The Commentariat -- June 25, 2014
Internal links removed.
Martin Matishak of the Hill: "Republican lawmakers tasked with finalizing legislation to reform the Veterans Affairs Department slammed an independent cost estimate of the revamp on Tuesday. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the Senate bill, passed earlier this month, would cost $35 billion, and up to $50 billion if the measure was fully implemented after two years. The budget office said a similar measure adopted by the House would cost $44 billion.... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, has said the bill would cost $2 billion and would be paid for through emergency funds. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who hammered out the Senate version of the legislation with Sanders, called the estimate 'wildly inaccurate' if looked at from a 'rational viewpoint.'" CW: Okay, so somewhere between $2BB & $50BB, give or take.
... Daniel Neuhauser of Roll Call: "Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, told Republicans Tuesday he could have an announcement within days on whether the House will file a lawsuit against President Barack Obama, challenging the executive actions that have become the keystone of the administration. The lawsuit could set up a significant test of constitutional checks and balances, with the legislative branch suing the executive branch for ignoring its mandates, and the judiciary branch deciding the outcome."
Cruel Nation. Charles Pierce: "... there is something different abroad in the politics now, perhaps because we are in the middle of an era of scarcity and because we have invested ourselves in a timid culture of austerity and doubt. The system seems too full now of opportunities to grind and to bully. We have politicians, most of whom will never have to work another day in their lives, making the argument seriously that there is no role in self-government for the protection and welfare of the political commonwealth as that term applies to the poorest among us."
Zeke Miller of Time: Dick Cheney keeps talking, has no regrets about Iraq. Also, fond of Egypt's President al-Sisi, who unceremoniously deposed the last elected president.
Today in Officially Encouraging Assassination. David Catanese of U.S. News: "Asked how [Hillary] Clinton would fare in Arkansas if she pursued the presidency in 2016, 2nd Congressional District chairman Johnny Rhoda [R] told U.S. News, 'She'd probably get shot at the state line.'" ...
... Update. Ha Ha, Just Kidding about the Assassination Thing. Colin Campbell of Business Insider: "'That comment was taken way out of context.... It certainly was not meant in a threatening or hostile way at all. It was just a comment. Perhaps I used the wrong word,' Second Congressional District Chairman Johnny Rhoda told Business Insider on Tuesday. 'It was completely blown out of proportion.' Rhoda, who has been described as a prominent member of his state's Republican Party, did not dispute the accuracy of the quote.... [U.S. News Reporter David] Catanese disputed the notion that the quote was taken out of context. 'Oh, yes, "taken out of context,'" Catanese wrote to Business Insider, dryly. 'As in -- taken out of our on-the-record conversation and into print.'" ...
... CW Note to Yahoos on the Meaning of "Out of Context." If I say, "How will Hillary fare in Arkansas?" and you say, "She'll be shot," the remark is in context. Asked & answered. If you make a long, rambling reply, & somewhere in there you say, "It's shocking, I know, but I've heard people say she'll be shot," then isolating "she'll be shot" as a stand-alone remark would be taking it out of context & would misrepresent your meaning & intent. You weren't saying "she'll be shot"; you've heard other people say that, & you're not condoning the sentiment nor suggesting it is your own. Catanese did not misrepresent Rhoda's remark; he did not take it out of context. ...
... Context is also circumstance. You could find hundreds of instances of Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert's making horribly antisocial remarks. But when you find out they're making those remarks on satirical TV shows, you realize they mean something entirely different. Of course context is usually more subtle than that. If I were a Hillary supporter, for instance, & I said, "She'll be shot," I'd be saying it as a warning of the hostile, dangerous environment which Rhoda & his ilk have created. The context here is my general point-of-view & is not limited to a particular Q&A. ...
... Ann Friedman in New York on how men -- and the NRA -- compare & contrast guns and women. It's all about control. CW: I connected this to the "She'll be shot" story for a reason.
Brett Logiurato of Business Insider: "Analysts are starting to warn about the possibility of the second government shutdown in two years, due to the looming fight over the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.... The dispute over the bank has made some unusual allies -- the White House and the Republican establishment-friendly Chamber of Commerce both pressed the case for the bank's renewal on Monday.... Four top House Republicans are opposed to reauthorizing the bank -- [Kevin] McCarthy, incoming House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), and House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin). But their Republican counterparts in the Senate -- as well as Republican governors -- have been more supportive in public statements about the bank. Moreover, GOP senators wouldn't want to risk a shutdown with a Senate majority on the line."
Drones! Not so Much. Sam Frizell of Time: "The Federal Aviation Administration is upholding a ban on using drones for commercial purposes, including delivering packages, according to a memo released this week. The FAA has long said that commercial drone use is illegal, but a federal judge ruled in March that the FAA must accept public comment before adopting the rules, according to Ars Technica. The recent memo is a call for public input on its rules."
Congressional Races
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "With an unusual assist from African-American voters and other Democrats who feared his opponent, Senator Thad Cochran on Tuesday beat back a spirited challenge from State Senator Chris McDaniel, triumphing in a Republican runoff and defeating the Tea Party in the state where the movement's hopes were bright." ...
... Geoff Pender, et al., of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger: "But McDaniel didn't concede Tuesday night and in a speech to supporters referenced 'dozens of irregularities' in voting Tuesday and indicated he would challenge the results over Democrats voting in the Republican primary." CW: Because sometimes what's both legal & common practice is unfair. Ya know, Chris, that's what the South is all about. It's just that you're not usually on the short end of the unfair stick.
Nikita Stewart of the New York Times: "Representative Charles B. Rangel, seeking a 23rd term, held a slim lead in a fierce battle early Wednesday with State Senator Adriano D. Espaillat in their primary election contest, a rematch that was largely fought along ethnic and generational lines. With 100 percent of precincts reporting after 1 a.m., Mr. Rangel led by just over 1,800 votes, or 47.4 percent to 43.6 percent."
Gubernatorial Race
John Wagner & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown cruised past his two rivals in Maryland's bitter Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, setting up a November contest with GOP nominee Larry Hogan, a Cabinet secretary under the state's last Republican chief executive. Brown, who would be Maryland's first African American governor and only the third elected in the nation, received about half the Democratic vote in an election marked by lackluster voter interest."
As much as it hurts my feelings, I am embedding the video -- mentioned in today's Comments -- of John Oliver's segment exposing the sale of unregulated dietary supplements. I take umbrage at Oliver's position because, as some readers have learned, I am inadvertently hawking this shit myself (see yesterday's Commentariat; also James S.'s comment on same). -- Marie of Armenia
... P.S. If you're still getting ads purportedly from me, let me know.
News Ledes
AP: "Sanctions aimed at key economic sectors in Russia because of its threatening moves in Ukraine might be delayed because of positive signals from Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Obama administration officials."
Hill: "The U.S. economy felt the worst aftershock of the recession yet in the first quarter of the year, shrinking 2.9 percent. The third and final revision of Commerce Department data shows the quarter, weighed down by a brutal winter, was even worse economically than previously thought. The government had estimated the economy shrank by 1 percent in the first three months of the year. The last time the economy shrank by so much was in 2009, when the nation was still in the midst of a recession."
AFP: "Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday ruled out forming a national emergency government to confront a Sunni militant offensive that has overrun large parts of the country." ...
... The Hill: "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday rejected calls to create a new national unity government that the Obama administration has been pushing.... Al-Maliki, however, said he is still committed to launching the process that would form a new government.... Secretary of State John Kerry received a commitment from al-Maliki at a meeting in Baghdad on Monday that he would initiate the process by July 1 that would pave the way for a new government."
New York Times: "Eli Wallach, who was one of his generation's most prominent and prolific character actors in film, onstage and on television for more than 60 years, died on Tuesday. He was 98."