Thanksgiving Day

"Guernica," U.C. Davis Edition.... CW: I debated about posting this link, but the "reviewers" make some good points. For several reasons, this appears to be is a genuine amazon.com page, but I can't be sure. If it is the real deal, by the time you get to it, the page may have changed, causing you to wonder why I posted the link. ...

... Also, the reader who sent me the link said she found it on Brilliant at Breakfast. Jill of BoB has more on the science of pepper spray. plus video of Rachel Maddow's segment on the same.

President Obama's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here.

CW: When he was an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama had a reputation as a pretty good poker player. It occurred to me a long while back that maybe he knew how to play a lousy hand when he let John Boehner back out of the debt ceiling deal. Ezra Klein, who's making a different point, also makes mine: "Imagine if the Democrats offered Republicans a deficit deal that had more than $3 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts, assigned most of those spending cuts to the Pentagon, and didn't take a dime from Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare beneficiaries. Republicans would laugh at them. But without quite realizing it, that's the deal Republicans have now offered to the Democrats." ...

... Matt Yglesias of Slate agrees with Klein's analysis: "It's possible that by refusing to agree to a relatively modest tax increase relative to current policy (i.e., relative to full extension of the Bush tax cuts) the congressional Republicans have locked into place a much more left-wing deal in which the majority of deficit reduction is done by tax hikes and a majority of spending cuts come on the national security side.... if Obama gets re-elected, [the Republicans will] have fumbled the policy substance in a catastrophic way and put in place a budget framework that's much more left-wing than the one Obama was begging them to agree to a few months ago." CW: this is why the 2012 election is so important, as Yglesias says.

The U.S. Financial Crisis, Explained in Irish (via Charles Pierce):

Mark Viera of the New York Times: "Local judges have recused themselves from handling the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case, and lawyers for two Penn State officials who were indicted for perjury have begun to raise questions about the background of the prosecution’s chief witness, himself a Penn State assistant coach." There's a related AP story here. The Times also has an in-depth report on incidents involving Victim 1.

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Less than a week before U.N. negotiators convene in South Africa for a new round of talks aimed at forging a global climate pact, a hacker has released an apparent second round of e-mails from the University of East Anglia in Britain that seek to portray climate scientists in a negative light. ...

     ... Bryan Walsh of Time: "They've apparently got bupkis."

Nontheists. Kimberly Winston in the Washington Post: "... scores of ... atheists, young and old, have made ... videos for a new campaign designed to build community and support among nontheists around the world. Dubbed 'We Are Atheism,' the campaign was launched this fall by three students at the University of Kansas." ...

... Supertheists. Elizabeth Tenety in the Washington Post: this weekend, the Roman Catholic Church will begin using a new English translation of the liturgy. The article includes the Church's guide for the changes to the people's parts in the liturgy.

On the front page of the New York Times is a six-part video by food writer Melissa Clark with helpful advice on how to cook a turkey. For classic hints on fowl preparation, we turn to this old chestnut from "Julia Child":

... AND here's hoping your Thanksgiving goes better than Loudon Wainwright III's. "Thanksgiving" begins 3 minutes in. Another classic (P.S. If all does not go well, consider your family "normal"):

Right Wing World

"In His Own Words." Mitt Romney Endorses Obama in 2012. From Buzzfeed. For the backstory, see yesterday's Right Wing World. Plus, more from CBS News on Romney's "intentionally" deceitful ad. You can see the PolitiFact rating to the left.

Marc Ambinder of the National Journal: "During [Tuesday] night's debate, Newt Gingrich moved in a direction that is decidedly orthogonal to the party's conservative base on immigration. Whether Newt stays in his new position is to-be-determined. But if he does, it might produce from the probable Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, the type of reaction that President Obama's campaign advisers would relish." The post includes the text of the Gingrich-Romney exchange. And here's a DNC video on topic:

From last Thursday, Jon Stewart sums of the Republican race for president:

... AND Steve Stromberg of the Washington Post sums up Tuesday night's debate: "Romney and Gingrich won. Romney because he is still the putative frontrunner and the likely nominee, and he did not mess up tonight. Gingrich because he held his own in the spotlight, unlike some of the previous anti-Romneys in this primary campaign. Otherwise, Perry still looked tired, Bachmann still sounded kooky, Huntsman was still too moderate, Ron Paul was still Ron Paul, and Cain still gave no sense he belonged on stage, even among this cast of characters.

If you want to know how bad guys look when they dress up in suits to have their portraits made, the photo that accompanies Ezra Klein's post (linked above) answers that burning question:

The GOP Congressional leadership, in April. Bloomberg photo.

News Ledes

AP: "Los Angeles and San Francisco are seeking long-term solutions to the entrenched encampments by anti-Wall Street protesters, hoping to end the drain on resources and the frayed nerves among police and politicians. Officials in both cities have considered providing protesters with indoor space that would allow the movement to carry out its work in more sanitary, less public facilities." ...

     ... Oops! Missed this one: Yahoo! News: "More than a dozen news organizations are demanding a meeting with the NYPD after as many as 10 journalists were arrested--and dozens of others harassed -- while trying to cover last week's raid on Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park. The New York Times is helping coordinate the news organizations' complaints with the NYPD."

New York Times: "Two Egyptian generals offered an unusual apology on Thursday for the killings of protesters in Tahrir Square, the iconic landmark of the country’s revolution, as violence around the huge plaza eased decisively after five days of intense clashes between security forces and protesters demanding an end to military rule. On what had been the front line of the confrontation, army troops in black helmets and visors replaced the police — reviled by many protesters...." Al Jazeera story here, with video. ...

     ... AP Update: "Egypt's military rulers said Thursday that parliamentary elections starting next week will he held on schedule despite spreading unrest. The military also rejected protesters' demands that it im mediately step down...."

Reuters: "France pressed Germany on Thursday to let the European Central Bank act decisively to halt a stampede out of euro zone government bond markets that has raised doubts about the survival of the single currency. French President Nicolas Sarkozy met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Strasbourg, seeking a trade-off between EU treaty change to impose greater fiscal discipline on euro zone states, demanded by Germany, and more emergency help from the central bank."

It isn't Thanksgiving in the country from which the pilgrims fled, so the Leveson inquiry into tabloid hacking goes on. The Guardian's liveblog is here, and it has star power.

Reuters: "Prospects for the $39 billion sale of Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA unit to AT&T darkened after the U.S. telecoms giant said it would take a $4 billion charge in case of failure and the pair gave up on one avenue of regulatory approval. The companies have not given up hope of sealing the deal but analysts said it now looks less likely than ever."

The Commentariat -- November 23

In today's New York Times eXaminer, I discuss Tom Friedman's strategy for ensuring President Obama's re-election. The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote come to mind. Here's the lede:

It’s Wednesday, so Tom Friedman has some more advice for President Obama. Well, not more advice. The same old advice. But it has a new date stamp on it.

In today's Off Times Square, we ask the question, "What should President Obama say to address the police attacks on students and other Occupy demonstrators?" ...

... Shawna Thomas of NBC News: "During his speech in Manchester, N.H. today, President Obama found himself interrupted by members of Occupy New Hampshire. The protesters handed out fliers along with attempting to employ a 'human microphone' to deliver a message of dissatisfaction to the president. They got about halfway through before others in the crowd began to counter-chant with the President’s 2008 slogan of 'Fired up. Ready to go.'”

... Here's how Peter Wallsten & Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post report the story. ...

... Here's Karen Garcia on "Obama, Occupied." ...

... See also Adam Martin & Alexander Abad-Santos of The Atlantic. Read the comments here, too.

Rule: When you get a lede like this in Politico, you run it. Josh Boak: "The economy would have been in much worse shape without the 2009 stimulus — which increased employment in the third quarter of this year by as many as 3.3 million full-time jobs, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The American Bar Association has secretly declared a significant number of President Obama’s potential judicial nominees 'not qualified,' slowing White House efforts to fill vacant judgeships — and nearly all of the prospects given poor ratings were women or members of a minority group, according to interviews."

Chris Spannos of the New York Times eXaminder interviews Julian Assange. Part 4 of the interview:

     ... You can link to the first parts of the interview here.

More on Both Sides Do It! Greg Sargent: "Today’s [actually, yesterday's] false equivalency sweepstakes: We have a winner! Today’s prize goes to National Journal’s Ron Fournier for the most perfect false equivalency of the morning.... What we’re really talking about here is the quest to establish factual reality, which is what journalists are supposed to be doing." ...

... Steve Benen on Fournier: "The high-profile political reporter, who admitted in 2007 that he entered talks to join the McCain campaign as a paid staffer, and later sent encouraging emails to Karl Rove, covered the Obama-McCain race with a series of questionable pieces." CW: And now he's making up stuff at the National Journal. He was always a lazy-assed reporter, and now he's a lazy-assed opinionator.

Right Wing World

Jim Rutenberg & Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "The Republican presidential candidates highlighted their party’s lack of a single national security vision a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks, differing on Tuesday night over the pace of withdrawal from Afghanistan, aid to Pakistan and, in an exchange that could resonate dangerously for Newt Gingrich, what to do with illegal immigrants in the United States." ...

... The Times has a quick fact-check here. The Washington Post story, by Dan Balz & Amy Gardner, is here.

Dan Milbank holds Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) responsible for the failure of the supercommittee. And he doesn't pull any punches, calling Kyl "cold and ruthless" and "destructive."

The Fiction, Courtesy of Fox "News"

"It's a food product." -- Megyn Kelly, on pepper spray:

Although this picture just might be Photoshopped, the image of Fox "News" horticulture reporter Megyn Kelly is not. She posed for this photo for GQ magazine. Stay tuned. Next week, she explains why pizza is a vegetable.

... The Facts

** "Banned for Use in War." Meredith Melnick of Time: "... in the mid-1990s, the U.S. Department of Justice cited nearly 70 fatalities linked to pepper-spray use.... Getting pepper-sprayed is worse than getting maced [PDF] — mace causes burning but no respiratory effects [which pepper spray causes].... Classified as a riot-control agent and banned for use in war by Article I.5 of the Chemical Weapons Convention, pepper spray is meant to be used against violent attackers who are resisting arrest and threatening physical harm to others.... According to guidelines [PDF] for all California State schools, pepper spray is meant to be used for less than one second on any one person." Thanks to a friend for the link.

Steve Benen: "Mitt Romney’s very first television ad of the 2012 campaign pushes a blatant, shameless lie. In 2008, a month before the president was elected, then-candidate Obama told voters, 'Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’” In Romney’s new attack ad, viewers only see part of the quote: 'If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.' Here's how the Romney camp defended the ad: "He did say the words. That’s his voice." ...

...Judd Legum & Jeff Spross of Think Progress: "... the Romney campaign has defended this blatantly dishonest campaign tactic as 'not out of bounds.' Thus, ThinkProgress has created this completely in-bounds 'advertisement' quoting Romney, in his own words:

    ... "Accurate, according to the Romney standard of accuracy." 

As for Romney's ad, it's not just misleading. It's TV-station-refuse-to-air-it-misleading. -- Jake Tapper, ABC News

"The Secret Letters of Gov. Mitt." Michael Levenson of the Boston Globe: "Mitt Romney [Sunday] briefly reiterated his campaign’s assertion that his aides did nothing wrong when they purchased their state-issued hard drives in 2006, as they left their jobs and Romney began his first run for president.... The Globe reported on Thursday that 11 of Romney’s aides ... took the unusual step of buying 17 hard drives from the Massachusetts governor’s office, paying $65 for each one. The Romney administration also wiped the server for the governor’s office and replaced the remaining computers in the office as they prepared to turn over power to Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat. 'We actually put 700 boxes of information into the archives that wasn’t even required, so we followed the law exactly as intended and as written,' he said." ...

     ... Charles Pierce of Esquire: "I would bet all the federal tax dollars we've sunk into Michele Bachmann's family farm that all that's in those e-mails is a bunch of stuff that would have complicated Willard's 426 ideological and cultural makeovers that he's undergone since he went national with his bad self. Seventeen hard drives at $65 per? You know what's cheaper? Having deeply held convictions that last longer than 11 minutes." ...

... AND on That Note. Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy: "In advance of [Tuesday] night's GOP foreign policy debate, the Obama campaign has put out a memo identifying all the ways the presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has 'flip-flopped' on the major foreign policy issues of the day. Romney's 'penchant for changing positions is of particular concern on matters of national security,' Obama for American campaign manager Jim Messina wrote in a memo released ahead of tonight's CNN-AEI-Heritage debate in Washington. "A Commander-in-Chief only gets one chance to get it right. But Mitt Romney has been on all sides of the key foreign policy issues facing our nation today."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Medicare administrator Don Berwick has stepped down from his position, effective next Friday.... The White House intends to appoint Marilyn Tavenner, currently second-in-command at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as Berwick’s replacement." CW: read the post. Republicans' treatment of Dr. Berwick was a travesty.

The Obama family participated in a service event this afternoon.

Sacramento Bee: "Four days after the pepper spraying incident at UC Davis Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, acting governor while Gov. Jerry Brown is on vacation out of state, issued a statement Tuesday night condemning the 'senseless violence' and praising UC officials for ordering an independent investigation." CW: as far as I know, Newsom is the highest-ranking official to speak out against U.C. Davis police brutality. Not a word from President O'Bambi. Thanks to reader James S. for the link.

President Obama pardoned the national Thanksgiving turkey:

New York Times: "Banks clamored for emergency funds from the European Central Bank on Tuesday, borrowing the most since early 2009 in a clear sign that the euro region’s financial institutions are having trouble obtaining credit at reasonable rates on the open market."

Washington Post: Pakistan named a liberal female lawmaker as its new ambassador to the United States on Wednesday, swiftly filling a crucial diplomatic vacancy created amid a scandal that highlighted civil-military tensions. The appointment of Sherry Rehman, a prominent former journalist known for her human rights work, surprised observers who expected a choice with a more obvious stamp of approval from the powerful military."

New York Times: "After months of street protests calling for his resignation, President Ali Abdullah Saleh traveled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to sign an agreement that would require him to immediately transfer his powers to his vice president, a move that could pave the way for an end to Mr. Saleh’s 33-year rule."

The Commentariat -- November 22

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is here. Here's the lede:

Today we have David Brooks at his bipartisan, both-sides-do-it, reasonable, fair-minded best. We are not supposed to notice that his entire column in today’s New York Times is One Big Lie. Well, okay, since Brooks sees 'Two Moons,' he gives us Two Big Lies, with a few subsidiary lies thrown in to bolster the Big Lies.

"Beat Poets, not beat poets." Robert Hass, the former Poet Laureate of the United States, gives a first-hand account of the beatings -- he was a victim -- of Occupy Berkeley protesters:

They swung hard into their chests and bellies. Particularly shocking to me — it must be a generational reaction — was that they assaulted both the young men and the young women with the same indiscriminate force. If the students turned away, they pounded their ribs. If they turned further away to escape, they hit them on their spines.NONE of the police officers invited us to disperse or gave any warning. We couldn’t have dispersed if we’d wanted to because the crowd behind us was pushing forward...

Where's Barack? Karen Garcia: "... when it comes to the United States going whole hog and actually condemning another country's undemocratic actions, I hit the jackpot: more than 9 million Google hits. We've condemned the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador, Sudan's attacks on refugee camps and the violent crackdowns in Bahrain, to name just a few. We have even condemned UNESCO's pro-Palestine vote. But so far, not one federal official has deplored, condemned, expressed chagrin, outrage, regret or shock over the epidemic outbreak of police brutality against Occupy protesters this week."

     ... CW: One reason the White House has nothing to say about police brutality against Occupy protesters is that the White House press corps isn't interested. I read the entire transcript of Jay Carney's press briefing yesterday, and 75 percent of the questions were about the supercommittee and the remainder about the Middle East. ...

... "Occupy the Majority." E. J. Dionne: "... the [Occupy] movement should remind itself of its greatest innovation, its slogan: 'We are the 99 percent.' This is an affirmation that it is trying to speak for nearly everybody. Its tactics should live up to this aspiration by building support among the vast number of Americans who will never show up at the encampments. It should also want to help political figures such as [Elizabeth] Warren, who understood far earlier than most the costs of inequality and of the abuses of financial power. The last thing this movement should want to do is create fodder for the ads and e-mails propagated by Warren’s foes. The occupations have done their work. Now it’s time to occupy the majority." ...

Lt. John Pike, U.C. Davis.... Sam Stanton of the Sacramento Bee: "Lt. John Pike, a UC Davis police officer believed to have pepper-sprayed students on campus Friday, is a former United States Marine who was given an award for valor in 2007 when he saved other officers from a scissor-wielding patient at the school's medical center." CW: I don't usually make comments about someone's personal appearance, but really, could that guy look any more like an oinker?

Charles Pierce of Esquire on the White House's repeatedly blaming "Congress" for the failure to get a deficit deal instead of blaming Republicans: "I'm sure that the Democrats on this prolonged waste of time appreciate how the White House has tossed them into the blame pie with the Republicans. You spend a few months attempting to sell out every bit of progressive government of the past 80 years, and this is the thanks you get from the leader of your party. You get hit in a drive-by swipe about 'Washington' and 'Congress.' I swear to god, sometimes, Barack Obama and the people around him can be the most incredible mixture of insufferable arrogance and obvious political incompetence ever to get elected in this country. Just shut up and at least try to get re-elected. Please."

Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine: "There is nothing in [GOP] behavior over the last twenty years that shows the slightest interest in a bipartisan agreement to reduce the deficit. Nor is there any recent evidence. Democrats have continued to offer agreements to reduce spending, including on entitlements, in return for higher tax revenue, which they’re willing to accept in the form of lower tax credits as opposed to higher rates.... The news media is working desperately not to convey this reality."

Right Wing World

Grover Norquist -- the Man Who Really Runs the GOP, a Senate Democratic ad:

Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: Despite all their expressed horrors about "the government's taking away your freedoms" by imposing a mandate, "The primary reason Limbaugh and his listeners don't like universal health care is that they reject the basic concept. They simply don't believe in using government to make sure every American has access to affordable health care."

News Ledes

I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions while I am governor. -- Gov. John Kitzhaber (D-Ore.)

New York Times: "Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon on Tuesday said he would halt the execution of a death row inmate scheduled for next month and that he would allow no more executions in the state during his time in office." The Oregonian story is here.

The 14th Republican debate tonight will be aired on CNN live at 8:00 pm ET. Here's the New York Times' liveblog of the debate.

New York Times: "In his most blatant criticism yet of Syria’s political repression, the prime minister of Turkey, [Recep Tayyip Erdogan,] said for the first time on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria should resign, raising the pressure on Mr. Assad from a country that Syria had once counted as its friendliest neighbor and economic partner."

President Obama spoke about the American Jobs Act in Manchester, New Hampshire, early this afternoon. ABC News story here. See also Wednesday's Commentariat:

     ... Update: Washington Post: "With taxes set to rise for nearly every American worker, President Obama sought Tuesday to highlight his tax-cutting bona fides, accusing Republicans of hypocrisy if they do not agree to extend a payroll tax cut that is set to expire in January. Obama’s comments were part of an escalating White House campaign against Republicans that is painting them as defenders of the wealthy at the expense of the middle class."

AP: "Students have again put up tents near the site where University of California, Davis police used pepper spray on seated protesters in a conflict that has sparked outrage and calls for the school chancellor's resignation. The encampment was again erected Monday, hours after the campus police chief was put on administrative leave and the chancellor was shouted down at a demonstration while trying to apologize for the incident that happened at a protest held Friday in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement." Related Sacramento Bee story here.

Al Jazeera: "Activists in Egypt are calling for a mass demonstration in Cairo against the country's ruling military council after three days of clashes between protesters and government forces left at least 33 people dead and hundreds injured." ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "Three American college students have been arrested and accused of participating in the violent demonstrations that are sweeping this capital city. The protests, now in their fourth day, are posing the greatest threat to Egypt’s military leaders since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak last February, and could jeopardize parliamentary elections scheduled for Monday." ...

     ... Al Jazeera Update 2: "Egyptians angry over the slow transition to civilian rule have remained in the streets of the capital and other cities, continuing their protests despite apparent concessions offered by the country's ruling military council. Tens of thousands of protesters packed central Cairo's Tahrir Square late on Tuesday night, shouting 'Leave! Leave!', hours after Field Marshal Muhammed Hussein Tantawi, the chief of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), finished a short speech broadcast on state media." With video.