, [the former Arkansas governor] destroyed his administration's state records before leaving office in 2007.... Huckabee responded at the time by attacking Mother Jones.... Even before he destroyed his hard drives rather than grant the public access to his records, Huckabee took a combative approach to public records requests. When Arkansas Times editor Max Brantley (who has also weighed in on Huckabee's transparency record) requested documents from Huckabee in 1995, the then-lieutenant governor flipped out."
Paul Waldman: "... in recent years [the flat tax has] become something most Republicans agree to without much thought. It's notable that an idea about taxes that by definition involves a large tax cut for the wealthy is so popular in a party constantly struggling against its image as the party of the rich.... A flatter system means one of three things: Either those with high incomes pay less, those with low incomes pay more, or both. And in practice, it's always both." Waldman provides a list of likely Republican presidential candidates who apparently "genuinely believe it would be good for America if rich people paid less in taxes, while everyone else paid more."
Senate Race
Cameron Joseph of the Hill: "Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) on Tuesday announced that he will not run for reelection in 2016.... Coats's decision to retire may set off a Republican scramble for the open seat. While the GOP would seem to have the early edge, it is now another state they must defend in a presidential year where they're almost entirely playing defense to protect their new Senate majority."
Beyond the Beltway
Caleb Bonham of Campus Reform: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and the Republican Party represent 'extremist' political movements hell-bent on rescinding civil rights protections for minority groups, according to a course curriculum assigned to students at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. The course, Politics of the 1960s to Now, is taught by Chris Hamilton, a professor of political science and a two-time Fulbright Scholar. The course curriculum ... declares that Republicans are resurrecting 'discrimination' and the 'political battle over the Civil Rights laws,' and concludes that 'racism' and 'bigotries' in society are part of 'ultra right [sic] politics.' 'Neo-Confederacy movements which are part of Big Money ultra-right powers (Koch Industries, co-founders of the John Birch Society) which is part of the broad New White Nationalist movement,' the outline reads." CW: This is supposed to be an exposé of Hamilton's lefty class. I say, good for Hamilton. I'd love to take his course.
News Ledes
New York Times: "On Wednesday, the Army announced that it was charging Sergeant [Beau] Bergdahl with misbehavior before the enemy and desertion, raising the possibility that he could be imprisoned again, this time for life."
New York Times: "Rescuers on Wednesday resumed the difficult task of searching for the 150 victims of a deadly plane crash in the French Alps, as France’s interior minister said that terrorism was not at the top of the list of potential causes."
Washington Post: "Yemen’s embattled president was pushed deeper into crisis Wednesday after fleeing a last-ditch refuge as advancing Shiite rebels seized a key air base in a push to overrun the country’s second-largest city. The whereabouts of Western-allied President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was not immediately clear."
Put Some Ketchup on that Velveeta. New York Times: "Kraft Foods and H. J. Heinz, two icons of the American food industry, are merging in a blockbuster deal involving the billionaire Warren E. Buffett and the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, creating what will be the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world.... Heinz, which is owned by 3G Capital and Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, will control 51 percent of the combined company, while Kraft shareholders will own 49 percent."
AP: "Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. will be released from a federal prison on Thursday and will serve out the remainder of his term in a Washington, D.C., halfway house, former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy told The Associated Press after visiting Jackson. Kennedy said he spoke with Jackson at the minimum security federal prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama, where the son of the civil rights leader has been serving a 2 ½-year sentence after pleading guilty to illegally spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items."
CBS New York: "The Connecticut home of the man who carried out the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School has been demolished, Newtown officials said Tuesday. The 2-acre lot where the 3,100-square-foot house once stood in a leafy, suburban neighborhood will be left as open space under a plan approved by town officials.... Everything inside the home, including rugs and lighting fixtures, had previously been removed and incinerated so that no remnants were available to become memorabilia."
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Reader Comments (8)
Re; limping towards April, day after day I read the ledes and I think it's got to get better. It is not getting better. If the media takes Cruz as anything but a marginal crazy it a good indicator of just how bad the country has become. Kinda like blowing out your knee and doing all the therapy hoping you are going to get better, then finally one day you realize you're not going to get better, so you live with a limp.
Our country is living with a limp, call it "A torn ACL" or America Can't Learn. Politicians like Cruz take us all down the limping path.
On the one hand it seems puzzling that Harry Reid and some other Senate Dems are blocking a Medicare fix bill that Pelosi and progressive house members heartily support. It seems to be a very complex issue, and the typical press articles do not shed much light. Here is an article that indicates there may be bigger problems with the bill that House Dems are ignoring or not seeing - that essentially the legislation would weaken traditional Medicare ; if the author is correct, I would be in the Reid camp. But it's hard to know who is wrong and who is right.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/23/1372791/-Grover-Norquist-sees-bi-partisan-doc-fix-deal-as-model-of-success-in-privatizing-Medicare#
Victoria D. thanks for the link. Another example of the total mess of US healthcare. An unending political game to try to 'fix' the problem designed in part to ensure that we spend a huge amount more on totally worthless activity.
Republicans want to privatize everything, the perfect method to increase bribes. Here is the truth. Physicians make too much money. Hospital officials make too much money. Anyone in the health insurance industry who makes minimum wage is a total waste. The system is driven totally my money. Totally worthless 'care', total lack of care to many and an incredible number of deaths driven by greed.
There is only one solution and we all know what it is, join the rest of the world. The fact that we can manage to ignore the fact that the healthcare systems of our friends and neighbors work so much better than ours says everything about America's future. The land of the free and the home of the greedy.
Just for the 'fun' of it here are two personal issues I have had recently.
Colonoscopy : recommended every 10 years. GI guy pushes hard to have it done every 5 years.
PSA test for men over 70: the American Urological Association says don't do it. I go to a new urologist (my guy retired) to treat my semiannual prostate infection. Recommends that I have a PSA. I tell him about the AUA rule. He goes blah, blah blah.
MONEY not medicine.
Praise Jesus, racism is no more!
And thank the great tar babies in the sky too, 'cause certain white folks have had just about enough of all you colored people who keep bringing up race and playing the race card just to bother people like Rick Perry while he's hunting down at his Niggerhead Lodge, and John Roberts who sees no problem with states making it hard as possible for you to vote.
And why?
Because there is no racism anymore. And just to prove it, you can hear it straight from those who should know best: the bigots and the idiots.
So out in Nevada, an assemblywoman (R-Natch) is celebrating there being no racism anymore by reminding her constituents of a "colored man" who has done pretty well.
And down in the great state of Niggerhead, a movement to have the Confederate flag printed on license plates has come before the Supreme Court which, unsurprisingly, seems to be leaning towards the stars and bars, because Freedom! But in support of being able to sport an image that for millions of people says "Slavery", there is an argument being made that Martin Luther King would have been all for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (aka Descendents of Guys Who Killed Other Americans in order to Continue Enslavement of Black People) celebrating the Confederate flag on their plates. I am not even kidding:
"I don't think the Sons of Confederate Veterans are the least bit distasteful. We're an honored heritage group. We want reconciliation in the South and among the races. That is what Dr. King wanted."
Ahh...yeaaah.
Is it my imagination or does the term "reconciliation among the races" seem a tad.....I dunno.
Anyway, it's good to know that racism no longer exists. And I'm sure successful colored men like Martin Luther King would prob'ly love to have a Confederate flag of their own. Just to show neo-confederate groups there's no hard feelings for those hundreds of years of slavery and beatings and rapes and murders, and all that unpleasantness on the Edmund Pettus bridge, etc. That was all just a misunderstanding by The Blacks, as The Donald likes to call them.
So, as Charlie Pierce is wont to say, the Day of Jubilation is here.
Any a' you ungrateful darkies who disagree, quit playin' the race card. We don't like that shit anymore and we ain't-a goin' to take it. No more.
By the way, all you coloreds who are here to vote, I'm gonna need to see three forms of identification, your birth certificate signed by Robert E. Lee, or one of his descendants, a sworn affidavit that says you won't vote for Democrats, and a Confederate flag tattooed on your forehead.
How's that for reconciliation?
Carrots, sticks, and Netanyahu.
How about a low beta-carotene diet for Bibi, as in none, for the next two years?
Let's see how easily he can push us around with a couple of good sized sticks up his ass and not enough carrots to make a snack for a tiny rabbit.
Anytime you have "unconditional" and "unquestioning" support for any foreign country, you're tying a "kick me" sign to your back whenever you want that country to step out of their comfort zone. No wonder Netanyahu has been so dismissive and insulting. He needs to realize that Israel would be in very bad straits if American support and "unconditional" money were to dry up. Spying on America, interfering with internal politics, releasing highly sensitive information about negotiations it has no part in...these are not the actions of a friend or ally.
Time to put a bit of stick about, as Francis Urquhart might say. And if Republicans blanch at the idea, they can always renounce their citizenship and go and worship Bibi on his home soil. They're barely Americans now, as it is.
Cheeto Man Left Out Again...
Poor Boehner. The sign on his door says "Speaker" but over in the corner of his office is a stool and a dunce cap.
He thought it was a costume ball. Bibi never told him what was really going on.
Guess Beebs isn't his BFF after all, and after that nice party he arranged for the head of a foreign government to come and undermine sensitive negotiations with another country.
No honor among rat fink wingers.
Bowe Bergdahl has been charged with desertion and faces life in prison but The Decider (another deserter) is painting pictures of his toes and makes over $110,000 every time he gets up on a stage to mumble inanities.
Is our ex-presidents making monies? By 2011, Shrub had already vacuumed in $15 million in speaking fees. I wonder how much that works out to for each malapropism and botched syntax? More importantly, I wonder how much that works out to for every life he's destroyed?
What a country.