The Commentariat -- April 25, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "The family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy whose fatal shooting by the Cleveland police in 2014 prompted national outrage, is set to receive $6 million from the city in a settlement announced Monday in federal court records." -- CW
Kirk Semple of the New York Times: "... an international panel of investigators ... ha[s] been examining the ... [disappearance of] 43 students ... in the city of Iguala[, Mexico] one night in September 2014 amid violent, chaotic circumstances.... The reason for the students' abduction remains a mystery. Despite apparent stonewalling by the Mexican government in recent months, the panel's two reports on the case, the most recent of which was released on Sunday, provide the fullest accounting of the events surrounding the students' disappearance, which also left six other people dead, including three students, and scores wounded." -- CW
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "As the [U.S. Supreme Court] justices are set to review ... former Virginia governor [Bob McDonnell]'s [R] conviction this week, other politicians will be watching for a decision on when a favor crosses the line into an 'official act,' an area that has become increasingly blurry in the world of campaign contributions." -- CW
Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: Muskogee County, "Oklahoma police took $53,000 from a Christian band raising money for an orphanage. A Texas man who is a refugee from Burma was carrying the cash -- most of it from ticket sales for the band he managed -- in his car when officers stopped him and seized the money under the state's forfeiture law.... Oklahoma has some of the most permissive forfeiture laws in the nation, according to a 2015 report by the Institute for Justice, a civil liberties law firm." -- CW
Larry Neumeister of the Boston Globe: "New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady must serve a four-game 'Deflategate' suspension imposed by the NFL, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, overturning a lower judge and siding with the league in a battle with the players union." -- CW
*****
Staff writers of the BBC: "US President Barack Obama has dismissed North Korea's proposal to suspend nuclear tests if the US ends its annual military exercises with the South. On Sunday Mr Obama told reporters that the US did not take such a proposal seriously and that Pyongyang would "have to do better than that". The North's foreign minister Ri Su-yong made the offer in a rare interview. Mr Ri's comments came as the North said it fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its eastern coast." --safari
Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Obama will announce the addition of 250 Special Operations troops to the American advisory force in Syria, U.S. officials said Sunday, the administration's latest move seeking to intensify pressure on the Islamic State." ...
... Juan Cole calls this announcement the "ISIL Endgame." --safari
Alison Smale & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama said on Sunday that he was confident the United States and the European Union would succeed in negotiating a new trans-Atlantic trade deal by the end of the year, saying the benefits of such an agreement were 'indisputable.'... Mr. Obama spoke while standing next to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at a news conference in Hanover as they prepared to preside over the opening here of the world's largest industrial trade fair. In the evening, Mr. Obama and Ms. Merkel hosted a dinner for 29 chief executives of major American and German companies." CW ...
... She Is Not Amused. Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "Asked Sunday how she viewed the prospect of working with a President Trump, given his harsh criticism of her refugee policy, Merkel first stared icily at the reporter who posed the question -- and then quickly dismissed it." -- CW
David Sanger of the New York Times: "The United States has opened a new line of combat against the Islamic State, directing the military's six-year-old Cyber Command for the first time to mount computer-network attacks that are now being used alongside more traditional weapons. The effort reflects President Obama's desire to bring many of the secret American cyberweapons that have been aimed elsewhere, notably at Iran, into the fight against the Islamic State -- which has proved effective in using modern communications and encryption to recruit and carry out operations." -- CW
Deb Reichmann of the AP: "The Obama administration will likely soon release at least part of a 28-page secret chapter from a congressional inquiry into 9/11 that may shed light on possible Saudi connections to the attackers. The documents, kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol, contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into 'specific sources of foreign support for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers while they were in the United States.'" -- CW
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "There are only two countries on the planet that currently jail people for being too poor to pay the government for getting arrested: The United States and the Philippines.... In any given year, city and county jails across this country lock up between 11 and 13 million people just because they aren't rich enough to write a check for a few hundred dollars.... Jason Flom..., CEO of Lava Records..., wants to get rid of cash bail. Boom." Lithwick interviews Flom. -- CW
Jesse Eisinger of the New Yorker on why the S.E.C. didn't bring criminal charges against Goldman Sachs' top bankers. CW: Sounds an awful lot like Wall Street has "captured" the regulatory agency, which will come as little shock to Reality Chex readers.
David Daley, in New York, writes a long piece on the "REDMAP ratfuck." -- CW
Whistling Dixie. Jim Webb, who claims to be a Democrat who should be president, in a WashPo op-ed: "One would think we could celebrate the recognition that Harriet Tubman will be given on future $20 bills without demeaning former president Andrew Jackson as a 'monster,' as a recent Huffington Post headline did. And summarizing his legendary tenure as being 'known primarily for a brutal genocidal campaign against native Americans,' as reported in The Post, offers an indication of how far political correctness has invaded our educational system and skewed our national consciousness." -- CW ...
... Eric Loomis of LG&$: "This is classic Webb. Downplay genocide, not even discuss slavery, totally avoid Jackson's utterly disastrous economic policies, play up the violence and manliness." -- CW
Eyal Press of The New Yorker has a very long read on systemic torture and abuse of mentally-ill inmates within our prison system. The lede: "In Florida prisons, mentally ill inmates have been tortured, driven to suicide, and killed by guards." --safari ...
... CW: Had just read this myself. Depressing but compelling. And, sadly, not limited to Florida.
Presidential Race
Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Even as his chances of winning the Democratic presidential nomination slip away, Senator Bernie Sanders and his allies are trying to use his popularity to expand his political influence, setting up an ideological struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party in the post-Obama era. Aides to Mr. Sanders have been pressing party officials for a significant role in drafting the platform for the Democratic convention in July, aiming to lock in strong planks on issues like a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, breaking up Wall Street banks and banning natural gas 'fracking.'" -- CW ...
Steven Dennis of Bloomberg: Bernie Sanders, "whose insurgent campaign has energized millions on the left and challenged the prohibitive favorite, said Sunday on ABC's 'This Week' that he would work to defeat the Republican candidate if [Hillary Clinton is] the Democratic nominee. Still, he urged her to adopt many of his agenda items." -- CW
Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont did his best on Sunday to avoid talking about comments made by one of his supporters, the actress Rosario Dawson, who invoked Monica Lewinsky at a rally for Mr. Sanders this weekend." -- CW
Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Hillary Clinton unveiled a major new attempt to use Donald Trump's words against him at the weekend, as both she and rival Bernie Sanders adjusted course near the end of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. While Clinton turned toward an anticipated general election showdown with Trump, Sanders invited Democrats to take a broader view of his role in the race than just as a contender, telling CNN he was out to 'revitalize American democracy'." -- CW
... ** Tax-Dodgers-in-Chief. Rupert Neate of the Guardian: "... Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ... share an affinity for the same nondescript two-storey office building in Wilmington[, Delaware]. A building that has become famous for helping tens of thousands of companies avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in tax through the so-called 'Delaware loophole'.... Both ... Clinton and ... Trump -- have companies registered at 1209 North Orange, and have refused to explain why.... This squat, yellow brick office building just north of Wilmington's rundown downtown is the registered address of more than 285,000 companies. That's more than any other known address in the world, and 15 times more than the 18,000 registered in Ugland House, a five-storey building in the Cayman Islands that President Obama called 'either the biggest building in the world, or the biggest tax scam on record'." -- CW Read on. ...
... "Crooked Hillary." Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: Hillary "Clinton needs to find her voice on the question of campaign finance -- to talk more about money, not less -- because valid doubts about the integrity of the system are fuelling Trump's campaign, too. That won't change if Bernie is gone.... There are legitimate concerns about the role of money in politics that go well beyond quid-pro-quo bribery, such as the effect that being in a closed conversational circle with wealthy donors can have on a politician's world view and priorities. Sanders, though he might do so less derisively, has a right to raise them." -- CW ...
... John Amato of Crooks & Liars: "... Republicans have let out one of their big strategies they'll use against a possible Hillary Clinton presidential run - Swiftboating Benghazi." -- CW ...
... digby: "I have a sneaking suspicion that Trump's going to get a lot more down and dirty than that, however. He's shown he's not afraid to sink as low as it gets. Benghazi ain't it." -- CW
Sidney Blumenthal in The Atlantic: "One hundred and sixty years after the founding of the Republican Party, Donald Trump has evoked Abraham Lincoln as a standard for his branding.... But Lincoln became 'presidential' by resisting not only slavery but also isolating nativism.... The Republicans are now going the way of the Whigs by embracing the politics that helped destroy them." --safari
Too Little, Too Late. Matt Flegenheimer & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Senator Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio have agreed to coordinate in future primary contests in a last-ditch effort to deny Donald J. Trump the Republican presidential nomination, with each candidate standing aside in certain states amid growing concerns that Mr. Trump cannot otherwise be stopped. In a statement late Sunday night, Mr. Cruz's campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said that the campaign would 'focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Governor Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico.' Minutes after Mr. Roe's statement, the Kasich campaign put out a similar message." -- CW ...
... The Washington Post story, by Sean Sullivan & Dave Weigel of is here. -- CW
Simon Maloy of Salon: "Large segments of the Republican Party and the conservative movement have arrayed themselves in opposition to Trump to ward off the political reckoning his candidacy threatens, but there are some people who want Trump to win precisely because his nomination would inflict much-needed violence upon the Republican Party as it currently exists. Bruce Bartlett, a former official in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and a longtime critic of the GOP's increasingly conservative politics, sees Trump as both a product of the Republican Party's decline and a potential catalyst for its eventual reclamation." --safari
AP: "A 20-year-old Connecticut man is facing charges after authorities say he tweeted out a bomb threat during a Donald Trump rally Saturday. Connecticut State Police say the U.S. Secret Service contacted them Saturday afternoon after they say Sean Morkys posted on Twitter, 'Is someone going to bomb the trump rally or am I going to have to?'" CW: Thanks, kid, for making the Trump opposition look insane AND giving Donald a legitimate grievance. Idiot.
Beyond the Beltway
Staff writers of The Seattle Times: "Vandals have tagged a Seattle church with racist graffiti that includes swastikas and a message telling its congregation to 'go back' to Africa. The Seattle Police Department is now investigating the messages...The church believes the vandalism occurred at some point between Friday and Sunday morning." Via The Daily Beast --safari
Guardian: "Eight family members found shot dead at four homes in rural Ohio were targeted for execution in a planned 'sophisticated operation', authorities have said as their investigation entered a third day. They said that remaining members of the tight-knit Rhoden family and other residents of Pike county should arm themselves if they feared further attacks from the killers, who were still at large. Charles Reader, Pike county sheriff, and Mike DeWine, Ohio attorney general, said on Sunday it was clear the victims, ranging in age from 16 to 44, were deliberately singled out for attack, most of them while they slept, rather than killed at random or in a crime of passion. Several marijuana-growing operations were found at the crime scenes, they added, although it was unclear what, if any, role the operations had played in the killings." CW: Arm yourselves? Really?
Christian McPhate of the Dallas Observer: "Tracy Murphree, the GOP candidate for Denton County sheriff, posted on Facebook that he'd beat the hell out of a transgender person who tried to piss in a bathroom where Murphree's daughter was peeing." -- CW ...
... Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: Murphree is expected to win the election. -- CW
Sarah Burris of RawStory: "A preacher in Alabama wants you to know that sex will kill your brain cells, make you homeless and was brought by God as a means of punishing people...Many right-wing religious have deep and profound problems with sex. They want to regulate when you can have it, how you can have it and who you can have it with. But, this guy has taken the anti-sex philosophy to a whole new level of hostility." --safari
The racist origins of tipping. Maddie Oatman of Mother Jones: "On the surface, tipping seems little more than a reward for astute recommendations and polite, speedy service. But the practice has unsavory roots.... European aristocrats popularized the habit of slipping gratuities to their hosts' servants, and by the mid-1800s rich Americans, hoping to flaunt their European sophistication, had brought the practice home." --safari
Way Beyond
Ali al-Mujahed & Hugh Naylor of the Washington Post: "Signaling a major shift in Yemen's grinding civil war, Saudi-backed forces Sunday appeared to mount a large-scale offensive to drive militants aligned with al-Qaeda out of their strongholds in the country's south." -- CW
S. Nakhoul, et al., of Reuters: Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, overseeing Saudi Arabia's economy, unveiled ambitious plans on Monday aimed at ending the kingdom's 'addiction' to oil and transforming it into a global investment power, including changes that would alter the social structure of the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom by pushing for women to have a bigger economic role and by offering improved status to resident expatriates." -- LT
The AFP in the Guardian: "Austria's government was licking its wounds after the anti-immigration far-right triumphed in presidential elections, dealing a major blow to a political establishment seen by voters as out of touch and ineffectual. According to preliminary results, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom party came a clear first with 36% of the vote in the first round of elections.... Candidates from the two ruling centrist parties, which have effectively run Austria since the end of the second world war, failed to even make it into a runoff on 22 May, coming fourth and fifth each with 11% of the vote." --safari