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Friday, October 4, 2024

CNBC: “The U.S. economy added far more jobs than expected in September, pointing to a vital employment picture as the unemployment rate edged lower, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls surged by 254,000 for the month, up from a revised 159,000 in August and better than the 150,000 Dow Jones consensus forecast. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, down 0.1 percentage point.”

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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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Monday
Mar042013

The Commentariat -- March 5, 2013

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is titled "Bill Keller Doesn't Understand Junior High School Civics." ...

... Steve Benen has a great takedown of Keller. ...

... And another terrific one by Greg Sargent. ...

... ** Ryan Lizza has a very fine post in today's New Yorker on "The Powerless Presidency," which dovetails with the comments Benen, Sargent, et al., and I made re: Keller's -- and other Very Serious Pundits' -- view of the presidency.

President Obama made remarks before his first Cabinet meeting of his second term, held yesterday:

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "A bill proposed by House Republicans on Monday to keep the government operating for the remainder of the fiscal year also would serve to mitigate some of the most striking impacts of the across-the-board spending cuts enacted last week. For instance, legislation would prohibit the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency from defunding beds in detention facilities where illegal immigrants are being held." ...

One of the last presidents to balance the budget was Herbert Hoover. -- Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.)

... ** Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "Letting the sequester hit was just the first step in a pact forged in January between conservative leaders and Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to keep the government open and the nation out of default. Now comes step 2: adopting a budget plan that would wipe out deficits entirely by 2023. The strategy runs counter to warnings from prominent Republicans such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal against becoming 'the party of austerity.' ... [Some] GOP lawmakers ... fear the balanced-budget goal will force them to abandon a campaign pledge not to reduce Medicare benefits for those who are now 55 and older. 'I know a number of people who have real concerns about where this is going,' said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who said Medicare cuts targeting people as old as 58 are under discussion." ...

... Jake Sherman & Jonathan Allen of Politico: in his new proposed budget, to be revealed to reporters tomorrow, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is still planning for his Medicare voucher system, but now he will apply it to people 56 & younger, rather than to just those 55 & younger. "In a sign of how far the party has drifted to the right: The Republican Study Committee -- the party's conservative bloc -- might not pen its own budget this year, as it customarily does."

Suzy Khimm of the Washington Post: "... the austerity the federal government has enacted has ... been a significant drag on short-term economic growth":

PolitiFact: John "Boehner said [Sunday on 'Meet the Press"] that the White House and Democrats in the Senate have no plan to replace the sequester. He's wrong on both counts. Obama has a proposal for replacing sequestration cuts with a mix of tax increases and spending cuts. And Senate Democrats have filed a sequester-replacement bill taking a similar approach." CW: I can picture Boehner running around with his pants on fire; I like to think I'm not a diabolical person, but the image of Boehner with his pants on fire makes me laugh. ...

... Steve Benen: "Education Secretary Arne Duncan and House Speaker John Boehner both recently appeared on Sunday shows, made claims that were not true, and got caught.... Duncan acknowledged that he'd made a mistake, apologized, and set the record straight.... Boehner's office actually doubled-down on the lie, saying the falsehood is true if Republicans are allowed to change the meaning of basic words.... If you ever have the impression that the two sides of the political divide are playing by a very different set of rules, it's not your imagination."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Members of Congress will need to trim their office budgets by 8.2 percent as a result of the sequester, [Candice Miller {R-Mich.}] the chairwoman of the House Administration Committee said today.... Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) has announced that she will take an 8.4 percent monthly pay cut as a result of the sequester, in solidarity with others who are bearing the brunt of the cuts."

Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "A bipartisan group of senators has announced a deal to crack down on illegal trafficking and straw purchases of firearms.... Centrist Republican Sens. Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Susan Collins (Maine) have reached an agreement with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).... The bill strengthens the law prohibiting material false statements in connection with purchasing a firearm and strengthens penalties for purchasing a gun with intent to transfer it to someone involved in violent crime or drug trafficking."

Jackie Calmes & John Broder of the New York Times: "President Obama on Monday made three cabinet nominations -- for budget, energy and environmental policy — hours before his first cabinet meeting of his second term. Mr. Obama introduced Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the president of the Walmart Foundation in Arkansas and a familiar figure in the Democratic administration from her service in the Clinton administration, to be the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Ernest J. Moniz, the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Initiative, is the president's choice to take over for Steven Chu at the Energy Department. And Gina McCarthy, the assistant administrator in charge of air and radiation at the Environmental Protection Agency, is the pick to replace the departing administrator, Lisa P. Jackson":

... John Broder & Matthew Wald of the Times: "Mr. Obama nominated Gina McCarthy, a tough-talking native of Boston and an experienced clean air regulator, to take charge at the Environmental Protection Agency, and Ernest J. Moniz, a physicist and strong advocate of natural gas and nuclear power as cleaner alternatives to coal, to run the Department of Energy. The appointments, which require Senate confirmation, send an unmistakable signal that the president intends to mount a multifaceted campaign in his second term to tackle climate change by using all the executive branch tools at his disposal."

Steve Kornacki of Salon on why Obama is dreaming if he thinks Democrats have a shot at regaining control of the House -- and, of course, retaining so-called "control" of the Senate in 2014. But all is not lost because there are signs Republicans are cracking on non-fiscal issues.

Jay Carney will continue to take George Will seriously:

Carol D. Leonnig & Ernesto Londoño of the Washington Post: "An escort who appeared on a video claiming that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican authorities that she was instead paid to make up the claims and has never met or seen the senator, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim.... The videotaped claims of two women, made with their faces obscured, were posted on the conservative Web site the Daily Caller.... Daily Caller Editor Tucker Carlson did not reply to phone calls and e-mails requesting comment." CW: Tucker can dish it out, but he can't take it. ...

... UPDATE. Dylan Byers of Politico: "The Daily Caller is claiming that the Washington Post confused its prostitutes in a recent report about the sexual allegations against Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez." The DC also insisted Post reporters did not contact the blog before running with their story. ...

... UPDATE Update. Dylan Byers: "The Washington Post tells Politico it is standing by its latest report on an escort who had made sexual allegations against Sen. Robert Menendez, including reporter Carol Leonnig's claim that she reached out to the conservative news site The Daily Caller prior to publication of the piece."

"Looking back, there may have been signs it was a fake." -- Hunter of Daily Kos. (Pictured: James O'Keefe, appearing on Fox "News" in the supposed pimp outfit he wore to entrap ACORN workers.)

AND, Speaking of ACORN, an Elephant Never Forgets. ... Zach Carter of the Huffington Post: "A new short-term budget bill introduced on Monday by House Republicans includes a bizarre provision banning federal funding to anti-poverty group ACORN, despite the fact that the group has already been stripped of federal funding -- and has been defunct for nearly three years."

Paul Krugman & Joe Scarborough get into it on Charlie Rose's show. As P. D. Pepe mentions in today's Comments, Charlie -- true to form -- could not STFU. Here's a clip:

... Jack Mirkinson, writing in the Huffington Post, describes the end of the debate. Sounds to me as if Scarborough went to total rude mode ...,

... BUT on his blog, Krugman wrote, "I feel that I just had my Denver debate moment: I was tired, cranky, and unready for the blizzard of misleading factoids and diversionary stuff (In 1997 you said that the aging population was a big problem! When Social Security was founded life expectancy was only 62!) Oh, and I wasn't prepared for Joe Scarborough's slipperiness about what he actually advocates (he's for more spending in the near term? Who knew?)" ...

... Economist Alan Blinder, in Politico: "Scarborough ... argued in Politico that Krugman's view is extreme, dangerous, and ... shared by almost no one else.... Scarborough invoked me as being on his side of the debate — which was news to me.... While there may be some small differences between Krugman's position on reducing the deficit and my own, they are pretty small.... Furthermore, Krugman and I are not occupying some obscure corner of the policy debate, where only weirdos live. A large number of economists are on our side. Others, of course, are closer to the Scarborough camp. The more important question is the substantive issue of the day: Should we be going for more fiscal austerity right now, or not? Those of us who say 'not' urge you to consider some pertinent facts: the unemployment rate remains sky high; fiscal austerity has failed in Europe, where it is harming growth; the U.S. Treasury can still borrow at super-low interest rates; and we have already made serious progress on the ten-year budget problem."

How to Tell Jeb Bush Is Running for President. Benjy Sarlin of TPM: "After years of building a reputation as the 'good' Republican on immigration, Jeb Bush shocked the reform community on Monday by ruling out a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a position solidly to the right of prominent GOPers like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). The news stunned immigration activists and aides working on a bill and who have long insisted that anything short of citizenship is a dealbreaker for reform -- especially given that Bush was decisively in the pro-citizenship camp just months ago." ...

How to Tell Jeb Bush Is Running for President. Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Jeb Bush disagrees with his own book hours after it's published.... Bush (R) told MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday that he would support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants 'if you can craft that in law where you can have a path to citizenship where there isn't an incentive for people to come illegally' -- a position that puts him at odds with his new book, out today from Simon & Schuster. In Immigration Wars, co-authored with immigration lawyer Clint Bolick, Bush a[r]gues that denying a path to citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrations is 'absolutely vital to the integrity of our immigration system that actions have consequences.'" CW: In a statement, Bush said he was going to show that amateur Mitt Romney how to winger-pander your way to the White House. He noted that the Bushes have a long history of doing it right. Also, he urged President Obama to do "one thing right" and deport Bobby Jindal. ...

... Beth Reinhard of the National Journal: "The stunning reversal by [Jeb Bush,] one of the Republican Party's leading champions of immigration reform and Hispanic outreach, at least in part, comes down to a colossal political miscalculation." ...

... Julie Lapidos of the New York Times has more. CW: at this point, I don't know WTF Bush's position on immigration reform is. Then again, neither does he. What's disturbing is that his book-selling & pandering & flip-flopping could have the effect of hurting millions of people living in this country -- but hey, who cares? Because It's All About Jeb (Not His Real Name).

Romney Is Still Lying. David Corn of Mother Jones: in his remarks to Chris Wallace Sunday, "Romney was playing the victim, claiming his 'unfortunate' comments had been 'twisted and distorted'.... All of Romney's defenses -- whether or not he was admitting wrong -- are undone by his own words.... Several ... GOP funders mentioned that they each had heard Romney make similar 47 percent-ish comments in private during the campaign. The response captured by my source at the Boca Raton fundraiser was not an outlier moment for Romney.... His ever-shifting and hollow explanations will mark him as a person who cannot take full responsibility for one of the most consequential statements he ever uttered."

The Washington Post drops its ombudsman forevah & substitutes -- maybe somebody else who maybe once in awhile will blog about something. Alyssa Rosenberg of Think Progress on why that isn't such a good idea.

Today In Pontif-EX

Forget the Shoes of the Fisherman. Henry Conway of the Guardian's fashion blog on ex Pope Benedict's legacy as a fashion maven: "My favourite item from his wardrobe is a short cape known as a mozzetta, the winter version of which is fur-lined, ermine-trimmed and made of crimson silk." Thanks to James S. for the link.

Right Wing World

Elspeth Reeve & Philip Bump of the Atlantic map out which conservatives are mad at other conservatives. it's a complicated chart, with explanatory notations.

Congressional Races

Jason Zengerle of New York magazine has a long piece on Mark Sanford's run for Congress. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Here's this man who grew up on a plantation and married an heiress, and then presided over a state that is a living monument to inequality, proudly championing the most churlish and self-righteous instincts of its privileged classes. But his new empathy still extends no further than people just like him." CW: Sanford & his fiancee would probably enjoy double-dating with the Romneys.

Alyssa Rosenberg of Think Progress: "... the Daily Caller, which has been trying to frame [actor Ashley] Judd's feminist beliefs as fringe, has launched the stupidest salvo against her at all: arguing that Judd, because she has done nude scenes for her work as an actress, 'has -- literally -- nothing left to show us.'"

Local News

"A Tale of Two Cities." Monica Davey of the New York Times: "Around the country, as businesses have recovered, the public sector has in many cases struggled and shrunk. Detroit may be the most extreme example of a city's dual fates, public and private, diverging.At times, the widening divide has been awkward, even tense. As private investors contemplated opening coffee bean roasters, urban gardening suppliers and fish farms, Detroit firefighters complained about shortages of equipment, suitable boots and even a dearth of toilet paper." CW: Yes, it is "awkward" to fight fires in sock feet. So when asswipes run the show, they forget to order asswipes?

Running Florida Like a Big Business. Carl Hiassen of the Miami Herald, in the National Memo: "Rick Scott campaigned for governor on the promise of running Florida like a big business, but the one big business that Florida actually runs is out of control. Citizens Property Insurance Corp. was created a decade ago, supposedly to help residents afford hurricane coverage for their homes. With 1.3 million policyholders, Citizens is the state's largest insurer of property. And it's been managed about as carefully as amateur night at your local strip joint. In fact, that's where one happy Citizens worker liked to use his company credit card." Etc., etc. Thanks to Barbarossa for the link.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The Dow Jones industrial average, which measures the performance of 30 blue-chip companies, closed with a gain of more than 125 points Tuesday, surpassing its previous record close of 14,164.53, which it achieved nearly five and a half years ago, a well as its record intraday high, set around the same time, of 14,198.10."

New York Times: "President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela died Tuesday afternoon after a long battle with cancer, the government announced, leaving behind a bitterly divided nation in the grip of a political crisis that grew more acute as he languished for weeks, silent and out of sight in hospitals in Havana and Caracas." ...

New York Times: "Hugo Chávez, who rose from poverty in a dirt-floor adobe house to unrivaled influence in Venezuela as its president, consolidating power and wielding the country's oil reserves as a tool for his Socialist-inspired change, died Tuesday, Vice President Nicolás Maduro said. He was 58."

Reuters: "Cellphone users should be allowed to switch their devices to any mobile carrier, the White House said on Monday in response to an online petition against the recent banning of the practice. More than 100,000 people signed the petition protesting the ban on switching imposed by the Library of Congress, which took effect in January. At issue is whether cellphone buyers, who get new devices at a heavily subsidized price in return for committing to long-term contracts, should be able to take their gadgets with them when they change carriers." CW: so now the Library of Congress is giving gifts to big telecom?

AP: "Los Angeles ... voters have been mostly indifferent about Tuesday's race for mayor. No single issue or candidate has seized their attention, much less their imaginations, in the contest to succeed outgoing Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa. The likely outcome in the heavily Democratic city will send two City Hall regulars, Eric Garcetti, 42, and Wendy Greuel, 51, to a May 21 runoff...."

Al Jazeera: "Syrian rebels battling troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad overran al-Raqqa after days of fierce fighting, and were now in 'near-total control' of the northern city, activists said. The fall of Raqqa, located on the Euphrates River, on Monday is a significant development in the two-year-old revolt against Assad. The rebels do not claim to hold any other provincial capitals. Residents in Raqqa destroyed a statue of late President Hafez al-Assad (Bashar's father), according to amateur video footage distributed by activists." The Guardian has a liveblog. ...

... Washington Post: "As a mass Syrian emigration spills into neighboring countries, relief organizations acknowledge that they can hardly keep up. The exodus is accelerating so quickly that the tally of need will almost certainly hit a grim milestone this week, when the number of Syrian refugees who have registered with the United Nations -- or are on months-long waiting lists to do so -- is expected to hit 1 million."

AP: "The United States and China have reached agreement on a new draft sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, U.N. diplomats said late Monday.... The diplomats ... said the United States is expected to circulate a draft resolution to the full council at [a meeting today]." ...

... CBS News: "North Korea is vowing to cancel the 1953 Korean War cease-fire because of sanctions and ongoing U.S.-South Korean joint military drills."

Guardian: "Kenyans turned out in massive numbers on Monday to vote in a general election described as the most important, and nervously anticipated, in the country's 50-year history."

Reader Comments (23)

http://www.nationalmemo.com/this-florida-citizen-outraged-by-citizens-insurance/2/

So Rick Scott wants to run Medicaid "like a business." As the above link shows, the state is already doing a poor job of running a very large business, Citizens Insurance. Marie and her husband may be customers, and have personal experience. Rick Scott (America's Worst Governor or AWG) is obviously delusional.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

Watching the Krugman/Hannity debate last night on Charlie Rose I came to several conclusions: Hannity is of mediocre intelligence and cannot hold his own in a debate about economics –– he has the arrogance of those with mediocre intelligence who portend to know something about something they really don't know at all, yet accuse their opponent who does of arrogance. Krugman tried and tried and tried to explain to Morning Joe the reason for why we need to concentrate on jobs, getting the economy up and running NOW rather than this obsession with debt and deficits which we can take care of later on. But Joe would have none of it and stuck to his premise waxing into syrupy medleys about saving our children and grandchildren, blah, blah,blah. And I would have liked to duck taped Charlie's mouth––his interfering talk over his guests drives me crazy. At the end Krugman looked exhausted and his refrain of "I'm disappointed," at the lack of real discussion was written all over his face. It was a sad display.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Re: It's nature's way of telling...Simple really, it's human nature to be selfish and greedy as an individual. Complex societies grow out of cooperation between individuals who understand "good for the whole".
The Republicans appeal to individual greed. "More for me" should be the nation's new motto. Hard to fight human nature. Mr. Keller isn't just a "pretty boy getting along"; he is the voice of all those "who got theirs" and don't want to share. The Village is full of idiots at the trough.
I think a good measuring stick for every political action coming out of any political body would be; "Who does it serve?"
Right now we know who's serving who in the media.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterJJG

Marie, a few months back you explained why you started your Chex enterprise, and that you were willing to continue it. Thank you very much for doing so!

You said that you wanted to create a place where a reader could find the variety of political (which includes economic, social, etc.) views stated, analyzed, judged for accuracy, by aggregating a variety of articles, statements, studies etc. You wantred to do that on a real-time basis so that readers could access sources and inform their judgments on topical matters.

I think you succeed awfully well, and today's set of your NYTX, Keller-Sargent-Krugman-Benen pieces is a perfect example. There's big-time crazy lying dissembling tergiversating BS going on involving Obama-sequester-blame-village idiot mendacity, and your assemblage of pieces, and your comments, for our edification, is really illuminating.

Thanks for putting this stuff together, which takes hard work and dedication. You really help many of us see the big picture, and many of the little pieces that go to make it up ... with references!

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Spammed again?

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

@Barbarossa: yep. I went for 3 days with no one being spammed. Then yesterday MAG was spammed, & now you. For about the first time, the spam program caught some actual spam, too.

Marie

P.S. Thanks for the link to Carl Hiassen's column.

March 5, 2013 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Kornacki's piece is a statement of conventional wisdom and past practice. If things chug on as expected, the outcome is obvious.

I think there is a twofold approach to retain the Senate and gain a few House seats. The first is turn out, turn out, turn out. Of course Carnac of Scalia may hold the envelope to his turbaned head, joined by the remainder of the divinity 5, and then the country will be well and truly f-ked.

There is divide among the Republicans. The ideological policy divide doesn’t look so dramatic after you wipe away the media folderol. The policy positions are similar, but they are adopted for very different reasons. The extremist in the House and Senate are true believers . Their sense of self is based on the absolutes of infallibility and righteousness. The establishment Republican acts in service to money and power. Their sense of self is based on "establishment" values like longevity, money and influence with the real titans in society. The funding and power sources, the masters, are the true believers for establishment Republicans. Those are deep-seated differences and should be exploited. Generally, the Republicans are the face of unchecked ignorance, especially among the extremist ranks. I am speaking concretely; deficits in fund of knowledge and the absence of critical thinking skills. There is a pronounced nasty arrogance in both factions that could be useful to fan the flames of discord.

The extremist wing tends to eschew all the trappings of the establishment Republicans, at least until they experience the manicured ministrations of their very own butler. I say amplify the divide and set them against each other. They are natural foes - add to the disarray and take full advantage of the chaos. I bet Nancy Pelosi could be quite the Machiavelli (a?) if she had a mind too.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDiane

It occurred to me yesterday that there must be a bunch of military contractors & their well-oiled lobbyists who are as pissed about the sequestration as liberals are. So I was wondering what they were going to do about it.

I didn't have to wonder long: I see the House is planning to pass a continuing resolution that will maintain the sequester cuts on safety-net spending -- but are eliminating about 40 percent of the cuts on defense spending. Surely they'll "whittle that up" by the time the final bill passes. Where oh where will the defense money come from? Eh, probably some hungry little kids & pregnant moms.

Marie

March 5, 2013 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Marie,

Let me echo Patrick's approbation concerning your smackdown of Bill Keller's sophomorish attempt at punditry and your links to similarly well done slaps upside the Keller dome by Greg Sargent and Steve Benen. The fact that smug bastards like Keller and his many "everyone's to blame" confreres are not allowed to get away with shoddy, obtuse commentary is a testament to the assiduousness of all who labor in the attempt to balance bullshit with brass tacks.

But (you knew there was a "but" in the offing, right?), the problem is that once these titans of vainglory have strutted their hour (and hours and hours and hours) upon the stage, their deathless words ring out through the media echo chamber in ways that the words of those who correct their mendacious and/or lazy sentiments rarely do.

The effect is similar to a smart lawyer who purposely drops a comment in front of a jury that is immediately stricken from the record. The judge tells the jury they may not consider that comment in their deliberation but, as famous trial lawyer Chuck Peruto once noted, it's like mixing a drop of ink in a gallon of milk then telling a juror to remove it. It's impossible.

Thus, the "both sides are to blame" meme, since it has such traction, and is repeated ad nauseum, is what many viewers/readers remember, not so much the many excellent corrections.

This is also, perhaps why lame, arrogant, ignorant pricks like Joe Scarborough are allowed to spread their ignorance on shows like Charlie Rose instead of being laughed off as low grade morons.

(PD, I completely understand your annoyance at Rose's incessant interruptions. I spend half the time watching him shouting "Charlie, shut the fuck up and let the guy answer!")

Anyway, nice job on your Keller piece. Hopefully there's a critical mass that such pieces can attain that will affect how at least some might come to an understanding more nuanced than "Duh, everyone's to blame."

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I too have trouble believing all the "fair and balanced," a pox on both houses reporting is just ignorance.

Yesterday the AP ran a lead story whose first half lamented the huge tax burden of the top 2%, exacerbated by the end of the year fiscal cliff deal that raised their taxes a smidgen. Not until late in the article did the "reporter" get to the obvious. The federal income tax burden is distributed, not fairly IMHO, but somewhat in line with income distribution, which during the recovery from the Bush Crash has flowed increasingly to the top. In other words, as RC readers know, the inequality issues that existed before Obama was elected have gotten even worse; and the tax burden, while it has not kept pace with the skewing--once again, another word ("sounds like") occurs to me-- has timidly followed.

Duh?

When it takes half a "serious" report on tax distribution, printed in newspapers nationwide, to get to the obvious there's something awry. Reporters and editors--especially when misleading reports like this keep reappearing--just can't be that dumb. And they're not all working for Faux News.

Anyone else think such reports are deliberately "cooked" to keep peace with the bosses? Or am I just a daft crank, seeing conspiracies every time someone in the media says or writes something dumb?

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Upon reading Bill Keller's lame "Obama's Fault", I was impressed by the numerous comments whose "reality checks" neatly meshed with Marie's NYT eXaminer feature as well as with Benen and Sargent. It would be interesting to have Keller try to defend his position(s) in a subsequent column. Would he have the guts to answer to the criticism?

As I scrolled Reality Chex and picked up on various stories, one image caught my eye - that weasel James O'Keefe, who is also written about in a linked (rather lengthy) story noted by Charles Pierce today—as well as that other weasel, Tucker Carlson. The dirty gamesmanship never ceases.

http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/152325-trials-of-nadia-naffe/

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

@MAG: as a Prince of the New York Times, Keller has his own blog. In the past, he has used it to respond -- within 24 hours -- to criticisms of his column, his "response" usually being of the nature of "Nah-neh-nah-neh-nah-neh; I'm right & you're wrong." For some reason, he hasn't gotten around to responding to the many critics of yesterday's column. I'll be interested to see if he does.

Marie

March 5, 2013 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Last night, I was disappointed but not surprised at the result of Rachel Maddow's interview of Sandra Day O'Connor. Maddow tried to broach the racist utterances of Scalia and the cozy relationship with extreme right wing groups and the twins Scalia and Thomas. O'Connor barely hid her "how dare you question a Justice" attitude and disdain for Maddow. O'Connor's main purpose was to canonize the Court in general and absolve Scalia ( and Thomas by association) of any wrongdoing. Gross.

1st video
http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=rachel+maddow+show+interview+with+Sandra+day+o%27connor

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDiane

I'm positive that sleazebag winger bow-tie boy, Tucker Carlson, feels terrible about paying a hooker to lie about, er, sorry about reporting a fake story on his site, the Daily Cholera, in which a hooker lied about doing the prone polka with a Democratic senator.

He'll get right on that retraction just as soon as he gets back from his ballet lessons.

He's working on passing the barre.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Diane,

Maybe Maddow should have invited former Redskins running back John Riggins on the show as a guest host. He could have told O'Connor to "Lighten up, Sandy baby!" before passing out under the desk.

O'Connor will never answer a question like that. She's still a Republican and the SCOTUS is still a pretty exclusive club. She might not want to publicly disparage another justice since there are only 12 living members. And maybe Scalia sends her a fruit cake every Christmas.

Thomas probably sends her a Coke can.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Diane. Saw part of that interview, too, and it saddened me in at least three ways. First, O'Conner is an old lady, and in her measured repetitive, scripted responses to Maddow's questions her age showed. Though I'm more sensitive and even sympathetic to age issues every day, my reaction to her remarks was further saddened because her primary purposes were to shill her new book and I don't like hucksters, to justify her part in foisting an irretrievable 8 years of Bush upon us, and to pretend that all the Supremes do is "follow the law," more even more depressing intellectual and moral huckstering than a plump for a book sale.

If she really thought her audience was that dumb, she is now even dumber than she sounds....and that too made me sad, because it placed me face to face once again with how pathetic our supposed best and brightest often are. Midgets in black robes.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@CW Yes. Via your blog tip, I discovered that the Prince of the Times has posted on his blog regarding reader responses to his "Obama's Fault."...the post is much CYOA and appeared to shift blame on those darn, over-reactionary, liberal/lefty-types who comment on Times articles. Though thanks to the Times, at least the comments weren't as nasty as those from rude Twitter-ers! So many, so slanted. His response was predominantly about what social media has wrought—not so much about his words that sparked the protestations!

Reminded me of John Boehner's (I've-got-my-talking-points-and-I'm-sticking-to-them) non-responses to David Gregory's specific questions this past Sunday.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

@Diane. I didn't watch Maddow because I feared the O'Connor interview would turn out as you stated. IMHO, O' Connor and the four other justices who ruled in favor of Bush vs. Gore will forever live in infamy for foisting Bush on us. They were indirectly responsible for over 4,000 dead Americans, who knows how many more wounded, over 100,000 dead Iraqis, destruction of Iraq's infrastructure, and over a trillion dollars of unfunded war costs.

Sometimes I think Alan Dershowitz says outlandish things, but in this instance, I think he got it right:


"[T]he decision in the Florida election case may be ranked as the single most corrupt decision in Supreme Court history, because it is the only one that I know of where the majority justices decided as they did because of the personal identity and political affiliation of the litigants. This was cheating, and a violation of the judicial oath.[51]"

Both Rehnquist and O'Connor stated before the election that they wanted a Republican to win.

Maybe Bush would have won anyway (we'll never know), but the federal SC had no business interfering in Florida state affairs.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

I made a correction earlier to my post re: citing Hannity instead of Scarborough in my comment about the Rose program, but I assume ya'll knew what I meant. It's not here so maybe I forgot to press "create post." I thank Marie for giving us the video.

As for the Maddow interview with the revered lady of the bench: I was never a fan. She has been lauded as the swing voter and indeed she was on many cases, but she is a Republican through and through and I guess we can classify her as the good kind of old Republican, BUT I have listened to her on other occasions and she holds the cards close to her chest never wavering in her determination to present the Court as beyond politics; one always gets the feeling that if she doesn't actually believe that she would never say. Maybe Rachel, consistently polite to her guests, said after O'Connor's departure, "WTF? She's like a tightly wound clock that won't give the time of day!" Oy Vey!

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

P.S. Just remembered something a friend of mine told me while he and his girl friend were journalists at the Times under Keller. At the time Keller had written some good pieces on Bush and the Iraq debacle and I was impressed. "He's a prick!" my friend told me. "Oh, no, I said, I like what he's been saying." "Believe me, he's a terrible person to work under and I am not alone in this assessment." My friend soon left the Times, moved to London and is now at the Guardian. His girl friend ended up in Damascus, dumped him, and lived to regret it. But that's another story....

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/05/172982275/out-of-order-at-the-court-oconnor-on-being-the-first-female-justice

I didn't see the Maddow, but was shocked by today's "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross. She did the same thing to Gross. And forgive me but since I am one....she sounded like a very cranky old lady. One who was mighty offended that Gross asked about stuff that had been decided while she was on the court. Hell, she was offended that she was called "the swing vote". It was a painful performance. I hope you'll be able to listen.

She's going to be on Charlie tonight. Wanna bet it will go a lot better?

Surprised no one is talking about Nocera's column on Hanson. It's been several hours since I read it and my head is still spinning around.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterHaley Simon

I need to adjust a portion of my comment after taking a look at the Maddow interview. The Gross interview is 100 times worse. I think it belongs right up there with the O'Rielly interview - the one where he walked off. Of course one difference is you expect O'Reilly to be a jerk, I hadn't expected worse behavior from SDO.

March 5, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterHaley Simon

I had to laugh at MAG's description of Bill Keller's article as "lame", as that is precisely the word he used for the analogy I sent in the critique I e-mailed to him. Frankly, I was surprised he felt the need to personally respond to my puny little e-mail.

March 6, 2013 | Unregistered Commentercakers
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