The Commentariat -- May 15, 2014

Internal links removed.

The Jill Abramson Problem

Well, problem, I suppose, if you're Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., who gave Jill Abramson the heave-ho as New York Times executive editor. According to Dylan Byers in Politico and quite a few others who all seem to have spoken to the same sources, Abramson was "difficult to work with", "condescending and combative", and, heavens to betsy! "brusque" (not BRUSQUE!). So, the business of journalism has become a namby-pamby, white glove, tea and crumpets at 3:00 sort of business. In addition to it sounding pretty much like a griping, gossipy, back-stabbing kind of piece, Byers's writing also demonstrates that he seems not to have access to a dictionary or spell check app. He writes that yet another "problem" with Abramson was that the Times CEO, Mark Thompson, had been taking an "unprecedently hands-on approach" to the day to day editorial affairs which seems to have pissed off Abramson (it would me, too). I don't know about you, but I don't think "unprecedently" will show up in a dictionary search. Maybe he meant "unprecedentedly".

Ken Auletta in the New Yorker has a more measured, researched piece on the whole kerfuffle and also explores what may have been the tipping point for Punch Jr., Abramson's inquiry into why her compensation package was so out of line with other Times executive editors, notably Bill Keller.

Sheila Kohlhatkar on Bloomberg Businessweek, has more on this particular aspect of L'Affaire Abramson. She points out that, helpfully for Sulzberger, " In April, Republican Senators voted down the latest bill that was meant to address this disparity: The Paycheck Fairness Act would have made it illegal for employers to retaliate against employees who discussed their compensation, and would have allowed for more government monitoring of what workers are paid." How nice for the Times.

And Olga Khazan at the Atlantic, reminds women to play nice and not make waves with the boys, because studies have shown that there is a "narrow band of acceptable female behavior". Abramson must not have read those studies.

Outbreak of Sanity. In Georgia?

Aviva Shen, at Think Progress, reports on an interview in the Macon Telegraph wherein David Perdue, Republican candidate for the Senate, seems to have lost, er, found his mind. Asked about what he considered more important for economic recovery, cutting spending or raising revenue, he answered "'Both'... Perdue laughed and explained, 'Well here's the reality: If you go into a business, and I keep coming back to my background, it's how I know how to relate is to refer back to it -- I was never able to turn around a company just by cutting spending. You had to figure out a way to get revenue growing. And what I just said, there are five people in the U.S. Senate who understand what I just said. You know revenue is not something they think about.'" (Pretty sure not a one of those five people has an R after their name.)

Whoa. A Republican talking sanely about raising taxes. What's next? Voting rights for blacks?

Once Upon a Time in Arkansas

Mark Pryor has been crossing the state, at least with new videos, and using truth to get out the vote. For once, a Democrat is telling voters the truth about the GOP, Medicare, and Social Security. They hate both and plan to kill them if at all possible. The GOP is constantly using scare tactics to rouse voters, but mostly they drum up some fabricated nonsense to do it. Informing Arkansas residents that vote for Tom Cotton is a vote against Medicare and Social Security is no fabrication. Joan McCarter at Daily Kos has the lowdown.

Idiots and Their Guns

From Travis Gettys at Raw Story: A South Carolina woman shot and accidentally killed a friend while testing out his bulletproof vest. Sheriff's deputies in Anderson County said the victim, 26-year-old Blake Wardell, had been hanging out in a garage with about eight to 10 friends early Wednesday when they decided to try out the Kevlar vest.Investigators said 18-year-old Taylor Ann Kelly fired a shot at Wardell's chest but missed the Kevlar.

Oops. Chalk up another victory for the NRA and FREEDOM.

Who Are You Again?

Chris Christie (remember that guy?) is in a pickle. According to Star-Ledger reporter Salvador Rizzo, Christie's Gravy Train to the White House plan seems to have hit a bad patch. "Another Wall Street rating agency -- Moody's Investors Service -- has downgraded New Jersey's debt and is sounding the alarm about the state's 'lagging economic performance.' It was the third ratings cut this year for New Jersey, the sixth downgrade [my emphasis] since Gov. Chris Christie took office, and the latest sign that the Garden State's ailing fiscal condition is taking a turn for the worse. Moody's action comes two weeks after the Christie administration disclosed an $807 million shortfall in the state budget, which the Republican governor is scrambling to plug before the fiscal year ends June 30."

So what does Christie intend to do about it? Why, make the little guy pay for it, of course: "Administration officials responded to the Moody's downgrade by saying that the high cost of retirement and health care benefits has to be tackled anew." Attaboy, Chris.

Think that $2 billion stimulus money he rejected (because it came from the hated Kenyan) could have helped?

Just Plain Idiots

Maggie Haberman on Politico, reports that Jeb Bush was in New York this week selling rich conservatives what they wanted to buy. "Bush mocked 'Mayor [Bill] de Blasio, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, all your favorite progressives' as unable to raise taxes to a level that would be sustainable in terms of growth. He praised Ryan, who was the evening's first speaker, saying, 'When it comes to the American family, Paul Ryan has it right...A loving family taking care of their children in a traditional marriage will create the chance to break out of poverty far better, far better than any of the government programs that we can create,' Bush said".

More right-wing religious claptrap. Man goes to work, woman stays home, has kids, cooks, cleans, doesn't complain, traditional, traditional, traditional, everyone ends up rich and, like Ryan, never, ever, positively, I mean, never, (did I say never?) takes help from the government.

And this guy is supposed to be the "smart" Bush? I guess that's like being the tallest pygmy. Anyone who uses the phrase "Paul Ryan has it right" without totally cracking up in the next breath is an idiot. Not even a special idiot. Just a plain, everyday, ordinary idiot. An idiot who may be running for president soon.

Of Pots and Kettles

This is rich. One of the chief peddlers of the lies leading up to the worst foreign policy debacle in US history, and a prime apologist for the wretched, murderous, traitorous work of the Bush administration is joining the Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi chorus. According to Sean Sullivan, in the Washington Post, "Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice says she still has questions about the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya that claimed the lives of four Americans." Oh wait, Condi, what about all the unanswered questions surrounding the 100,000 Americans killed or wounded in a decade long war that you helped to gin up with your lies? Huh?

Could I have a Living Wage With Those Fries, Please?

Steve Greenhouse in the Times reports that fast food strikes are going global. "Even though fast food workers have staged several one-day strikes in the last 18 months, the protests have not swayed McDonald's or other major restaurant chains to significantly raise their employees' pay.

So on Thursday, the fast food workers' movement wants to broaden its reach as it pushes for a $15-an-hour wage that restaurant companies say is unrealistic. In addition to one-day strikes in 150 cities across the country, the movement's leaders hope to take their cause global."

McDonald's, among many other fast food chains regards the $15/hr demand as outrageous. Given the fact that Donald Thompson, McDonald's CEO, according to the Christian Science Monitor, makes nearly 1,200 times the hourly rate of his average employee, $7.73/hr versus $9,247/hr, I can see their concern.

The Commentariat -- May 14, 2014

Internal links removed.

9-11 Museum Opens Tomorrow

After a decade marked by deep grief, partisan rancor, war, financial boondoggles and inundation from Hurricane Sandy, the National September 11 Memorial Museum at ground zero is finally opening ceremonially on Thursday, with President Obama present, and officially to the public next Wednesday. It delivers a gut-punch experience -- though if ever a new museum had looked, right along, like a disaster in the making, this one did, beginning with its trifurcated identity.

One disaster that actually did occur was the response to the events of 9-11, something that also bears remembering. The sociopaths who took us to war without ever making any effort to go after the real perpetrators, or the individual most responsible (he was later killed by actions taken by a Democratic administration) are still around, living lives of ease while the millions affected by their lies have had their lives ended or destroyed.

Bush's Dog's Brain

One of the major figures responsible for the debacle of the Bush administration that brought us war, death, destruction, economic disaster, and serious loss of standing in the world was Bush's so-called brain. According to Joan Walsh on Salon, he's not looking too brainy these days. Maybe he was actually the brain behind Bush's dog. Rove has been a dirty trickster since the days of Tricky Dick. Rove was one of the slimier dicks, and that's saying a lot when you look at all the other dicks around the big one back then. " Let]s consider what it says about the Republican Party today that Karl Rove, once known as 'Bush]s Brain,' is forced to do his dirty work himself these days. It's seems a demotion, or a variety of devolution, for the lordly impresario of American Crossroads, the man who rose to power to run presidential campaigns, not be their hit man or their ratfucker (that's Donald Segretti's lovely old word for the team of trolls Richard Nixon used to smear and gaslight his enemies)."

But....according to Peter Beinart on the Atlantic site, Rove's sliminess pays off, which, of course, is why he does such repulsive things. The Modern GOP. Models of decorum and honesty.

Mitch and Elaine. Such Nice People

Jason Horowitz in the New York Times submits a puff piece about Mitch McConnell and his wife, former labor secretary, Elaine Chao. Horowitz seems to want us to think that she's a wonderful, inspirational person but she comes across as more Leona Helmsley than Mother Theresa.

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog is not impressed. " Apart from that blocking-everything-they-want thing, McConnell and Chao are just fine with people who aren't right-wing."

One Reason and One Reason Only

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, reminds us of why the GOP insists on Voter ID laws. "Iowa Republicans conducted a study trying to show voter fraud, and found essentially no voter fraud of any kind and literally no fraud that would be prevented by Voter ID laws:...in conclusion, here are the reasons why Republicans want to enact Voter ID laws: Vote suppression. That's it."

Science and the GOP. Don't laugh...

Several Reality Chex commenters yesterday submitted their thoughts on politics and science. Seems we were on a similar wavelength to Charlie Pierce who offers a well researched piece reacting to a column by former Bush hack, Michael Gerson, who wonders how anyone could be so willfully stupid when it comes to science. I mean, who does that? "Michael Gerson, the pious former word-'ho for the worst president in history, is still writing columns for Fred Hiatt's Hiring Hall For Unemployables. Today, Michael is confounded by something he apparently just noticed. Watch him write this whole column without once mentioning the word, "Republican." It's dazzling, like watching a guy pull out the tablecloth without disturbing the flatware."

Hillary, Hillary! HILLARY!!...

It didn't take long. Now that Karl Rove has gotten the ball rolling on Hillary Clinton's brain damage, the rest of the clowns are getting in line to see how many of them can pile into the circus car that will be rolling around the big top for the next two years. Dana Milbank informs us that, in case you didn't know it, Hillary is to blame for those girls being kidnapped in Nigeria. Also for global warming. Well, if they actually believed it existed. "Conservatives have reached the firm conclusion that Hillary Clinton is to blame for those Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram, 14 months after she left office. All they have to do now is fill in the details."

The Commentariat -- May 13, 2014

Internal links removed.

Justin Gillis & Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable, two groups of scientists reported on Monday. If the findings hold up, they suggest that the melting could destabilize neighboring parts of the ice sheet and a rise in sea level of 10 feet or more may be unavoidable in coming centuries."

And if That's Not Enough...

Conservative haters of science who have played a huge role in allowing the Let's Do Nothing Until the World Ends club to force everyone else to sit still while glaciers melt into the sea, has been apoplectic over a series on Fox, of all places, running for some weeks now. Neil De Grasse Tyson's resurrected Cosmos series has the religious right in an uproar, especially when he talks about scientists like David Faraday who was able to separate religion from science.

It's All Fun Until Someone Dies

If wingnut hatred of science could be quarantined to just the propeller heads, it would be all fine and dandy. But when the constant drumbeat sounded by conservatives and 24/7 on Fox, tries to convince low information citizens that not only is science not to be trusted, that it's bad for you, and, by doing so helps allow the resurgence of deadly diseases, then their stupidity crosses the line into outrageous criminality. Last year diseases thought long gone have started to return, notably measles and mumps. The anti-vaccination crowd is to blame, but so are the right-wing sites and media outlets that flog this stuff as if it were true. Reporter Russell Saunders at the Daily Beast has more, and he wonders what's next.

Jen Sorensen from Daily Kos.

Presidential Woes

Kevin Robillard of Politico: "The GOP shouldn't even field a presidential candidate in 2016 unless Congress passes immigration reform this year, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said Monday."

Michael Peterniti has a GQ profile of Glenn Greenwald, "The Man Who Knows Too Much." ...

... Something to like about Greenwald: He thinks Tim Russert was a joke -- an enabler of the status quo.

Congressional Races

Dana Milbank: "In a series of ads done by and for [Rep. Tom] Cotton [R-Ark.], the former Army Ranger's military career is the centerpiece of his Senate candidacy -- and yet that doesn't seem to be helping him, even though his opponent may be the most vulnerable Senate Democrat in the country."

Another reason Cotton may be experiencing rough going is his, and his party's, express desire to destroy Obamacare, in the face of what are becoming legions of stories trumpeting its success and wild acceptance among voters in states like Arkansas. Smart Democrats have begun to stop running from the ACA and running with it. Success stories like "....Eleanor Evans in Roger, Arkansas, who has gained coverage under the private option and, as it happens, used to go to church with Rep. Tom Cotton. Evans now is the primary caregiver for her mother Kaye, who happened to be Cotton's pastor when Eleanor and Cotton were kids. 'There's no place for me if I don't have this coverage," Evans said. "And I don't understand why they'd want to get rid of that place for me.'"

The ever observant Tom Toles.

Let the Conspiracy Theories Begin

Asheboro, North Carolina Courier-Tribune: "Asheboro businessman and congressional candidate, Keith Crisco, 71, died suddenly at his home today." Crisco was running in the Democratic primary against Clay Aiken.

Be Careful What You Wish For

The problems GOP establishment types have been having with the Tea Party monster created to help win elections are well known. The tin-foil hat crowd that stormed the capitol building a few years ago helped to put the pressure on the hated president, but they also propelled the party to its current state of obstreperous petrifaction. And now even party leaders like Eric Cantor are feeling the heat. The other day, in Virginia, Cantor's handpicked lackey, Linwood Cobb was beaten back by rabid tea partiers in the race for leadership of Virginia's 7th Congressional District Republican Committee. Tea Partiers who were bused in to vote, booed Cantor when he spoke. The reason? They consider him too liberal. It's a bit like complaining that Jackson Pollock was too occupied with realism. Cantor himself faces a challenge from another Tea Party candidate named Brat (I am totally not making that up). David Brat confided that god told him that Cantor had to go. Well, hey, why didn't you say so? Cantor, for his part, known for his scathing, arrogant, fact free attacks on the president and the Democratic Party generally, complained about "inaccuracies" and the lack of decency on the part of the TP.

Et tu brutes?

Travis Gettys at RawStory has more on the brutes. This Friday, self styled Tea Party "patriots" will descend on Washington to demand that a long list of hated, "disloyal lawmakers" stand down and surrender. Like most right-wing groups who claim the Constitution as the source of their authority, they have clearly not read that document. Otherwise, they would apply democratically, constitutionally approved methods of removing individuals from office. Like voting them out. Operation American Spring, as they call themselves, expects 10 to 30 million like minded "patriots" to join them on Friday in a fun afternoon of revolution and tar and feathering. Jesus is expected to show up to reprise that fishes and loaves thing when those 30 million are ready for lunch.

Clinton Conspiracy Machine in Excellent Working Order

A few years off has not corroded the sharpened gears and bile soaked workings of the right's Clinton Conspiracy Machine. And even though she has not even declared her candidacy, Hillary Clinton can expect much more of this type of evil crap. Karl Rove, looking relaxed, fit, and fiendish after a couple of years of shock therapy following his election night breakdown, is back to his mendacious best. Speaking at a conference last week, Rove, a well known brain surgeon when he's not torturing small animals in his basement, stunned the audience with news that Hillary Clinton was suffering from brain damage resulting from a fall a few months ago. Even though hospital officials reported a small blood clot, Rove doesn't believe it. "Thirty days in the hospital? And when she reappears, she's wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what's up with that." Yeah. It was three days. Not thirty. And the glasses were standard sun glasses. But no matter. The right is in high dudgeon over Hillary. Recently, a sour little man with a cheap toupée and way too much time on his hands, the junior senator from Kentucky, began huffing and puffing about a subpoena for Clinton, because Benghazi.

Update on Clinton Insanity

This morning in the WaPo, Karen Tumulty reports that Karl Rove is shocked to hear that anyone, anyone, would say that Hillary Clinton has brain damage. "Of course, she doesn't have brain damage" he said. How the hell did that get out there anyway? But Paul Waldman, also in today's Post, wonders whether Republicans will be able to rein in their hatred where Clinton is concerned. "It's almost inevitable that at some point during any campaign involving Clinton, the Republican crazy train will run off its rails. The hatred she inspires among the GOP base, and their willingness to believe almost anything about her, simply cannot be overestimated."

Conservatives Just Looooves Them Some Womens

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear arguments on the legality of an Arizona law that limits the use of abortion-inducting medications and, according to advocates, threatens to end altogether the availability of medication abortion in the state. Meanwhile, back in South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham, needing to put on a show of strength for the anti-choice crowd, continues the GOP efforts to deny women the right to make choices that drastically affect their lives. Of course, father knows best. According to this article in Salon, Graham is demanding that his pseudo-science anti-choice bill be considered at the same time as Senator Richard Blumenthal's (D-CT) bill that would prohibit states from enacting burdensome and medically unnecessary regulations on abortion providers.

But Why Aren't Those Women More Confidant?

David Brooks (I know, I know) operating at his wonders about women and their apparent lack of confidence. But, he decides, maybe not being so all-fired confident about everything isn't a bad thing at all.

This Week in Stupid Red State Laws

Just when you thought you'd heard it all. According to Adam Weinstein in Gawker, "There are fifty states in our blessed union. There is only one state that holds an open election for the general who will command its National Guard forces. The reason is to keep black people from being too powerful. The result is that a convicted stalker may end up with all the tanks and guns." I know, it sounds too weird to be true, right? But one of only two candidates for General is one William James Breazeale, and this guy is a peach: "Breazeale is an Army Reserve field officer who has twice run unsuccessfully for Congress as a tea party-acceptable conservative and who is currently on probation after a stalking conviction and, according to one report, has "a lurid personal history which includes references to intimidation, aggravated stalking, criminal trespass, larceny, threats of suicide, and even threats of murder directed by Breazeale at members of his own family." Sure, let's give that guy tanks and guns. Why not?

Why Trey?

In case you were wondering why John Boehner picked do-nothing, loudmouth Tea Party twerp Trey Gowdy (R-Funny Hair on Fire) to lead the GOP Benghazi kangaroo court, The American Prospect has an answer. A video attached to the article shows Gowdy in full prosecutorial mode, banging the desk and yelling, demanding answers to questions that have already been answered. "Which tells you why Gowdy got picked for this job. John Boehner is doing this for the base, and the base wants someone who will channel the anger and contempt they feel for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the rest of the administration. Gowdy, a former prosecutor, is already referring to this enterprise not as an investigation but as a "trial," making clear that he sees his job not as finding the truth but as convicting the accused." He's not interested in investigating anything. He's interested in a guilty verdict. Surprise, surprise. A Tea Partier not interested in the truth.

News Lede

New York Times: "Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison by a judge who likened him to a 'traitor' for taking bribes while mayor of Jerusalem in connection with the construction of a luxury housing development."