The Commentariat -- December 6

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on today's heaping pile of deceit shoveled up by David Brooks. My editor tells me he has already received an appreciative letter from a law professor who was one of the principal authors of a study Brooks slyly misrepresents (without actually lying about it) in his column. The New York Times eXaminer front page is here.

Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is petitioning the UN over what it sees as a concerted efforted to disenfranchise black and Latino voters ahead of next year's presidential election. The organisation will this week present evidence to the UN high commissioner on human rights of what it contends is a conscious attempt to "block the vote" on the part of state legislatures across the US. Next March the NAACP will send a delegation of legal experts to Geneva to enlist the support of the UN human rights council." (This story got little coverage in U.S. media, tho the AP did have a story.) ...

... The NAACP is holding a Stand for Freedom march on the U.N. building in New York City this Saturday on U.N. Human Rights Day. Info is here.

Massimo Calabresi of Time: "The latest weapon Obama is wielding against Republicans is the fate of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau."

The Pelosi-Gingrich set-to begins here with Brian Beutler of TPM:

One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich. I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff. -- Nancy Pelosi ...

... THEN it goes here, as reported by Justin Sink of The Hill: "Newt Gingrich said that a threat from ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to disclose information she learned while serving on an ethics committee investigating him during his time as Speaker of the House would 'totally abuse the ethics process' and violate rules of the House of Representatives." ...

... THEN it goes here, as reported by John Parkinson of ABC News: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi now says she is not sitting on a trove of opposition research on former House Speaker-turned-GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich."

Joe Nocera writes in praise of Dr. Don Berwick, whom Republican Senators refused to confirm as Director of Medicare. Why? Because they're real flames.

Right Wing World ...

Here's Ron Paul's anti-Gingrich 60-second spot:

... Rules. Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: " Radio giant Clear Channel Communications is removing San Francisco’s only progressive AM talk radio station from the band, replacing it with mostly conservative content like Glenn Beck and Fox News Radio. As Brad Blog reports, Green960-KKGN will now move to the 'radio ghetto' of FM HD2, which requires listeners to have an HD radio. Clear Channel ... now happens to be owned by Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital.... Clear Channel is the nation’s largest radio network and the vast majority of their talk radio content — 86 percent, according to liberal talk radio host Bill Press — is conservative." ...

This Time Romney Flips Left! Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "On Monday, Mitt Romney embraced one of President Obama’s signature proposals — another one-year extension of a cut in payroll taxes, after just weeks ago deriding the idea as 'little Band-Aids' that offered only a temporary fix.... Newt Gingrich ... said months ago that he favored an extension." ...

... Steve Benen: "So, let’s see. First, Romney sort of endorsed the payroll tax break. Then he dismissed it. Then his campaign no longer wanted to talk about. Then he announced his support for it. Romney must realize that there’s a perception — based on voluminous evidence — that he’s a cowardly, unprincipled hack with no core beliefs who’ll shift with the political winds. And yet, the Republican presidential hopeful keeps offering proof that the criticisms are accurate." ...

News Ledes

NBC News: "Randy Babbitt resigned as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday after being charged over the weekend with driving while intoxicated."

AP: "Hundreds of people took to the streets of Moscow for a second successive day on Tuesday to demand an end to Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule, defying a crackdown by tens of thousands of police reinforced by crack Interior Ministry troops. Police said they had detained about 250 people in central Moscow when they tried to stage an unapproved rally and held about 200 more in St Petersburg, where opposition forces have also been emboldened by the prime minister's worst election setback since he took power in 1999."

President Obama will speak about the economy in Kansas at 1:55 pm ET: McClatchy News: "Looking to inject his economic agenda with the grand sweep of history, he'll travel Tuesday to the small town of Osawatomie, Kan., the same place where Theodore Roosevelt a century ago summoned the nation to a new progressive era under what he called a 'New Nationalism.'"

New York Times: "In what officials say is the largest ever settlement in a government investigation of a mine disaster, Alpha Natural Resources agreed to pay $209 million in restitution and civil and criminal penalties for the role of its subsidiary, Massey Energy, in a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 men in West Virginia."

Guardian: "The grand bargain struck by Germany and France to save the euro and restore confidence in the single currency was facing its first challenge within hours of being negotiated, after 15 eurozone nations were warned that their credit ratings could be downgraded. Just after crunch talks in Paris seen as vital to preventing the collapse of the euro, France and Germany were among the countries warned that Standard & Poor's was considering whether to reduce their ratings."

New York Times: At least 58 people were killed and scores wounded after bombers struck Shiite religious observances on Tuesday in three cities, detonating explosives amid crowds of worshipers in the first such sectarian attacks in a decade of war in Afghanistan."

The Secret Life of Gov. Willard. Reuters: "Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned.The move during the final weeks of Romney's administration was legal but unusual for a departing governor, Massachusetts officials say."

The Chicago Tribune has sort of a livebloggy thing on former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who faces a sentencing hearing today in Chicago. A New York Times story is here.

Cookie Crumbles, Takes Detestable Government Handouts. Wall Street Journal: Mary Brown of Panama City, Florida, "The woman chosen to represent the legal challenge to the Obama administration's health-care overhaul filed for bankruptcy in September after her business failed, a move that could pose problems for the high-profile lawsuit.... Without owning a business, it could be harder for Ms. Brown to argue she is harmed by the legislation. Meanwhile, her recent financial woes suggest the possibility she would be exempt from penalties for noncompliance with the individual mandate. That raises questions about whether the suit can be based on her experience.... Ms. Brown ... who is receiving unemployment benefits." CW: really, I don't bear this woman any ill will, but sometimes shit happens to selfish people, and it's hard to get all torn up about it.

The Commentariat -- December 5

Randeep Ramesh of the Guardian: "Income inequality among working-age people has risen faster in Britain than in any other rich nation since the mid-1970s owing to the rise of a financial services elite who through education and marriage have concentrated wealth into the hands of a tiny minority, according to a new report by the OECD. Economists from the thinktank, which is funded by developed world taxpayers, say the annual average income in the UK of the top 10% in 2008 was just under £55,000, about 12 times higher than that of the bottom 10%, who had an average income of £4,700.... However, the report makes clear that even in countries viewed as 'fairer' – such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden – this pay gap between rich and poor is expanding: from five to one in the 1980s to six to one today. In the rising powers of Brazil, Russia, India and China the ratio is an alarming 50 to one." ...

... A One Percenter Speaks. Nick Hanauer in Bloomberg News: "I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off the ground dozens of companies in industries including manufacturing, retail, medical services, the Internet and software.... Even so, I’ve never been a 'job creator.' I can start a business based on a great idea, and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people. But if no one can afford to buy what I have to sell, my business will soon fail and all those jobs will evaporate.... So let’s give a break to the true job creators. Let’s tax the rich like we once did and use that money to spur growth by putting purchasing power back in the hands of the middle class. And let’s remember that capitalists without customers are out of business." ...

     ... Rick Hertzberg comments: "Is it too 'partisan' to point out that the Obama Administration and most congressional Democrats want to do all these things? That they want infrastructure spending; aid to the states; and a slightly higher marginal-income tax rate on millionaires to finance the above plus extended unemployment relief and a cut in the payroll tax, which is a direct tax on jobs — and, therefore, on job creation? And does it show insufficient fealty to the 'sensible center' to note that congressional Republicans and the Republican Presidential candidates are essentially unanimous in their opposition to all these things?"

Paul Krugman: "And all indications are that [in their 2012 election coverage] the press will ... act as stenographers and refuse to tell readers and listeners when candidates lie. Because to do otherwise when the parties aren’t equally at fault — and they won’t be — would be 'biased'." CW: Krugman points out a PolitiFact error, about which I've written to PolitiFact -- no word yet.

CW: Scott Lemieux of Lawyers, Guns & Money elaborates on a point I made on Off Times Square the other day (although I wasn't aware this was a purposeful, oft-repeated practice): "... the Senate ... decided to punt on the question of whether the executive can arbitrarily and indefinitely detain American citizens simply by declaring them terrorists. While dismaying, this is part of an ongoing pattern many political scientists (including yours truly) have identified: legislators deliberately putting contested issues into the courts. Issues like the constitutionality of arbitrary detention end up in the courts not because the judiciary is 'usurping' legislative power but because that’s how legislative majorities want it." ...

... Here's Charlie Savage's underlying story, which is as helpful as it can be under the circumstance that Senators don't agree on WTF they voted for. As Lemieux writes, let the Supremes decide. ...

... Ray McGovern, in a TruthOut essay: "Conflicting legal interpretations of the bill are now more about whether military detentions would be mandatory or would the president still retain some discretion. In sum, the wording appears to create a parallel military justice system that, theoretically, we are all subject to. All that would be needed is an allegation by someone that we assisted someone who in some way assisted someone else in some way. An actual terrorist act would not be needed – and neither would a trial by one’s peers as guaranteed by the Constitution to determine actual 'guilt.'” Should you be worried? Sounds like it. Thanks to Valerie L.T. for the link.

Karen Garcia writes an excellent summary post on the issue of policing the Occupy movement. We've linked most of the articles Garcia pulls together in her post, but if you've missed them, do link through. The apparently coordinated police brutality targeting Occupy protesters, many of them young people, and the militaristic tactics U.S. police departments are employing today, are eating the republic alive.

Right Wing World

Dylan Byers of Politico: "Mitt Romney's vulnerabilities as a candidate are well known, yet a seemingly new one surfaced last week: his unusual brittleness in the face of media questions. With one prickly interview with Fox’s Bret Baier on Tuesday — in which the candidate appeared uncomfortable and even angry fielding basic questions about his record — the former Massachusetts governor set off a round of speculation about his ability to operate outside hermetically sealed campaign events, reminding both his rivals and the media of the extreme lengths to which he has gone to evade the national press."

One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich. I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff. -- Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader

E. J. Dionne: "A party that lived by the tea crowd in 2010 is being severely hobbled by it now." ...

... Paul Krugman: "... whoever finally gets the Republican nomination will be a deeply flawed candidate. And these flaws won’t be an accident...; the fact that the party is committed to demonstrably false beliefs means that only fakers or the befuddled can get through the selection process." ...

... This GOP Candidate Will Say Anything. Remember, this is the best food stamp president in history. So more Americans today get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash -- you don't get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires because, after all, don't you want to be compassionate? -- Newt Gingrich ...

... Each of Gingrich’s claims about food stamps is so ridiculous -- especially for a self-styled policy wonk -- that we wondered whether he was really intending to be serious.... But the transcript makes it sound like he wasn’t joking, so we’ll assume he wasn’t. For being so ridiculously wrong in so many ways, we rate his statement Pants on Fire. -- PolitiFact

The Congressional Budget Office is a reactionary socialist institution which does not believe in economic growth, does not believe in innovation and does not believe in data that it has not internally generated. -- Newt Gingrich ...

... ** Mr. Gingrich's charge is completely nonsense. -- Bruce Bartlett, New York Times

Al Hunt in the New York Times: Newt Gingrich's "personal past is messier than most. He is on his third marriage, and he left his first two wives when they were in poor health and while he was having affairs. Also, his version of events is replete with gaps and changing and contradictory stories; both of his two former wives have questioned his moral character." Will values voters give him a pass? ...

... Adam Hochschild in a New York Times op-ed: Newt Gingrich's doctoral dissertation wasn't racist; but it was a pile of crap.

Dafna Linzer of ProPublica: GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann & former Minnesota Sen. Norm Colman (R) both pressed for a pardon for a "reformed" ex-con who had become a "good Christian" and made lots of charitable donations -- like to Bachmann's & Coleman's campaigns -- even as said good Christian was allegedly running a big ole Ponzi scheme. Bachmann & Coleman have withdrawn their support for the guy.

Andy Borowitz publishes Herman Cain's farewell letter. Last words:

And that leads me to my final point: you disgust me, America. Right now if I had my way, I’d up and move to another country. I really, truly would. Only I don’t know where any of them are, and my wife won’t let me leave the house.

News Ledes

President Obama on extending the middle-class tax cut. Happily, he whacks Republican obstructionists:

New York Times: J. Randolph Babbitt, "the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, has been placed on leave after he was arrested over the weekend in Virginia on a drunken driving charge."

Politico: "President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are on a collision course with Republicans over extending a payroll tax break that expires at year’s end, with both sides pushing new proposals that diverge dramatically over how to pay for the tax cut."

New York Times: "European leaders are working overtime on a tentative deal to try to save the euro, which they hope to complete at a crucial summit meeting in Brussels this week. But rather than one transformative leap, the deal will have several moving parts, together meant to show resolve to protect Italy and Spain, revise the economic governance of the euro zone and prevent further debt crises, officials involved in the talks say."

Guardian: "The high court has paved the way for the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to pursue his case against extradition to Sweden in the supreme court. Two judges ruled that his case raised a question 'of general public importance' that should be decided by the highest court in the land 'as quickly as possible'."

New York Times: "A day after parliamentary elections delivered steep losses to United Russia, the party led by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, Western monitors said the vote was marred by limited political competition, ballot box stuffing, and use of government resources for the party’s benefit."

We Are Amused. ABC News: "Queen Elizabeth II will see six consecutive years of frozen pay, as new austerity measures in the U.K. have cut funding for the royal household. Taxpayer funding for royal travel and royal palaces has also been put on the chopping block, so British taxpayers will no longer foot the bill for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s travels and security. The tab for the duke and duchess of Cambridge’s expenses will now be picked up by Prince Charles. The new measures also will lead to fewer royal parties and events, and no repairs for the royal palaces.... The move is the latest by Parliament to cut the U.K.’s major deficit problem."

The Commentariat -- December 4

Maureen Dowd writes a pretty good column on the history of Newt Gingrich's writings & remarks on matters racial. My column on Dowd's is up now at the New York Times eXaminer. The eXaminer front page is here. ...

... Also in NYTX, see Alex Kane's interview of Adbusters Editor Kalle Lasn; he talks about New York Times writers smearing Occupy & Adbusters as anti-Semitic (and one of those NYT writers was Our Mister Brooks, a tidbit I noted in an earlier NYTX column), then refusing to print Lasn's rebuttal.

** Max Blumenthal in the Exiled Online: "Israeli occupation forces ... trained U.S. police for a coordinated crackdown on 'Occupy' protests.... The Israelification of America’s security apparatus, recently unleashed in full force against the Occupy Wall Street Movement, has taken place at every level of law enforcement, and in areas that have yet to be exposed.... The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) is at the heart of American-Israeli law enforcement collaboration.... Through its Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP), JINSA claims to have arranged Israeli-led training sessions for over 9000 American law enforcement officials at the federal, state and municipal level.... Some of the police chiefs who have taken part in JINSA’s LEEP program have done so under the auspices of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).... PERF gained notoriety when [its director Chuck] Wexler confirmed that his group coordinated police raids in 16 cities across America against 'Occupy' protest encampments. As many as 40 cities have sought PERF advice on suppressing the 'Occupy' movement.... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has positioned itself as an important liaison between American police forces and the Israeli security-intelligence apparatus." Read the whole article, which Kate M. called to my attention. ...

... See also this Democracy Now! "discussion on policing and the Occupy Wall Street movement with Chuck Wexler, director of [PERF] ... and with Norm Stamper, the former police chief of Seattle." Video & transcript...." ...

... Norm Stamper in The Nation: "US police forces have become increasingly militarized, and it’s showing in cities everywhere.... The paramilitary bureaucracy and the culture it engenders — a black-and-white world in which police unions serve above all to protect the brotherhood — is worse today than it was in the 1990s. Such agencies inevitably view protesters as the enemy. And young people, poor people and people of color will forever experience the institution as an abusive, militaristic force—not just during demonstrations but every day, in neighborhoods across the country." ...

... To your left: what the well-dressed, militarized riot policeman will be wearing when s/he confronts you.

For you masquerade fans, the New York Times depicts more Riot Cop Fashion Design through the Years here. Or what not to wear when attempting to impersonate an officer. It's so outre.

A brief overview by Chi Birmingham & Alex Vitale is here. Even the writers' names sound like those of fashion designers.

Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times (Dec. 1): "Citing extensive abuses of troubled borrowers across Massachusetts, the state’s attorney general sued the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders on Thursday, seeking relief for consumers hurt by what she called unfair and deceptive business practices. In addition to creating a new and significant legal headache for the banks named in the suit — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and GMAC Mortgage — the Massachusetts action diminishes the likelihood of a comprehensive settlement between the banks and federal and state officials to resolve foreclosure improprieties." ...

... Justin Elliott of Salon: "Coakley’s suit comes just as Occupy Wall Street organizers are planning a campaign focusing on the foreclosure crisis that will likely feature eviction defenses, protests at banks and the like. The Occupy Our Homes project is launching on Tuesday."

Neela Banerjee of the Los Angeles Times: "Environmentalists and other nations say U.S. policy changes raise questions about whether it is committed to substantially cutting emissions and aiding developing nations in their efforts to do so."

Nick Miroff & William Booth of the Washington Post: "Arrests of illegal migrants trying to cross the southern U.S. border have plummeted to levels not seen since the early 1970s, according to tallies released by the Department of Homeland Security last week, a historic shift that could reshape the debate over immigration reform.... Experts say ... it appears that the historic flood of Mexican migration north has slowed dramatically."

Dafna Linzer & Jennifer LaFleur in the Washington Post: "White criminals seeking presidential pardons over the past decade have been nearly four times as likely to succeed as minorities, a ProPublica examination has found."

Perpectual War, Con'd. Glenn Greenwald: "Given the theories used to justify Bush/Cheney powers — ones that were just repeated almost verbatim by Obama lawyers when asked about the Awlaki assassination — how can anyone coherently have objected to the Bush/Cheney Guantanamo detention system but support Obama’s assassination powers now?"

     ... The underlying AP story by Matt Apuzzo: "U.S. citizens are legitimate military targets when they take up arms with al-Qaida, top national security lawyers in the Obama administration said Thursday. The lawyers were asked at a national security conference about the CIA killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen and leading al-Qaida figure. He died in a Sept. 30 U.S. drone strike in the mountains of Yemen. The government lawyers, CIA counsel Stephen Preston and Pentagon counsel Jeh Johnson, did not directly address the al-Awlaki case. But they said U.S. citizens do not have immunity when they are at war with the United States."

The Little King & His Enforcer. Alex Pareene of Salon: "The mayor of New York and his police commissioner reveal just how comfortable they are with autocracy."

Glenn Thrush of Politico: Newt Gingrich joins Team Obama in attacking Mitt Romney.

Right Wing World

Justin Elliott takes a look back at Newt's "impressive record not only of flip-flops, but also of policy positions that are profoundly unorthodox, some would say outlandish."

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: Mitt Romney "says he learned about expanding employment during his time heading a private equity firm. But under his leadership, Bain Capital often maximized profits in part by firing workers."

Steve Benen takes a fond look back at his favorite Herman Cain moments. CW: They're pretty funny, until you remember a whole buncha people said they were going to vote for this guy for president.

News Ledes

ashington Post: "The Occupy D.C. campaign, largely peaceful since its launch two months ago, turned confrontational Sunday when police detained about two dozen protesters during a tense day-long standoff in McPherson Square. It marked the first-ever arrests at the group’s base camp in Washington, and it resembled clashes between police and Occupy protesters in other cities across the country."

New York Times: "Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record last year, upending the notion that the brief decline during the recession might persist through the recovery."

New York Times: "Telling Italians that the fate of their country and the euro was at stake, Prime Minister Mario Monti unveiled a radical and ambitious package of spending cuts and tax increases on Sunday, including deeply unpopular moves like raising the country’s retirement age."

New York Times: "The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, is expected to offer a new plan on Monday for extending the payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits that otherwise would expire this month, a fellow Democratic senator said on Sunday."

Reuters: "Russian voters dealt Vladimir Putin's ruling party a heavy blow on Sunday by cutting its parliamentary majority in an election that showed growing unease with his domination of the country as he prepares to reclaim the presidency. Incomplete results showed Putin's United Russia was struggling even to win 50 percent of the votes, compared with more than 64 percent four years ago. Opposition parties said even that outcome had been inflated by fraud." New York Times story here.

AP: "Europe's government-debt crisis, which has dragged on for more than two years, is entering a pivotal week, as leaders across the continent converge to prevent a collapse of the euro and a global financial panic that could result.Expectations are rising that Friday's summit of leaders of the 27 countries in the European Union will yield a breakthrough."

AP: "Iran's armed forces have shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along the country's eastern border, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. An unidentified military official quoted in the report warned of a strong and crushing response to any violations of the country's airspace by American drone aircraft."

AP: "President Barack Obama has told Pakistan's president [Asif Ali Zardari] that the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers were not deliberate attacks and that the U.S. is committed to a full investigation." New York Times story here. ...

... Reuters: "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday, again offering U.S. condolences over the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in NATO air strikes last week, the State Department said in a statement."

AP: "Facing bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service is pushing ahead with unprecedented cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery and, for the first time in 40 years, eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day. The estimated $3 billion in reductions, to be announced in broader detail on Monday, are part of a wide-ranging effort by the cash-strapped Postal Service to quickly trim costs, seeing no immediate help from Congress."

New York Times: "The Republican presidential candidates were competing on Sunday, openly or more subtly, for the backing of former supporters of Herman Cain, a day after he suspended his presidential campaign with the defiant vow that, accusations of sexual misconduct aside, he 'would not go away.'”