;)
The Commentariat -- December 13, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
We Can All Breate a Sigh of Relief. Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky will retain his place on the main stage when the Republican presidential candidates debate on Tuesday, CNN said on Sunday, sparing Mr. Paul from what could have been a setback for his campaign. On Saturday, aides to Mr. Paul had indicated they would fight any decision by CNN to drop the senator to the so-called undercard debate when the candidates gather on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Mr. Paul was at risk of falling out of the main event because of his low poll numbers." ...
... AP: "CNN is inviting Gov. Chris Christie back to prime-time in the upcoming Republican presidential debate. The New Jersey governor, who had been dropped from the main stage during the last debate, is one of nine Republican presidential candidates to qualify for the network's prime-time event on Tuesday. Also among them: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who was 'on the bubble' of qualifying late last week, the network said. Front-runner Donald Trump will appear at center stage, flanked by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz, who is surging in Iowa. Other GOP hopefuls who qualified for the main stage include Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich."
Kevin Robillard of Politico: "Donald Trump seemingly laid fault for the rise of ISIL and the Syrian civil war directly at the feet of ... Hillary Clinton on Sunday, claiming the former secretary of state 'killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity.' Trump, appearing on "Fox News Sunday," shocked host Chris Wallace with his comments. ...
... Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump sharpened his criticism of Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz in television interviews broadcast Sunday morning, lambasting Cruz's approach to the Senate and expressing doubts about whether the senator's "temperament" is fit for the presidency.... 'I don't think he has the right temperament,' Trump said of Cruz on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'I don't think he's got the right judgment.'" CW: Because Trump is the picture of tranquility & discernment.
... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "... Donald Trump says he does not agree with comments from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia questioning the efficacy of affirmative action."
Kevin Robillard: "Florida Sen. Marco Rubio repeated his concerns about Donald Trump's fitness to be commander-in-chief during an interview airing Sunday on NBC's 'Meet The Press.'"
*****
Joby Warrick & Chris Mooney of the Washington Post: "Negotiators from 196 countries approved a landmark climate accord on Saturday that seeks to dramatically reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for a dangerous warming of the planet.... The deal was struck in a rare show of near-universal accord, as poor and wealthy nations from across the political and geographic spectrum expressed support for measures that require all to take steps to battle climate change. The agreement binds together pledges by individual nations to cut or limit emissions from fossil-fuel burning, within a framework of rules that provide for monitoring and verification as well as financial and technical assistance for developing countries.... The agreement is a major diplomatic achievement for the Obama administration, which has made climate change a signature issue in the face of determined opposition from congressional Republicans, many of whom dispute the scientific consensus that links man-made pollution to the Earth's recent warming." CW: Making the GOP out of step with the whole world -- and a threat to the Earth itself. They are exceptional troglodytes. ...
... Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Six years ago, President Obama came away from a round of global climate talks bitter and frustrated, having been reduced to personally chasing other world leaders around a Copenhagen conference center and bursting uninvited into a meeting with them to salvage a pact that left many disappointed. On Saturday, Mr. Obama strode triumphantly into the Cabinet Room of the White House to declare victory in his quest for an ambitious climate agreement, after 195 nations reached an accord in a Paris suburb that commits them to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.... For Mr. Obama, the agreement represents a legacy-shaping success, destined to join his health care law in the annals of his most lasting achievements":
... Daniella Diaz of CNN: "Hillary Clinton quickly lauded Saturday's agreement of a global climate change pact in Paris, calling it an important step in protecting the planet, though her foremost challenger, Bernie Sanders, said he was unimpressed by the deal.... Sanders ... said that while the agreement was a step forward, it not enough to tackle climate change. 'The planet is in crisis. We need bold action in the very near future and this does not provide that,' he said in a statement. 'In the United States, we have a Republican Party which is much more interested in contributions from the fossil fuel industry than they care about the future of the planet....'" ...
... Melanie Schmitz of Bustle: "While the move was generally celebrated worldwide, in the United States, GOP candidates' reactions to the Paris Agreement have been largely MIA.... The Republican Party itself hasn't stayed mum on the topic. 'This agreement is no more binding than any other "agreement" from any conference of the parties over the last 21 years,' said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), who currently serves as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, in a statement." ...
... Kevin Freking of the AP: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said [President] Obama is 'making promises he can't keep' and should remember that the agreement 'is subject to being shredded in 13 months.' McConnell noted that the presidential election is next year and the agreement could be reversed if the GOP wins the White House." CW: Right there, in & of itself, is the reason to get your asses to the polls & vote for Democrats, my fuzzy-headed lefty friends.
Katie Williams & Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Democrats' latest push on gun legislation appears likely to fall short, as Republicans look to beat back a proposal to restore the flow of federal dollars for gun violence research as part of a sweeping government spending bill now under consideration. On the heels of a string of mass shootings -- including this month's deadly attacks in San Bernardino, Calif. -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led calls to repeal the 19-year-old funding prohibition this week, adding it to her list of demands during this week's budget talks. But Pelosi has carefully refrained from a threat to reject the overall bill if her demand isn't met...."
Matt Apuzzo, et al., of the New York Times: "Tashfeen Malik, who with her husband carried out the massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., passed three background checks by American immigration officials as she moved to the United States from Pakistan. But none uncovered what Ms. Malik had made little effort to hide — that she talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad. She said she supported it. And she said she wanted to be a part of it.... Had the authorities found the posts years ago, they might have kept her out of the country. But immigration officials do not routinely review social media as part of their background checks, and there is a debate inside the Department of Homeland Security over whether it is even appropriate to do so." CW: Hmm, seems "appropriate" to me. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... As contributor Gloria wrote (in part) in yesterday's Comments thread: "One has to wonder about all the billions being spent on homeland security when they don't even check Facebook! Perhaps it's too easy and too cheap, and doesn't require all that exciting and invasive espionage stuff. And too effective.... Am I too naive to think that social media would be your first port of call in any background check?"
Elizabeth Chuck of NBC News: "While the world has been focused on Europe's migrant crisis, apprehensions of unaccompanied minors along America's own border have exploded: More than 10,000 undocumented children have been stopped in just the last two months, according to U.S. Border and Customs Protection."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Eric Boehlert of Media Matters, in Salon: "81:1.... That's the ratio of TV airtime that ABC World News Tonight has devoted to Donald Trump's campaign (81 minutes) versus the amount of TV time World News Tonight has devoted to Bernie Sanders' campaign this year. And even that one minute for Sanders is misleading because the actual number is closer to 20 seconds.... The network newscasts are wildly overplaying Trump, who regularly attracts between 20-30 percent of primary voter support, while at the same time wildly underplaying Sanders, who regularly attracts between 20-30 percent of primary voter support. For the entire year."
Presidential Race
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Concerned about the harshly negative presidential campaign dominated by Donald J. Trump, the nation's highest-ranking Republican says Congress must confront polarizing populism by promoting an 'inclusive' policy-focused agenda to counter any personality-driven run sure to cost his party the White House. That Republican, Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, said he felt professionally obligated to support whoever wins the party's presidential nomination next year. Yet he said he believed that congressional Republicans must set a policy agenda that offered a clear contrast to the angry insurgent refrain blasting into the winter primaries."
Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Donald Trump praised Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, panned Chief Justice John Roberts and celebrated the First Amendment rights of his protesters at a town hall in South Carolina on Saturday." Also can't flush his own shit down the toilet. CW: No surprise there. ...
John McCormick of Bloomberg: "... Ted Cruz has surged ahead to become the latest front-runner in the campaign for the Iowa caucuses, dislodging Ben Carson and opening an impressive lead over a stalled Donald Trump, a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows." ...
... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta handicapped the GOP race for 90 Democratic donors assembled at a private fundraising event in Berkeley, California, on Thursday night, according to a Clinton backer who was in the room, telling the crowd that he viewed Cruz as the likeliest nominee, followed by Trump, and then Marco Rubio." ...
... Alex Jaffe of NBC News: "Florida Sen. Marco Rubio boasts of being the only Republican presidential candidate to have dealt a blow to Obamacare -- but he's also insured under the law. Rubio's campaign confirmed to NBC News that the GOP presidential candidate and his family remain insured under the law, through the D.C. exchange. He first signed up in 2013, at which point spokeswoman Brooke Sammon told the Tampa Bay Times that Rubio 'spent time looking at all the options and decided to enroll through the D.C. exchange for coverage for him and his family.'... Rubio's decision to accept a federal subsidy offered to congressional lawmakers and their staff could complicate his declaration on the trail that he's successfully undermined the law." ...
... Manuel Roig-Franzia & Scott Higham of the Washington Post: Marco Rubio's brother-in-law, with whom Marco was close, was a drug lord -- the Number Two man in a big Miami drug operation back in "Miami Vice" days. Marco was much younger than his brother-in-law & had nothing to do with the business. CW: I'm not sure why newspapers print this stuff. Most of us have a sleazy relative. I don't have any outright criminals in my close family (or extended family, as far as I'm aware), but that's my good fortune; it has nothing to do with merit. Having an older in-law who ran a criminal enterprise is no reflection on Marco. He's a creep in his own right.
Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Start typing the words 'is Rand Paul...' into Google, and the search engine's autocomplete function fills in the rest of the question: '... still running for president.' The answer, of course, is yes — but barely. Indeed, if Paul were a patient on the operating table, he'd be flat-lining right now. By nearly every measure, the Kentucky senator's White House bid is struggling to find a pulse. Paul is on the verge of being demoted to the undercard stage in the next Republican presidential debate, the result of poll numbers that haven't moved above single digits since the summer. He isn't faring much better in state polls, either." ...
... Angelina Sacedo & Robert Way of the Boston Globe: "Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is confident he will be on the primetime Republican debate stage Tuesday, but if he falls short, he will make an announcement this week about what comes next. Asked Saturday by the Globe specifically if he would drop out of the race for president if he didn't qualify for the main-stage GOP debate, Paul said: 'We will make an announcement, on that, on Tuesday." ...
... Tweak Me. Timothy Cama of the Hill: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wants CNN to tweak the rules for its upcoming GOP presidential debate to ensure that he makes it to the main stage. Based on recent polling, Paul risks being pushed to the undercard debate for CNN's Dec. 15 event.... 'We think if they give us the same treatment that Carly Fiorina was given last time, that you measure from debate to debate, that we do meet the criteria,' Paul said Friday night on Fox News...."
Beyond the Beltway
Rebecca Elliott of the Houston Chronicle: "State Rep. Sylvester Turner won the Houston mayor's race with a down-to-the-wire finish to edge businessman Bill King on Saturday." Turner is a Democrat. ...
... MEANWHILE, in Austin. Dave Montgomery of the New York Times: "Only a handful of gun-rights advocates and those supporting Texas' new, less restrictive campus-carry law showed up near the University of Texas campus ... on Saturday for a highly publicized but divisive demonstration and mock shooting in favor of ending gun-free zones. A few demonstrators carried legal AK-47 and AR-15 rifles before the first stage of the gathering.... They were outnumbered by throngs of reporters, photographers and television cameras, and later by counter-demonstrators. Organizers of what was billed as the Life and Liberty Walk to End Gun Free Zones had agreed not to go onto campus grounds after university officials warned them they would be trespassing. The event took place as Texas colleges and universities prepared to put into place a new state law permitting adult owners of licensed guns to carry them inside campus buildings."
Ashley Soley-Cerro, et al., of KTLA Los Angeles: "Investigators say a man was armed and turning toward [Los Angeles County] sheriff's deputies when they fatally shot him in Lynwood[, California] Saturday, as video emerged showing the man apparently walking away as a barrage of bullets were fired at him, video provided to KTLA shows.... The man[, Nicholas Robertson, who was black,] died at the scene.... A person who wished to remain anonymous sent KTLA a 29-second video Saturday afternoon that apparently captured some of fatal incident."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Marjorie Lord, an actress who achieved success as the comedian Danny Thomas's wife on the Emmy-winning comedy series 'The Danny Thomas Show,' but to her frustration found herself being typecast as a housewife for years afterward, died on Nov. 28. She was 97."
New York Times: "French voters dealt a sharp setback to the far-right National Front in elections on Sunday, depriving the party of victory in any of the country's 13 regions, according to projections based on exit polls. A week after the National Front came out on top in the first round of voting, France sent a far different message, with the party losing even in a northern region where its charismatic leader, Marine Le Pen, had been widely expected to win."
AP: "At least 19 Saudi women have won seats on local municipal councils a day after women voted and ran in elections for the first time in the country's history, according to initial results released to The Associated Press on Sunday."
AP: "Leipzig police say 69 officers have been injured in clashes with rioting leftwing protesters and that they had to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse the group. Some 50 police cars were also damaged in the riots Saturday evening, which started after hundreds of leftwing activists demonstrated against a rally by far-right protesters in the eastern German city of Leipzig earlier in the day."
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Reader Comments (13)
Again, how do they do it? 98% of scientists, 196 countries, virtually every political party, left and right is fully on to climate change except American Republicans. Well let me guess.
Part one, bribes from fossil fuel industry for the politicians.
Part two, under no circumstances will we admit the science got anything right from the followers. Just in case you are wondering how the scams on the phone and internet can take place, remember that half the population is less intelligent than the other half.
Just in case the Cruz name isn't enough to generate queasy sourness in your throat this a.m.: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/12/13/ted_cruzs_festival_of_fraud_129016.html. I had to love this: "His patented formula is a mix of repellent ingredients: misrepresentation of facts, baseless smears, exaggerated sincerity and pretended solidarity with the average person. If Cruz tells you it's raining, you can leave your umbrella at home." With both Cruz and Lamar Smith proud possessors of Ivy League diplomas, I gotta wonder what the hell they're doing at the Ivy league schools?
I think that a good start is to lower Federal research money thrown at the Ivies and send the money instead to public universities. There is little different from giving Ivies money than giving religions control over welfare programs or prison programs. In practice the endowment at Harvard differs from the Catholic endowments by virtue of a slightly different group of select men controlling vast sums of money with little to no oversite while continuously claiming they never have enough. And neither group welcomes transparency or democracy. Is this proof positive of some natural human tendency among a large percent of the population for monarchism and dictatorship?
Oops! I just commented on the Matt Apuzzo story on yesterday's thread; it was intended for today's (the story was in RC both yesterday and today). My comment linked to a relevant analysis of the law governing rights that need be afforded those entering the United States.
Here's Victoria D's comment, posted to yesterday's thread:
"I read the Apuzzo piece before seeing Marie's link and comment, or the excellent comments from Ophelia and Kate, and the passage that claimed Homeland Security officials weren't sure whether checking social media on visa applicants was "appropriate" just leaped out at me; it is reassuring to see others had the same reaction. Let's hope some in Homeland Security did as well.
"The question immediately raised is WHY was it considered inappropriate? After all, those applying for Visas are by definition not American citizens merely applying to enter the U.S.. and do not need to receive the full protection of our Constitutional guarantees. Immigration law professor Peter Spiro recently wrote an Op-Ed in the Times (which may have been linked at RealityChex) on this very subject. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/opinion/trumps-anti-muslim-plan-is-awful-and-constitutional.html?_r=0) 'As the [Supreme Court] observed in its 1977 decision in Fiallo v. Bell, “In the exercise of its broad power over immigration and naturalization, Congress regularly makes rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens.”'"
Victoria D.
Maybe a measure of desperate self-deception in parlous times, but are we perhaps tip-toeing, shuffling, stumbling, shambling toward something rare and good?
Are an international agreement on carbon emissions ( granted, without enforcement provisions) more and bigger international trade treaties (with limited enforcement to guarantee profit only), tentative large-scale alliances against barbarism, and I'd guess a bundle of mostly secret security arrangements to track terrorists and keep them "there" and not "here" all signs that we may be on the edge of recognizing that we do all live on one planet and that cooperation, not destructive competition between nation states is humanity's only hope?
Granted all of these arrangements invite criticism, but today I choose to see them as steps, baby steps anyway, on the way to a more positive future. Not bright with hope but maybe showing a tinge of rosy glow.
Otherwise I might be paying more attention to the current state of our own nation's politics, which hardly provokes much cheer.
"CW: Right there, in & of itself, is the reason to get your asses to the polls & vote for Democrats, my fuzzy-headed lefty friends. "
Here's another reason. 3 words: Ruth. Bader. Ginsberg.
Here's an informative article that describes research into our immigration policy. A conclusion: U.S. policy in the form of legislation CAUSED the great influx of "permanent" residents across our southern border. Apparently, workers (mostly male) used to come and go seasonally. Once the screws were put to the border, it made more sense for them to just stay - and either start or bring their families.
@ Marie RE -
<<"Right there, in & of itself, is the reason to get your asses to the polls & vote for Democrats, my fuzzy-headed lefty friends. " >>
YES!
@ Jack Fuller RE -
<< Here's another reason. 3 words: Ruth. Bader. Ginsberg. >>
INDEED!
The breathtaking ignorance of GOP office holders and seekers are solidifying their place in history and burnishing Obama's legacy in the bargain. Obama plays the long game with persistence. The lame duck portion of his Presidency hasn't materialized. The GOP is cannabalizing themselves and alienating the growing population of minorities and young people. The GOP platform of fear mongering and hatefulness won't prevail, as hard as they try to stack the deck.
I'm Confused: Has Homeland (In)Security Changed Their Protocol
To A More 'Appropriate' One - - - Since 2012?
From The Guardian
By Reuters Reporter
23:56 12 Jan 2012, updated 10:22 13 Jan 2012
"Department of Homeland Security monitors Facebook, Twitter and news sites for 'situational awareness"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085940/Facebook-Twitter-news-sites-monitored-US-Homeland-Security.html
ERRATUM!
My post RE Homeland (In)Security was from The Daily Mail -
*not* The Guardian.
Ophelia
Most have found The Daily Mail is not a reliable news source. For a light-hearted assessment...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5eBT6OSr1TI
@ Haley Simon RE The Daily Mail . . .
That was absolutely *hilarious*!
Thank you for sharing that musical dissing - LOL!
Ever since reading Marie's piece in which the DHS deemed Facebook-tracking (possibly?) "inappropriate", I've been (metaphorically) tearing at my hair - - and also googling . . .
I'm still wondering (and invite your feedback) about the oversight (lack thereof) pertaining to what is now known to be Red Flags waving - vigorously - from the pages of Facebook.
Does that Daily Mail piece deserve any credibility since it came from Reuters? The Reuters' site offered the same (or similar?) content:
Reuters
Wed Jan 11, 2012 | 2:15 PM EST
"Homeland Security watches Twitter,
Perhaps I'm just beating a threadbare carpet (I admire & respect horses: "threadbare carpet" struck me as more compassionate) - and also someone who (unrealistically?) desires answers where there may be none (or none to be given outright) - but it will enrage me when, what should have been an obvious investigative option, was negligently overlooked . . . and resulted in the death (malice aforethought) of innocents.
And now, poised to view tonight's installment of "HOMELAND". ;)