The Commentariat -- Nov. 3, 2013
The Plagiarist, Ctd. Andre Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "An entire section of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's 2013 book Government Bullies was copied wholesale from a 2003 case study by the Heritage Foundation.... The copied section, 1,318 words, is by far the most significant instance reported so far of Paul borrowing language from other published material.... In this case, Paul included a link to the Heritage case study in the book's footnotes, though he made no effort to indicate that not just the source, but the words themselves, had been taken from Heritage."
Wherein the Plagiarist Prepares to Throw Down the Gauntlet. I take it as an insult, and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting -- I have never intentionally done so and like I say, 'If dueling were legal in Kentucky,' if they keep it up, you know it'd be a duel challenge. -- Rand Paul, Actual U.S. Senator
Any person who shall ... either directly or indirectly, give, accept or knowingly carry a challenge to any person or persons to fight in single combat, with a citizen of this State, with a deadly weapon, either in or out of the State, shall be deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit in this Commonwealth; and if said acts, or any of them, be committed within this State, the person or persons so committing them shall be further punished in such manner as the General Assembly may prescribe by law. -- Kentucky State Constitution
Aw, c'mon, Li'l Randy. Do challenge Rachel. You are a United States Senator. A lowly teevee lady has defamed your honor. You must demand satisfaction. -- Constant Weader
You have to wonder if Stephanopoulos knows what plagiarism is. He never challenges Paul's defense, which is laughable. -- Constant Weader
Nicholas Kristof: "This is why we need ObamaCare." CW: I would like to force Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, et al., to read & reread Kristof's column during a 21-hour filibuster. Every GOP Senator would have to sit in their seats & listen. Over in the House, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan & every single teabagger MOC would have to take her/his turn reading the column into the Congressional Record. I'd like the nitwits on "Fox & Friends" to have to read & reread it for the duration of an entire show. I'd like to stand Limbaugh & Hannity in the public square & force them to read it to each other till they fell on their fat faces. Do you think they'd get it then? I doubt it. ...
... The New York Times Editors explain to shut-ins & Republicans how the ACA is reforming the individual health insurance market.
Prof. Mark Rank, in the New York Times: "... poverty is a mainstream event experienced by a majority of Americans. For most of us, the question is not whether we will experience poverty, but when." ...
... Evan Halper & Cindy Chang of the Los Angeles Times: "Some 47 million poor Americans who rely on food stamps for their meals will have to get by on less, after their benefits were cut Friday. In California, which struggles with nearly 9% unemployment, local officials are girding for the fallout after the benefit for a family of four receiving food stamps was lowered by $36 a month.... Even before Friday, government statistics show, the benefit fell short of keeping those on food stamps well-nourished.... About 14% of Americans are on food stamps. The program has grown rapidly in recent years, attracting the attention of deficit hawks, who note it now costs taxpayers $75 billion a year."
Governor Kumbaya (R-N.J.)? Steve M. of NMMNB: Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post thinks that Chris Christie is the Bill Clinton of the GOP who will bring Republicans together just as Clinton united the Democrats of 1992, who were then just as riven as the Republicans of today. Uh, no they're not. CW: There's reason I never even read Cillizza's stuff: he's a glib ignoramus. Also, there's a reason he's a regular on Andrea Mitchell's MSNBC show: he's a glib ignoramus.
Scott Shane of the New York Times: "From thousands of classified documents, the National Security Agency emerges as an electronic omnivore of staggering capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip governments and other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost secrecy about its own operations. It spies routinely on friends as well as foes, as has become obvious in recent weeks; the agency's official mission list includes using its surveillance powers to achieve 'diplomatic advantage' over such allies as France and Germany and 'economic advantage' over Japan and Brazil, among other countries." ...
... Ewen MacAskill & James Ball of the Guardian: "... the NSA, intent on exploiting the communications revolution to the full, develop[ed] ever more intrusive programmes in pursuit of its ambition to have surveillance cover of the whole planet: total command of what the NSA refers to as the 'digital battlefield'." ...
... You should probably take a look at this Guardian story by MacAskill & Gabriel Dance, if for no other reason than its cool format (created by Feilding Cage & Greg Chen). But don't believe everything you read. For instance, the authors claim, "Americans struggling to get health insurance through Obamacare's new health exchanges are entering some of their most intimate details into computer systems." That's bull. Except for revealing their smoking habits, the "intimate details" Americans are entering on Healthcare.gov are the same things they already tell the government when they establish a post office address, fill out their tax returns, etc." Every means-tested government program obviously requires the applicant to reveal his means (if the government agency hasn't done so on its own). If the writers mean by "computer systems" the "intimate details" applicants may give to insurance companies, here's a newsflash: every time you file a healthcare claim, the insurance company knows what it's for. It's just that now they can't use those "intimate details" to hike your premiums or cancel your insurance. ...
... CW: Yesterday the New York Times reported that Ed Snowden "has appealed to Washington to stop treating him like a traitor." ...
... Geir Moulson & Kirsten Grieshabe of the AP: "The U.S. refused to show any leniency to fugitive leaker Edward Snowden on Friday.... Snowden made his appeal for U.S. clemency in a letter released Friday by a German lawmaker who met with him in Moscow. In it, the 30-year-old American asked for international help to persuade the U.S. to drop spying charges against him and said he would like to testify before the U.S. Congress about the National Security Agency's surveillance activities. Snowden also indicated he would be willing to help German officials investigate alleged U.S. spying in Germany [emphasis added], said Hans-Christian Stroebele, a lawmaker with the opposition Green Party...."
... AFP: "Intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is free to speak with whoever he chooses, including foreign authorities, a Kremlin spokesman said on Saturday, after the US fugitive said he was ready to help a German probe into US spying. 'He has temporary refugee status. That status does not foresee any restrictions on his moving around the country or speaking to anyone,' President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP." ...
... Spy Rules, Ctd. AFP: "Germany and the United States are to strike a two-way deal not to spy on each other in the wake of the diplomatic furore sparked by the Edward Snowden revelations, a German newspaper reported. A delegation of German chancellery and intelligence officials reached the deal during talks at the White House this week, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) reported in its Sunday edition." ...
... Mark Hosenball of Reuters: "British authorities claimed [David Miranda,] the domestic partner of reporter Glenn Greenwald, was involved in 'terrorism' when he tried to carry documents from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden through a London airport in August, according to police and intelligence documents."
Jamie Doward of the Guardian: "Chilling new evidence that Britain and America came close to provoking the Soviet Union into launching a nuclear attack has emerged in former classified documents written at the height of the cold war. Cabinet memos and briefing papers released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that a major war games exercise, Operation Able Art, conducted in November 1983 by the US and its Nato allies was so realistic it made the Russians believe that a nuclear strike on its territory was a real possibility."
Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center: "The 23-year-old man who allegedly killed a TSA official at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday was carrying a one-page 'manifesto' that included references to the 'New World Order,' the Federal Reserve and 'fiat currency,' according to a knowledgeable source with ranking law enforcement contacts.... Ciancia's note called former [Homeland Security] Secretary [Janet] Napolitano a 'bull dyke' and contained the phrase 'FU Janet Napolitano,' the source said. Ciancia's language and references seemed to put him squarely in the conspiracy-minded world of the antigovernment 'Patriot' movement."
Soumya Karlamangla of the Los Angeles Times: "In a move that could ignite a legal battle, the Florida city where Trayvon Martin was killed will discourage neighborhood watch volunteers from carrying firearms, part of an effort to overhaul its police department and improve the city's tarnished reputation.... Now [Sanford]'s new police chief, Cecil E. Smith, who took over in April, is trying to revamp the department. At a community meeting in Sanford on Tuesday, Smith will formally announce changes to the city's neighborhood watch program, including background checks for all volunteers, a six-week training program for block captains and monitoring by the Police Department. The department also will recommend that program volunteers not be armed while in the streets."
Governor's Race
Poor Kenny! Marc Fisher & Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Given the obstacles Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has faced this year -- some beyond his control, some of his own making -- the surprise in Tuesday's vote for governor may be that the Republican candidate has kept the race as close as he has. Two days before the vote, Cuccinelli finds himself lagging in the polls. He's so far behind financially that the Democrats outspent his campaign on TV ads by 10-to-1 last week. As he crisscrosses the state this weekend, speaking mainly to his conservative base, Cuccinelli is presenting himself as the scrappy underdog, the fighter who thrives on coming from behind." ...
... Alexander Burns of Politico: "Well before the last votes are cast in [Virginia's] off-year governor's race, GOP leaders are already engaged in a spirited debate over why, exactly, a fight against a Democrat as flawed as Terry McAuliffe has turned into such a painful slog of a campaign. Even Republicans who haven't yet counted out their nominee, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, view the governor's race as a profile in frustration for the GOP -- an election that should have leaned toward the Republicans, but where Democrats have held a persistent lead in polling, money and tactical prowess." CW: I'll count my chickens Tuesday night.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Pakistan's political leaders have reacted with unusual vehemence since missiles fired by American drones killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, on Friday."
Telegraph: "A total eclipse was visible for a few seconds over Nairobi in Kenya this afternoon as the Moon blocked out the Sun":
New York Times: "Americans spend an estimated $5 billion a year on unproven herbal supplements that promise everything from fighting off colds to curbing hot flashes and boosting memory. But now there is a new reason for supplement buyers to beware: DNA tests show that many pills labeled as healing herbs are little more than powdered rice and weeds."
AFP: "Winston Churchill feared that France was about to declare war on Britain in 1940, according to a telegram sent from the British prime minister to governors of the colonies and sold at a London auction on Sunday. The message, dated July 4 1940, was sent the day after Britain attacked the French fleet in west Algeria to prevent its assets from falling into enemy hands. In the top-secret message, Churchill justified the raid, which claimed the lives of 1,297 French sailors."
AP: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Cairo on Sunday pressing for reforms during the highest-level American visit to Egypt since the ouster of the country's first democratically elected president." ...
... New York Times Update: "In the highest-level American visit since the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi from power, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that Egypt appeared to be on a path toward democracy and emphasized that the Obama administration wanted to improve relations."
Washington Post: "The suspect in the killing of a TSA screener during a shooting rampage at the Los Angeles International Airport was charged with murder Saturday, and authorities said he had signed a letter to TSA employees saying that he wanted to 'instill fear in your traitorous minds.'" The Los Angeles Times story is here. ...
... AP Update: "The gunman charged in the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport lay bloodied and handcuffed on the floor of Terminal 3 after being gunned down by police, but he replied to critical questions that helped authorities lock down the scene. Paul Ciancia, 23, was hauled away moments later on a stretcher and later heavily sedated for medical reasons, but not before he told investigators he had acted alone when he opened fire in the terminal."
... AP: "Friends and family remembered slain Transportation Security Administration officer Gerardo I. Hernandez as a family man who constantly smiled at travelers passing through the Los Angeles airport."
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Reader Comments (7)
@In yesterday's thread, @citizen625 recommended this Atlantic post by libertarian Conor Friedersdorf.
One problem with Friedersdorf's analogy -- other than his decision to use a teevee show to illustrate his point, a la Li'l Randy -- is that he makes the false assumption that NSA spying is the child of a belief in American exceptionalism; that is, it's okay when we do it because we're better than everyone else. Friedersdorf also makes the mistake of lumping spying in with torture & interminable imprisonment, as if some spook's flagging my e-mails was akin to his beating me to death for refusing to admit I knew Akhilleus. It ain't.
As Scott Shane lays out in today's Times, the NSA has been spying since 1952 & did indeed step up operations after 9/11. But this has nothing to do with a sociopathic belief in American exceptionalism. It's more like a need for self-preservation. Everybody spies. We share stuff with some of the others. In fact, Merkel's pique likely has something to do with the fact that we share less with Germany than we do with 8 other countries. We may or may not be better at spying than most other countries, and if we are better, then to that extent, the USA/NSA is "exceptional." That, of course, is not the same thing as exceptionalism.
I will warrant that the NSA shares its data with other agencies that may use those data to perform bad acts under the guise of American exceptionalism. It has provided information for drone strikes, for instance. But one could argue that the drone strikes would be more morally justified -- i.e., better-targeted, killing fewer innocent bystanders -- if the NSA did an even better job at pinpointing the locations of drone targets & finding those targets when they're standing alone outside having a smoke.
If Friedersdorf had not extended his analogy to spying, his post would be defensible. But he did extend it. And that makes it only somewhat less silly than Li'l Randy's concerns about eugenics destroying life-as-we-know it because he
saw it in a movieread it in Wikipedia.Marie
About "the Cooch," "TMcAwful" and Tuesday night. According to WaPo, Cooch and his parents are parading around Red Virginia quoting their own polls--while they "inhale" corn dogs. Here is the rest of the deal:
..."Cuccinelli will soon be aided by some non-family members: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former representative Ron Paul (R-Tex.) will all campaign for him in the coming days. McAuliffe will be joined on the trail by President Obama and Vice President Biden.
“They’re going to help us motivate our folks by bringing the president in,” Cuccinelli assured one group of parade-goers. “Clarity is a good thing.”
Yessss indeedy, Tea Party misogynistic ass wipes: "Clarity is a GOOD THING." Even if it comes in the unattractive, star fucking, overly compromised sycophant, Terry McAuliffe!
@Marie: I agree with you wholeheartedly. Snowden is incredibly naive if he thinks spying on other countries is something new, It ain't. Spying predates the creation of the NSA, as does other countries' spying on us. .
As I've said before, Greenwald exploited Snowden for his own purposes. As far as the Russians saying that Snowden is free to travel anywhere in Russia. I really doubt that he can travel without the authorities keeping ttabs on him. Like it or not, he's an asset.
It's both a disease and an irony.
Here we have a leading spokesman for unalloyed private property rights, so certain of their inviolability that he has said private enterprises that depend on the public for their trade and sustenance should have the right to service only those whom they choose, even to discriminate on the basis of color, acting as if all writing, once published, is now in the public domain.
I would go further than irony, though. Is it possible that many who say they hold private property so dear also worry so little about the restrictions their purported beliefs might place on their behavior because today's business practices take stealing as a matter of course? Theft is just a tactic; it's the way the game is played. What was once yours in now mine. And it's sick.
Whatever the reason for his conduct, all protestations to the contrary, brave littleRandy is simply and obviously a bum.
Kentucky must be proud.
@Ken Winkes. So what we have in Li'l Randy is a man who on the one hand, holds to a central governing philosophy that rests on the inviolability of private property rights, yet on the other hand, sees nothing wrong with stealing other people's private property; i.e., their words. He's a bum, all right, not to mention a hypocrite & a thief.
Marie
Snowden has "appealed to Washington to stop treating him like a traitor." That's like the Victoria Secret underwear models wearing push up bras and little else in VS's endless print and TV advertisement requesting that people stop staring at their boobs. Yeesh.
Reality check: For all of Snowden's naiveté and other problems, we wouldn't be having this conversation about NA snooping without him.