The Commentariat -- April 3, 2014
Internal links, obsolete video removed.
Noah Rayman of Time: "The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to vote Thursday to declassify its 6,300-page report detailing the CIA's controversial interrogation and detention program."
They Have No Shame
Lyle Denniston of ScotusBlog: "The Supreme Court pressed ahead on Wednesday with the majority's constitutional view that more money flowing into politics is a good thing -- even if much of it comes from rich donors. By a five-to-four vote, the Court struck down the two-year ceilings that Congress has imposed on donations to presidential and congressional candidates, parties and some -- but not all -- political action groups. The main opinion delivered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., said confidently that corruption in politics will be kept in check by caps -- left intact -- on how much each single donation can be." ...
... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The ruling, issued near the start of a campaign season, will change and very likely increase the already large role money plays in American politics." ...
... Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "The ruling most empowers two groups of people: those with the wherewithal to spend millions of dollars on campaign contributions, and those with access to them, including party leaders, senior lawmakers and presidents." ...
... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "... wealthy donors now have a broad new power to launder money to political candidates...." ...
... Gail Collins: "The downside to the decision is pretty clear, unless you are of the opinion that what this country really needs is more power to the plutocrats." ...
... Jesse Wegman of the New York Times: "McCutcheon, another blow to democracy." ...
The only type of corruption that Congress may target is quid pro quo corruption. -- John Roberts, in McCutcheon v. F.E.C.
... Charles Pierce: "Justice Stephen Breyer takes up ... in his dissent ... the majority's laughably narrow definition of what political corruption actually is -- that political corruption exists only if you buy a specific result from a specific legislator. But it hardly matters.... Four days after almost every Republican candidate danced the hootchie-koo in Vegas to try and gain the support of a single, skeevy casino gazillionnaire, the majority tells us that there is no 'appearance of corruption' in this unless somebody gets caught putting a slot machine in the Lincoln Bedroom on behalf of Sheldon Adelson." ...
... Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "Every Chief Justice takes on a project. Earl Warren wanted to desegregate the South. Warren Burger wanted to limit the rights of criminal suspects. William Rehnquist wanted to revive the powers of the states. It increasingly appears likely that, for John Roberts, the project will be removing the limits that burden wealthy campaign contributors -- the 'whole point' of the First Amendment, as he sees it. So far, that project is doing pretty well." CW: Yes, and such a noble project. ...
... Rick Hasan in Slate: "... this is ... a subtly awful decision.... The court seems to open the door for a future challenge to what remains of the McCain-Feingold law: the ban on large, 'soft money' contributions collected by political parties.... This opinion promises more bad things to come for money in politics, and soon." ...
... Good piece by Josh Gerstein of Politico on Roberts' Rules. ...
... Kevin Drum: "The cringe-inducing spectacle of Republicans trekking to Las Vegas this weekend to kiss Sheldon Adelson's ring in hopes of becoming his fair-haired child and sole recipient of his millions, shows that the horse is truly out of the barn on the role of the super-rich in political campaigns. It's possible that McCutcheon will strengthen party machinery and provide a slight counterweight, but more likely it will simply give billionaires even more control over the electoral process. ...
(... Betty Cracker of Balloon Juice: "The ways of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are mysterious, but if He could see fit to, as a BJ commenter once suggested, smite a certain corpulent jurist via Fettuccine Alfredo within the next year or so, it would be an exquisitely well-timed deus ex pastana." ...)
Kevin Bogardus of the Hill: "A collective groan went up on K Street Wednesday as the Supreme Court struck down aggregate limits on donations to candidate and party committees.... The ruling means that a common K Street excuse for brushing off fundraising requests -- that they've already 'maxed out' their donations under the cap -- is now moot." ...
... Ari Berman of the Nation: "The Court's conservative majority believes that the First Amendment gives wealthy donors and powerful corporations the carte blanche right to buy an election but that the Fifteenth Amendment does not give Americans the right to vote free of racial discrimination. These are not unrelated issues -- the same people, like the Koch brothers, who favor unlimited secret money in US elections are the ones funding the effort to make it harder for people to vote."
... Chris Cillizza says you're addicted to Koch, too:
... ** Jonathan Chait: "The Wall Street Journal's editorial page owns the deluded self-pitying billionaire screed genre, and today, it brings us Charles Koch." CW: Short piece, handily dispenses with Koch.
Linda Greenhouse: During oral arguments in the Hobby Lobby case, "... no one sought to discuss the question that was almost surely on the justices' minds, Justice Kennedy's in particular: how the Hobby Lobby case relates to gay rights. By an exquisite coincidence of timing, the court, at the exact moment it begins to sort out the Hobby Lobby case, also has before it a case illustrating how readily a claim of religious conscience can, if upheld, become a license for discrimination against gay men and lesbians.... I hope ... the court sees the two [cases] joined together as a kind of early warning system of the dangers of, as Justice Kennedy said, allowing religion to 'just trump.'" ...
... Charles Lane of the Washington Post: "We wouldn't have to [worry about Hobby Lobby executives' objections to contraceptive coverage] if nearly 150 million Americans weren't covered through employer-paid health insurance." CW: Lane appeals to Republicans to embrace health insurance exchanges on which individuals obtain insurance directly, but we know a better answer: single-payer.
Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The Fort Hood military installation in Texas is locked down after a shooting that left at least four people dead and injured an unknown number, according to authorities. Four people were killed, according to government officials. It's unclear at this moment if the four dead includes the shooter, who officials have confirmed was killed, but that number is believed to include the shooter." ...
... Update. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, et al., of the Post: "An Iraq war veteran who was grappling with mental health issues opened fire at Fort Hood, Tex., in an attack that left four people dead and 16 wounded Wednesday afternoon, according to preliminary law enforcement and military reports. The gunfire sent tremors of fear across a sprawling Army post still reeling from one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history." ...
... Lindsey Bever of the Post: "Authorities at Fort Hood have launched an aggressive investigation into the circumstances which led an Iraq war veteran to open fire and kill three soldiers Wednesday." ...
... The transcript of President Obama's remarks on the shooting is here:
Annie Lowrey of the New York Times: "... there is increasing evidence that a stronger recovery alone might not significantly aid the country’s long-term jobless. Even before the latest monthly job figures are released on Friday, short-term unemployment has fallen to its prerecession level, but long-term unemployment remains more than twice as high as it was in 2007." Yet the federal & state governments are doing little to help the long-term unemployed.
Ben Protess & Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation into a recent $400 million fraud involving Citigroup's Mexican unit, according to people briefed on the matter, one of a handful of government inquiries looming over the giant bank. The investigation, overseen by the F.B.I. and prosecutors from the United States attorney's office in Manhattan, is focusing in part on whether holes in the bank's internal controls contributed to the fraud in Mexico. The question for investigators is whether Citigroup -- as other banks have been accused of doing in the context of money laundering -- ignored warning signs. The bank ... also faces a parallel civil investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement unit...."
David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "The latest official to be caught in the Benghazi shredder is Michael Morell, former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency.... Morell responded Wednesday by doing something unusual in Washington: He answered the charges [against him] in open testimony to the House Intelligence Committee.... Morell also took a rare public shot" at former CIA director David Petraeus.... The real significance of Morell's testimony was that he directly rebutted the GOP charge that the CIA, in concert with the White House, 'cooked the books' on Benghazi with manufactured talking points that Morell knew were wrong, and then covered it up."
Read this short post by Charles Pierce.
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "After months of pummeling by Republicans and with a grim election season approaching, Democrats on Tuesday had a rare bright day. President Obama's announcement that the new health care plan had enrolled 7.1 million Americans coincided with the release by Representative Paul D. Ryan of a new Republican budget that proposes changes in Medicare and deep cuts in spending.... For the first time in a while, Democrats this week found themselves talking up a contrast between their agenda -- protecting the newly insured, raising the minimum wage and renewing unemployment benefits -- and a Republican plan that would cut health care and education spending deeply, and move Medicare toward private insurance.... Some Republican members of Congress are showing a newfound willingness to negotiate changes in the [ACA] rather than demand its repeal. "
Tim Alberta of the National Journal: "House conservatives unloaded on their Republican leaders in two closed-door meetings Wednesday, a response to last week's maneuver to extend the so-called doc fix with an unexpected voice vote. Nevertheless, most members said they would not seek retribution by voting against Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal next week. Tensions flared initially at Wednesday morning's Republican Conference meeting over what conservatives called a 'sneaky' decision by GOP leadership last Thursday to patch the sustainable growth rate requirement in the Medicare program with a simple voice vote, thereby avoiding a potentially disastrous roll-call vote." CW: So the wingnuts are against paying medical personnel fair wages??? All part of their plan to kill Medicare, I guess. ...
... Andrew Taylor of the AP: "A budget plan stuffed with familiar proposals to cut across a wide swath of the federal budget breezed through the House Budget Committee on Wednesday, but its sharp cuts to health care coverage for the middle class and the poor, food stamps and popular domestic programs are a nonstarter with President Barack Obama."
E. J. Dionne: "The fact that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) hit its original goal this week of signing up more than 7 million people through its insurance exchanges ought to be a moment of truth -- literally as well as figuratively. It ought to give everyone, particularly members of the news media, pause over how reckless the opponents of change have been in making instant judgments and outlandish charges.... Given how many times the law's enemies have said the sky was falling when it wasn't, will there be tougher interrogation of their next round of apocalyptic predictions?"
The World According to Beck. Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch: "These days, Glenn Beck's TV and radio programs are little more than exercises in projection and hypocrisy, so it was no surprise to see him have a complete meltdown on his radio program today over President Obama's remarks [Tuesday] hailing reports that more than seven million people had signed up for health insurance under Obamacare. Declaring that the seven million figure was obviously phony, Beck flew into a rage against Obama and the 'rat bastards' in the media who refuse to hold him accountable for his pathological lying. 'This guy,' Beck said of Obama, 'you put him in a military uniform, I'm not kidding you, you put him on a balcony in a military uniform, this guy is a full-fledged dictator. He's a sociopath!,' Beck proclaimed, later in the broadcast."
News Ledes
Chicago Tribune: "... federal authorities announced that billionaire Ukrainian industrialist Dmytro Firtash and five other foreign nationals have been charged in Chicago with participating in an international racketeering conspiracy involving at least $18.5 million in bribes to government officials in India to allow the mining of titanium minerals.... Firtash, who has long allied himself with leaders friendly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.... Prosecutors, though, said the charges were filed under seal last June in Chicago and have nothing to do with recent events in Ukraine."
Houston Chronicle: "Serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells -- a drifter who has been linked to the deaths of more than a dozen people, including a 9-year-old San Antonio girl -- was executed Thursday evening.... The execution came despite last-minute litigation by attorneys for Sells and another death row inmate seeking to have the U.S. Supreme Court intervene because Texas prison officials have refused to disclose details about a new batch of lethal drugs."
Chicago Tribune: "Sears will close the doors of its State Street department store on Sunday, ending a long chapter of poor sales for the flagship Loop location and highlighting a growing trend away from brick-and-mortar shopping. Sears first opened the store in 2001, after an 18-year break from downtown. Sears opened its first store in the Loop in 1932; that store was open for 50 years."
NPR: "There were 326,000 first-time claims filed for unemployment insurance last week, up by 16,000 from the week before.... While they rose, claims remained at the lower end of the range they've been in for the past year and were running at a pace close to where they were before the economy sank into its last recession in December 2007."
Washington Post: "Acknowledging that Mideast peace talks he has shepherded for a year are teetering, Secretary of State John F. Kerry appealed directly to Israeli and Palestinian leaders Thursday not to miss a fleeting 'moment' to make peace."
AFP: "The Kremlin confirmed Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has finalised the divorce from his wife of 30 years Lyudmila following the couple's sudden split last summer." CW: Cause of the split: Vlad spending too much time at Black Sea resorts.
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Reader Comments (13)
(I think I'm a day behind with this)
Re: Koch suckers. The Koch Suckers bought the oil refinery in Pine Bend, Minnesota in about 1967. For some time thereafter Minnesota Republicans were sufferable. Now, Republicans are deformed toads akin to Potomac fauna where "80 percent of the male smallmouth bass in the Potomac are producing eggs." (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/opinion/28kristof.html?_r=0).
The reason they will target a bus system in Nashville is they are despoilers of all that is innocent and pure and nice. Nobody would accuse Michelle Bachmann of being 'Minnesota Nice'. And how much of the loss of 'Anywhere USA Nice' is a direct result of the Koch-created toxic political environment. Don't buy "Brawny" or "Georgia Pacific" or anything they make. The reason we rely on 50+ year old science too often is in part of result of how much people like the Kochs have to lose if it comes out that your 7 year old son has undescended testicles because the Kochs polluted your drinking water (See Kristof above).
These guys and their pet Adelson are as arrogant and possibly inept as any pro sports team owner. But they risk a little to make a lot, not some chump's bet of risking a lot to make a little. They are god-awfully toxic and if they were scrutinized by the very sciences they use to advance their businesses you wouldn't need to evaluate them at parts per billion to know their shit stinks. And just like the air around Pine Bend will affirm, the Kochs stink up everyone else's environment.
AK: the "As G.B. Shaw once said, Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated" is perfect. You can dance at my revolution; at the Kochs' revolution, I shutter to think what dancing looks like except that soul and rhythm are sorely lacking. I'm laughing just thinking what they look like dancing.
Since MSNBC was doing their speculative journalism re: the Fort Hood Shootings I listened to the entire Supreme ( a word, I think, that needs to be reevaluated) Court arguments on the McCutcheon/McConnell case. I came away with the distinct feeling that Roberts seemed not to understand how our political money grubbing system actually works during an election cycle. The fact that the Court has already made a huge dent in our democracy with Citizens United, this decision is like the frosting on that bloated cake. When a wealthy few can be game changers, the majority of us who throw in our $25-$200 contributions come to the conclusion our money doesn't matter––WE don't matter–-the game is rigged. Or as Breyer said : Where enough money calls the tune, the general public will not be heard." None of the justices sitting on the S.C. bench have ever held elected offices. Sandra Day was the last one––ran for senator in Arizona. But our four de-centers seemed to understand exactly what was at stake here. And it amazes me that the Court would not have realized the damage C.U. has already wrought–––wait–-someone is whispering, "They have, don't you see? And you thought the Court wasn't political–-silly you."
I also managed to get in a few fun filled Q&A's on the Benghazi hearings which will go on until all the Republicans present come down with trench mouth and can no longer rant. A highlight: Michelle Bachmann, for at least ten minutes, railed at poor Mr. Morell, who, after she was finished, very politely, he called her ma'm, tore down her points one by one revealing her complete ignorance and fabrications. By then the other networks had the facts about Fort Hood.
I just wrote a rather lengthy post, but it seems to have gone the way of the wind.
Re: "The End" by Jim Morrison and the Doors; The following quote is from a comment to Charles Pierce's post. I don't know if the numbers are correct. "the veterans of these wars are killing themselves, 1,892 since the beginning of this year or 22 a day. The veterans of these wars live with and try to cope with the horrors of war. Unfortunately, the architects of the wars do not." Kind'a sad, kind'a mad. Bet most of them are kids. Mission accomplished indeed.
According to Jonathan Weisman's article in the Times on ACA enrollment, now that the program has proven to be a palpable hit with Americans, Republican anti-healthcare obstructionists might see their way clear just to changing it to suit themselves rather than taking it out back and shooting it in the head.
Well la-di-da. How freaking nice of them.
Any Democrat who even considers letting these criminal rat bastards change this law or diminish it any more than they already have should be horse whipped.
This is the Republican Way. They can't convince voters of their positions, fewer and fewer Americans support their psychotic ideology, so they gerrymander, they suppress the vote, or simply steal elections outright. If all that doesn't work, they bring suits of no merit to the Supreme Court and let their Big Brothers beat up the opposition for them.
If a law is passed they don't like, they try to slow it down with endless procedural tricks and hammer on it with lies in the all too willing press. Finally, if they still can't kill it, they get weak-kneed Democrats to go along with watering it down.
ENOUGH of this bullshit.
Democrats need to cowboy up. They had a rough few months? Well boo-hoo. They need to learn how to play poker. Their hand is stronger than they think but they consistently fold with a full house against Republicans who rarely hold more than a 9 high. No wonder conservatives aren't worried. Democrats need to start playing the power game with these pricks. Go on the offensive. Tell the public that in no uncertain terms, Republicans want you to drop dead. They want to kick you to the curb. Take a page from their playbook. They lie enough times, suddenly it gets repeated as truth. Try telling the truth again and again and maybe people start listening.
If you think you're going to lose anyway, why not do the right thing and tell your story rather than keep your mouth, shut hope no one notices, and let the crooks and liars run over you. Pick up the ball and run with it. Then shove it up their asses.
I am sick and tired of us playing Charlie Brown to a bunch of lunatic, lying Lucys.
Marie has a link today to a short piece by Charlie Pierce. It's really just an observation. But it will bring you up short.
Last month was the first month in 11 years--11--that no member of the American armed forces was killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
11 years before we could go four weeks without death.
But yesterday four died and 16 were wounded at Fort Hood. Not in combat perhaps, but as a direct result of the lies of a former president (who should never have been president in the first place) and the murderous reptile who served as his vice (and I do mean "vice") president.
Think Bush is concerned? Think he cares about the carnage his self-serving lies have caused around the world? In foreign countries, in hundreds of thousands of homes (at least the ones still standing) here and abroad? Think he cares a whit about his legacy of violence that is still paying dividends in death?
What do you think he'll do today?
Take a nap? Pretend to read a book? Go somewhere to receive an award? Maybe he'll paint a picture of cute puppy dogs. So many options. After all, he's wealthy. He's protected. He lives a life of ease. He paints pictures of his toes.
And...he's still alive.
But because of him, millions are either dead, handicapped, or living in agony.
'Cause that's Republican Way.
http://real-economics.blogspot.com/2011/06/wealth-and-income-inequalities-are.html
Although this piece by Tony Wikrent in his blog "Real Economics" was written in 2011, it's even more true after McCutcheon. We are almost a full blown oligarchy. A few more years... I'm glad I don't have children to suffer what's on the horizon. And the electorate suffers in silence.
Test
So Glenn Beck joins the screaming chorus of wingnuts whining that the president is lying about the numbers signed up for healthcare?
Let's do a little thought experiment. In what universe is the fact that millions of people who never had access to healthcare before, but do now, reason to blow a gasket? To most normal people this would be a reason to celebrate. But not these people. These are really the lunatics and the haters.
Let's put aside the bullshit about cooked numbers. They know that's not true (except maybe not; pathological liars like Beck and his wingnut cohort probably think that everyone else lies too, just like they do).
Lyin' Ryan, cried that healthcare for all those Americans is the worst thing to ever happen in this country. Get that? He sniffed (between tears, no doubt) that it was a Pyrrhic victory for the president. I'm sure he thinks that makes him sound smart, you know, like maybe he went to college (which we all paid for), but it only demonstrates that he really doesn't know what it means. Has the implementation of the ACA destroyed the president? Idiot.
What they can't stomach is that after all their lies and attempts to kill the chance for Americans to have a better life, this guy, this hated black man, has won. He has stuck it up their asses.
Again.
Couldn't happen to a more repulsive asses.
@Ak: and today's troops STILL believe Shrub was a better Commander-in-Chief than Barack Obama. Soldiers aren't always the best judge of who should lead them. Witness the Army of the Potomac's idolization of McClellan, who couldn't have been a worse choice for a combat commander.
Amid all the Fort Hood frenzy, here's a backwater story that might have us ask: How many of these happen all the time but under the MSM radar?
http://theava.com/archives/30271
Juan Cole has some great numbers on the Iraq/Afghanistan War veterans and PTSD. Another unnecessary Bush/Cheney legacy that will be with us for a generation.
http://www.juancole.com/2014/04/afghanistan-traumatized-numbers.html
Citizen,
The Kochs don't dance.
They borrow one of Douthat's blow up dolls, paint it to look like a poor person (boy or girl, man or woman, it doesn't matter to them) then hump it until it explodes.
It's the right-wing oligarch's version of the Hokey-Pokey.
Because to them, the Rich Man Hokey-Pokey really IS what it's all about.
But I'll be happy to boogaloo at your revolution. Can we play "Funky Broadway"? I'm partial to Wilson Pickett.