The Commentariat -- Sept. 20, 2014
Internal links, defunct video removed.
New York Times Editors: "A recent report on job markets globally showed that too few jobs are being created worldwide, and even fewer good jobs are. Wages are flat or falling in all major economies as corporate profits claim an increasing share of productivity gains. The report, prepared by the World Bank, the United Nations'labor agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, notes that poor job creation and stagnant wages, if unchanged, will result in permanently lower living standards for most people amid widening inequality. It also states that the situation will not repair itself -- and, actually, is self-reinforcing.... Governments in the grip of poisoned politics and misguided ideology have largely abdicated their role." The report abstract & links to content are here.
... CW: All of this, of course, is what Krugman has been saying since 2008....
... As Nisky Guy points out in today's Comments, Krugman is still at it:
This idea that has been born, maybe out of the economy over the last couple years, that you know, I really don't have to work. I don't really want to do this. I think I'd rather just sit around. This is a very sick idea for our country. -- John Boehner
... Paul Krugman: "I could point to the overwhelming economic evidence that nothing like this is happening.... [AND he does.] But what really gets me here is the fact that people like Boehner are so obviously disconnected from the lived experience of ordinary workers. I mean, I live a pretty rarefied existence, with job security and a nice income and a generally upscale social set -- but even so I know a fair number of people who have spent months or years in desperate search of jobs that still aren't there. How cut off (or oblivious) can someone be who thinks that it's just because they don't want to work?"
Amanda Marcotte, in Salon: "Miseducation isn't only a red-state problem. Right-wing Christians are effectively writing our country's textbooks." An excellent review of how wingers are rewriting kids' schoolbooks as part of "a massive media campaign against reality." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.
Crime without Consequence. Joe Pinsker of the Atlantic: Financial criminal Jordan Belfort, the real "Wolf of Wall Street," has not paid most of the millions the court ordered him to repay his victims, & he served only a portion of his sentence. "Belfort's relatively consequence-free story is only one of the more prominent ones in a parade of aggravating numbers reported on earlier this week by The Wall Street Journal. There's still $97 billion out there in penalties that the Justice Department has failed to recover, and between September 2012 and September 2013, the department collected only 22 percent of penalties doled out."
Jim Gaines of Reuters: One in four Americans wants his state to secede. Reuters called secessionist respondents at random & found random complaints; "against a recovery that has yet to produce jobs, against jobs that don't pay, against mistreatment of veterans, against war, against deficits, against hyper-partisanship, against political corruption, against illegal immigration, against the assault on marriage, against the assault on same-sex marriage, against government in the bedroom, against government in general -- the president, Congress, the courts and both political parties."
Suzanne Goldenberg of the Guardian: "Barack Obama will not be pledging any cash to a near-empty fund for poor countries at a United Nations summit on climate change next week, the UN special climate change envoy said on Friday. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has challenged the 125 world leaders attending the 23 September summit to make 'bold pledges' to the fund, intended to help poor countries cope with climate change. The UN has been pressing rich countries to come up with pledges of between $10bn and $15bn."
Russell Berman of the Atlantic: "House leaders announced Thursday that they were cutting their already abbreviated fall session short and sending lawmakers back home -- and onto the campaign trail -- more than a week early." ...
... Gail Collins: "Before decamping to go home and run for re-election, our elected representatives voted to fund the government and go to war. Pretty much ran the table on their constitutional responsibilities." Collins' take on the House's efforts to effect tax reform is a classic. Here's the topper: "... the House ... Ways and Means Committee, which is run by Boehner's very own party, did come up with a sweeping plan for tax reform this year. The speaker promptly made fun of it. ('Blah, blah, blah, blah.') Having completely and thoroughly slammed the door on any discussion of the bill, he told reporters this week that he was 'shocked at how little I have heard about it.'" ...
... But Some Housework Is Important. Lauren French of Politico: "House Republicans have replaced the firm managing their lawsuit against President Barack Obama for alleged abuses of executive authority after the first attorney backed out of the contract under political pressure, according to GOP aides. A House staffer said the change of firms came after multiple clients of Baker & Hostetler expressed concern that the firm was engaged in what the companies saw as an overtly partisan lawsuit."
Philip Ewing of Politico: "Gen. Ray Odierno has gotten letters from some 40 members of Congress asking why they're losing troops from their home districts. His answer: Look in the mirror. 'I wrote back and I said, "The reason I'm taking soldiers out of the installation in your state is because of sequestration. Not that I want to do it...."' The Army's chief of staff told reporters Friday morning that he warned Congress even before today's vortex of crises that major troop cuts would bring 'significant risk.' ... 'That was before we had [the Islamic State] and before the Ukrainian incursion,' Odierno said."
Julie Creswell & Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "... despite alarms as far back as 2008, Home Depot was slow to raise its defenses [against hacking], according to former employees. On Thursday, the company confirmed what many had feared: The biggest data breach in retailing history had compromised 56 million of its customers' credit cards. The data has popped up on black markets and, by one estimate, could be used to make $3 billion in illegal purchases.
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Two civil liberties groups are edging in on conservative gadfly Larry Klayman's legal challenge to National Security Agency surveillance. On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation asked to join in arguments set to be held in November on the government's appeal of the first and only judicial ruling disputing the constitutionality of the NSA's program sweeping up information on billions of telephone calls to, from, and within the United States. The groups asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to allow them 10 minutes of argument time."
Senate Race
Dylan Scott of TPM: "In an apparent reversal, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's office is instructing election officials in the state to send out overseas military ballots without Democratic Senate nominee Chad Taylor or any other Democratic Senate candidate listed." ...
... Update. Bryan Lowry of the Wichita Eagle: "But Secretary of State Kris Kobach has not given up his position that Democrats must appoint a replacement for Chad Taylor. He says overseas voters may have to cast a second ballot later. The 526 ballots to be mailed by Saturday to overseas civilians and military personnel include a disclaimer that new ballots will be printed if a court forces Democrats to name a replacement candidate. Some ballots from Johnson County went out Thursday with Taylor's name. They were amended Friday." CW: What a mess.
... CW: Since Korbach wants to create as much confusion as possible, couldn't Democrats just nominate Greg Orman? Whether voters selected him on the Independent line or on the Democratic line shouldn't matter -- all votes would accrue to him. Of course there's no guarantee Orman would caucus with Democrats.
Marie's Sports Report
Barbara Starr of CNN: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has asked his staff for detailed information about the U.S. military's relationships with the National Football League in the wake of the scandal over how the league is handling domestic-abuse allegations against players, CNN has learned.... The military has a zero-tolerance policy in the ranks for domestic abuse, but it also has a high-profile relationship with the NFL that goes back decades.... The Army alone spends some $10 million a year buying advertising from television networks broadcasting NFL games. Games are also broadcast by the Armed Forces Network to troops deployed overseas."
Blah, Blah, Blah. Lynn Zinser of the New York Times: "As calls increased for the N.F.L. to adequately address its recent rash of off-field violence, Commissioner Roger Goodell finally spoke publicly about the issue Friday, apologizing for his role in poor decision-making and promising a revamped personal conduct policy to address future cases.... Goodell had not spoken publicly since the video of [Ray] Rice punching Janay Palmer became public.... Goodell offered very little in the way of specifics in the news conference." ...
... Joe Nocera: "When he arrived at the podium, Goodell made a short statement in which he said ... nothing.... You would have thought that if Goodell were going to hold a news conference he would have something more to say than that he was sorry and that he was going to consult experts -- things he has said before. Stunningly, he didn;t, which became even clearer when reporters started asking questions."
... Jon Stewart reviews some of NFL's & NFL teams' decisive reactions to news their players were accused/guilty of domestic abuse:
... Bill Pennington & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "... in his role as the N.F.L.’s hard-bitten sheriff, Mr. Goodell appears to have had a major blind spot: domestic violence cases. Players charged with domestic violence routinely received considerably lighter punishments than players accused of other offenses, like drug use or drunken driving. Often, they were not punished at all." ...
... ** Don Van Natta & Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN lay out the Ravens' "purposeful misdirection" & the NFL's "scant investigation" of Ray Rice's knockout punch of his then-fiancee Janay Palmer. CW: The ESPN piece further puts the lie to some of the NFL's claims following TMZ's publication of the elevator-cam video. ...
... Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: Some fans who love the Redskins' name are upset when, for a segment of the "Daily Show," actual Native Americans confront them. One fan called the police. CW: As far as I can tell, the segment, which was shot last week, hasn't aired.
Vice President Joe Gaffe. At a Democratic women's conference, Biden evokes fond memories of serial sexual harasser Bob Packwood. Really. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Oregon Republican resigned from the Senate in 1995 amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assaulting women. The Senate ethics committee had voted unanimously to recommend his expulsion." But Packwood was bipartisan! CW: MEANWHILE, a former runner-up for Biden's job is promoting physical violence. Go to the bottom of the page to link on the details.
Annals of "Journalism," Mob Edition. Joseph Berger of the New York Times: "A federal grand jury [in White Plains, New York] indicted [Selem] Zherka, 46, of Somers, the owner of two strip clubs in Manhattan and a modest real estate empire and the publisher of The Westchester Guardian, on fraud charges in connection with applications seeking $146 million in property loans. He was also charged with income-tax fraud and witness tampering. Moreover, in papers submitted for a bail hearing on Friday, two assistant United States attorneys ... accused Mr. Zherka, the Bronx-bred son of an Albanian-immigrant janitor, of essentially being a dangerous thug.... Mr. Zherka, a litigious man who has filed multiple lawsuits against his antagonists, has called himself the state Tea Party's 'loudest voice' and has said he had been unfairly pursued by the Internal Revenue Service as part of a government 'witch hunt.' But some local Tea Party leaders have distanced themselves from him." Read the whole story.
AP: "Al Jazeera America is suing former Vice President Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, the former owners of the TV network that became Al Jazeera America. The parties are fighting over money that is being held in escrow."
Beyond the Beltway
Grassroots Voter Suppression. AnnieJo of Daily Kos: "A Facebook group calling themselves the 'Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia' (update: page has since disappeared and now it's back!) is threatening armed intimidation of voters who signed the Scott Walker recall in 2012 who also have any outstanding warrants or tax defaults. The page claims 'Our militia will watch polling places and report known felons and other people wanted by law enforcement. The police are looking for you, so are we.'" From the group's Facebook page:
Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia is a force that is armed. Do not approach our members by engaging in a physical hostile act because you are going to get put down like a rabid dog. We are going to be around neighborhoods that may be crime-filled. These areas are heavy democrat-voting areas because it is a result of a poor education. We will be there to get criminal scum off the streets.
CW: I don't know Wisconsin law, but I seriously doubt having outstanding warrants or owing taxes disenfranchises a qualified voter. This group is planning unlawful -- & unjustifiable -- harassment. Also obviously racist. Thanks to safari for the link. Also, see safari's commentary in today's Comments section.
Edmund Mahony of the Hartford Courant: "Former Gov. John G. Rowland, a political rising star who crashed a decade ago in a corruption scandal, fell again Friday when a jury in federal court found him guilty in a low-rent scheme to collect secret paychecks from rich Republican congressional candidates."
Tom Hart of the Guardian: "A court has upheld the constitutional right of Texans to photograph strangers as an essential component of freedom of speech -- even if those images should happen to be surreptitious 'upskirt' pictures of women taken for the purposes of sexual gratification. Criticising an anti-'creepshot' law as a 'paternalistic' intrusion on a person's right to be aroused, the Texas court of criminal appeals struck down part of the state's 'improper photography or visual recording' statute which banned photographing, broadcasting or transmitting a visual image of another person without the other's consent and with the intention to 'arouse or gratify ... sexual desire'."
Toast? Or Artisan Sourdough Round? Jonathan Dienst, et al., of WNBC: "The U.S. Justice Department investigation into Gov. Chris Christie's role in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal has thus far uncovered no evidence indicating that he either knew in advance or directed the closure of traffic lanes on the span, federal officials tell NBC 4 New York.... Federal officials caution that the investigation that began nine months ago is ongoing and that no final determination has been made.... [New Jersey] Assemblyman John Wisniewski said the state legislative committee's investigation into the bridge lane closures is continuing." ...
... Melissa Hayes of the Bergen Record: "Governor Christie called on the lawmakers investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures to wrap up their investigation during a State House news conference Thursday morning.... Christie spent more than 3 minutes chastising the Democratic-led committee during a State House news conference where he made unrelated staff announcements." ...
... Star-Ledger Editors: "Gov. Chris Christie wants the committee investigating Bridgegate to close up shop, saying it is a partisan witch hunt that has run out of gas.... Before he finishes this victory lap, a few reminders: No one on the investigative committee has accused him of personally ordering these lane closures.... But what about the cover-up? What about the bogus claim that this was all part of a traffic study?" The editors compare the investigations to Watergate & Christie to Richard Nixon. ...
... Update. Bob Jordan of the Asbury Park Press: "NBC says a report by Brian Williams on the network's Nightly News that federal charges have been ruled out for Gov. Chris Christie in the George Washington Bridge scandal was incorrect. Federal prosecutors say the investigation is ongoing and haven't made any announcement on Christie's status."
Former Half-Governor & Second Runner-up in the 2008 Veeps Beauty Pageant Sarah Palin obliquely defends her daughter Bristol for repeatedly punching up on a friend of the family. Something about her being a "strong young woman" promoting "family values."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Chris Johnson & Ben Quinn of the Guardian: "Gordon Brown has called on Scotland to unite behind a common future for the country after voters' rejection of independence in Thursday's referendum. In a passionate speech in Dunfermline, Fife, on Saturday, the former [British] prime minister - whose late intervention in the referendum campaign has been credited with helping to secure the no vote - said: 'Let us think of ourselves not as yes and no Scots but simply as Scots and let us be a nation, united again.'" ...
... Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "The decisive rejection of Scotland's independence referendum set off an instant scramble Friday to fundamentally reorganize constitutional power in the United Kingdom, with Prime Minister David Cameron citing a chance 'to change the way the British people are governed.' With Thursday's 'no' vote, Cameron avoided the eternal stigma that would have come from allowing Britain to break up on his watch. But with parliamentary elections due next spring, the prime minister still faces a raging anti-establishment tide that helped to fuel the Scottish independence bid and has penetrated all corners of the United Kingdom."
News Ledes
Guardian: "The United States has quietly released 14 Pakistani citizens from military detention in Afghanistan, where the US holds its most secret cohort of detainees in its war on terrorism. The US military transferred the 14 to Pakistani government custody on Saturday. It did not publicize the release, as is typical with releases from the detention center on the outskirts of Bagram Airfield which is known formally as the Detention Facility in Parwan. A Pakistani human rights group instead announced the transfer and said it was the largest number of Pakistanis the US has thus far released."
New York Times: "Polly Bergen, an actress, singer and businesswoman who won an Emmy in 1957 for her portrayal of the alcoholic torch singer Helen Morgan and was nominated for another 50 years later for her role on the television show 'Desperate Housewives,' died on Saturday at her home in Southbury, Conn. She was 84."
New York Times: "The two candidates for president of Afghanistan have agreed on a power-sharing deal that will give the losing candidate substantial influence in the next government, initialing the American-brokered deal Saturday night and promising to sign it at a formal ceremony on Sunday. The deal promised an end at last to the tumultuous, five-month-long aftermath of the Afghan presidential elections, although previous settlements have repeatedly collapsed at the last minute despite the candidates' promises."
New York Times: "A Texas man who scaled the White House fence made it through the North Portico doors on Friday night before being apprehended, the Secret Service said. The intruder, Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, was arrested just inside the doors and taken to George Washington University Hospital after complaining of chest pains, said Ed Donovan, a Secret Service spokesman. None of the Obamas were home when the security breach occurred about 7:20 p.m., but White House staff members were evacuated as a precaution, officials said. President Obama and his daughters had left for the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., just minutes before the incident." ...
... New Lede: "The Secret Service will conduct an internal review of its security procedures around the White House after a man who jumped the fence Friday night at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue managed to make his way through the front door of President Obama's home before being stopped, officials said Saturday." ...
... ** Washington Post UPDATE: "Within seconds, the man who relatives said served as a sniper in the Iraq War got to the front double doors of the North Portico, turned the brass knob and stepped inside the vestibule. There he was grabbed and subdued by an officer standing post inside the door. He was carrying a folding knife with a 2-1/2 inch serrated blade." ...
... Fox "News": "A New Jersey man was arrested Saturday outside the White House after driving up to a gate and refusing to leave, less than 24 hours after another man jumped the fence and got inside the presidential mansion before being arrested, which has resulted in increased security and a 'comprehensive internal review,' according to the Secret Service."
New York Times: "Forty-nine Turkish hostages who had been held for months in Iraq by Islamic State militants were returned to Turkey on Saturday after what Turkey said was a covert operation led by its intelligence agency. The hostages, including diplomats and their families, had been seized in June from the Turkish consulate in the Iraqi city of Mosul." ...
... Too Good to Be True? AP UPDATE: "Turkish authorities say they have freed 49 hostages from one of the world's most ruthless militant groups without firing a shot, paying a ransom or offering a quid pro quo. But as the well-dressed men and women captured by the Islamic State group more than three months ago clasped their families Saturday on the tarmac of the Turkish capital's airport, experts had doubts about the government's story."
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Reader Comments (9)
Marie, selfishly I'd hate to lose your news service here. You're not in mindless sycophantic agreement with anyone; you follow your own drummer and you have a voice that merits reception. I hope you stay the course as long as you can.
AK: when you mentioned Clemenceau and 20 million starving Germans, don't forget to point out apropos of the domestic violence in the NFL that Clemenceau was also a cradle robbing wife-abusing piece of shit.
Safari: over consumption and the systematic plunder of the planet I don't think can be stopped by the same forces that brought them about. We need governments to stop business at any expense. Otherwise, for example, the fisheries will be owned by fewer and fewer companies that will grind up the wild fish and serve them to their aquaculture farms; just like now. Too much of the "greening" of food production systems is about erecting insurmountable barriers to entry for small businesses by Walmart for their friends Unilever, Proctor and Gamble, Nabisco, Kraft, etc. Marie, one reason for the greater shelf-life of food is that the IFT(Institute for Food Technologists) courtesy of their funding by P&G and Kraft, et al. will have you eating sand (silicon dioxide) because the margin is very good and the shelf life is fantastic. These guys are no different than the tobacco business.
I'm in Norway this month bicycle touring and I'm giving a lot of thought to the slow-tech and greening of this slice of the world. Norway has the greening/recycling institutions that take years to build even with the social will to say "yes". Bus service goes most everywhere, regularly. The US has basically put intercity bus service in the scrap heap. Our politics is controlled by the road building and trucking businesses and their government agencies. You can see really clearly in Norway that business needn't come to a screeching halt because of carbon emission controls. I don't want Goldman Sachs anywhere around carbon emission controls; that's just a lame attempt to service capitalism's problem with a pseudo capitalistic appearing solution.
... And Krugman says it again, pointing out John Boehner's misunderstanding of the long-term unemployed:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/john-boehners-theory-of-the-leisure-class/
Holy Smokes! The right wingers in Wisconsin are going off the rails to preserve their political tribal powers. Publicly threatening with harm/death those people who were involved in the recall efforts and who dare to participate in the democratic process of voting again. They claim to be looking into the backgrounds of all the people on the recall voting rolls and seeing if they can dig up any supposed 'tax defaults' or 'outstanding warrants'. If so, these heavily armed, self-appointed policemen will apparently make a ruckus and try to get the people arrested?, and if anyone approaches them 'in a hostile act' they will 'get put down like a rabid dog'. THIS is America 2014.
And as the article points out, take a good look at the group's Facebook picture and see who is doing the intimidation and who they're looking for. Racist little wingers with shit for brains.
I recently saw these kinds of actions in eastern Ukraine by the lawless pro-Russian separatists. Now we've got armed voting intimidation on the streets of fuck'n Wisconsin! That this is legal is an embarrassment to our country.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/19/1331012/-Wisconsin-Militia-Promises-Armed-Intimidation-of-Recall-Signers-at-the-Voting-Booth
OK, I will admit it (re: CW's challenge of Sept. 17). I occasionally watch football, but last weekend I made a conscious decision not to and I most likely won't this weekend either unless I walk down the street to the local college, where relatively normal-size players play the game I grew up with.
There were six boys in our corner of the neighborhood. Four of them were two years older than the other two of us, and I was the smallest. Like many groups of kids everywhere, we created modified versions of sports for us to play with our limited numbers. When we got too strong to play baseball using the trees in our front yard as bases we came up with a "hitter has to run to the sidewalk/telephone pole/edge of the street and back to the garage door before the fielders hit the door on the fly" game. Our football games evolved as well, starting as touch football, defense had to count five "alligators" before crossing the line of scrimmage, to the occasional tackle game and fewer alligators. Passing was the primary method of transport but the occasional run kept the defense on its toes.
The football I remember was a game that was adapted so everyone would have fun and live to play another day, a game that allowed me to make a contribution and join in.
When I watch football, I don't really care who's playing. I want to see talent and creativity. The cheers for the hard hits are something I have never understood. There have been warning signs about the behavior of players, but the latest round of disgusting behavior has just been too much for a guy who still sees a bit of the back yard when football is on.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/army-chief-of-staff-says-us-may-need-more-troops-in-iraq/2014/09/19/63917a0c-400e-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html?wpisrc=nl-eve&wpmm=1
I never said Clemanceu was a saint, just that he allegedly said "War is too important to be left to the generals."
Craig Whitlock in WaPo quotes yet another general, this time the Army Chief of Staff. Looks like forward air controller teams and advisors will most probably be deployed eventually. There have been instances where this approach worked. It happened in the Battle of An Loc, April 13-July 20, 1972. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_An_Loc
U.S. airstrikes tilted the balance to the South Vietnamese. There was another factor: the South Vietnamese fought well. So, if it doesn't get out of hand, and the Iraqis/Syrians fight, it could work.
We were one of the 56 million Home Depot's hacking victims. Luckily our bank called us immediately after they discovered the theft––we are being issued new credit cards. This experience gives one the ebeejeebies –––stay alert card holders!
I love the fact that Gen. Odierno did the "look in the mirror" business, short of calling Congress stupid, short sighted,–––and–– let's use that word again-––really fucking STUPID!!
Back in the late 80's, I don't remember the exact year (1987?)—but, it was early one Saturday morning as I was walking my dog along 46th Street at Second Avenue—I spotted a stretch limo coming down 46th (it was a route frequently used from the Waldorf-Astoria where many politicians stayed and departed from to head to LaGuardia or JFK)...it was still darkish as I crossed Second Avenue and I saw the light was on in the back of the stopped limo, a single passenger intently reading through a handful of papers.
The story was beginning to break. The rumors were wild.
The man in the limo was Gary Hart.
Was reminded of this incident after reading Matt Bai's feature in the current New York Times magazine. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/magazine/how-gary-harts-downfall-forever-changed-american-politics.html
As Bai speculates...."Maybe this made our media a sharper guardian of the public interest against liars and hypocrites. But it also made it hard for any thoughtful politician to offer arguments that might be considered nuanced or controversial. It drove a lot of potential candidates with complex ideas away from the process, and it made it easier for a lot of candidates who knew nothing about policy to breeze into national office, because there was no expectation that a candidate was going to say anything of substance anyway."
And how different an outcome things might be in our world today had Hart become President. "... it’s difficult to imagine that Bush’s aimless eldest son would have somehow ascended from nowhere to become governor of Texas and then president within 12 years’ time." Oh, yes!
Sex. It's undone many a fine (and others less fine) candidates! A few weeks ago, watched "Client No.9" on Netflix —what Eliot Spitzer could have achieved! Then there was smarty pants, Anthony Weiner! Will they ever learn?
The list is lengthy.
Reccomend this by Zephyr Teachout (love that name) ripping up of Scalia.
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/20/antonin_scalias_bad_law_bad_history_how_the_supreme_court_legalized_corruption/?source=newsletter
MAG: I think part of the answer is adults fuck and for better or worse this glorious country refuses to admit that. Helen Mirren, as DI Tennison, said after a one-nighter: "It's what adults do; we're adults."