The Commentariat -- June 21, 2014

Internal links & photo removed.

CW: Thanks to Reality Chex readers who contributed to Bob Hicks/Barbarossa's ALS Association fundraising campaign. Bob's page is here. Bob has made a huge contribution to Reality Chex, & readers' appreciation for that is surely a part of the reason for their generosity in helping find a cure & mediation of this debilitating disease.

White House: "In this week's address, the President previewed the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families, where he will bring together business leaders and workers to discuss the challenges that working parents face every day and lift up solutions that are good for these families and American businesses":

You are the Internal Revenue Service. You can reach into the lives of hard-working taxpayers and with a phone call, an email, or a letter you can turn their lives upside-down. You ask taxpayers to hang on to seven years of their personal tax information in case they are ever audited, and you can't keep six months' worth of employee emails? -- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), to IRS Director John Koskinen at a House committee hearing yesterday ...

... David Joachim of the New York Times: "A congressional hearing examining how the Internal Revenue Service lost thousands of emails sought by investigators turned confrontational on Friday, with Republicans on the panel accusing the I.R.S. commissioner of lying. 'Sitting here listening to this testimony, I don't believe it,' Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, told the commissioner, John Koskinen, at a hearing of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. 'That's your problem. No one believes you.'" ...

... John Dickerson of Slate: "It's hard to think of a federal agency that is less forgiving about record keeping. If you are audited, the IRS wants you to move fast. Not only do you have to keep your records for years, as Ryan says, but the IRS wants you to move quick like a bunny. And the entire process has one subliminal message to it: 'I don't believe you.'" CW: Sounds like Dickerson's audit didn't go well.

Greggers interviews Rand Paul (full interview to be aired tomorrow on Press the Meat):

Greggers: Do you think Dick Cheney is a credible critic of this president?

Paul: I think the same questions could be asked of those who supported the Iraq War. You know, were they right in their predictions? Were there weapons of mass destruction there? That's what the war was sold on. Was democracy easily achievable? Was the war won in 2005, when many of these people said it was won? They didn't really, I think, understand the civil war that would break out. And what's going on now -- I don't blame on President Obama. Has he really got the solution? Maybe there is no solution. But I do blame the Iraq War on the chaos that is in the Middle East. I also blame those who are for the Iraq War for emboldening Iran.... Iran is much more of a threat because of the Iraq War than they were before -- before there was a standoff between Sunnis and Shiites. Now there is Iranian hegemony throughout the region.

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "More than 400 large U.S. military drones have crashed in major accidents around the world since 2001, a record of calamity that exposes the potential dangers of throwing open American skies to drone traffic, according to a year-long Washington Post investigation. Since the outbreak of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, military drones have malfunctioned in myriad ways, plummeting from the sky because of mechanical breakdowns, human error, bad weather and other reasons...."

Simon Maloy of Salon: "... it's kind of funny to see Republicans so eager to declare the Obama presidency over. Right now, Barack Obama is the best thing they have going for them. Their governors are mired in criminal investigations, their leaders are being thrown out of office, and they're at each other's throats as they face down political oblivion. The only thing holding them together is hatred of the man in the Oval Office."

Dana Milbank: "The real split among congressional Republicans is between the bomb-throwers and the legislators. On Thursday, the bomb-throwers lost badly. Those who followed the old-fashioned rules of politics -- building relationships, trading favors, balancing regional interests -- prevailed. That's how to understand why [Kevin] McCarthy [Calif.], with his 72 percent conservative rating, trounced the 100 percent [Raul] Labrador [Idaho]" in the vote for House majority leader.

Dana Ford of CNN: "The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted Thursday to allow pastors to marry same-sex couples in states where it is legal. The church also voted, by an overwhelming majority, to change the language about marriage in the church constitution to 'two persons' from a 'man and a woman,' according to More Light Presbyterians, a group that supports gay rights. To take effect, that change would need to be approved by a majority of 172 local presbyteries, which have a year to vote, the church said in a statement." ...

... Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "After passionate debate over how best to help break the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Friday at its general convention to divest from three companies that it says supply Israel with equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territory. The vote, by a count of 310 to 303, was watched closely in Washington and Jerusalem and by Palestinians as a sign of momentum for a movement to pressure Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and to end the occupation...."

Jada Smith of the New York Times: "Financial disclosure reports released by the Supreme Court on Friday showed that book royalties continued to fill the bank accounts of certain justices, while most bolstered their incomes with teaching assignments."

Presidential Election 2016

Josh Rogin of the Daily Beast: "Hillary Clinton is known as a champion of women and girls, but one woman who says she was raped as a 12-year-old in Arkansas doesn't think Hillary deserves that honor. This woman says Hillary smeared her and used dishonest tactics to successfully get her attacker off with a light sentence -- even though, she claims, Clinton knew he was guilty."...

... A bit more from Allie Jones in Gawker.

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Rick Santorum appeared to make the case for greater government involvement during a speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition on Friday, adopting a populist message at odds with Republican rhetoric. The former Pennsylvania senator, who is exploring a 2016 presidential bid, quoted President Ronald Reagan to make the case for a more robust government that can provide assistance to lower and middle income Americans. He argued that the Republican would 'be appalled today' by GOP lawmakers who tailor their policy prescriptions to conservative orthodoxy rather than the economic problems at hand." CW: Yeah, I'll bet Santorum -- who seems to be reinventing himself again -- is still "appalled today" by sex. Also, I wonder if his new populist message applies to blah people, too. ...

... There Are Two Li'l Randys. AP: "Describing a nation 'in a full-blown spiritual crisis,' Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Friday vowed to fight against abortion for the rest of his political career, joining a parade of ambitious Republicans courting religious conservatives as the early jockeying for the next presidential contest intensifies. 'What America needs is a revival,' Paul declared while addressing the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Paul, a libertarian favorite who often downplays the Republican Party's focus on social issues, plunged into an aggressive defense of 'unborn children.'" CW: I wonder what would happen if Mrs. Li'l Randy found herself accidentally in a family way tomorrow. See also NBC interview excerpt above, where Paul shows he can also speak like a rational person. ...

     ... Where the Votes Are. Charles Pierce: "If he is who he claims to be -- Play along, OK? -- Rand Paul should have been able to give this conference a good old leaving-alone, instead of showing up to convince people that he is more anti-choice than thou. He knows what he needs to do to be a nominee. He knows who really sets up the hoops, and he knows how and when to jump." ...

... Joe Coscarelli of New York: "Nothing says God Bless America like peeing on the president."

Joan Walsh of Salon doesn't think much of the GOP's star lineup for 2016. The choices are scandal-plagued governors Walker & Christie, Tea Party firebrands Cruz & Paul or past-their-sell-by-dates Romney & (Jeb) Bush: "Reporters who are busy inventing rivals for Hillary Clinton in 2016 ought to put their imagination into coming up with presidential candidates for a party that truly needs them." CW: But, seriously, is Clinton so much hotter? I'd like to invent some Hillary rivals, & I'm not alone. I wouldn't be surprised if Rand Paul were the GOP nominee, & I think it's possible he could beat any Democratic candidate. If he looked & sounded less like a twerp, he'd be a shoo-in. Republicans want a president who looks like a B-movie star, like their special favorite president. Can't you see Ted Cruz in a black-&-white oater?

A Little Way Beyond the Beltway

Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed portions of the state budget Friday and vowed to defy the legislature by expanding Medicaid without its approval, setting up a legal showdown with Republicans even as he averted a government shutdown."

News Lede

Guardian: "The US has signalled its mounting concern over modern-day slavery in Thailand and Qatar after it downgraded both countries on its human trafficking watchlist following revelations of appalling maltreatment of migrant workers."

The Longest Day

Today is the summer solstice, but Friday was probably the longest day for me. Here's what went wrong.

Reality Chex went down.

My gmail account went down.

My Twitter account went down.

My debit card has "unusual activity" on it, so I can't use it.

The movers showed up -- a surprise -- & left a lot of stuff strewn about the yard, which I have to shlep into the basement tomorrow. I can barely move through the house because it's full of boxes.

My back went out.

My Damned Cat (that's her name) disappeared.

Usually I can only manage three things going wrong at once. For some reason I'm doing okay today. I guess none of these things is too terrible or too unexpected. Life is complicated.

The Commentariat -- June 20, 2014

Internal links, graphics removed.

Republican Governors' Bad Day

"AND Crime Was of the Essence of the Scheme."* Patrick Marley, et al., of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Prosecutors allege Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fund raising among conservative groups to help his campaign and those of Republican state senators facing recall elections during 2011 and '12, according to documents unsealed Thursday. In the documents, prosecutors lay out what they call an extensive 'criminal scheme' to bypass state election laws by Walker, his campaign and two top Republican political operatives -- R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl. This marks the first time prosecutors have disclosed the details of their probe." ...

... Monica Davey & Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "The allegations by five county district attorneys, released as part of a federal lawsuit over the investigation into Mr. Walker, his aides and the conservative groups, suggest that Mr. Walker's campaign expressly coordinated with the outside groups, including Wisconsin Club for Growth, to the point that campaign advisers also controlled some of the groups." ...

... NEW. Charles Pierce: "What we learned on Thursday, when the documents compiled by prosecutors were unsealed, is more than simply trouble for Walker and a shot below the waterline of both his local and national ambitions. It also is a window into the farce that the Supreme Court's decisions in various campaign finance and voting rights cases have made of our elections. Everything is a fake. Nothing ever happens by accident any more. 'Grassroots' are now largely useful only as camouflage for the same old corruption."

It's over, it's done, and I'm moving on. -- Gov. Chris Christie, to potential donors at Mitt Romney's "ideas retreat," June 14, 2014 ...

... Scott Raab & Lisa Brennan in Esquire: "... Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey..., has empaneled a second grand jury [to investigate unlawful conduct by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie & his allies], and the U.S. Justice Department has sent assistant prosecutors and FBI agents to work the case.... Fishman's challenge is to nail down specific criminal charges on several fronts -- the diversion of Port Authority money to fund New Jersey road and bridge projects; the four-day rush-hour closures of George Washington Bridge lanes in Ft. Lee; and a web of real-estate deals spun by David Samson, long a Christie crony, when he chaired the PA's Board of Commissioners as Christie's appointee."

* Apologies to Robert Frost.

Mark Landler & Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "President Obama said Thursday that he would deploy up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to help its struggling security forces fend off a wave of Sunni militants who have overrun large parts of the country, edging the United States back into a conflict that Mr. Obama once thought he had left behind. Warning that the militants pose a threat not just to Iraq but also to the United States, Mr. Obama said he was prepared to take 'targeted and precise military action' -- a campaign of airstrikes that a senior administration official said could be extended into neighboring Syria":

... It's All about Me. Martin Chulov & Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "A spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has said he will not stand down as a condition of US air strikes against Sunni militants who have made a lightning advance across the country."

Ed O'Keefe & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "House Republicans dramatically reshaped their leadership team Thursday by selecting Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to serve as the next House majority leader and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) as the next majority whip.... Scalise currently leads the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of conservative Republicans, and has been in office since 2008. A lifelong Louisianan, he has sparred frequently in recent years with Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy over spending matters.

Elena Schneider of the New York Times: "Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter, an automatic rifleman who shielded a fellow Marine from a grenade thrown at them during a firefight in Afghanistan in 2010, received the Medal of Honor from President Obamaon Thursday":

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "THE Federal Reserve is poised to keep purchasing large volumes of mortgage bonds, and potentially Treasury securities too, even after the likely conclusion of its prominent bond-buying program later this year. It is a prospect that reflects both the breadth of the Fed's campaign to stimulate the economy -- one initiative ending, others still running -- and the concern among many Fed officials that the central bank should not pull back too quickly."

Freedom's Just Another Word for Discrimination. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Fox News host Mike Huckabee on Thursday compared the effort to prevent LGBT people from having equal marriage rights to fighting against Nazi Germany." AND, AND, I'm just like Martin Luther King, Jr., fighting for freedom from the Birmingham jail against equal rights from the Washington Mall. David of Crooks & Liars sums of Huckabee's claim in his headline: "Huckabee says MLK would agree that marriage equality is like the Holocaust."...

    ... CW: Here Huckabee manages in a few sentences to trivialize the heroic resistance fighters of WWII, the suffering, oppression & murder of millions of Jews & others AND the work of Dr. King while at the same time advocating against equal justice, the most fundamental of human rights. That's pretty impressive. And right on the verge of insane.

Zombies! Paul Krugman: "... the goings-on at Veterans Affairs shouldn't cause us to lose sight of a much bigger scandal: the almost surreal inefficiency and injustice of the American health care system as a whole. And it's important to understand that the Veterans Affairs scandal, while real, is being hyped out of proportion by people whose real goal is to block reform of the larger system. The essential, undeniable fact about American health care is how incredibly expensive it is...."

Tim Egan on WalMart, Starbucks & the do-nothing House Republicans.

AND the CIA Scraps Its Own Excellent Plan to End Islamic Terrorism Forever. Code Name "Devil Eyes." Adam Goldman of the Washington Post: "Beginning in about 2005, the CIA began secretly developing a ­custom-made Osama bin Laden ­action figure.... The face of the figure was painted with a heat-dissolving material, designed to peel off and reveal a red-faced bin Laden who looked like a demon, with piercing green eyes and black facial markings. The goal of the short-lived project was simple: spook children and their parents, causing them to turn away from the actual bin Laden." CW: It coulda worked! Seriously, if Republicans really wanted to know why the Benghazi attack was successful, they might examine the quality of agents the CIA hires. Obviously, "best & brightest" is not an employment requirement at Langley.

Presidential Election 2016
Walker, Christie

Marin Cogan of the National Journal interviews "a different kind of Democrat" -- Brian Schweitzer, former Montana governor. ...

... Joe Coscarelli of New York: "Along with contending that Eric Cantor sets off his gaydar, former Montana Governor and 2016 extra-long-shot Brian Schweitzer compared Senator Dianne Feinstein, loosely, to a prostitute in the new issue of the National Journal.... Right on cue, Schweitzer apologized for 'a number of stupid and insensitive remarks,' although he did not specify which." In another post, Coscarelli calls the graf from Cogan's story below "the parenthetical aside of the year":

(It wasn't the only time Schweitzer was unable to hold his tongue. Last week, I called him on the night Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated in his GOP primary. 'Don't hold this against me, but I'm going to blurt it out. How do I say this ... men in the South, they are a little effeminate,' he offered when I mentioned the stunning news. When I asked him what he meant, he added, 'They just have effeminate mannerisms. If you were just a regular person, you turned on the TV, and you saw Eric Cantor talking, I would say -- and I'm fine with gay people, that's all right -- but my gaydar is 60-70 percent. But he's not, I think, so I don't know. Again, I couldn't care less. I'm accepting.')