The Commentariat -- July 30, 2015
Internal links & defunct video removed.
Afternoon Update:
Calling Dr. Palmer. The "Hunter" Becomes the Hunted. Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed: "The American dentist who admitted to killing Cecil the lion has not responded to attempts at contact, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service official said on Thursday. 'The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of "Cecil the lion,"' Edward Grace, the agency's deputy chief of law enforcement, said in a statement provided to BuzzFeed News. 'That investigation will take us wherever the facts lead. At this point in time, however, multiple efforts to contact Dr. Walter Palmer have been unsuccessful. We ask that Dr. Palmer or his representative contact us immediately.'" CW: Wherever Palmer is in hiding, at least he's not likely limping along with arrows in his side.
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter will allow more U.S. troops to be armed while stateside and called for other security measures to be put in place following the attack in Chattanooga, Tenn., that killed five service members. The decision was outlined in a two-page memo released at the Pentagon on Thursday."
Gabrel Sherman of New York: "The Fox News GOP Debate Could Draw the Biggest Audience in Cable News History -- and Roger Ailes Is Making All the Rules."
Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "A judge set bail at $1 million on Thursday for the former University of Cincinnati police officer who shot and killed a motorist, after a traffic stop over a missing license plate."
*****
Jonathan Cohn of the Huffington Post: "It was 50 years ago Thursday that President Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation that created Medicare, dramatically altering life for America's seniors. But as debate over the program rages on, its conservative critics have learned to be more crafty about what alternatives they propose -- and how to justify them."
We Win! -- Lindsey Graham ...
... Steve Benen.: "... while that may be the end of the conversation for Graham, responsible policymakers have to wonder: 'win' at what cost? What are the security implications of the U.S. launching yet another Middle Eastern war? How long would the war last and with how many casualties? What happens after our 'victory'?" CW: Remember, this guy is likely the best candidate the GOP is fielding in the presidential race. He's the only one who's not an ignoramus or a kook or some combination thereof. And he thinks "we win" in a war with Iran is a great rationale to opt for unleashing untold carnage. This freak show isn't comical; it's scary. ...
Relieving the risk of a nuclear conflict with Iran diplomatically is superior than trying to do that militarily. -- Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a Senate hearing yesterday
... Helene Cooper & Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "While the nuclear agreement with Iran will not stop it from funding organizations the United States considers to be terrorist groups, the pact reduces the chances of a near-term military conflict between the two countries, the top American military leader, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, told Congress on Wednesday.... General Dempsey answered a barrage of questions from Republican senators that appeared intended to make him criticize the pact." CW: Yo, Lindsey, even the military thinks your bellicose approach is nuts.
CW: Adele Stan, in the American Prospect, makes the point that I made more clumsily over in Infotainment: "Among the most daunting obstacles to racial equality is the white liberal who thinks he doesn't have a racist bone in his body. Because we all do.... Until white progressives are willing to take a cold, hard look at why our movement is viewed with suspicion by those who feel shut out, a truly progressive future will be a promise unfulfilled." ...
Do-Nothing House Takes a Break. Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "The House adjourned Wednesday evening for its five-week August recess and won't have votes again until Tuesday, Sept. 8. Wednesday capped a July session dominated by Republican divides on highway funding, a controversy over displaying the Confederate flag, and a last-minute effort from a conservative rebel to oust Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)." ...
... Dana Milbank: "For the first time in 105 years, a speaker of the House is the target of what parliamentarians call a 'motion to vacate the chair'.... But, in a sense, the office of the speaker already is pretty much vacant. [John] Boehner is in charge, but only nominally. He is unable to move legislation, rendered powerless by his struggles to placate about 50 conservative holdouts.... If Boehner were instead to try a more bipartisan approach, he would further infuriate the Meadows crowd, but he would get things done. And Democrats have previously indicated they would help Boehner keep the speakership if conservatives were to stage a coup." ...
... Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Asked about [Mark] Meadows's [R-NC] gambit [to unseat House Speaker John Boehner], Republicans across the ideological spectrum reacted coolly Wednesday...." ...
... Scott Wong of the Hill: "Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told his colleagues on Wednesday he would resign from the conservative House Freedom Caucus board of directors, just a day after he offered a resolution to oust Ohio Republican John Boehner as Speaker of the House. His offer came during a Wednesday morning closed-door Freedom Caucus meeting that was called to discuss his actions...." But then he took it back.
Chris Brennan & Jeremy Roebuck of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah [D] and four associates were indicted Wednesday on racketeering conspiracy charges stemming from several alleged schemes to misuse campaign funds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money to further their political and financial interests. The five schemes include accepting a $1 million illegal loan for Fattah's failed 2007 mayoral campaign from a 'wealthy supporter' and then repaying some of it using "charitable and federal grant funds" that passed through a nonprofit founded and controlled by Fattah, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said at a news conference." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Robert Schmidt of Bloomberg: "Representative Scott Garrett [R-NJ], who heads an influential House subcommittee overseeing the U.S. capital markets, is facing a revolt by corporate and Wall Street donors after he reportedly made anti-gay remarks at a private meeting of Republican lawmakers. Earlier this month..., the Big 4 accounting firms and their trade association abruptly canceled a fundraising event for the New Jersey Republican. In addition, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has decided to stop making political action committee donations to Garrett.... Other firms are likely to follow suit.... The Financial Services' capital markets subcommittee is informally known in Washington fundraising circles as the ATM -- a seat almost guarantees endless streams of cash from the financial firms that have business before the panel."
Tom Vanden Brook of USA Today: "Top Pentagon officials plan to meet Monday to lay out the road map for allowing transgender troops to serve openly in the military, a Defense Department official said Wednesday. Meantime, on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter sent a memo to top military brass and civilians formally outlining his plan that would protect transgender troops from being discharged and directs officials to develop a plan within six months to incorporate those troops into the ranks."
Alam Fram of the AP: "Under fire for its role in providing fetal tissue for research, Planned Parenthood asked the government's top health scientists Wednesday to convene a panel of independent experts to study the issues surrounding the little-known branch of medicine. Planned Parenthood's request to the National Institutes of Health came as Senate Republicans pressed their fight to bar the organization from receiving federal aid. ...
... Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... extremists created a apparently misleading corporate filings and then used false government identifications to gain access to Planned Parenthood's medical and research staff with the agenda of secretly filming without consent -- then heavily edited the footage to make false and absurd assertions about our standards and services. They spent three years doing everything they could -- not to uncover wrongdoing, but rather to create it. They failed.... Attacking [federal] funding [of Planned Parenthood] is attacking women who need preventive health care, including women who need cancer screenings and contraception." ...
... Anna North of the New York Times: "Long before the current 'baby body parts' effort, anti-abortion groups were accusing Planned Parenthood of profiting from abortions, as though performing an incredibly stigmatized procedure, one that puts providers at risk of cyberattacks, harassment and murder, were a great way to make some easy cash.... Lawmakers now clamoring to take away Planned Parenthood's financial support should be ashamed of their participation in this scam."
... Kevin Drum: "So far, the worst anyone has come up with from these [three] videos is that some of the Planned Parenthood folks caught on tape used a 'tone' that was unfortunate. Give me a break. This is the way any doctor talks among other health care professionals." ...
... CW: This all has me so riled I decided to make what for me is a substantial donation to Planned Parenthood. This is what I got. ...
... Update: Just discovered I could donate here. So I did.
Obama Is a Idiot. Let's Do What He Did. Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "... one of the prime objectives [of the Koch brothers network] could have a direct impact on Election Day 2016: to create a permanent ground force powered by a vast trove of data, replicating the kind of infrastructure that helped President Obama win reelection."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "Will Dana, the managing editor of Rolling Stone, will leave the magazine, just months after a controversial article about a supposed gang rape at the University of Virginia was retracted.... When asked if the departure was linked to the controversy over the discredited article, Rolling Stone's publisher, Jann S. Wenner, said, via a spokeswoman, that 'many factors go into a decision like this.'... The magazine has since been the target of lawsuits from an assistant dean at the university and by three members of the fraternity at the center of the article, who filed a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday."
Déjà vu All Over Again
I was wrong because my sources were wrong. -- Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, 2005, on her reports on Iraq's weapons capabilities
We got it wrong because our very good sources had it wrong. -- New York Times Deputy Executive Editor Matt Purdy, 2015, on the paper's story about a supposed criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail account to discuss classified information
... Eric Boehlert of Media Matters has more in this piece republished in Salon.
Something is not a secret just because you don't know about it. -- Jon Stewart
Presidential Race
Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Hillary Clinton plans to urge Congress to lift the U.S. embargo on Cuba during a speech on Friday at Florida International University in Miami. Clinton, according to her presidential campaign, will say that Republican arguments in opposition to more engagement with Cuba represent the 'failed policies of the past.'... Clinton is said to have been pushing to lift the embargo for years."
Liz Kruetz of ABC News: "Hillary Clinton has staunchly defended Planned Parenthood in the wake of recently released videos that an anti-abortion group claims to show employees with the organization discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue. But, in a new interview, she calls the graphic videos 'disturbing' and says there should be a national investigation into that practice. 'I have seen pictures from them and obviously find them disturbing,' the Democratic presidential candidate told the New Hampshire Union Leader on Tuesday..., which were released by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress. 'Planned Parenthood is answering questions and will continue to answer questions.' Clinton, however, did not waiver in her overall support of the organization...." ...
... CW: The Union Leader is an ultra-conservative paper. Hillary massaged her answer to appease her listeners. ...
... Rachel Bade of Politico: "An irritated federal judge Thursday put the Hillary Clinton email scandal into stark terms, grilling the State Department on a pattern of delayed document releases that has turned a possible bureaucratic logjam into a major problem for the leading Democratic presidential contender. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, known for his blunt manner, said he simply did not understand why the State Department has dragged its feet on responses for emails in requests to the Freedom of Information Act." Leon is a Bush II appointee. ...
... As of 10:45 pm Wednesday, the New York Times is going with the AP story. ...
... Rachel Bade: "Long-time Hillary Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines handed the State Department 20 boxes of work-related emails taken in part from a personal email account, State officials said Wednesday, calling into question the extent to which top aides to the former secretary of state also engaged in controversial email practices." ...
... Niall Stanage of the Hill: "Even Democrats who are not Sanders partisans are concerned about Clinton's sometimes-opaque comments on the campaign trail.... Keystone is far from the only issue on which Clinton has bobbed and weaved."
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke to supporters at more than 3,500 parties around the country Wednesday night, trying to harness the enthusiasm of the large crowds he has been drawing and bolster his insurgent campaign organization."
Quinnipiac Univesity: "... Donald Trump is the clear leader in the crowded Republican presidential primary field, but he trails any of three leading Democratic contenders by wide margins in general election matchups, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today. Trump's 20 percent is the largest tally for a Republican contender in any national poll by the independent Quinnipiac University. Behind Trump are Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with 13 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 10 percent. No other Republican tops 6 percent and 12 percent are undecided. Trump also tops the 'no way' list as 30 percent of Republican voters say they would definitely not support him. New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie is next at 15 percent with Bush at 14 percent."
Ted Cruz feels the need to be as disruptive as Donald Trump, so Trump becomes Mitch McConnell's problem. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Daniel Strauss: "New Day for America, the super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich, raised more than $11 million between April 20 and June 30 of this year.... Specifically, New Day for America raised $11,130,730.32 from 166 reportable contributions.... Of those donations, 34 were of $100,000 or more."
Dave Weigel & Ben Terris of the Washington Post: New Hampshire Republicans aren't very interested in the Most Interesting Man in Politics. ...
... CW: Oh, and there's this: Paul's moves to party orthodoxy "... have alienated the libertarian base that has always been seen as Paul's stronghold in the crowd. Paul's high-profile attacks on the tax code and Planned Parenthood are designed to make up for that." Excellent calculation, Li'l Randy. I don't know what the loud-mouthed freeedom libertarian boyz think about girls -- or if they even know any girls -- but I know some prominent adult libertarians, and they strongly support Planned Parenthood & abortion rights. Because freeedom is for girls, too. ...
... Jonathan Chait: "No White House for you, Rand Paul. All happy campaigns are alike, but each unhappy campaign is unhappy in its own way. Those unique experiences of campaign failure provide some of the best entertainment of the long and arduous journey, and the pain is compounded by the observed scientific reality that a political corpse is capable of continuing to trudge forward well after its viability has expired. We begin our study of failure with Rand Paul."
Eliza Collins of Politico: "According to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran is essentially financing terrorism. And he's not backing down after the president called his comments 'outrageous.' 'If this deal is consummated, it will make the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism,' Cruz said during a round table Tuesday."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "James S. Gilmore III, the former governor of Virginia, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday to enter the crowded field of Republican presidential contestants. He becomes the 17th prominent candidate to seek the party’s nomination."
AND Chris Christie blames a New Jersey university pollster for his own unpopularity.
Beyond the Beltway
Lisa Cornwell & Dan Sewell of the AP: "A University of Cincinnati police officer who shot a motorist after stopping him over a missing front license plate pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of murder and involuntary manslaughter." ...
... Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "A University of Cincinnati police officer was indicted on murder charges on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a driver this month. In the indictment handed down by a grand jury in Hamilton County, the officer, Ray Tensing, is accused of killing the driver, Samuel DuBose, during a traffic stop near the campus on July 19. At a news conference, the county prosecutor, Joe Deters, said that Officer Tensing 'purposely killed' Mr. DuBose after the officer lost his temper. The death of Mr. DuBose, who was black, at the hands of Officer Tensing, who is white, joined a string of recent episodes ... that have raised hard questions about law enforcement use of force, and the role of race in policing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The Jeremy Stahl of Slate: If not for the video, Tensing would have got away with (alleged) murder because his fellow officers backed up his concocted story. "As for what happens next for officers ... who supported Tensing's false account, [County Prosecutor Joe] Deters said the city was 'looking at the issue' at the urging of the Dubose family." ...
... Charles Blow: "What is happening between police officers and people of color in this country is a structural issue and must be deconstructed as such. Cameras won't change basic character.... Police and criminal justice reform has to be a priority in our political actions now, and into the future."
Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress: "Alabama officials are currently seeking to prevent a pregnant prison inmate from obtaining a legal abortion by stripping her of her parental rights, in a case where a lawyer has been appointed to represent the interests of her fetus."
Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "While the world mourned Cecil, the 13-year-old lion that was allegedly shot by an American hunter in Zimbabwe, an even more devastating poaching incident was quietly carried out in Kenya. Poachers killed five elephants in Tsavo West National Park on Monday night..... While the killing of the lion in Zimbabwe has attracted the world's attention, the death of the five elephants has received almost no coverage, even though elephants are under a far greater threat from poachers than lions. Their tusks can be sold in Asia for more than $1,000 per pound." ...
... Ryan Broderick & Tammera Griffin of BuzzFeed: "Here's what the internet does when it thinks you killed a lion." ...
... Alan Pyke of Think Progress: "What Walter Palmer did wasn't hunting."
News Ledes
New York Times: "The commander of a group of Syrian fighters trained by the United States has been kidnapped by Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, his group said in a statement Thursday. The commander, Nadeem Hassan, and seven of his fighters were taken by the Nusra Front, a rival of the Islamic State in Syria, as they were returning from a meeting in Turkey."
AP: "Afghanistan's Taliban on Thursday confirmed the death of Mullah Mohammad Omar, who led the group's self-styled Islamic emirate in the 1990s, sheltered al-Qaida through the 9/11 attacks and led a 14-year insurgency against U.S. and NATO troops. The Taliban Shura, or Supreme Council, chose Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who had served as Mullah Omar's deputy for the past three years, as its new leader, two Taliban figures told the Associated Press...."
Washington Post: "The U.S. economy rebounded between April and June, new government data showed Thursday, expanding at an annualized rate of 2.3 percent. Growth in the second quarter remained modest, particularly compared with the breakneck pace seen in much of 2014, but it also signaled a bounce-back from a surprisingly sluggish winter when the economy was at a crawl."
New York Times: "Government officials and families of passengers lost on a Malaysian jet that vanished last year with 239 people aboard responded warily on Thursday to the discovery of possible wreckage from the aircraft, reluctant to fan hopes after more than a year of fruitless searching and false rumors. Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss of Australia, whose country has led the search for the jet, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, said that the discovery of an airplane part thousands of miles from the search area was 'a very significant development' but cautioned against concluding that it was from the missing aircraft."