The Commentariat -- Sept. 9, 2014
Internal links removed.
Jonathan Weisman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Obama on Tuesday will begin laying out his case for an expanded military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria when he faces congressional leaders who are averse to taking an election-year stand but are being pushed by lawmakers who want a say in matters of war. Mr. Obama's meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders on Tuesday in the Oval Office will be the first of several between White House officials and lawmakers as the administration tries to persuade Congress to embrace the president's plan to halt the momentum of the Sunni militant group known as ISIS." ...
... Justin Sink of the Hill: "President Obama is pushing congressional leaders to authorize a $5 billion counterterrorism fund that could be used to support operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Approving the fund could allow the White House and congressional leaders to escape a tougher vote on authorizing or funding military action before the midterm elections but still achieve the 'buy in' the president has said he wants from Congress." ...
... Hmm. Let's see how the GOP will decide what to do. Al Kamen & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "The leading architect of the Iraq war will be on Capitol Hill for a private chat with House Republicans on Tuesday, just as Congress is grappling again with how involved the United States should be in the region's snowballing unrest. Yes, ... Dick Cheney ... was invited by the GOP's campaign arm to speak at its first weekly conference meeting since Congress's five-week break...." ...
... Steve Benen: "Republicans are concerned about the threat posed by ISIS? The group's existence is largely the result of the disastrous war Cheney helped launch under false pretenses. Republicans are outraged that the White House is completing a plan for the next phase of the U.S. counter-terrorism policy? Cheney's the guy who helped invade Iraq without a plan for what would happen after the war began.... During Cheney's tenure, the U.S. policy in Iraq was incoherent -- the Republican White House couldn't figure out what to do about the terrorist threat, parts of which they inadvertently helped create, picked Maliki to run the country almost at random and struggled to understand the value of political solutions." ...
... Oh, And This. (Gaffe Alert.) It's an election year.... Republicans don't want to change anything. We like the path we're on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long. -- Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) on why Republicans don't want to vote on a use-of-force resolution ...
Now, that's putting your country before your party, Jack. Thank you for your service. -- Constant Weader
Jonathan Topaz of Politico: "A spokesman for Steven Sotloff's family contends the slain American journalist was sold to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by Syrian rebels and says the Obama administration 'could have done more' to save him. Appearing on CNN Monday evening, Barak Barfi said that his sources in the region have told him one or more of the Syrian rebels sold Sotloff to ISIL for $25,000-$50,000. He referred to them as 'so-called moderate rebels, that people want our administration to support,' a jab at lawmakers and political figures -- including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and many others -- that have suggested arming the Syrian rebels.... Barfi, a research fellow at the [nonpartisan] New America Foundation, reserved stronger criticism for the Obama administration...."
Burgess Everett of Politico: "Several Senate Republicans joined Democrats on Monday to advance a constitutional amendment that would give Congress and the states greater power to regulate campaign finance. But the bipartisanship ends there. Many of the Republicans only voted for the bill to foul up Democrats' pre-election messaging schedule, freezing precious Senate floor time for a measure that ultimately has no chance of securing the two-thirds support necessary in both the House and Senate to amend the Constitution."
... The text of the proposed amendment (S.J. Res. 19) is here.
... Mitch McConnell in a Politico op-ed: "... Democrats who control the Senate say they're more interested in repealing the free speech protections the First Amendment guarantees to all Americans. Their goal is to shut down the voices of their critics at a moment when they fear the loss of their fragile Senate majority. And to achieve it, they're willing to devote roughly half of the remaining legislative days before November to this quixotic anti-speech gambit." ...
... CW: Not once in his little essay does Mitch mention that the Democrats "quixotic anti-speech gambit" is a constitutional amendment to allow the Congress to enact campaign finance legislation.
digby in Salon: Antonin Scalia "claims that he could not be a judge if he thought his participation in the death penalty was immoral and yet he does not believe it matters under the Constitution if the state executes innocent people. How on earth can such a depraved person be on the Supreme Court of the United States? On what basis can our country lay claim to a superior system of justice and a civilized moral order when such people hold power?" ...
... CW: digby writes that the execution of an innocent person "is as horrifying as the brutal slaying of the victim." I would say the execution is worse than the crime the condemned person did not commit. Heinous crimes are, almost by definition, committed by deranged people. Often the crimes are unplanned, often the perpetrators are drunk or drugged. By contrast, those who mete out "justice" -- police, prosecutors, expert witnesses, juries, judges, justices -- are supposed to be rational, deliberative, unbiased & working within the law. Executions are systematic, cold-blooded killings. There are no mitigating circumstances in a crime of dispassion.
Robert O'Harrow & Michael Sallah of the Washington Post write the third of a three-part series on "Search & Seize." CW: I hope many of you have been reading this series. The cases the writers cite are horrifying. Besides being stopped for "looking suspicious," many of these innocent people don't get all or even most of their lawfully-obtained money back. And most are carrying large amounts of cash because they have "lived their lives in cash economies, paying for everything from food to rent and business expenses with hard currency." When I travel long distances, as I often do, I have some of the same "indicators" that cause these cops to pull over drivers: tinted windows (in the back of my vehicle), sunglasses, food wrappers on the floor & energy drinks (well, tea & coffee). It's true I don't travel with much cash, so I don't have to worry about the police seizing my life's savings, but the main wonderful, fabulous personal traits that have saved me from being pulled over for nothing: I'm an Old White Lady. Somebody tell me how that represents "equal justice under the law."
"Twenty-Eight Pages." Lawrence Wright of the New Yorker: In 2002, the Bush administration classified a 28-page report, part of the report by the Joint Congressional inquiry into 9/11. "President Bush said then that publication of that section of the report would damage American intelligence operations, revealing isources and methods that would make it harder for us to win the war on terror.' 'There's nothing in it about national security,' [Rep.] Walter Jones [R-N.C.] ... contends. 'It's about the Bush Administration and its relationship with the Saudis.' [Rep] Stephen Lynch [D-Mass] ... told me that the document ... offers direct evidence of complicity on the part of certain Saudi individuals and entities in Al Qaeda's attack on America.... Another congressman who has read the document said that the evidence of Saudi government support for the 9/11 hijacking is 'very disturbing.'... Now, in a rare example of bipartisanship, Jones and Lynch have co-sponsored a resolution requesting that the Obama Administration declassify the pages. The Saudis have also publicly demanded that the material be released.... The effort to declassify the document comes at a time when a lawsuit, brought ten years ago on behalf of the victims of the attacks and their families, along with the insurers who paid out claims, is advancing through the American court system."
Marie's Sports Report
Ken Belson of the New York Times: "The National Football League's handling of a domestic violence case is under renewed scrutiny after a graphic video emerged Monday, leading to the termination of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice's contract and his indefinite suspension from the league. The video shows Rice punching his fiancée, who is now his wife, in the face, leaving her motionless on the floor of a hotel elevator in Atlantic City in February. He then dragged her unconscious body from the elevator.... The Ravens had not previously disciplined Rice in any public way, and after the episode, the team said on Twitter: 'Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.' The post was deleted Monday afternoon." ...
... CW: Just another example of "both sides do it": Here, an athlete punched his fiancee in the face, knocking her out cold, but only after she put her face in proximity to his fist. She should deeply regret that. ...
... UPDATE. Cindy Boren of the Washington Post: "In an Instagram post, [Janay] Rice defended her husband and marriage and railed against the price she and the couple is paying for the incident in February in an Atlantic City casino elevator.... 'No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted options [opinions??] from the public has caused my family.'" CW: Dr. Ben Carson (see his insights below) was right about one thing: this woman needs help. ...
... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "... what did people think it looked like when a football player knocked out a much smaller woman? Like a fair fight?" ...
... Greg Rosenthal of NFL media: "'We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today,' the [National Football] league said in a statement released to NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport." (Emphasis added.)...
... "Someone Is Lying." Barry Petchesky of Deadspin: Several sports reporters, including Peter King of Sports Illustrated, reported earlier, as King did in July 2014, that "the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen, from the security camera inside the elevator at the time of the physical altercation between Rice and his fiancée." Petchesky: "Privately, top reporters were told in no uncertain terms that the video existed, that the NFL had seen it, that it showed Janay Palmer acting violently toward Rice, and that, if released, it would go some way toward mitigating the anger against him. One of the league's most devoted mouthpieces described the video for us on an off-the-record basis, going off what his sources had told him. The implication was clear: If you saw this video, you'd know why Rice only got two games." ...
... Marcy Wheeler: "... the scandal of the video -- in addition to the fact that they appear to be lying about having considered it in their discussion of Rice's punishment -- is they believed that because Janay swung at Rice he was justified in swinging back. Even assuming that was their logic, though, remember that Roger Goodell was at this same time giving long, long punishments to various people for doing the harmless thing of smoking dope." ...
... Eliot Shorr-Parks on NJ.com: "TMZ's Harvey Levin said that the website has more information about the incident, and that come Tuesday morning, they will prove that the NFL knew about the video and decided to turn a blind eye." ...
... Update. TMZ: "Multiple sources tell TMZ Sports ... the casino made a copy of the elevator surveillance video for police. We're also told Rice's lawyer had a copy of the video, which he got in the criminal case. An NFL source tells us they requested 'any and all information' from law enforcement in the criminal case but got nothing because it was a pending case. But the NFL had other options ... namely going to the casino or Rice's lawyer -- but the NFL never bothered to ask." ...
... Katie McDonough of Salon with a reminder: "Ray Rice [was] fired -- but every other terrible person associated with the Ravens still has a job." ...
... Yeah, and how 'bout that prosecutor. Charles Curtis on NJ.com: "The Atlantic County[, New Jersey,] Prosecutor's Office ... stood by its decision not to pursue jail time -- or even probation -- and allow Rice to enter a diversion program instead. 'Mr. Rice received the same treatment by the criminal justice system in Atlantic County that any first-time offender has, in similar circumstances,' Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office Jay McKeen said in an email.... 'The decision was correct.'" ...
Olbermann!
... Juliet Macur of the New York Times: "Of course the video made the assault seem worse, and naturally it sparked a tidal wave of revulsion from the public.... But the facts alone should be enough in any domestic violence case. ...
AND Now, the Word from the Right ...
Worse Than the NFL & Ravens Management. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "The hosts of Fox & Friends on Monday turned video of NFL player Ray Rice punching his then-girlfriend unconscious in an elevator into a joke, saying that in the future she should 'take the stairs.'" Via Charles Pierce, who has almost nothing to say about the Rice video. CW: Pierce, a former sports reporter, once again shows he's no feminist. ...
... Update. "Fox Show Clarifies Ray Rice Comments." Kendall Breitman of Politico: "The comments faced backlash throughout the day." So NOW "Fox & Friends" say "domestic abuse is a very serious issue to us." CW: Yeah, right. ...
... Update 2: Charles Pierce weighs in: "Commissioner Roger Goodell was exposed as either a liar, or as someone who should not be allowed to count his own money. (Olbermann's right. He's got to go, but he won't, because most of the NFL owners think he's handled the whole thing splendidly.) The Ravens organization was exposed as a rat's nest of soulless, profit-driven drones. (And I hope nobody in the head offices of either the NFL or the Ravens misled the local prosecutors, who now also look like idiots on the national stage, and very likely are looking for someone to blame.)" Pierce contrasts Rice's treatment with that of Federal District Judge Mark Fuller, who got similar treatment from prosecutors for beating his wife, but gets to go back to his day job, with full pay & benefits, judging other people.
Let's not all jump on the bandwagon of demonizing this guy. He obviously has some real problems, and his wife obviously knows that, because she subsequently married him. So they both need some help. So rather than just jumping on a punitive bandwagon, let's just see if we can get some help for these people. -- Ben Carson, neurosurgeon, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush & a potential GOP presidential candidate
I wanna know, where is the President on this one? .. My question is ... this is a White House that seems to bring up a 'war on women' every other week. A White House that's very concerned about the NFL, concussions, etc., prescription drugs in locker rooms. -- Fox "News" host Andrea Tantaros
... CW: Not sure if Tantaros means this is all President Obama's fault or all this sissy-talk about concussions is just pandering to domestic violence perps. Or just, you know ... Obama!!!
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania. Matt Bonesteel of the Washington Post: "Citing 'significant progress toward ensuring its athletics department functions with integrity,' the NCAA announced Monday that it is restoring Penn State's postseason eligibility immediately and will allow the Nittany Lions' football team to offer a full complement of scholarships beginning next season. In the wake of the child sex-abuse scandal involving former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, the NCAA in 2012 levied unprecedented penalties on Penn State, banning the Nittany Lions from bowl games for four years, cutting 40 football scholarships over four years and fining the school $60 million."
Congressional (and Other) Races
Emily Cahn of Roll Call: "The final primary night of the midterms takes place Tuesday, with consequential contests across New England and Delaware." ...
... Here's more from Politico staff.
Margaret Hartmann of New York: New York statewide primaries are today (Congressional primaries were in June). "The biggest race is the Democratic gubernatorial primary, in which Andrew Cuomo faces Fordham Law School Professor Zephyr Teachout.... A recent Quinnipiac University poll found Cuomo has a 78 percent favorability rating among Democrats, while 85 percent said they hadn't heard enough about Teachout to form an opinion of her. Also, she's raised only $541,000 to the governor's $35 million." ...
... Steve Myrick of the Martha's Vineyard Times: "Massachusetts voters will decide several hotly contested statewide and district primary races when they go to the polls on Tuesday, September 9. With the departure of Governor Deval Patrick after two terms in office, three candidates hope to carry the Democratic banner into the November general election."
Stu Rotherberg of Roll Call: "While the current Rothenberg Political Report ratings don't show it, I am now expecting a substantial Republican Senate wave in November, with a net gain of at least seven seats. But I wouldn't be shocked by a larger gain."
Beyond the Beltway
Yes, Virginia, There Are Lots of Scrooges (Who Don't Care if You Get Sick & Die). Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "After fuming at state lawmakers and threatening unilateral action, Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia took only modest steps on Monday to extend health care to the poor and disabled.... Mr. McAuliffe, who in June ordered his cabinet to devise a plan for unilateral action by Sept. 1, in the face of what he called Republican 'demagoguery' and 'cowardice,' announced that only 25,000 uninsured Virginians would be receiving coverage, far fewer than the 400,000 he has said are eligible if the state expands Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.... The governor reportedly consulted legal experts on how much he could accomplish by executive action. The modesty of his orders on Monday reflected the reality of a State Constitution that forbids any spending without the legislature's approval."
Frances Robles of the New York Times: "... the Ferguson City Council said Monday that it would establish a citizen review board to provide guidance for the Police Department. It also announced sweeping changes to its court system, which had been criticized as unfairly targeting low-income blacks, who had become trapped in a cycle of unpaid tickets and arrest warrants. Municipal court fines are the city's second-highest source of revenue, leading many critics to argue that the authorities had a financial incentive to issue tickets and then impose more fees on those who did not pay. Young black men in Ferguson and surrounding cities routinely find themselves passed from jail to jail as they are picked up on warrants for unpaid fines, one of the many simmering issues here that helped set off almost two weeks of civil unrest after the teenager, Michael Brown, 18, was killed by a white Ferguson officer on Aug. 9."
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C. Pierce does come down on strong on Rice, Ravens, Goodall, & NFL et al PLUS the revelations about the Federal judge: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/A_Tale_Of_Two_Thugs
The Jack Kingston quote clearly and cheerfully laying out the GOP's cynical approach to issues of international and national importance, and especially anything to do with the president, "... denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long" isn't a gaffe. At least I don't think so. I think at this point they don't give a shit. And besides, it's not like it's a secret. Anyone who's been paying the tiniest bit of attention knows how these assholes play it.
Interestingly, at the end of the piece, a Massachusetts Democrat, Jim McGovern is quoted. “I understand politics. I’ve been in this business for a long time,” he said Monday. “But sometimes there are issues that trump politics.”
See the difference?
For (most) Democrats, there are some things that should not--can not--be politicized, issues that must be dealt with as responsible, elected members of congress sent to represent all the people of the United States without the overlay of partisan clawing for political advantage.
Not so for Republicans. Nothing is beyond the pale for these scumbags. Nothing is beyond being used for political advantage.
Invading the privacy of a family's life and death decisions (Terri Schiavo) for political points? Check.
Turning a horrific school shooting (Newtown) in which a score of small children some as young as six years old into an NRA orgy in which parents of murdered children were eviscerated for daring to open their mouths about gun control? Check.
Lying to start a war for political purposes. Cost in human lives shattered: hundreds of thousands. Cost in dollars: upwards of six trillion over the next few decades? Check.
Politicizing the plight of small children who have made harrowing journeys to this country from terror spots in Central America (spots created, in large part, by previous Republican administrations), children hoping for a chance to live and grow up in a safe place, painting them as hardened criminals, drug runners and potential murderers? Check.
There is literally nothing too sacred for these people to use as political fodder to score points.
If that, in addition to Kingston's smiling cynicism about the GOP's approach to governing, doesn't make you want to see every one of these reprehensible reptiles perp-walked on national television, I don't even want to know you. And that's that.
While the wise town mothers and fathers in Ferguson, MO wonder how the hell they'll make ends meet without ticketing every black kid who doesn't steppinfetchit fast enough, Fox bots wonder what they'll do if they have to replace one of their American He-roe stalwarts, regular commentator on all kinds of scary shit, former Navy Seal Chris Heben (who also appears on CNN to give out with the national security/military stuff).
What, might you ask, has happened to Hero Chris? Good question. Police in Bath, OH, want to know the same thing.
According to Heben he was brutally attacked and shot by...wait for it: SCARY BLACK GUYS!
I think it's the same scary black guys so many other people seem to use as scapegoats for whatever nefarious crap they're trying to hide. No one seems to know what Heben is hiding and why he lied, but police don't seem to be amused.
Plenty of others, however, who are wedded for life to the "Scary Black Guys Shot Me Then Stole My Homework" narrative are sticking up for Mr. Heben, him being white and a far-right wingnut Navy Seal and all. People are asking for patience and for due process for Mr. Heben. And you know what? He should get that. And so should everyone else. Like that black kid who shot himself in the back while handcuffed and the mentally disturbed black man who was shot down in the street 14 seconds after police arrived on the scene.
But say it had been a black guy who called the police and reported that three scary white dudes had cursed him out, shot him and tried to run him down and it turned out the whole thing was a pack of lies.
As soon as the evidence was in he'd be in leg irons faster than Mitt Romney can squirrel away another million in some Cayman bank. There wouldn't be calls for calm and caution and due process. They'd be deciding whether he should get life or be lynched. Or both.
But Mr. Heben is certainly not the first liar to blame some problem of his or something he caused on some "Scary Black Guy".
Republicans in congress have been doing this for the last six years. "Tell me senator, why is congress so all fired fucked up and dysfunctional? Can't you people do anything?" "Well, sir, you see, there's this scary black guy from Kenya, and..."
Georgia state senator in an email conspires to disenfranchise the African American community in a DeKalb County and the entire Conservative wing continues to look the other way. Furthering the thoughts of Olbermann and his rant about taking responsibility and correcting wrongs when their made, this email should send this delusional Old White Man directly to his rocking chair and out of office. And it should be the 'reasonable' GOPers that send his ass packing. But shoulder shrugs will ensue. Fucking despicable.
As Akhilleus mentioned in today's comments, nothing is above political brinksmanship in today's GOP. Taking away rights and the freedom to choose in a participative Democracy? Fuck it if they might not vote in MY narrow interests. Moreover, this is a direct example of the catastrophic failure of the Roberts court to gut the Voting Rights Act in the southern states. No way in hell will Congress ever reinstate safeguards to combat the disenfranchising of minorities unless the Democrats can take back all the three houses and then actually get their shit together themselves.
But from now until then, the window will slowly crank shut to preserve white privilege and the colorless racists will put their heads on their pillows each night feeling noble while their hearts rot.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fran-millar-dekalb-county-sunday-balloting?utm_content=buffer932ea&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer