The Commentariat -- Dec. 14, 2013
White House: "In his weekly address, President Obama honors the memories of the 26 ... children and educators who were taken from us a year ago in Newtown, Connecticut":
Manu Raju & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Senate Democrats are on the cusp of securing enough GOP votes to break a filibuster next week on the bipartisan budget, temporarily ending the fiscal crises that have dominated Washington for the past several years. With 53 Democrats and two independents expected to back the measure, four Republicans -- John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Richard Burr of North Carolina -- said that they would vote to cut off debate on the budget, putting proponents just one vote shy of advancing the measure to final passage. Several additional GOP senators signaled Friday that they may also vote to advance the deal...."
David Welna of NPR: "After pulling two consecutive all-nighters, a bleary-eyed Senate is taking a breather on Saturday.... After consulting with McConnell, Reid announced Friday that they would put off further votes until Monday evening."
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Mr. Boehner's tough talk in taking on interests considered vital to generating Republican voter enthusiasm and building fierce opposition to President Obama's agenda appeared to represent a turning point in Republican coalition building in the aftermath of the government shutdown." ...
... Kevin Bogardus of the Hill: "Business lobbyists are pumping their fists over Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) slap-down of conservative groups. Executives at trade groups told The Hill they were pleasantly surprised by the strident remarks this week from the typically laid-back Speaker." ...
... CW: If you read between the lines of the two stories above, you can hardly miss noticing that this "turning point" is all about politics & not slightly about principle. Not just Mitch McConnell, but quite a number of sitting MOCs are being Tea-Pee'd; plus business lobbyists are not amused by the radical right's purity code that shut down the government & is threatening their best Congressional water-carriers.
... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The White House continued its slow-motion staff shake-up on Friday by replacing President Obama's chief legislative lobbyist in hopes of improving the president's prickly relations with Congress heading into the new year. Miguel Rodriguez stepped down as the White House director of legislative affairs and will be replaced by Katie Beirne Fallon, currently deputy White House communications director and a veteran Senate aide.... The switch capped a week in which the president recruited his former legislative director, Phil Schiliro, to return to the White House for a few months and enlisted John D. Podesta, a former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton and co-director of Mr. Obama's transition, to join the staff for a year." CW: Yeah, I think a game of White House musical chairs will convince Congressional Republicans they want to play nice with the President. ...
... AND David Sanger & Thom Shanker of the New York Times: "President Obama has decided to keep the National Security Agency and the Pentagon's cyberwarfare branch under the same command despite concerns that it concentrates too much power in the hands of a single military official responsible for both surveillance and directing a growing arsenal of cyberweapons. As a practical matter, the decision means that Mr. Obama must appoint a four-star military officer to succeed Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the first person to simultaneously run the two organizations, when he retires early next year." ...
... AFP: "A National Security Agency official said in an interview released Friday that he would be open to cutting an amnesty deal with intelligence leaker Edward Snowden if he agreed to stop divulging secret documents. Rick Ledgett, who heads the NSA's task force investigating the damage from the Snowden leaks, told CBS television's '60 Minutes' program that some but not all of his colleagues share his view." ... Here's the CBS "News" report, by John Miller. With video. Among those who don't favor amnesty for Snowden is Gen. Keith Alexander, who heads the NSA. ...
... Craig Timberg of the Washington Post & Ashkan Soltani: "The cellphone encryption technology used most widely across the world can be easily defeated by the National Security Agency, an internal document shows, giving the agency the means to decode most of the billions of calls and texts that travel over public airwaves every day.... The agency's ability to crack encryption used by the majority of cellphones in the world offers it wide-ranging powers to listen in on private conversations." ...
... Matthew McKnight of the New Yorker: "This week in the magazine, Ryan Lizza asks, 'Why won't the President rein in the intelligence community?' And on this week's Political Scene podcast, Lizza and Patrick Radden Keefe join Dorothy Wickenden to discuss this question":
Peter Baker: "President Obama vowed on Friday to join Bill de Blasio, the mayor-elect of New York, and other urban leaders in an effort to combat growing inequalities in American society and pressed Congress to extend unemployment benefits now set to expire":
Angie Holan of PolitiFact: "PolitiFact has named 'If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,' the Lie of the Year for 2013." CW: Here's the e-mail I sent to PolitiFact:
By calling this the 2013 Lie of the Year, readers will naturally infer that the lie was told in 2013. It wasn't, at least not by Obama. You also, slyly, don't directly attribute the lie to Obama this year. But the clear implication of the report is that you are attributing the Lie of the Year to the President. All of this slithering around the facts kinda makes your 2013 Lie of the Year story, uh, Half-True.
This Snoop Dog video, which promotes ObamaCare,
... has displeased the guy who makes Greggers look like Astaire:
.... to wit; I worry about something that seems aim to glorification of the commander-in-chief, the president of the United States as opposed to simply advocating young people go out and sign up for this entitlement program. -- Karl Rove ...
... CW: I'll let Steve M. handle this one. (Link fixed; thanks to contributor Nancy.)
Art by Driftglass.CW: Now that I don't have to, I never read David Brooks anymore. But Driftglass whetted my appetite, if only because his claims about Brooks' latest proposal seemed so outlandish, I had to think Driftglass might be kidding. But no.
Here's Brooks: "Make the executive branch more powerful.... It's a good idea to be tolerant of executive branch power grabs and to give agencies flexibility." ...
Here's Driftglass: "As [he is] a professional power-groveler, it should come as no surprise that David Brooks wants a king so bad he can taste it. It is mildly surprising that he would actually say it in print." Read the whole post.
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "The National Guard will distribute identification cards to the gay spouses of its personnel, overriding the resistance of several states that opposed a new military policy permitting such cards to spouses regardless of sexual orientation.... Nine states -- Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia -- said the issuing of ID cards violated their state constitutions, and would not provide them at National Guard facilities, which are under state control. The states' actions rankled Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel...."
Barry Meier of the New York Times has a long story on the Robert Levinson, the C.I.A.-affiliated American who disappeared in 2007 on a mission to Iran. ...
... Charles Pierce: "... Robert Levinson was a spy, and we were told he was something else. The Iranians were the ones telling the truth on this deal. That does not fill me with glee."
Elias Isquith of Salon: "Loretta Fuddy, the Hawaii public official who verified and approved the release of President Barack Obama's birth certificate, died on Wednesday, the only fatality in a tragic plane accident that occurred off the coast of Molokai. Like clockwork, this sent the birther movement into a tizzy of speculation. Donald Trump, for example, was quick to insinuate something nefarious afoot." CW: Apply Right Wing World Rule No. 1: "If anything bad happens, it's Obama's fault." I'm thinking drones, arent' you? Thanks to James S. for the link.
Local News
In This Friday Afternoon Trenton Newsdump:
... Jenna Portnoy of the Star-Ledger: New Jersey "Gov. Chris Christie today announced Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has resigned, effective immediately. The announcement comes as the scandal over the closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge has reached a national level. Baroni has said lanes were closed for a traffic study, but Democrats believe the move was retribution against the Fort Lee mayor for his failure to endorse Christie for governor.... Christie today flat out denied any involvement in the politics surrounding the closures.... David Wildstein, the agency's director of interstate capital projects, announced his resignation last week. Wildstein is off the payroll as of today, Christie said. Assemblyman John Wisniewski on Thursday subpoenaed Port Authority documents from seven officials, including Wildstein and Baroni, who has said the lane closures were part of a traffic study. The study has yet to surface."
SantaCon. Marc Santora of the New York Times: "Every year since 1997, thousands of men and women have dressed up as Santas, elves, reindeer or some other holiday confection and descended on [New York C]ity's streets for a daylong bar crawl.... On Saturday, the Santas are coming to town again.... SantaCon remains shrouded in mystery. There is no official leader, no tickets or sign-in sheets, and the details of the route remain a closely guarded secret until the last possible moment. The rules -- if they can be called that -- are simple: Don't make children cry, and dress up. This year, the organizers also took to Twitter to remind Santas that unsolicited sexual advances are wrong." CW: Also, you can wear a Santa suit even if you're not a white guy, though clearly your costume will not fool Megyn Kelly. ...
... Faux "News," CYA Edition
Oh. We Didn't Get the "Joke." Hadas Gold of Politico: "Megyn Kelly said Friday evening she was making off-hand and 'tongue-in-cheek' comments about Santa Claus and Jesus Christ being white, and that the controversy over the segment is a result of 'race-baiting' while the real debate was lost.... Kelly said she was simply trying ot make the same point as [Aisha] Harris was in her piece for Slate; that all the Santa's depicted in modern society are white and whether that should change." CW: Totally believable, Megyn. And, yeah, it's all our faults, as you say, "for assuming the worst in people." I feel just terrible for "misinterpreting" the assertions which you are your guests made in claiming myths were facts.
News Ledes
Reuters: "Another round of wintry weather battered the U.S. Midwest and East Coast on Saturday as a massive storm spanning more than 1,000 miles dumped heavy snow, snarling air traffic and making roads treacherous. Airlines reported weather-related delays and cancellations, with major airports in Chicago, Washington, New York City and Newark, New Jersey, scrubbing dozens of flights, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and FlightStats.com. Nearly 1,000 U.S. flights were cancelled...."
AP: "John Kerry returned Sunday to the winding waterways of Vietnam's Mekong Delta region where he once patrolled on a naval gunboat in the search for communist insurgents. But nearly 50 years later, Kerry was promoting sustainable aquaculture and trade in a rapidly expanding economy rather than hunting Viet Cong guerrillas at the height of the Vietnam War. This was Kerry's first visit back to the Delta since the war."
AP: "A Colorado high school student with an apparent grudge against a teacher wounded a classmate with a shotgun before killing himself, chilling a state that's still trying to make sense of mass shootings at Columbine High School and an Aurora movie theater. Quick-thinking students at Arapahoe High School on Friday alerted the targeted teacher, who quickly left the building. Police immediately locked down the scene on the eve of the Newtown massacre anniversary -- a somber reminder of how commonplace school violence has become." ...
... Update: " A teenager who wounded a fellow student before killing himself at a suburban Denver high school entered the building with a shotgun, a machete, three Molotov cocktails and ammunition strapped to his body, likely intending to track down a librarian who had disciplined him, authorities said Saturday." ...
... Denver Post Update: "The teenage gunman who entered Arapahoe High School on Friday afternoon and shot two fellow students with a shotgun was outspoken about politics, was a gifted debater and might have been bullied for his beliefs, according to students who knew him." CW: His views appear to be liberal.
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Reader Comments (14)
Donald Trump, who has set a record low mark for relevance, is desperately trying, once again, to lower his milestone achievement.
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/13/donald_trump_and_other_birthers_reignite_conspiracy_theories_in_wake_of_loretta_fuddys_death/
It was not immediately clear, however, whether Trump had any connection to the ill-fated flight other than wishful thinking.
Obama saying "if you..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpa-5JdCnmo
36 times
@cowichan: And your point is ... what?
Marie
Looking for the real lie of the year? Tough choice; there are so many.
But my nomination goes to "Jobs continue to be our number one priority here in the Congress," the words of John Boehner, which he repeated endlessly and we heard chorused countless times by his party's faithful, while his causus passed no legislation that would actually add jobs to the economy; in fact they deliberately eliminated them by the thousands, instead.
Sheesh!
Two horrific events. Two under the influence.
Most of us have read the story from Texas where juvenile court judge, Jean Boyd sentenced a 16-year-old from a well-off family to 10 years’ probation for killing four people in a drunken-driving crash. (See NYTimes: Teenager’s Sentence in Fatal Drunken-Driving Case Stirs ‘Affluenza’ Debate)
Whereas in New Hampshire, Darriean Hess, (obviously not suffering from 'Affluenza' )—the unlicensed 19-year-old driver who allegedly struck four bicyclists with the car she was driving this past September, killing two, could face more than 40 years in prison. (http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20131214-NEWS-312140334)
...and equal justice for all. Likely not.
Two things:
The link to NMMNB is broken. It has your address in it. Correct: http://www.nomoremister.blogspot.com/2013/12/karl-rove-just-trying-to-figure-out-how.html#links
Happy you don't, but why don't you have to read David Brooks anymore?
Bless Driftglass: what a clever guy, what he does with that video of unlucky duckies is marvelous.
I recall myself saying to someone at sometime that what we need is a King or Queen, a benevolent, wise one of course, in order to rein (while reigning) in the country's scallywags who for the most part seem to adore celebrities. My tongue was firmly in my cheek unlike Brooks whose advocation of a more powerful head of state is something he thinks would work. I hate to do this, but could it be possible that since his divorce he's lost some control within the family? Ok, never mind, just a thought.
So––while clicking on the link Driftglass gave for the 2001 Brooks' piece in the Weekly Standard, what did my wondering eyes spy over on the right column was an ad for an "Obama Stress Head." Well, golly, I said to myself, let's see what that's all about. Turns out for just $9.99 you can get a soft, mushy Obama Stress Head that you "can crush those half-baked liberal ideas before they do any damage." And wait! there's more–––there's a Biden and Pelosi head and for a reduced price you can get all three. Amazing.
Driftglass mentions apropos of his Cheney video that during the Bush brigade "those clowns walked around with a ADAMANTIUM hard-on for eight years. I have no idea what that word means but it sounds HUGE and it made me laugh.
The last thing: An inquiry for C.W. Have been wondering why you no longer write for the XExaminer. I didn't renew my paltry sum to them simply because you ain't there anymore.
@Nancy & PD Pepe: First, thanks to Nancy for pointing out the broken link. Weird, too -- it looked all right, but it sure didn't work.
Re: the NYT Examiner, I got fired. Some while back -- maybe a year-&-a-half ago -- the editor disappeared, leaving the NYTE in the lurch. Except for my posts, which I continued for about a week after he vanished, there were no updates to the site.
I made a herculean effort to find the editor, with the help of his friends & NYTE benefactors -- it turned out he was on a Greek isle! When we finally reached him, he agreed with his friends & me to post an explanatory note on NYTE. Several days passed, and he didn't post the note. So finally, I wrote as anodyne an explanation as I could think of & shared it with his friends before publishing, asking for them to suggest edits. One of them made a suggestion, which I incorporated into the note. Then I posted it.
About a week later, I got a curt e-mail from the editor telling me he had removed my publishing & editing privileges & he would see if he'd publish anything I wrote again. I don't think I responded to him, as that was fine with me.
Writing articles in the middle of the night was not all that fun, & -- as everyone who reads Reality Chex knows -- I make lots of typos. If I see them later, I'll correct them, which is what I did on NYTE. If I made substantive changes to an NYTE piece -- which I did fairly often as new info came in -- I said so in the edit. Losing the ability to edit my pieces -- especially when the editor was unresponsive -- made the proposition of continuing at NYTE impossible, even if the editor deigned to permit it.
This past summer, the NYTE editor apologized to me & asked me to come back. This was right at the time my husband died, so I never got around to politely saying no.
That's the answer to P.D.'s question & the long answer to Nancy's: part of my NYTE gig was critiquing Brooks's smarmy fake analyses, so I hadda read his stuff. My unplanned release from NYTE also freed me from Brooks.
Marie
@PD Pepe: ADAMANTIUM; suffering from a bi-polar condition
and in and out of psychiatric care as in Adam Ant (entertainer)
who also could have been a tergiversator.
@MAG: First, let me say that I -- and I expect nearly everyone -- would agree that the rich are more equal than others. A few years ago I posted a link to a horrifying study which revealed that in Harris County (Houston), Texas, over what I recall was a 10-year period, no death-penalty-eligible defendant who had a private lawyer got the death penalty. The only Harris County defendants who got the death penalty in death-happy Texas (George Bush/Rick Perry/gun-totin' red state) had public defenders. Whether this speaks to the incompetence of the public defenders, to their lack of resources, or to the prejudice of the judges, I don't know. But it's a stark example of unequal justice. I would add that I think it is one that is "planned." Public defenders' offices are grossly underfunded because legislatures & county executives don't think "those people" "deserve" thorough defenses. People who cannot afford expensive defense teams are guilty of being poor.
Now, let's stipulate the two cases you cite are anecdotal, & anecdotes aren't necessarily definitive. They may be anomalies. Indeed, the attention the "affluenza" case had received suggests that it is anomalous.
Beyond that, there are substantial differences in the two cases you cite that have nothing to do with the relative wealth of the defendants.
(1) Though both defendants are teenagers, the Texas kid -- Ethan Couch -- is 16; Mainer Darrean Hess is 19. Couch is still a juvenile; Hess is a legal adult -- she can vote, serve in the military, execute binding contracts, etc. When the Supreme Court ruled recently that people under the age of 18 could not receive the death penalty, they did so based in part on scientific evidence that young minds are not developed to fully appreciate right from wrong. This also put the U.S. in compliance with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child even tho the U.S. is one of the few nations not to have signed the convention. Although negligent homicide isn't death-penalty-eligible, it would be more than reasonable to consider the ages of the defendants in deciding their sentences.
(2) The judge in Couch's case hasn't explained the rationale behind her sentence; she did not cite the "affluenza" defense proferred. A reasonable person could suspect she considered Couch's age. (It's also of course reasonable to suspect she considered the fact that Couch's parents could afford to pay for his $450K/year "rehabilitation," something I doubt Hess or her parents & buddies could or would cough up.)
(3) The "affluenza" defense is not unique. Blaming socioeconomic factors that cause a defendant to be anti-social is a common defense when a lawyer can't find a better one. It used to be -- and maybe still is -- a regular feature in defenses of low-income miscreants who claimed the defendant came from a broken home where his parents were abusive, drug users, homeless, etc. Lots of liberals, including liberal judges, found these defenses plausible when they were applied to the poor.
(4) Although Couch had been driving since he was 13 & therefore without a license, he had a driver's license when he killed & maimed his victims. Hess did not have a driver's license. Even when she was intoxicated, she was an adult who should have known she did not have the legal right to drive a vehicle under any circumstance.
(5) We have no fucking idea what Hess's sentence will be or if there will be any sentence at all. She has not been tried; she has not been convicted; she has not been sentenced. The article you linked notes only the maximum sentence she could get if convicted: "more than 40 years," because of the multiple deaths & injuries she allegedly caused. The prosecution in the Couch case asked for 20 years -- that's the max for vehicular homicide in Texas (though because Couch caused multiple deaths & injuries, the max allowable could be much greater -- I just don't know).
So, although I agree with your larger point -- that "justice" for the rich means something quite different from "justice" for the poor & middle class -- the cases you cite as proof are an apple & an orange. They don't support your point.
Marie
My thanks to C.W. (what a story!) and Forrest (yes, I know of Adam Ant) for their answers to my questions.
@CW I get your 'point' exactly. Tho' thought I kinda sorta covered my behind with the last sentence caveat, but guess that didn't do it. Should have fleshed it out more, huh?
Children's letters to Megyn Kelly, via Andy Borowitz.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/12/childrens-letters-to-megyn-kelly.html#entry-more
@cowichan: It's rap. 'Nuff said.