The Commentariat -- May 21, 2014
Internal links removed.
AP: "Seeking to head off a growing furor over veterans’ health care, President Barack Obama declared Wednesday that allegations of misconduct at VA hospitals are 'dishonorable' and will be not be tolerated by his administration. 'I will not stand for it -- not as commander in chief but also not as an American,' Obama said following an Oval Office meeting with embattled VA Secretary Eric Shinseki."
Michael Shear & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The White House fought on Tuesday to contain the growing political furor over allegations of misconduct at the nation's veterans hospitals as Republicans, eager to use the issue in the midterm elections, seized on the reports as new evidence that President Obama is unable to govern effectively." ...
... Steve M.: Despite past evidence of VA mismanagement, wingers took no interest. But "the right is talking about the VA now. No, let me correct that: the right is talking about President Obama in relation to the VA. That's the hook. This isn't a scandal about mistreatment of veterans -- it's a scandal about Obama."
Karen DeYoung & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department will publicly release a secret 2011 memo that provided the legal justification for the killing of American terrorism suspects overseas, according to a U.S. official, following extensive pressure on the administration to do so. The department had been weighing whether to appeal a court order to disclose the memo but informed the White House on Tuesday that it would not, the official said. The decision came on the eve of a Senate vote on President Obama's nomination of David J. Barron, one of the memo's authors, to a federal appeals court judgeship." ...
Should Go in "Infotainment." Brett Logiurato of Business Insider: "On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul ... will filibuster President Barack Obama's nomination of David Barron to fill a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.... According to his office, Paul will take to the Senate floor Wednesday morning to begin an old-fashioned, talking filibuster of Barron's nomination. Paul opposes Barron because of his concerns about legal opinions Barron wrote in support of the use of drones against U.S. citizens."
Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "Intense closed-door talks between lawmakers and Obama administration and intelligence officials that wrapped up Tuesday afternoon have finalised the language of the USA Freedom Act. The bill is expected to receive a vote on the House floor on Thursday. The latest twist for the bill is an expanded provision that would require the government to 'promptly' purge phone records that do not contain 'foreign intelligence information,' effectively pruning irrelevant records from the NSA's trees of analyzed phone data." ...
... Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Leaders of both parties in the House of Representatives, at the Obama administration's request, have changed a surveillance overhaul bill that restricts the power of the government to obtain Americans' records in bulk.... Several civil liberties groups that had backed a previous version argued that the changes weakened the limits in a way that leaves the door open for the government to obtain enormous volumes of records. They said they were withdrawing their support."
Maureen Dowd: "Still stung by the overreaches of the N.S.A., collaborating with American tech companies, the Europeans are challenging what is far more accepted here: the right of Big Data to have All Data, the right of knowing to trump the right of privacy."
Ryan Devereaux, et al., of the Intercept: "The National Security Agency is secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation on the island nation of the Bahamas. According to documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the surveillance is part of a top-secret system -- code-named SOMALGET -- that was implemented without the knowledge or consent of the Bahamian government. Instead, the agency appears to have used access legally obtained in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to open a backdoor to the country's cellular telephone network...."
Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: Rinat "Akhmetov, the son of a Soviet coal miner who amassed a fortune from contentious privatizations in the 1990s, is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 92nd richest man in the world and is by far the wealthiest person in Ukraine, with a net worth of $12.4 billion. He is now leading the charge against the separatists, calling for steelworkers and coal miners in his employ to resist, and pointing out that they would lose their export-dependent jobs if the region became an unrecognized splinter state."
** CW: I meant to link this excellent NYT op-ed by Corey Robin on "the Republican war on workers' rights." He cites one shocking state legislative action after another. I don't like to use the word "evil," but it's hard to think of a better word to describe the heartless bastards who make such efforts to cheat low-wage workers. (Then of course they complain that workers who need food stamps & other assistance to survive are lazy bums.)
If you see deer grazing on the grounds of an insane asylum, you just might be at Homeland Security HQ. Jerry Markon of the Washington Post: "The construction of a massive new headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security, billed as critical for national security and the revitalization of Southeast Washington, is running more than $1.5 billion over budget, is 11 years behind schedule and may never be completed, according to planning documents and federal officials."
Annals of Journalism. Caitlan MacNeal of TPM: "CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker on Monday said that the network probably won't be covering the House select committee to investigate Benghazi. 'We're not going to be shamed into it by others who have political beliefs that want to try to have temper tantrums to shame other news organizations into covering something,' he said when asked if CNN would cover the committee during an interview at a Deadline Club dinner, as recorded by Capital New York. 'If it's of real news value, we'll cover it.'"
Deirdre Walsh & Dana Davidsen of CNN: "House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday the tea party and conservative Republicans are basically one in the same. [sic.]"
Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Some businesses in states with pitched Republican primary fights are turning to a relatively new tool to help ensure the outcome they want: telling employees how they want them to vote. Thanks in part to Citizens United, it's perfectly legal -- but it probably doesn't do much good." ...
Senate Races
Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Republicans' hopes of taking back the Senate received a big boost in primary elections Tuesday, with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) easily winning and other candidates favored by the party establishment beating back tea party challengers." The New York Times story, by Jonathan Martin, is here.
Joseph Gerth of the Louisville Courier-Journal: "U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell has again won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, and Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has won the Democratic nomination, according to The Associated Press. Their victories set up a multimillion dollar battle in November."
AP: "U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston and former Dollar General CEO David Perdue have advanced to a Republican runoff in Georgia's hotly contested Senate race, which will eventually help determine which party controls Congress. In unofficial returns Tuesday, Perdue had more than 30 percent of the vote to Kingston's nearly 26 percent." ...
... CW: The ladies should love Perdue. My favorite bit: "Dollar General argued that the law does not prohibit retaliation against employees who take [Family Medical Leave Act] leave." Got that? Federal law requires us to grant you leave, but we can fire your ass for it.
The AP reports that Michelle Nunn has won the Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate.
House Race
Washington Post: "Former congresswoman Marjorie Margolies will not be making a return to Congress next year after a 20-year absence. Margolies, the mother-in-law of Chelsea Clinton, was defeated in the Democratic primary for the U.S. House in Pennsylvania's 13th district Tuesday by state Rep. Brendan Boyle...."
Gubernatorial Race
Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Tom Wolf, a wealthy businessman and a former Peace Corps volunteer, won the Democratic nomination for governor of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, setting up what his party hopes will be one of its best chances this fall to flip a governor's mansion now held by a Republican. Mr. Wolf, virtually anonymous before spending as much as $10 million of his own money on television ads, will face Gov. Tom Corbett, who has had difficulty convincing voters to credit him for an improving economy and to forgive him for a drop in education spending in his first year."
Beyond the Beltway
Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "Continuing a rush of rulings that have struck down marriage limits across the country, a federal judge in Pennsylvania on Tuesday declared the state's ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. 'We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history,' wrote Judge John E. Jones III of Federal District Court in a decision posted on Tuesday afternoon.... Even as Gov. Tom Corbett said he was studying the decision and considering whether to appeal it, state officials began issuing marriage licenses on Tuesday afternoon to overjoyed gay couples." ...
... CW: You may find Judge Jones's biography of interest. A Dubya appointee, he is most famous for his 2005 ruling against the teaching of "intelligent design" in the Dover school district. The ruling may have cost him a spot on the Supreme Court; the country would certainly be better off were Jones on the Court in place of Roberts or Alito. ...
... Nino Called It. Sahil Kapur of TPM: "Upon striking down Pennsylvania's gay marriage ban Tuesday, a federal judge cited Justice Antonin Scalia's 'cogen[t]" argument that the Supreme Court had essentially paved the way for nationwide marriage equality last year.'"
AP: "No same-sex marriages will be allowed or recognized in Idaho until an appeal is decided, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted request for a stay from Gov. C.L. 'Butch' Otter and Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden."
Joseph Ax of Reuters: "Conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a campaign finance law violation, avoiding a trial that had been expected to begin the same day in a Manhattan federal court. D'Souza, known for his biting criticism of President Barack Obama, pleaded guilty to one criminal count of making illegal contributions in the names of others. A second count concerning the making of false statements is expected to be dismissed once he is sentenced." ...
... Charles Pierce: "... the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts presiding, pretty much harshed my mellow by inaugurating our brave new world of legalized influence-peddling. I'm sorry but, in that context, sending D'Souza up the river for 16 months because he used straws to contribute to a losing senatorial campaign would strike me as fifty bucks worth of punishment for a 25-cent crime. Because that's where we are today. Thanks again, Chief John."
Now, here's an Indiana judge who thinks repeatedly drugging & raping one's wife isn't such a bad thing.
News Lede
New York Times: "China and Russia agreed to a major natural gas deal Wednesday that would send gas from Siberia by pipeline to China, according to the state-run news agency, Xinhua."