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Public Service Announcement
Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."
Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion —reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.
Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”
New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Susan Saulny of the New York Times: "Many of the black voters who gathered [in front of the main polling site in Duval County (Jacksonville)] Saturday morning, the first day of early voting in Florida, had spent the night sleeping in tents and recreational vehicles near the elections office. Their plan was to 'Occupy the Polls' in an effort to raise awareness about changes to early voting this year that shorten the number of days for casting ballots."
Nate Silver: "Thursday was a busy day for the polls, with some bright spots for each candidate. But it made clear that Barack Obamamaintains a narrow lead in the polling averages in states that would get him to 270 electoral votes. Mr. Obama also remains roughly tied in the polls in two other states, Colorado and Virginia, that could serve as second lines of defense for him if he were to lose a state like Ohio."
Another October Surprise. Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "The White House is weighing the idea of a tax cut that it believes would lift Americans' take-home pay and boost a still-struggling economy, according to people familiar with the administration's thinking, as the presidential candidates continue battling over whose tax policies would do more for the country."
Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has told President Obama that she will stay in office until her successor is confirmed, but said in an interview that 'this is not an open-ended kind of time frame.'"
Kyle Clark of KUSA Denver interviews President Obama. He answers questions about Libya & that bullshitter guy:
Will Oremus of Slate: "Jim Lehrer didn't do it. Martha Raddatz didn't do it. Candy Crowley 'almost' did it. Bob Schieffer wishes he had been able to do it. Sway Calloway, a DJ and media personality known for giving rappers Eminem and Notorious B.I.G. their first radio airplay, finally did it. In an interview with President Obama that aired on MTV on Friday evening, Sway asked a question about climate change." Includes transcript of Obama's full response. Video segments of the full interview are here.
This One's for Kate. Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Post: The number one thing at stake in this election is the Supreme Court. Bernstein is a genuine, certified political scientist.
David Remnick & Rick Hertzberg of the New Yorker discuss the presidential candidates with Dorothy Wickenden:
Steve Benen chronicles -- and refutes -- 36 lies in this week's edition of "Mitt's Mendacity." Benen begins with this (I've altered it slightly for brevity's sake):
St. Peter stands at the Pearly Gates, a huge wall of clocks behind him. A new arrival asks what the clocks are for. St. Peter says, "These are lie clocks. Every time a person lies, the clock hands move." St. Peter points out Mother Teresa's clock. The hands have never moved. Then he points to Honest Abe Lincoln's clock. The minutes hand had ticked twoice. "Where is Mitt Romney's clock?" the new arrival asks. "Romney's clock is in Jesus' office," St. Peter says. "He's using it as a ceiling fan."
"Memo from the Boss." Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times on employers urging their employees to vote forMitt Romney, legalized by our favorite Supreme Court decision, Citizens United. "In these letters [to employees], the executives complain about the costs of overregulation, the health care overhaul and possible tax increases. Some letters warn that if President Obama is re-elected, the company could be harmed, potentially jeopardizing jobs.... Larry Gold, associate general counsel of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said some of the recent employer letters, by hinting at the possible loss of employees' jobs, appeared to cross the line into improper coercion. Federal law and the laws of several states bar anyone from coercing or intimidating voters into voting a certain way." ...
... Wendy Gittleson of Addicting Information: Bishop David L. Ricken of the Green Bay, Wisconsin, Roman Catholic Diocese "warned his parishioners that their souls might be in danger if they vote for Obama.... Not only is the Bishop threatening his congregation's souls, he's threatening the community, by saying that the Church will withhold healthcare services." Includes copy of the bishop's full letter. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.
Not surprisingly, in the last few weeks of the campaign Romney & Congressman Creepy have been drawing bigger crowds. But apparently not big enough! So they just photoshopped a buncha people into a "panoramic shot" of a campaign event for use in an official Instagram.
Congressional Races
Gail Collins: Indiana's Richard "Mourdock is the only Senate candidate for whom Romney has appeared in a TV ad, although there are lots of beleaguered Republicans who could use his help: the guy in Montana who had a fire on his property and then sued the local fire department that worked to put it out; the guy in Florida who used to do promotional work for 'Hooters'; the woman who's running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York. She's against abortion even in cases of rape and incest, but, so far, very few New Yorkers know it because they have yet to learn more basic information, such as her name." ...
... Mark Leibovich of the New York Timesprofiles the Hooters guy, my own Congressman, Connie Mack IV a/k/a CoMa. If you'd like to know what species of lowlife the average GOP Congressman is, look no further than CoMa.
Ed Kilgore: "... the biggest defeat the Right has already suffered (other than the failure to recruit and/or unite behind a presidential candidate less weaselly than Romney) was to take a Senate victory for granted. They've got no one but themselves to blame for that mistake."
Right Wing World ...
... Is apoplectic to find that "we live in a fallen world destined for hell fire..., [where] people ... have no problem with the President of the United States, via a campaign ad, ridiculing virgins and comparing sex to voting." See yesterday's Commentariat for the "offending" video by Lena Dunham.
Other Stuff
Sabrina Tavernise & Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "An FDA inspection of the New England Compounding Center, "whose tainted pain medicine has caused one of the worst public health drug disasters since the 1930s, found greenish-yellow residue on sterilization equipment, surfaces coated with levels of mold and bacteria that exceeded the company's own environmental limits, and an air-conditioner that was shut off nightly despite the importance of controlling temperature and humidity.... Instead of producing tailor-made drugs for individual patients, as the law allowed, the company turned into a major drug maker that supplied some of the most prestigious hospitals in the country, including ones affiliated with Harvard, Yale and the Mayo Clinic, all with minimal oversight from federal regulators."
John Cushman of the New York Times: "The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements.... The project is run by the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, and NASA. The outside review team ... called the management of the program 'dysfunctional.'"
News Ledes
Washington Post: "The two big weather models that track storms came to a consensus Friday that the storm [Sandy] would turn inland somewhere to the east of the Chesapeake Bay and drench at least eight states as it drives across the Great Lakes into Canada. It is expected to turn into a blizzard before it gets there, dropping up to a foot of snow. Although Sandy's top winds diminished Friday and the National Weather Service downgraded it to tropical storm status at 5 a.m. Saturday, that loss of power was seen as temporary." The Weather Channel story is here.
Reuters: "Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahrihas called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, join Syria's rebellion and to ensure Egypt implements sharia, SITE Monitoring reported on Saturday, citing a two-part film posted on Islamist websites. The Egypt-born cleric, who became al Qaeda leader last year after the death of Osama bin Laden, spoke in a message that lasted more than two hours."
ABC News: Frank Tanabe, "a World War II veteran whose effort to vote from his deathbed inspired thousands, has died a week after casting his final ballot.... Honolulu elections officials say Frank Tanabe's vote will be counted unless they receive his death certificate before the Nov. 6 election and they're able to find his ballot from among the tens of thousands of ballots mailed in." (CW: sorry, late with this story.)
Rerun from Yesterday Afternoon's Commentariat: My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Steven Pinker's NYT post "Why Are States So Red and Blue?" Another column, by a professor of religious studies, Ira Chernus, also disagrees with Pinker, though Chernus is meaner than I am. I actually disagree with Chernus, too.
Presidential Race
Nate Silver: "Mitt Romney clearly gained ground in the polls in the week or two after the Denver debate. However, the FiveThirtyEight forecast finds a slightly favorable trend for President Obama over the past 10 days."
We're Not Racists, But We're Voting for the White Guy. Jon Cohen & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The 2012 election is shaping up to be more polarized along racial lines than any presidential contest since 1988, with President Obama experiencing a steep drop in support among white voters from four years ago. At this stage in 2008, Obama trailed Republican John McCain by seven percentage points among white voters. Even in victory, Obama ended up losing white voters by 12 percentage points.... But now, Obama has a deficit of 23 percentage points, trailing Republican Mitt Romney 60 percent to 37 percent among whites, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News national tracking poll." ...
... Frankly, when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama.... I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being President of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him. -- John Sununu, Romney surrogate campaign chair
Yes, because "when you take a look at Colin Powell," the former Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs & a fellow Republican, all you can see is a black man. -- Constant Weader
Four years ago, when former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, Rush Limbaugh led the charge, accusing Powell of only supporting the Democrat because of race. In 2012, the same argument is being pushed by the national chairman of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. -- Steve Benen
Washington PostEditors endorse President Obama for re-election:
... there is no way to know what Mr. Romney really believes. His unguarded expression of contempt for 47 percent of the population seems as sincere as anything else we've heard.... At times he has advocated a muscular, John McCain-style foreign policy, but in the final presidential debate he positioned himself as a dove. Before he passionately supported a fetus's right to life, he supported a woman's right to abortion. His swings have been dramatic on gay rights, gun rights, health care, climate change and immigration. His ugly embrace of 'self-deportation' during the Republican primary campaign, and his demolition of a primary opponent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, for having left open a door of opportunity for illegal-immigrant children, bespeaks a willingness to say just about anything to win.... Rarely has a politician gotten so far with only one evident immutable belief: his conviction in his own fitness for higher office.
So voters are left with the centerpiece of Mr. Romney's campaign: promised tax cuts that would blow a much bigger hole in the federal budget while worsening economic inequality. His claims that he could avoid those negative effects, which defy math and which he refuses to back up with actual proposals, are more insulting than reassuring.
By contrast, the president understands the urgency of the problems as well as anyone in the country and is committed to solving them in a balanced way. In a second term, working with an opposition that we hope would be chastened by the failure of its scorched-earth campaign against him, he is far more likely than his opponent to succeed. That makes Mr. Obama by far the superior choice.
Douglas Brinkleyinterviews President Obama for Rolling Stone. ...
... Brinkley recounts a conversation between Rolling Stone editor Eric Bates & President Obama that took place after the interview wrapped up. In part, it went like this: "'Thought about lowering the voting age?' Bates joked. 'You know, kids have good instincts,' Obama offered. 'They look at the other guy and say, "Well, that's a bullshitter, I can tell."'" The Bullshitter Romney campaign is totally pissed. ...
... BTW, according to Paul Krugman, Romney is promising us a pony. I guess Obama misrepresented the source of the shit. Here's what else Krugman says: "... a slow job is better than a snow job. Mr. Obama may not be as bold as we'd like, but he isn't actively misleading voters the way Mr. Romney is. Furthermore, if we ask what Mr. Romney would probably do in practice, including sharp cuts in programs that aid the less well-off and the imposition of hard-money orthodoxy on the Federal Reserve, it looks like a program that might well derail the recovery and send us back into recession."
Horror Story. Tim Eganforetells how a Romney presidency would go.
"Winners & Losers." Would Mitt Romney really make better choices than President Obama has? --
... Oh, There's This. Callum Borchers of the Boston Globe: "Mitt Romney testified under oath in 1991 that the ex-wife of Staples founder Tom Stemberggot a fair deal in the couple's 1988 divorce, even though the company shares Maureen Sullivan Stemberg received were valued at a tenth of Staples' stock price on the day of its initial public offering only a year later.... 'In my opinion, [$2.25 was] a good price to sell the securities at,' Romney ... testified in June 1991. But on April 28, 1989, barely a year after Sullivan Stemberg sold more than half of her shares on the premise that they were worth less than $2.50 apiece, the company made its initial public offering at $19 per share and ended its first day at $22.50." ...
... Elizabeth Amon of Bloomberg News: "... Mitt Romney, as a board member of Staples Inc., voted to set a low price on the stock and create a new class of shares as a 'favor' to its co-founder who was involved in a divorce. Romney, in testimony in 1991 in the divorce case of Staples co-founder Tom Stemberg, said the special class of Staple shares was created because Stemberg 'needed a settlement with his wife.'" ...
... Julie Pace & Steve Peoples of the AP: "... Mitt Romneyis ... facing continued pressure to break his silence on a GOP Senate candidate's statement that any pregnancy resulting from rape is 'something God intended.' ... [Romney] is also trying to move past new questions about his role in a key supporter's divorce. Court documents released Thursday reveal that Romney created a special class of company stock for Staples founder Tom Stemberg's then-wife as a 'favor.'"
New York TimesEditors: during the final two weeks of the campaign, "Mr. Romney is providing nostrums instead of policies.... By comparison, Mr. Obama, though he waited too long to begin providing specifics on his second-term agenda, has decided to spend the last two weeks describing them."
Nicholas Confessore & Derek Willis of the New York Times: "President Obama and Mitt Romneyare both on pace to raise more than $1 billion with their parties by Election Day, according to figures released by the campaigns on Thursday."
Karl Rove, Social Welfare Missionary. S. V. Date of NPR: "Karl Rove's tax-exempt Crossroads GPS group just months ago said it was only interested in advancing issues, not engaging in electoral politics. This week, it began running a minute-long ad telling viewers to vote for Republican Mitt Romney -- and it doesn't mention at all those very issues it had been saying were central to its mission." CW: Read the whole post; sounds like the IRS may have some bad news for Brother Karl and his secret mega-donors. Thanks to contributor Diane for the link. ...
... BUT none of his lyin' ads is as terrific as this one. Thanks to contributor Lisa for the link:
... AND The End of Virginity. Filmmaker/actor Lena Dunham tells about her "first time":
Greg Sargent has a useful piece on early voting & why the Obama campaign is urging its supporters to vote early. Early voting starts in Florida Saturday, & we just got our sample ballots Thursday. My husband & I will be voting during the next week. Especially if you live in a Voter Suppression state (like mine), I think it's a good idea to try to vote early in case you encounter an impediment & need time to clear it up. ...
... President Obama voted Thursday in Chicago:
** Writing in the New York Times, Joe Stiglitz, Dean of the Dismal Science, gives depressing a lecture on income inequality in the U.S. & why Mitt Romney will make it even worse. CW: most Reality Chex readers already know all this, but it's helpful to see the story summed up in one piece.
About Those Battleships. David Axe of Wired: "A bigger maritime force has the possibility of personally enriching one of [Mitt Romney]'s top advisers. In fact, it already has.... For one of Romney's most important advisers on Navy issues, a man who oversaw a massive naval expansion for Pres. Ronald Reagan, there's more at stake than U.S. national security. John Lehman, an investment banker and former secretary of the Navy, has strong and complex personal financial ties to the naval shipbuilding industry. He has profited hugely from the Navy's slow growth in recent years -- raising the prospect that he could make even more if Romney takes his advice on expanding the fleet." Thanks to reader Kay S. for the link.
Michelle Obama appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show last night. You can watch her appearance, divvied into 93 segments, here.
Congressional Races
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The Indiana Senate candidate Richard E. Mourdock's reintroduction of rape and abortion into the political dialogue this week is the latest in a series of political missteps that have made the Republican quest to seize control of the Senate a steeper climb. Once viewed as likely to win the Senate, Republicans are now in jeopardy of losing seats in Massachusetts and Maine." CW: yes, indeedy, it's just a "misstep" to accidentally reveal you're a misogynist loon. ...
... CW: Sorry to O.D. on Stewart today, but this is why satire & "fake news" is more informative than the New York Times (and of course Joe Scarborough):
Other Stuff
Mark Clayton of the Christian Science Monitor: "In four key battleground states -- Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, and Colorado -- glitches in e-voting machines could produce incorrect or incomplete tallies that would be difficult to detect and all but impossible to correct because the machines have no paper record for officials to go back and check." CW: I suppose Chuck Todd thinks the Christian Science Monitor is spreading crazy conspiracy theories.
File This Under "Things You Don't Expect to Find on the Front Page of the New York Times." Joseph Goldstein: "In one of the most disturbing and unusual arrests involving a police officer, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents took Officer ... Gilberto Valle, a six-year veteran of the New York Police Department..., into custody on Wednesday, after they uncovered several of his plots to kidnap, rape, cook and eat women. 'I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus,' he wrote to a co-conspirator in one electronic communication intercepted by law enforcement authorities. 'Cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible.'"
How to Fire a CEO. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "Vikram Pandit's last day at Citigroup swung from celebratory to devastating in a matter of minutes. Having fielded congratulatory e-mails about the earnings report in the morning that suggested the bank was finally on more solid ground, Mr. Pandit strode into the office of the chairman [of the board] at day's end on Oct. 15 for what he considered just another of their frequent meetings.... Instead, Mr. Pandit ... was told three news releases were ready. One stated that Mr. Pandit had resigned, effective immediately. Another that he would resign, effective at the end of the year. The third release stated Mr. Pandit had been fired without cause. The choice was his."
Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "The Chinese government swiftly blocked access early Friday morning to the Chinese-language Web site of The New York Times from computers in mainland China and intermittently halted most access to the English-language site as well after the news organization posted an article in both languages describing wealth accumulated by the family of the country's prime minister."
News Ledes
AP: "Just two days after announcing he won't run in spring elections, former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconiwas convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison Friday in a verdict that could see him barred from public office for five years.... The court, which began hearing the case in 2006, also said Berlusconi could not hold public office for five years or manage any company for three years.... In a statement, Berlusconi's lawyers ... said they would appeal."
AP: "'Frankenstorm' is looking more ominous by the hour for the East Coast, and utilities and local governments are getting ready. Meteorologists expect a natural horror show of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and maybe snow to the west beginning early Sunday, peaking with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday and lingering past Halloween on Wednesday."
Washington Post: "The 'fiscal cliff' is still two months off, but ... is already reverberating through the U.S. economy, hampering growth and, according to a new study, wiping out nearly 1 million jobs this year alone. The report, scheduled for release Friday by the National Association of Manufacturers, predicts that the economic damage would deepen considerably if Congress fails to avert the cliff, destroying nearly 6 million jobs through 2014 and sending the unemployment rate soaring to near 12 percent." CW: so if the government is superfluous to the vaunted market economy, why do manufacturers claim the so-called fiscal cliff would wreak havoc?
AP: "In a stirring tribute Thursday to former Sen. George McGovern, Vice President Joe Biden hailed the onetime presidential nominee as the 'father of the modern Democratic Party' for his forceful stand against the Vietnam War and for helping open the party to more women, young people and minorities."
Reuters: Fighting in Syria killed several people on Friday as a ceasefire brokered by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to mark a holy Muslim day frayed almost before it had begun."
Reuters: "A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people in a mosque in Afghanistan's relatively peaceful north on Friday as worshippers gathered for prayers marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.... The attack in Maimana, capital of Faryab province, also wounded 40...."
Reuters: "President Vladimir Putinflatly rejected on Thursday Western criticism of the imprisonment of the Pussy Riot punk protest band, saying its three female members deserved their fate because they threatened the moral foundations of Russia."
My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Steven Pinker's NYT post "Why Are States So Red and Blue?" Another column, by a professor of religious studies, Ira Chernus, also disagrees with Pinker, though Chernus is meaner than I am. I actually disagree with Chernus, too, but what the hell?
October Surprise. Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors in New York sued Bank of America on Wednesday, accusing it of carrying out a mortgage scheme that defrauded the government during the depths of the financial crisis. In a civil complaint that seeks to collect $1 billion from the bank, the Justice Department took aim at a home loan program known as the 'hustle,' a venture that has become emblematic of the risk-fueled mortgage bubble. The complaint adds to a flurry of federal and private lawsuits facing Bank of America's beleaguered mortgage business."
Presidential Race
Des Moines Register: "Without comment, campaign officials for President Obama this morning released to the Des Moines Register a transcript of an interview he had Tuesday with Laura Hollingsworth, president and publisher of the Register, and Rick Green, editor/vice-president of news. Initially, the White House had asked that the conversation be considered off-the-record and its details not shared with readers. Its release comes on the heels of a Tuesday evening DesMoinesRegister.com blog post by Green questioning why an endorsement interview with the Register would be off-the-record." So here's the transcript of the interview. Definitely worth reading. P.S. he's still loving that granny-starving Grand Bargain. ...
... Update. Lori Montgomery & Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "President Obama, criticized as failing to offer a vision for a potential second term, has begun sketching out his agenda with greater specificity in recent days, including a pledge to solve the nation's budget problems within 'the first six months.' In an interview made public Wednesday, Obama said he would pursue a 'grand bargain' with Republicans to tame the national debt and would quickly follow that with a push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws." ...
... Jamelle Bouie in the Washington Post: "If this interview raises a question, it’s this: Why hasn't Obama been this clear more often in articulating his case for a second term, and his plans for the next four years? It's not that he doesn't have them, but until recently, talking about them has been less of a priority for Team Obama. Why?"
Jeff Zeleny & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: Mitt Romney assures supporters that he will win the presidency, but "the Romney team is mindful that the new enthusiasm has not opened any new paths to winning 270 electoral votes.... While both campaigns are still advertising in nine battleground states, advisers to both sides say that the most competitive fight is now taking place in seven: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. A huge get-out-the-vote effort is under way in all states, with only a sliver of undecided voters remaining." CW: gee, a sane report from the New York Times. Refreshing, especially considering the reporters here are Fox "News" contributor Zeleny & Maureen Dowd acolyte Parker. ...
Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia ... finds Barack Obamaexpanding his lead in the aftermath of his debate victory Monday night. He now has 51% to 46% for Mitt Romney, up from a 49/47 advantage last weekend." Greg Sargent points out that the PPP poll is "out of sync with the averages."
Lydia Saad of Gallup: "For the first time in more than five years, slightly more Americans are feeling financially better off, rather than worse off, compared with a year ago, by 38% to 34%. This represents a significant improvement since May of President Barack Obama's first year as president, when the majority -- 54% -- said they were worse off."
Republican Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama again. It's a realistic & well-informed endorsement, & he has to repeatedly correct that ignorant blowhard Charlie Rose. CBS News print story here:
Women Get Stupid. Jennifer Agiesta & Nancy Benac of the AP: "... Mitt Romneyhas erased President Barack Obama's 16-point advantage among women, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows. And the president, in turn, has largely eliminated Romney's edge among men. Those churning gender dynamics leave the presidential race still a virtual dead heat, with Romney favored by 47 percent of likely voters and Obama by 45 percent, a result within the poll's margin of sampling error...."
Deborah Charles of Reuters: "Two weeks before what could be one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history, efforts to mislead, intimidate or pressure voters are an increasingly prominent part of the political landscape. Analysts say tactics typically seen in the last few days before an election are already in play."
Nicholas Kristof: "If you want to see how Romney's economic policies would work out, take a look at Europe. And weep. In the last few years, Germany and Britain, in particular, have implemented precisely the policies that Romney favors, and they have been richly praised by Republicans here as a result. Yet these days those economies seem, to use a German technical term, kaput."
The Leno interview is a five-parter. Here's Part 1. The other four parts are here:
... Helene Cooper of the New York Times writes a "Caucus" post on the interview. Jeff Mason of Reuters also covers the interview. Both lead with the President's comments on Indiana GOP candidate Richard Mourdock's remarks about rape.
Michelle Obama appears in a generic GOTV Spanish-language campaign ad. According toSarah Wheaton of the New York Times, this is the First Lady's first (& only) ad:
Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: Mitt Romney doubles down on "misstatements" [a/k/a lies] he told during the final presidential debate.
Ouch! "Mitt Romney IS Bain Capital." This Workers Voice PAC ad will run in Ohio & Wisconsin:
Charles Blow: Paul "Ryan — the man whose budget would wreak havoc on the poor — steps to a podium and pretends to be a defender of the poor [in a speech in Ohio]. Sometimes you just run out of words for galling."
Henry Decker of the National Memo lists ten Romney scandals that the mainstream media have forgot about. CW: it is inconceivable that a Democrat could get away with this kind of resume'.
Alec MacGillis of The New Republic is bummed that the media are so lacking in self-awareness that they think they have no influence over people's perceptions of events.
Paul Krugman's worst-case-scenario result of a Romney presidency. "There's almost no bottom on what can happen":
Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: blogger David Twede of MormonThink is quitting the Mormon Church rather than face excommunication for his posts criticizing Mormon beliefs & Mitt Romney. Twede's Website is here.
Denise Lavoie of the AP: "A Massachusetts judge will hold another hearing before deciding whether to unseal testimony that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave in the divorce case of Staples founder Tom Stemberg. Ex-wife Maureen Sullivan Stemberg appeared in court Wednesday with lawyer Gloria Allred. They said they did not object to a Boston Globe motion to lift an impoundment order on Romney's 1991 testimony in the case. Attorneys said Romney's testimony dealt with financial matters." ...
... TMZ has the scoop on what that's all about: "Mitt Romney LIED under oath when he testified in the divorce of his good friend and screwed the friend's wife out of a lot of money in the process ... so claims the ex-wife of Staples' founder TomStemberg. Multiple sources ... tell TMZ ... during Tom's uber nasty divorce case with ex-wife Maureen, Mitt Romney gave a deposition and testified during the trial that Staples was worth virtually nothing.... Partly as a result of Romney's testimony, Maureen got relatively little in the divorce, but we're told just weeks after the divorce ended, Romney and Tom went toGoldman Sachs and cashed in THEIR stock for a fortune." There's more. ...
Whatever Happened to Sarah Palin? Oh, She's Still Around. Neetzam Zimmerman of Gawker: "... on her Facebook page, Palin called on President Obama to end his 'shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies.' Palin ... is purposely aiming slave-owner terminology at a black person." ...
... Greg Krieg of ABC News: "'Shuck and jive' is a racially loaded expression that has mostly disappeared from public discourse over the past half-century. 'She never ceases to amaze," ABC News political analyst Nicolle Wallace, a former aide to Palin during the 2008 election, said today. 'It's entirely possible that she was ignorant about the racial implications of her comments, but at this point, I'm not sure what's more incredible -- her ignorance or her eagerness to offend.'"
Russell Goldman of ABC News: "Donald Trump's 'major news" is now Twitter laughingstock.... Trump today pledged $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choice, provided the president makes public his college applications and transcripts and releases his passport history, a far cry from the October-surprise bombshell Trump had promised.... When asked about Trump's comments, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe told reporters: 'Direct your questions to Boston [Mitt Romney's campaign headquarters], he's Romney's biggest supporter.'" Here are some other Twitter responses. ...
... Dana Milbank: "This was trumped up even by the Donald's self-aggrandizing standards. Denunciations and derision rang out from the political left, right and center. The bookmaker that took bets on Trump's bombshell refunded the wagers. The real estate mogul had managed to make his real announcement resemble the Onion's spoof article: 'Donald Trump announced that he is a very sad man who has nothing to live for other than drawing attention to himself.'" ...
... ** Michael Grunwald of Time: Donald Trump's latest flame-out reminds us that Americans should get over the cult of the CEO. "... there is no reason to think that CEO's have any more insight into the national interest than their workers do."
Congressional Races
Rosalind Helderman & Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post: "In the battle for control of the U.S. Senate, there are now at least eight critical contests in which polling shows essentially a dead heat, encouraging Republicans' hopes that they may yet snag the chamber, which very recently seemed beyond their reach. Some of the GOP boost is coming from the top of the ticket in the form of Mitt Romney, whose recent surge in the polls seems to be helping Republican candidates across the country." CW: this tells quite a different story from the Real Clear Politics story I linked yesterday which opined that Republicans were not likely to gain control of the Senate. How would this be a disaster? See Krugman's remarks above.
Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times reports on contentious Florida Congressional races. CW: Alvarez' piece is like reading Gail Collins, only the candidates are the jokes & provide the snark. I was born in Florida. I grew up here. And now, after a decades-long sojourn in other parts, I am back. Nonetheless, I do think I'll update my passport, pack my bags in due course & apply for a visa to Calyban's Enlightened States of America.
Gail Collins: "'I got into the race after looking at the faces of my six little grandchildren,' said Linda McMahon. She is the Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Connecticut, and, over the last three years, she has spent more than $77 million attempting to get elected. When the little grandchildren are grown into the heirs to the McMahon family fortune, do you think they'll regard that as a good choice?"
New York TimesEditors: "Representative Joe Walsh, a Republican freshman congressman known for legislation like the Save Christmas Act and for shooting off his mouth, is battling Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat and war veteran, in a race that stands out for its saturating quantities of rancor, negativity and outside cash. The lowlights of Mr. Walsh's campaign include screaming at constituents, denigrating Ms. Duckworth's military service and, most recently, insisting that there is no such thing as an abortion to protect a woman's life or health because of 'advances in science and technology.' Beyond his deplorable remarks, Mr. Walsh has also drawn criticism for the questionable amounts of money flooding into his race." One of his biggest contributors: a Super PAC he helped found.
Other Stuff
Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post: "Increasingly, the evidence suggests that the United States has come out of the financial crisis of 2008 in better shape than its peers -- because of the actions of its government."
Lynn Beisner (a pseudonym) explains the conservative Christian's view of why bad things happen to bad people: see, girls, if you're going out & about without the protection of male family members, you're asking to be raped. It's god's way of teaching you to be more virtuous. "The idea that rape is God's will is not an isolated misogynistic idea. It is but one logical outcome of a theology which says that God hurts us to help us -- that when we intervene in another person's suffering, we may be stopping God from doing his loving work in the person's life.... Think about ... what it would look like if you applied that theology to all public policy. And now you understand the Tea Party." CW: BTW, there is no such lesson in the Gospels; this is "theology" invented out of whole cloth. Rather, the lesson from the Sermon on the Mount is "[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:45) The same thesis is expressed elsewhere in the Gospels. Thanks to contributor Marvin S. for the link.
The always-provocative Steven Pinkerguest-blogs on the New York Times' "Opinionator" philosophy column "The Stone" to try to put the red state/blue state divide in historical context. I'll comment on his column in Thursday's New York Times eXaminer as I think Pinker is on the right track but misses some essential elements that help explain the philosophical divide. Thanks to contributor MAG for the link.
Do read the obituary of Judge Betty Binns Fletcher. What a woman!
New York TimesEditors: Kentucky should abolish the death penalty. "The death penalty in Kentucky is colossally unfair, costly and riddled with constitutional error. From 1976 through last year, of the 78 people sentenced to death in the state, 50 had their sentences overturned on appeal, with 15 of those for prosecutorial mistakes or misconduct. Last December, a report conducted by the American Bar Association based on a two-year review by a team of lawyers, professors and former members of the State Supreme Court found enormous problems with the state's capital system."
Matthew Purdy & Christine Haughney of the New York Times: Mark Thompson, formerly head of the BBC & incoming Times CEO, has changed his story in the last 10 days on what he knew & when he knew it re: the Jimmy Savile sexual-abuse scandal. Said one former BBC producer who is now an MP, "Mr. Thompson was well paid 'to, apparently, not know what was going on under his own roof.'"
News Ledes
New York Times: "Margaret Osborne duPont, a tenacious and durable American tennis champion who won six Grand Slam singles titles in the middle decades of the 20th century while becoming one of the most dominant doubles players of her era, died Wednesday at her home in El Paso. She was 94."
New York Times: "Weeks after [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu struggled to repair a rift with the Obama administration about public comments on the Iranian nuclear threat, the prime minister and his aides were trying to head off any political problems over a report in The New York Times on Sunday saying that Washington and Tehran had agreed in principle to have direct talks after the American presidential election.... Both sides wanted to control the message to avoid further flare-up."
AP: "The U.S. military did not quickly intervene during the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya last month because military leaders did not have adequate intelligence information and felt they should not put American forces at risk, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday in his most extensive comments to date on the unfolding controversy surrounding the attack in Benghazi."
AP: "Hurricane Sandy made landfall Thursday just west of Santiago de Cuba in southern Cuba, where residents boarded over windows and cleared drainage gutters ahead of the strengthening storm that had roared across Jamaica and left two dead in the Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Sandy, which had strengthened to a category 2 hurricane, was located over southeastern Cuba and moving north at 18 mph (30 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph) and is expected to remain a hurricane as it moves through the Bahamas."
Market Watch: "Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. rose 5.7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 389,000, the highest pace since April 2010, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Wednesday." ...
... ANDUSA Today: "The number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 369,000 the week ended Oct. 20, the Labor Department said Thursday, reflecting an improving labor market." ...
Reuters: "President Bashar al-Assad's forces fired heavy tank and rocket barrages at a Damascus suburb on Thursday, killing five people, opposition activists said, a day before a UN-brokered ceasefire is due to come into force."
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