The Ledes

Monday, October 7, 2024

Weather Channel: “H​urricane Milton has rapidly intensified into a Category 3 and hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted along Florida's western Gulf Coast, where the storm poses threats of life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall by midweek. 'Milton will be a historic storm for the west coast of Florida,' the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Monday morning.” ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times live updates are here for what is now a Cat 5 hurricane. 

CNN: “This year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. Their research revealed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation. Gene regulation by microRNA – a family of molecules that helps cells control the sort of proteins they make – ... was first revealed by Ambros and Ruvkun. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor ... in Sweden on Monday.... Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research that earned him the prize at Harvard University. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.”

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The Ledes

Sunday, October 6, 2024

New York Times: “Two boys have been arrested and charged in a street attack on David A. Paterson, a former governor of New York, and his stepson, the police said. One boy, who is 12, was charged with second-degree gang assault, and the other, a 13-year-old, was charged with third-degree gang assault, the police said on Saturday night. Both boys, accompanied by their parents, turned themselves in to the police, according to Sean Darcy, a spokesman for Mr. Paterson. A third person, also a minor, went to the police but was not charged in the Friday night attack in Manhattan, according to an internal police report.... Two other people, both adults, were involved in the attack, according to the police. They fled on foot and have not been caught, the police said. The former governor was not believed to have been targeted in the assault....”

Weather Channel: “Tropical Storm Milton, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, is expected to become a hurricane late Sunday or early Monday. The storm is expected to pose a major hurricane threat to Florida by midweek, just over a week after Helene pushed through the region. The National Hurricane Center says that 'there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday.'”

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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Jun272013

The Commentariat -- June 28, 2013

Name This Shady Character & Get a Free Car Alarm (okay, just kidding about the free alarm). No Photoshopping has harmed this likeness:

NEW. How Stupid Is This? Spencer Ackerman & Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "The US army has admitted to blocking access to parts of the Guardian website for thousands of defence personnel across the country. A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve 'network hygiene' and prevent any classified material appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems."

Declan Walsh & Rick Lyman of the New York Times: " South Africans awaited fresh word on Friday about the fate of Nelson Mandela as a heady blend of rumor and official reports deepened concerns over his health despite an assurance from the president's office on Thursday that Mr. Mandela's condition had stabilized. The worries spread as South African leaders prepared to welcome President Obama on Friday evening on the second leg of his African tour after a visit to Dakar, Senegal."

CW: Tim Egan pulls a MoDo & runs down a laundry list of President Obama's failings, real & perceived (by Egan). I guess you have to be in the mood for it; I wasn't convinced, and I usually appreciate Egan's takes on his subjects. For example, he contrasts an off-the-cuff remark by Obama with a prepared speech by Dubya. And he writes that Obama's climate-change speech "seemed more dutiful than alarmed.... To say the obvious: the speech will not join the words of Thoreau or Leopold in Earth Day tributes." By contrast, Krugman describes "a terrific speech" and "a very big deal." Let me know what you think. ...

... Paul Krugman: "... unlike earlier efforts to address climate change, [President Obama's plan] can bypass the anti-environmentalists who control the House of Representatives.... Right now [Republicans] don't seem eager to attack climate science, maybe because that would make them sound unreasonable (which they are). Instead, they're going for the economic angle, denouncing the Obama administration for waging a 'war on coal' that will destroy jobs." Krugman discusses the likely job shifts & concludes, "We really can invest in new energy sources, divest from old sources, and actually make the economy stronger."

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Senators approved sweeping legislation Thursday to remake the nation's immigration system for the first time in a generation by spending tens of billions of dollars to bolster security along the U.S. southern border and offering a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. By a vote of 68 to 32, senators concluded a nearly month-long debate of the 1,200-page measure. Fourteen Republicans voted with every member of the Senate Democratic caucus to approve the bill.To note the significance, Vice President Biden presided over the vote and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) made the unusual request that senators sit at their assigned desks and stand to vote when called." ...

... The New York Times story, by Ashley Parker, is here. ....

... Dan Berman of Politico lists the Republican Senators who voted for the bill. All 52 Democrats & the two Independents voted "aye." ...

No. -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), when asked if the GOP could recover in 2016 if immigration reform dies

... Marco Rubio will be a formidable presidential candidate:

     ... Weaving a personal story into a string of patriotic platitudes works.

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday that any immigration legislation will have to have the support of a majority of House Republicans in order to come to a vote."

Claudio Sanchez of NPR: "The interest rate on government-backed student loans is going to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent Monday. Republicans, Democrats and the Obama administration could not agree on a plan to keep it from happening. Lawmakers say a deal is still possible after the July 4 recess. But if they don't agree on a plan soon, 7 million students expected to take out new Stafford loans could be stuck with a much bigger bill when they start paying the money back."

Chris Christie is running for president on the Grand Old Straight White Men Party ticket. Noah Rothman of Mediaite: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie scoffed at the Supreme Court's decision on Wednesday to declare the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. During his regular 'Ask the Governor' appearance on New Jersey 101.5 on Wednesday, Christie blasted what he characterized as the Court exercising 'judicial supremacy' in overriding an act of Congress. Christie said he opposes gay marriage.... Christie vetoed a bill passed by the state legislature that would have made same-sex marriage legal in the Garden State, but insisted he would not object to a referendum being put to the state's voters." ...

... AND, like every elected GOSWMP candidate, Christie is clueless in more ways than one. According to Christie, the DOMA ruling "... was a bad decision, but it has no effect on New Jersey at all...." Actually, that's wrong. Zack Ford of Think Progress:"Wednesday's DOMA decision probably has a bigger impact on New Jersey than on any other state. In the 2006 case Lewis v. Harris, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state's constitution guarantees 'every statutory right and benefit conferred to heterosexual couples through civil marriage.' The Court left it up to the legislature to determine how those rights are conferred, and lawmakers ... passed a civil unions bill. An investigation that concluded in 2008 found that these 'separate but equal' unions ... did not meet the Supreme Court's expectations, and a lawsuit is already pending to challenge their unequal status.... A state judge has already scheduled a hearing .. to fast-track Lambda Legal's lawsuit in light of [the DOMA ruling].... Full marriage equality is now the only way to fulfill New Jersey's constitutional guarantee of equality for same-sex couples." ...

... The "New" GOP. Awwwkward! Beth Reinhard of the National Journal: "Crusading against gay marriage, a timeworn Republican strategy to rally social conservatives, is out of step with polls that show increasing support for gay marriage, particularly among young voters. The court also put congressional Republicans on the spot by demanding a rewrite of the landmark law protecting minority voting rights, setting up potentially awkward battles with African-American and Hispanic leaders that would reprise the rallying cry in those communities last year over voter ID laws."

This is unprecedented, Congressman .... During the Nixon Administration, there were attempts to use the Internal Revenue Service in manners that might be comparable in terms of misusing it. I'm not saying that ... the actions that were taken are comparable, but I'm just saying, you know, that the misuse of the -- causing a distrust of the system occurred some time ago. But this is unprecedented. -- IRS Inspector General Russell George, during Congressional testimony earlier this month ...

... Tamara Keith of NPR: "Changing its story. Walking it back. Clarifying. Whatever you call it, the IRS inspector general now has a different account of what investigators knew about the ideologies of the groups that underwent extra scrutiny as they sought tax-exempt status." Get this: "On Tuesday the spokeswoman said the treatment of progressive groups was outside the scope of the audit requested by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif." Now, in a series of walkbacks, the IG & his spokesperson are saying that the instructions on the "Be on the Lookout" (BOLO) pages were different for "progressive" & "tea party." [Yeah, the "progressive" & "blue" designations were labeled "overtly political."] And, um, the IG didn't notice the "progressive" pages. And other bullshit. ...

     ... CW: Read the story. If you have trouble following it, that could be because IG Russell George keeps changing his story. Did I mention that George was a Bush II appointee? Did I mention that an IG is supposed to be non-fucking-partisan? S/he's supposed to be the person who guarantees the integrity of an agency or department & protects Americans from its politicalization. Instead, George politicized an investigation of IRS employees who had no political motives. This whole "scandal" was a Republican production from start to finish. And it is finished, except for some Democratic pushback. Back to Benghaaaaaazi!! ...

... Steve Benen has more details. Thanks to Haley S. for the link. ...

... Greg Sargent: "Congressional Democrats have sent a letter to House Republicans formally demanding that they call the author of the now-infamous audit on IRS targeting of conservative groups to come back to the Hill and testify under oath -- where he'll be pressed to explain why the audit failed to detail that progressive groups had also been targeted." Sargent also points out more of George's "misstatements" and "clarifications." ...

... Now This Is an IRS Scandal. Jim McElhatton of the Military Times: "Braulio Castillo broke his foot* in a prep school injury nearly three decades ago at the U.S. Military Preparatory School, which he attended for nine months before playing football in college. He owns a technology business certified as a service-disabled, veteran-owned company eligible for government set aside contracts.... [The hearing excerpted in the video below was part of] a months-long House probe into whether Castillo's company won IRS contracts thanks, in part, to help from a top contracting official and friend inside the IRS named Greg Roseman, who pleaded the Fifth Amendment when called to testify." ...

     ... *CW: According to Rep. Duckworth & other reports, Castillo actually twisted his ankle rather than broke his foot. His firm won IRS contracts, based on his "disability," worth as much as $500 million. Thanks to James S. for the lead:

Martin Finucane & John Ellement of the Boston Globe: "Boston Marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev faces a 30-count indictment by a federal grand jury that charges him with using weapons of mass destruction and killing four people. The indictment alleges that Tsarnaev, who had been inspired by Al Qaeda publications, left a confession in the boat where he was captured in a Watertown back yard, saying, 'I don't like killing innocent people' but it was justified because of US government actions abroad." ...

... Michael Scherer of Time: "... embedded within the indictment are new details about Tsarnaev's alleged motivations, actions and the planning involved in the attack." Scherer runs down the details.

Michael Isikoff of NBC News: "... the former second ranking officer in the U.S. military is now the target of a Justice Department investigation into a politically sensitive leak of classified information about a covert U.S. cyber attack on Iran's nuclear program. Retired Marine Gen. James 'Hoss' Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has received a target letter informing him that he's under investigation for allegedly leaking information about a massive attack using a computer virus named Stuxnet on Iran's nuclear facilities.... Last year, the New York Times reported that Cartwright ... conceived and ran the cyber operation, called Olympic Games, under Presidents Bush and Obama. According to the front-page story by chief Washington correspondent David Sanger, President Obama ordered the cyber attacks sped up, and in 2010 an attack using the Stuxnet worm temporarily disabled 1,000 centrifuges that the Iranians were using to enrich uranium." With video.

Chris Hayes wonders why government officials are not declaiming against CNN reporter Barbara Starr who reported information of interest to Al Qaeda -- leaked by government officials. Starr's print report is here:

Eun Kyung Kim of NBC News: "The father of Edward Snowden acknowledged Friday that his son broke U.S. law, but maintained that he is not a traitor for releasing classified information about the government's previously secret surveillance programs. Snowden said he has told Attorney General Eric Holder through his lawyer that his son will probably return home if the Justice Department promises not to detain him before a trial nor subject him to a gag order. He also wants his son to select where a trial would take place." With video. ...

... Tom Hamburger & Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "Federal investigators have told lawmakers they have evidence that USIS, the contractor that screened Edward Snowden for his top-secret clearance, repeatedly misled the government about the thoroughness of its background checks.... The alleged transgressions are so serious that a federal watchdog indicated he plans to recommend that the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees most background checks, end ties with USIS unless it can show it is performing responsibly...." CW: now compare this to honest IRS employees trying to figure out if Tea Party groups were political under the terms of ambiguous Congressional law. Ain't corporatization great?

Ed Beeson of the New Jersey Star-Ledger: "A federal agency has sued former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine over his disastrous run as head of MF Global. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission walloped Corzine with charges that he violated his duties as chairman and chief executive officer to properly supervise the futures brokerage, which imploded and left in its wake the unprecedented disappearance of more than $1 billion in customer cash."

Ian Crouch of the New Yorker on accused murderer & (now former) Boston Patriots star Aaron Hernandez & the NFL's culture of violence. "...according to a recent report, twenty-eight N.F.L. players have been charged with crimes since the Super Bowl ended in February."

Local News

Man-splaining. Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) directly attacked state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) during a speech at the National Right To Life conference on Thursday, arguing that the state senator who filibustered for 13 hours to defeat an omnibus anti-abortion bill should have learned from her own life experiences as a single mother to value 'every life':

Rick Perry's statement is without dignity and tarnishes the high office he holds. They are small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view. Our governor should reflect our Texas values. Sadly, Gov. Perry fails that test. -- Wendy Davis

Rick Perry's remarks are incredibly condescending and insulting to women. This is exactly why the vast majority of Texans believe that politicians shouldn't be involved in a woman's personal health care decisions. Women are perfectly capable of deciding whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy, or raise a child, and they don't need Rick Perry's help making that decision. -- Planned Parenthood

It really takes some brass for this privileged jackass to not only tell women what they can do with their own bodies but also lecture them on the lessons they should take from their own life experience. -- Digby

... Gail Collins: "Texas is a state with one of the nation's highest teenage motherhood rates, where a majority of women who give birth are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. So, naturally, its political leaders have declared war against the right of women to choose whether or not they want to be pregnant. Funding for family planning has been slashed. This month, Gov. Rick Perry tried to pass a new law that would have shut down almost all the abortion clinics in the state, under the guise of expanded health and safety requirements. Huge crowds showed up to protest! ...A few years back, Davis told me about an incident during a debate when she had asked a veteran Republican a question about a pending bill. Dodging her query, he said: 'I have trouble hearing women's voices.' I guess they can hear her now." ...

... Stephen Webster of Raw Story: "Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said he hopes that Sen. Wendy Davis (D), who conducted a 10-hour filibuster against a bill that would close all but five abortion clinics in the state and ban all abortions after 20 weeks, will run for statewide office.... Hinojosa said she would likely win a bid for the governor's office thanks to her marathon filibuster." ...

... Markos Moulitsas: "Davis wants to run for governor, the only question is whether she'll be able to rally a big enough movement to propel her in what would undoubtedly be a tough battle."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A Yemeni detainee who was found dead last year at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, committed suicide by taking an overdose of psychiatric medication, according to a military report made public on Friday. The 79-page report found that the detainee, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, had hoarded medication prescribed for mental illness and died after ingesting two dozen capsules of a drug known as Invega, confirming a

Boston Globe: "Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, already facing charges in a murder last week in North Attleborough, is also being investigated in connection with a July 2012 double murder in Boston, according to two law enforcement officials.... The two officials ... said investigators now believe that Odin Lloyd, the man Hernandez is charged with killing in a North Attleborough industrial park June 17, may have had information about Hernandez's role in the slayings of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado."

Reuters: "A senior Vatican cleric suspected of trying to help rich friends bring millions of euros into Italy illegally was arrested on Friday as part of an investigation into the Vatican bank, police sources and his lawyer said. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, worked as a senior accountant in the Vatican's financial administration and is already involved in another investigation by magistrates in southern Italy.... Also arrested in the investigation were a member of Italy's secret services and a financial broker."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (11)

This Tammy Duckworth vid is going viral. Don't miss it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPOKm20wP4s&feature=share

June 27, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer

I second JS endorsement. Warren and Duckworth...I don't care which headlines the ticket...2016.

June 27, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDaveS

Maybe more tomorrow but tonight's late night thought about Texas politics:

Seems the Texas legislature's heart's desire is to have more children of color born so that their sweeping voter suppression efforts will affect ever more citizens, a right wing win-win, resulting in misery for most, but for the legislators self-satisfied smiles all around.

I can think of another period in Texas history when dark-skinned people were encouraged to breed, not allowed to vote and required to work without much or any pay at all. Seems there was a war about it, which I thought Texas lost. Maybe my memory is in error...or maybe the Texas legislators in question have no memory at all.

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken. Color me cynical, but the "haves" must be assured that there are enough poor disenfranchised people to serve their needs; personal and corporate. After all overt slavery is frowned upon in polite company.

"Snowden said he has told Attorney General Eric Holder through his lawyer that his son will probably return home if the Justice Department promises not to detain him before a trial nor subject him to a gag order. He also wants his son to select where a trial would take place."...... as well as decide the verdict, be housed at a 5 star hotel of his choosing and the room must have high speed internet and free international calls. This dickhead would be laughable if he wasn't causing so many problems in US foreign relations. For being so purportedly brilliant, he's either NOT or he is a calculating narcissist. I'm leaning toward the later. Perhaps Jeffrey Toobin's initial assessment wasn't far off.

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDiane

Tim Egan's tirade is all over the place, and as he tears into the Supreme (activist) Court, Congress critters, et al, the main beef is with Obama for not doing what Tim thinks he should and not being what Tim thinks he should be even down to telling us how Obama is "far from the sweat, grime and blood of the battlefield of politics." I think our Tim is being a wee bit Churchillian here or maybe he's listening to too many Blood, Sweat and Tears albums. He mentions this "sweat" again when he describes Obama during a speech.."he broke a sweat–-barely." Somehow Tim wants Obama to soar above this battlefield and take down everyone and everything rotten in his way while sweating profusely. He never mentions the importance of the Africa trip but wanted Obama to give some kind of soaring speech instead of the "mush" that he uttered. Mush? This was heartfelt and off the cuff unlike the "soaring" speech Bush gave when he was in Africa which Tim really liked forgetting of course it WAS a speech someone wrote for Bush. And he evidently didn't listen to the other speeches Obama gave in Africa. I think this article was written in haste and not thought through ––-to use one of Tim's own adjectives, I found it all together too mushy.

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

One of the big underlying problems in the Snowden affair is, as Marie's link above makes clear, and as a number of commenters here and elsewhere have opined of late, the fact that the screening prior to his hiring seems to have been woefully inadequate. I mean, haven't you ever wondered how this guy, who was a security guard one minute and an NSA hacker making a hundred grand the next, got hired? Talent as a hacker can't be the only requirement. Kindergarten teachers looking for a job are investigated more thoroughly.

The screening apparently was done by an outside contractor, a situation (privatization) pushed by the right for decades.

How many terrible outcomes have we all suffered because of forced privatization by the right? Republicans consistently whine about Democrats' belief in government being naive and misplaced, but privatized aspects of work previously done by the government have resulted in fraud, abuse, and waste, all things privatization was supposed to sidestep.

Corporatized prisons are a disgrace. For-profit schools have turned out to be all profit and very little schooling. The poster system for for charter schools, the DC system, under "reformer" Michelle Rhee, has been skunked by a cheating scandal that underlines exactly how charlatans play the game. Numbers don't prove that we're better than public school teachers? We'll just fix the numbers.

We've all seen how well the outsourcing of defense during the Bush debacle worked out. His Blackwater cronies needed to be rushed out of the country cloaked under diplomatic immunity after drunken and out of control private contractors opened fire on and murdered innocent Iraqi civilians. I'm sure that convinced average Iraqis of our good intentions (that is if shock and awe didn't already to the job) to bring them the gift of democracy.

And while we're on the subject of cronyism and private contractors, how 'bout Bush and Cheney handing a multi-billion dollar contract to Cheney's former company Halliburton in a no-bid competition, whose subsidiary KBR proceeded to gouge the military for every tax dollar it could plunder. Heckuva job, Georgie. More billions down the sinkhole. But at least all Darth's buddies at Halliburton have new yachts and homes in Acapulco.

And now the biggest leak in NSA history has come about because a guy who probably should never have been hired was invited in by a private contractor who now says "oops, we didn't really check that guy out very well."

Privatization may in theory be able to provide certain services more efficiently but it also has the bottom line to worry about. This is the same thinking that equates the Federal Government's budget with a household budget. It ain't the same, dammit.

A private business hired, say, to provide bus service, doesn't have to serve everyone if it doesn't want to. If a certain line isn't providing enough profit, it can and will be closed. A public bus line could never do that.

But Republicans and libertarian types will continue to whine and moan about inefficiencies in government but look the other way whenever their pet project ends in waste, fraud, abuse, diplomatic mayhem, cronyism, and in some cases death.

Oops. Another BIG conservative idea in the crapper.

Next up, a 700 mile fence and a militarized border, no healthcare for poor women, because rich, white, conservative men know best, vote suppression wherever minorities refuse to knuckle under and vote for the massas, and of course, less regulation and more war.

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

US army NETCOM censors the Guardian website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/28/us-army-blocks-guardian-website-access

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered Commentercowichan's opinion

In the wake of the passage, in the Senate, of immigration reform, and the defiant screams of "Never, never, never" from House GOP whackos, not to mention the burgeoning war on women and minorities, I'm going out on a limb here to declare that, for the near future (at least through 2016 and maybe 2020), the GOP will exist as a legislative party only, with no hope of recapturing the White House.

This doesn't mean they won't wield influence. Their attacks on democracy and their efforts at denying any Democratically appointed judges will give them enormous power on the state and local levels.

But the White House?

Sorry boys. No reasonable national candidate will make it by the loonies and no loony (can you hear me Randy, Ted, Marco?) has a shot at winning a national election. And that could be the primary reason Johnny and the Dwarfs shtupped the VRA. Even with the coming tidal wave of vote suppression (which will have drastic effects locally), and the usual amount of poll fraud and vote stealing by the GOP, no Republican has a chance of darkening the towels at the White House for the next couple of elections at least.

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Photo quiz: Too easy! It's Darrell 'Car Alarmist & Alarmist in General' Issa. (Though I might've gone with Geraldo Rivera).

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

@Diane: Be careful. one of the other commenters criticized me and others for using the term "narcissist."

On the other side of the coin the Senate wants to know more from James Clapper: http://www.nationalmemo.com/bipartisan-group-of-senators-wants-answers-on-nsa-surveillance/

After all, he caused this mss by recommending privatizing the NSA.

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

Never seen anything like what's happening to Deen. Sponsors leaving, merchants removing, publishers canceling #1 sellers. Don't know what to make of it.

June 28, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer
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