;)
The Commentariat -- June 23, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The Senate narrowly voted Tuesday to end debate on legislation granting President Obama enhanced negotiating powers to complete a major Pacific trade accord, virtually assuring final passage Wednesday of Mr. Obama's top legislative priority in his final years in office.The procedural vote, 60 to 37, reached the minimum threshold needed, but final passage will require only 51 votes."
Eric Yoder of the Washington Post: "The computer upgrade that federal officials tout as having detected -- although not prevented -- a massive breach of information on federal employees is itself at high risk of failure, according to a new internal audit. The independent inspector general's office within the Office of Personnel Management is conducting a thorough review of the upgrade but issued a 'flash audit alert' to top agency leaders 'to bring to your immediate attention serious concerns we have' that require 'immediate action.'" ...
... CW Suggestion: Cut a deal with Ed Snowden to get him to lead a time to design a hack-proof (or at least hack-averse) system.
*****
NEW. Charles Pierce predicts the future: "Now, of course, we will hear a lot of ahistorical braggadocio about how it was Republicans who freed the slaves, and passed the civil rights acts in the 1960s, Party Of Lincoln and all that. And we will hear about how great we are in general because we have all come together to agree that, in 2015, we decline to further glorify the symbol of a bloody insurrection launched in defense of chattel slavery. We rock. We are so very awesome. I give it a couple of weeks before the conventional wisdom congeals that we have 'moved past the controversy' and we can all get back to gutting the Fair Housing Act and undermining voting rights and performing all the rites and rituals that have come to mark the Day of Jubilee." ...
... Oliver Knox of Yahoo News: "President Barack Obama on Friday will deliver the eulogy for pastor and South Carolina state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, one of the nine victims of the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston last week. Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the service." ...
... The White Supremacy Party. Michael Wines & Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times: "The Council of Conservative Citizens opposes 'all efforts to mix the races,' and believes 'that the American people and government should remain European in their composition and character.' It would severely restrict immigration, abolish affirmative action and dismantle the 'imperial judiciary' that produced, among other rulings, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that integrated American education.... Now the massacre of nine black parishioners in a Charleston, S.C., church has propelled the organization, which in recent years seemed in decline, back onto the national stage and embroiled the Republican Party in new questions about its ties to the group." ...
... Olivia Nuzzi & Jon Avlon of the Daily Beast have more on the history of the Council of Conservative Citizens & their friends in high places.
... "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning." Claudia Rankine in a New York Times front-page essay: "Black Lives Matter, the movement founded by the activists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, began with the premise that the incommensurable experiences of systemic racism creates an unequal playing field. The American imagination has never been able to fully recover from its white-supremacist beginnings." ...
... CW Correction: Actually, this is a NYT Magazine piece, which the Times had on its online front page, as it often does with Magazine pieces. ...
... Wonders Never Cease. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican presidential candidate from South Carolina, will call on Monday for the Confederate battle flag to be removed from the state's Capitol, according to a source familiar with his decision. Mr. Graham is expected to make the announcement during a 4 p.m. news conference with Gov. Nikki Haley, who is also expected to call for the flag's removal, The Post and Courier of Charleston reported on Monday. The paper also said South Carolina's other senator, Tim Scott, a Republican, would call for the flag to come down.... Mr. Graham initially said that he would be fine with it being taken down but acknowledged that the flag was 'part of who we are.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update: Frances Robles, et al., of the New York Times: "Gov. Nikki R. Haley called on Monday for South Carolina to do what just a week ago seemed politically impossible -- remove the Confederate battle flag from its perch in front of the State House building here. She argued that a symbol long revered by many Southerners was for some, after the church massacre in Charleston, a 'deeply offensive symbol of a brutally offensive past.'" ...
... Calculated Rectitude. Eli Stokols & Katie Glueck of Politico: "After a weekend that proved to be a political disaster for the GOP -- Republican presidential candidates were knocked back on their heels..., top party officials and several campaigns quickly fell in line behind the decision to remove the flag. And for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Lindsey Graham and the state's new Republican Party, the wrenching debate provided an opportunity, both politically and economically.... On Saturday evening..., Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker wasn't yet ready to say whether he thought the Confederate flag was a symbol of racism, saying he had been asked by 'a number of people' to hold off on expressing his views. Asked who made that request, Walker replied that he'd spoken with Haley, and suggested she was preparing to take action." ...
... Clay Chandler of the Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion-Ledger: "Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday night that the Confederate emblem in the state's official flag has to go.... It's the first time a Mississippi Republican elected official has publicly called for the removal of the emblem that served as the battle flag flown by the Confederate army during the Civil War. Later, it was adopted by anti-Civil Rights groups." ...
... NEW. Nick Gass of Politico: "A day after South Carolina's governor repudiated the Confederate battle flag, the drive to eradicate the divisive Civil War symbol is expanding to new targets. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday said he was taking steps to remove the Confederate flag from his state's license plates, saying the image sends the wrong message to the rest of the world." ...
... CW: Luckily, the Supremes just decided that would be cool. ...
... M. J. Lee of CNN: "Walmart and Sears, two of the country's largest retailers, will remove all Confederate flag merchandise from their stores.... As of Monday afternoon, Walmart.com carried the Confederate flag as well as attire featuring the flag's design, such as T-shirts and belt buckles.... [Sears] does not currently sell confederate flags at its stores, Sears Holdings spokesman Chris Brathwaite told CNN." ...
... ** Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic: "The Confederate flag is directly tied to the Confederate cause, and the Confederate cause was white supremacy.... Over the next few months the word 'heritage' will be repeatedly invoked. It would be derelict to not examine the exact contents of that heritage.... Nikki Haley deserves credit for calling for the removal of the Confederate flag. She deserves criticism for couching that removal as matter of manners." ...
... Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "Lee Bright, a South Carolina state senator with a Confederate flag framed above his office sofa, saw his inbox ping with hundreds of e-mails calling for the flag to come down from the statehouse grounds. He said the rebel symbol was threatened by a 'war of political correctness' run amok." ...
... Steve M. has more on Bright. ...
... See also links under Presidential Race below.
Alicia Parlapiano, et al., of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has been a conservative court. But even conservative courts have liberal terms -- and the current term is leaning left as it enters its final two weeks. The court has issued liberal decisions in 54 percent of the cases in which it had announced decisions as of June 22, according to the Supreme Court Database, using a widely accepted standard developed by political scientists." CW: Don't count on it. These "liberal" decisions, including the a possible upcoming opinion upholding same-sex marriage as a Constitutional right, may be designed to provide cover for whacking the ACA. ...
... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... many [Republicans] say they are gleeful that the court may do with a single decision what Republican lawmakers could not accomplish in five years: cripple one of [President] Obama's signature achievements. 'This is the beginning of the end of the Affordable Care Act,' Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in an interview." ...
... Mark Blumenthal & Jonathan Cohn of the Huffington Post on why so many Americans dislike ObamaCare: "... people are holding the law responsible for all of the problems of the health care system -- including those like rising deductibles, narrowing hospital networks, or even long waits at the doctor's office that most experts believe have little or nothing to do with the law itself.... Many people assume the Affordable Care Act is to blame (or, in some cases, to thank) for the changes they are seeing. By enacting such sweeping legislation, Obama and his allies tied their law to everything that happens in health care -- good and bad and in between."
... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a Depression-era government program that allows the government to take raisins from growers to boost market prices is an unconstitutional taking of private property. The court ruled 8 to 1 that the government could not take the raisins without adequate compensation.... Justices will issue more opinions on Thursday and Friday, and end their work for the term next week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "President Obama scrambled for votes Monday as Democratic support trickled in for his trade agenda, despite strong pressure from unions."
CW: I couldn't agree more with Larry Wilmore. A number of media outlets -- not just Fox "News" -- led their stories on Marc Maron's interview of the President with the "big news" that Obama had used the word "nigger," which, in context, was both appropriate & unremarkable.
Scott Wong of the Hill: "A band of House conservatives is discussing whether to retaliate against GOP leaders for punishing rank-and-file lawmakers who voted against a procedural vote on trade earlier this month. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), one of several conservatives targeted by leadership, said members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus will discuss whether to block legislation or try once again to oust Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) from power."
Ovetta Wiggins & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "An emotional Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan disclosed Monday that he has been diagnosed with late stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which he called 'a very advanced and very aggressive' form of cancer."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jack Mirkinson in Salon on "the racist insanity of 'Meet the Press' ... We had no right to expect better from a show that represents one of the most entrenched bastions of whiteness in the media world today. If you're looking for a symbol of why that world is in desperate, immediate need of a diversity shakeup, you would be hard-pressed to find one better than Sunday's 'Meet the Press,' because when you have more kinds of people around the table, you're more likely to avoid monumentally stupid screw-ups like the one Chuck Todd just made." CW: I can't get over Todd's idiocy. Also, too, great choice to invite David Brooks to contribute to the panel discussion. As Mirkinson notes, "If Charleston isn't enough for 'Meet The Press' to bump David Brooks, what in God's name is?"
Presidential Race
Profiles in Cowardice (and Outright Racism). Philip Rucker & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "The Republican [presidential] hopefuls mostly stammered and stumbled in response to the shootings [in Charleston, S.C.]. At first, some resisted calling the massacre racially motivated, only to reverse course when it became obvious it was. Most stopped short of calling for South Carolina leaders to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the state capitol in Columbia. Some, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, declined to comment at all. Only after South Carolina's Republican governor, Nikki Haley, emotionally declared Monday that the flag should come down did most GOP candidates join the chorus. Some also lacked sensitivity. Sen. Ted Cruz joked Friday -- less than two days after the slayings -- that in his home state of Texas, gun control means 'hitting what you aim at.' The next day, he campaigned at a shooting range. Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, by contrast, has forcefully initiated a conversation about race and bigotry in recent days." ...
... David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee declared on Tuesday that racism had been solved.... 'I keep hearing people saying we need more conversations about race,' the former Arkansas governor opined. 'Actually we don't need more conversations. What we need is conversions because the reconciliations that changes people is not a racial reconciliation, it's a spiritual reconciliation when people are reconciled to God.... It's solved!'" ...
... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "... Mike Huckabee once refused to give a speech to the group that inspired alleged Charleston shooter Dylann Roof, but he did send them a videotaped message." After the Arkansas media got wind of Huckabee's planned speech to the racist organization, he begged off, saying, 'I will not share the stage or platform with someone who thinks the Holocaust didn't happen." CW: But no problem with the group's white supremacist mission.
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Dick Van Patten, the genial, round-faced comic actor who premiered on Broadway as a child, starred on television in its infancy and then, in middle age, found lasting fame as the patriarch on TV's 'Eight is Enough,' has died."
New York Times: "The husband of a prison employee who is accused of aiding two convicted killers in their escape said the inmates threatened to kill him if she did not follow through with their getaway plan. In his first extensive remarks on the escape, the husband, Lyle Mitchell, told the 'Today' show on NBC in an interview televised on Tuesday that his wife, Joyce E. Mitchell, was drawn to the inmates by the 'attention' they gave her, but that she realized she was in over her head when they began threatening to hurt him." CW: This is mighty different from the first stories that came out, which suggested that Joyce Mitchell agreed to help the convicts on condition they would murder her husband. No way to know, I guess.
Washington Post: "James Horner, an Academy Award-winning composer best known for scoring the 1997 blockbuster 'Titanic,' is missing and feared dead after one of his planes crashed in Southern California on Monday." ...
... Hollywood Reporter: "James Horner, the consummate film composer known for his heart-tugging scores for Field of Dreams, Braveheart and Titanic, for which he won two Academy Awards, died Monday in a plane crash near Santa Barbara. He was 61. His death was confirmed by Sylvia Patrycja, who is identified on Horner's film music page as his assistant." (CW Note: the Hollywood Reporter piece predates the WashPo story.)
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