;)
The Commentariat -- January 8, 2015
Internal links removed.
Did I miss anything? -- Constant Weader
McConnell Takes Credit for Improved Economy. Daniel Strauss: "The way Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sees it, recent good news on the American economy is directly linked to the fact that there's a new Republican majority in Congress.... [In response,] the Democratic National Committee emailed out a statement with the subject line 'DNC to McConnell: Hahahahahahahahahahaha.'" ...
... Dana Milbank: "McConnell, when he wasn't taking credit for things that preceded his ascent, gave a remarkably angry and ungracious first speech to the body he now leads. It was an 18-minute snarl, dripping with contempt and packed with campaign-style barbs for the president.... It's apparently McConnell's job to chide and to taunt -- and to make the next two years as bitter and unproductive as the last four." ...
... After running through a few of the new Congress's wrong-headed legislative goals, E. J. Dionne writes, "How far have the goal posts been moved in the GOP? Just because [Speaker John] Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) say they want to avoid government shutdowns and debt-ceiling hostage-taking, they are to be regarded as heroes of sane policymaking. But if we've sunk so low that this is now the test of 'governance,' we are still a long way from the real thing." ...
... Among the new Congress's plans which Dionne mentions, is of course the schemes to reject ObamaCare. Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times takes on Paul Ryan's newly-repeated misstatements about the ACA, including a GOP proposal that likely would have the effect of cutting back work hours of millions of now-fulltime employees: "Obviously, when Ryan and his GOP colleagues talk about 'fixing' the ACA, they're using the term in the same sense one talks about 'fixing' a cat. They're plotting a handout to employers, at their employees' expense."
... CW: Broadly speaking there are three types of conservatives: (1) Decent but uninformed: (2) Greedy, nasty & uninformed; (3) Greedy, nasty & well-informed. We can put Ryan in Box 3.
From Tuesday's & Wednesday's news:
The Short-Lived Dreams of Speaker Gohmert: Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: "John Boehner was elected Tuesday to serve another two years as speaker of the House, beating back opposition from a surprisingly large group of conservatives who wanted a fresh face atop the Republican Conference. The Ohio Republican got 216 votes out of 408 cast, while 25 dissenting Republicans voted for candidates as varied as Reps. Daniel Webster of Florida, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Louie Gohmert of Texas and Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Jeff Sessions of Alabama." ...
... Scott Wong of the Hill: "A day after winning his third term as Speaker, John Boehner (R-Ohio) said his conference had begun a 'family conversation' about how to respond to the 25 conservatives who revolted and voted against him on the floor. Boehner confirmed that the Rules Committee agreed hours after the Tuesday vote to boot two of the defectors off the committee: Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), who challenged Boehner for Speaker, and Rep. Richard Nugent (R-Fla.), who voted for his fellow Florida Republican. But the Speaker said no final decisions had been made, suggesting Webster and Nugent could rejoin the committee, even as some rank-and-file members complained bitterly about leadership's retribution in a closed-door GOP conference meeting on Wednesday.... Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), who also broke from Boehner, said late Tuesday that Webster and Nugent's removal is something that would happen in a 'communist country.'" ...
... CW: So everyone who doesn't belong to or support the Krazy Kaukus is or behaves like a "communist." At the same time, wingers admire Vladimir Putin, once a prominent communist, for his "leadership." Would Putin have been a great Speaker? This is so confusing. ...
... AND, oddly enough, it seems to be A-Okay right-wing groups plan or take retributive actions.
Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal judge sentenced former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell to two years in prison Tuesday -- an unexpectedly lenient punishment for a man who was convicted of selling the influence of his office to a wealthy benefactor for sweetheart loans, luxury vacations and even a Rolex watch. Unless his case is overturned on appeal, McDonnell (R), who once was mentioned as a presidential contender, will become the first Virginia governor to go to prison." ...
... Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "American sentencing today rests on a mix of improvisation, unthinking bureaucracy, power, and cruelty. To see it in the round, you need not leave Virginia."
Jonathan Martin of the New York Times on today's Republican party, which, among other things, has create a new Mike Huckabee, crazier & meaner than the old Mike Huckabee. (Martin doesn't use the pejorative terms, of course.)
You have other cases. You had Bob Byrd, who was the majority leader, who was a Klan leader. You had Hugo Black, who was a justice who was a Klan leader, but they were Democrats. So being in the Klan was OK. -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), on CBS's "Face the Nation," Jan. 4, 2015
... Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "Gingrich errs in suggesting that Byrd's and Black's connection to the KKK was somehow okay and shrugged off at the time. Both men faced tremendous criticism and pressure to resign, but hung tough and eventually survived -- much as Scalise appears to be doing. Moreover, Gingrich suggests they received special treatment because they were Democrats, which is certainly a partisan way of looking at it. After all, at the time, there were virtually only Democrats in the South, as Gingrich well knows.
Everybody Is Somebody's Hero. Linda Greenhouse: "It sounds discordant to suggest that a Supreme Court justice has a base, but Sam Alito has one. One of several recent hagiographic articles in the right-wing press was one in the American Spectator back in May, describing Samuel Alito as 'one of the noblest men in American public life today.'"
CW: Of all of the discussion surrounding the Charlie Hebdo attack, the most important one I heard came from some talk-radio guy (seemed to be the host, not a listener) I heard for a few seconds while my radio was running through scan: the person-with-his-own-radio-show was upset that John Kerry had said something about the attack -- in French. Pass the freedom fries, please.
News Ledes
New York Times: "One of the two brothers suspected of killing 12 people at a satirical newspaper in Paris traveled to Yemen in 2011 and received terrorist training from Al Qaeda's affiliate there before returning to France, a senior American official said Thursday. The suspect, Saïd Kouachi, 34, spent 'a few months' training in small arms combat, marksmanship and other skills that appeared to be on display in videos of the military-style attack on Wednesday carried out by at least two gunmen on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper."
Washington Post: "The massive hunt after France's worst terrorist attack in generations broadened on two fronts Thursday: Chasing reports the heavily armed suspects were spotted on the move, and arresting others for questioning others amid fears more attacks could be planned. A day after massacre of a dozen people at a satirical newspaper, France's capital was a mix of mourning, anger and hair-trigger tensions -- raised even further after the slaying of a policewoman in a Paris suburb. Authorities said there was no immediate information to link the police shooting with Wednesday's attack at the newspaper Charlie Hebdo, whose well-known editor was among those slain in apparent retribution for the weekly's provocative cartoons and content on Islam." ...
... The New York Times story is here. The Times' liveblog is here. The Guardian is liveblogging developments here.
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Reader Comments (16)
@Marie: Nah, you didn't miss a thing! Seriously boring kick-off to 2015.
Okay, not so much. It almost makes one wish for 2014 again.
If you are caught in some of the awful weather I see on the map for the east and mid-west, I hope you stay safe and warm.
Well, we missed you!
Hope all is well.
Glad you're OK. Was worried.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/us/texas-abortion-clinic-rules-tested-in-appeals-court.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Don't know if the back-in-the-saddle CW (welcome!) will get to this one, but reading it, was struck again by how malleable legal arguments can be...and how hollowly legally guaranteed rights ring when they are translated into our culture's universal measure of meaning: money.
So if objections to restrictions on abortion access are measured in terms of the "undue burden" placed on them and if that burden is calculated in dollars, those restrictions clearly affect the poor greater than they do the rich. Or at least so go the arguments, and by this measure the poor obviously have less freedom. It is their rights that are restricted.
Yet, if gauged against the same measure used in the SCOTUS definition of free speech (an anniversary of Citizens United is in the wings) it would appear our highest court believes no one has any more or less freedom to speak than any other citizen, regardless of bank account. In fact, argument for free speech's absolute and sacrosanct status are often based on the assumed equivalence of money and speech. The element of access money allows, as in Citizens United, is conveniently ignored.
Of course, this view of guaranteed rights is a Rightist fantasy, the illusion that we are all the same and have equivalent legal rights and privileges regardless of wealth or poverty, and the abortion arguments before the courts are another act in the same play.
Maybe 2015 will reveal whether that play will veer even farther into fantasyland or be yanked back into the more uncomfortable world of realism, where the majority of us have to (maybe I should say, have the privilege to) live.
Marie,
You can blame the climate change deniers for all the bad weather.
Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for anyone in the MSM to push the STOP button on the GOP's attempt to take credit for anything good. After six years of wild-eyed, scorched earth intransigence, for these scumbags to now demand that they be credited with the improved economy is like the captain of the Titanic claiming that anyone who survived the iceberg crash should thank him for the additional entertainment and those who didn't are now in his debt for providing them with a refreshing swim in the North Atlantic. Thanks, asshole.
And speaking of assholes, I see that Republicans are also demanding that everyone play nice, now that they are in charge. Which, if you'll allow me one more analogy, is not unlike Mafia capos, after taking over a town by any and all illegal and underhanded means, demanding that everyone now obey the law from here on out, and not say anything mean about all the carnage they caused.
From the "What Liberal Media?" Department:
The other day, as the barbarians were overrunning the capitol, scratching and clawing for the good offices and committee appointments, I heard a piece on National Pusillanimous Radio, in which Robert Siegel interviewed newly minted wingnut Representative Mimi Walters, former stockbroker and far, far right-winger. She hasn't even gotten her office decorated yet but she's already demanding that the president do her bidding, work with Republicans, because he's never done that, and dismantle the ACA, while he's at it, because, according to Ms. Walters, the president knows, in his heart, that it's just not working, so why continue the charade.
I was waiting, waiting, waiting for Siegel to ask her for some facts to back up that assertion because, the facts demonstrate, undeniably, that the ACA, once the bugs were worked out, is one of the most successful programs to come out of Washington in a generation, and done completely without the help of her party.
But nothing. He even went on to helpfully point out for her (as if she were a polished legislator with decades of impressive accomplishments behind her and plenty of legislative mojo to lean on) additional reasons for reworking the ACA to Republican standards (meaning DOA).
Seriously?
This Walters is a crazy person. One of her goals is the promotion of redrawing Washington so that lawmakers must follow the Bible when drawing up bills. She is supported by groups that demand that American law be subject to the Book of Leviticus and that gays and lesbians be stoned to death. A Ka-Raaaazy person. As one site points out, she makes Michele Bachman look sane.
But Bob Siegel treats her as if she were Indira fucking Gandhi.
I realize the piece was a hello to a new congressperson, but Jesus, Bob, would you sit there and say nothing if she started talking about stoning people she doesn't like? Apparently so.
The problem here is that these people are automatically accorded respect they have neither earned nor deserve. Yes, everyone should be respected simply for being elected, but that's the end of it. Once they're in office and demanding that everyone bow down to them, it's time for a kick in the pants and a demand that they play by the rules and earn the kind of automatic respect and benefit of any doubts they believe are their due.
The even scarier thing is that NPR likely chose her because she represented the average new GOP congressmonster, which means there are others much worse now in Washington working up their own stupefying demands. But no one will say so. We now have an entire Congress with new clothes and everyone is talking admiringly about a wardrobe that doesn't exist.
There. Is. No. Liberal. Media.
@Akhileus: I really like your Titanic analogy; very apt.
There's a small ray of potentially good news (although somewhat of a long shot) being reported by Dylan Scott. It seems new Texas governor Greg Abbott is showing a teeny bit of interest in expanding Medicaid; on his terms, naturally.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/texas-medicaid-expansion-optimisim
In other upbeat news, Jon Stewart had a charming piece last night (Wednesday) on Salt Lake City's largely successful effort to eradicate homelessness. They tried the novel approach of providing housing. It turns out that each homeless person costs the city more in other services than just providing housing. Who knew?
I don't normally recommend followin St. Ronald of Reagan, but Mayor De Blasio needs to start firing or forcing into retirement some cops.
@Barbarossa
"... A (retired) officer's view In case you missed this bit of chutzpah: "Why We’re So Mad at de Blasio" Then take a look as the 'Readers Picks" the comments posted are excellent.
Lest all the new loons overtake the old loons and put them in the shade, a member of the conservative crazies' Old Guard, Phyllis Schlafly, has weighed in on an important topic, sexual assault on college campuses, slid it into her EZ Bake oven of a brain, and just as you would expect from Ms. Women Should Stay Home and Cook and Clean, out popped a perfect soufflé de crazy.
The problem, she announces, is that there are too many women going to college. The solution is to force many of them to stay home and do things girls should be doing, not getting an education and going to parties with boys where they can send out their insidious "rape me, please" signals to those poor, unprotected lads.
And, of course, the famous Schlafly Logic is brought to bear as well:
"Anybody who understands human nature realizes that this situation changes behavior. Girls do not want to get left out in the cold, so they compete for men on men’s terms." Which, naturally means sexual assault. See? Toldya it was EZ.
With all the new crazies lurching around in the capitol, hearing some good old fashioned, old school dementia is comforting, in the same sort of way that seeing yellow tape around the site of a horrific accident is comforting.
Some things will always be like that.
Re the Liberal Media, this from ScienceDaily:
“A new study found that Muslims and Latinos were significantly overrepresented, and African-Americans largely missing, in crime stories aired over five years on prominent network and cable breaking news programs.”
James,
Hey, man, an excellent link.
I used to subscribe to the JOC, but haven't for a while (you have to pick and choose your subscriptions, know what I mean?).
But the difference between 81% of domestic terrorism being ascribed to Muslims by the MSM (and not just Faux) and 6% of domestic terrorism suspects (SUSPECTS) being acknowledged by the FBI, is outrageously disproportionate.
But it's all of a piece with the fact that should anyone breathing a word of the Prophet commit a crime, especially something as heinous and awful as a beheading, Fox and the vast majority of the MSM, will scream for weeks about it, but if the beheading is committed by a Christian....
Shhhhhh.......(let's not say a word about it, because we can't allow a "both sides do it" mindset to take hold. At least not about stuff we can't make money off...). And besides, we invented the "Both Sides Do It" meme to fuck our enemies, the Democrats, who have never been as insidiously asshole-ish as we have been.
I guess when holy Christians kill, it has no terror component. I suppose it's just boys being boys.
With axes, and murderous intent. Nothing to get all worked up about.
One more thing, which I'm sure you all got, is the fact that 6% of domestic terrorism suspects being of Muslim origin must mean that the percentage of actual Muslim based terrorism is less, probably (just guessing), half. Meaning that somewhere in the vicinity of all Muslim based domestic terrorist attacks is around 3% but that the MSM reports that as 81%.
But hey, that's pretty close, right?
In fact, as the article indicates, most of the domestic terrorism comes from Christian right-wingers, but shit, we can't report that, can we?
Fuck. No.
@Akhilleus: Both Schlafly (b.1924) & her mother! have bachelor's & advanced degrees, extremely rare for women of their generations.
Schlafly's views on women's education are part of conservative sociopathy: the rules don't apply to me. Education is my right; it is not, however, a privilege the hoi polloi should enjoy. They can't handle it. Need proof?, My goodness gracious, when my mother & I were girls, no one had ever heard of campus rape. It simply isn't done by the better sort of boy. Or, on the few times in the history of the world it has happened, the better sort of girl knew to keep it to herself, or at worst, to tell daddy so he'd ruin the boy's future.
Ah, for the good old days when (white) men were men & everybody else (except me) knew his or her place.
Marie
Finally, did John Kerry really say something in French regarding a terrible situation in France?
What would The Decider, who can barely speak his own language, have to say?
He'd probably smirk that Kerry was trying to be an "internationalist", because what would be worse than an American who knew something about the idea of a country that wasn't a right-wing wet dream?
Putain de merde.
The really sad thing is that, not all that long ago, intelligent people were looked up to. Now, post-Bush, drooling idiots make fun of them for being smart and the rabble slobber out their agreement.
Casse-toi, connard.
Ak:
cervelle de merde sounds nicer
I think he wants to drive the repugs nuts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/us/politics/obama-proposes-free-community-college-education-for-some-students.html?emc=edit_na_20150108&nlid=14046984