The Ledes

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Washington Post: “ John Amos, a running back turned actor who appeared in scores of TV shows — including groundbreaking 1970s programs such as the sitcom 'Good Times' and the epic miniseries 'Roots' — and risked his career to protest demeaning portrayals of Black characters, died Aug. 21 in Los Angeles. He was 84.” Amos's New York Times obituary is here.

New York Times: “Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest players and most confounding characters, who earned glory as the game’s hit king and shame as a gambler and dissembler, died on Monday. He was 83.”

The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

~~~ The New York Times highlights “twelve essential Kristofferson songs.”

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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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The Commentariat -- May 23, 2014

Internal links, graphic removed.

Ed Snowden Day

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to rein in the National Security Agency's sweeping collection of telephone records, approving scaled-back legislation that sharply divided the technology sector and civil libertarians but united the White House, conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. The 303-to-121 vote sent an unambiguous signal that both parties are no longer comfortable with giving the N.S.A. unfettered power to collect bulk surveillance data. A year ago, a divided House nearly voted to strip all money from the N.S.A. for such surveillance, over the protests of the Republican leadership."

Jason Leopold of the Guardian: "A top-secret Pentagon report to assess the damage to national security from the leak of classified National Security Agency documents by Edward Snowden concluded that 'the scope of the compromised knowledge related to US intelligence capabilities is staggering'. The Guardian has obtained a copy of the Defense Intelligence Agency's classified damage assessment in response to a Freedom of Information Act (Foia) lawsuit filed against the Defense Department earlier this year. The heavily redacted 39-page report was prepared in December...." The redacted report is here.

Michael Kinsley reviews Glenn Greenwald's book No Place to Hide for the New York Times: "It's a great yarn, which might be more entertaining if Greenwald himself didn't come across as so unpleasant.... In 'No Place to Hide, Greenwald seems like a self-righteous sourpuss, convinced that every issue is 'straightforward,' and if you don't agree with him, you're part of something he calls 'the authorities,' who control everything for their own nefarious but never explained purposes.... In his mind, he is not a reformer but a ruthless revolutionary -- Robespierre, or Trotsky. The ancien régime is corrupt through and through, and he is the man who will topple it." Read the whole review.

Rebecca Shabad of the Hill: "Edward Snowden will appear in his first TV interview with a U.S. news outlet next Wednesday, NBC News announced Thursday. 'NBC Nightly News' anchor Brian Williams traveled to Moscow this week for a wide-ranging interview that will air in an hourlong special at 10 p.m. ET on May 28. 'Williams' in-person conversation with Snowden was conducted over the course of several hours and was shrouded in secrecy due to Snowden's life in exile since leaking classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs a year ago,' NBC News said."

Vindu Goel of the New York Times: On Thursday Facebook "announced that it would give a privacy checkup to every one of its 1.28 billion users worldwide. Facebook ... will also change how it treats new users by initially setting their posts to be seen only by friends. Previously, those posts were accessible to anyone. And it will explain to both current and new users that setting their privacy to 'public' means that anyone on the Internet can see their photos and messages."

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department's decision to charge Chinese officers was approved at very high levels of government and was undertaken, officials say, because talks had brought little progress. Both efforts -- diplomacy and criminal prosecution -- are part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to hold China accountable for what officials say is a growing campaign of commercial cyberspying.... The approach dates to early 2012. At a White House meeting, 'the message was sent from the president himself,' one senior U.S. official said.... The result was a series of measures taken not only by Justice and State, but also by the departments of Defense and Homeland Security."


Brendan Sasso of the National Journal: "The House approved an amendment Thursday that would delay the Obama administration's plan to give up oversight of certain technical Internet management functions. In a 245-177 vote, the House attached the legislation to the annual defense authorization bill. Seventeen Democrats joined the Republicans in approving the measure. The House then voted to pass the full defense bill, which included a number of other amendments.' ...

... Martin Matishak of the Hill: "The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday unveiled a $514 billion defense bill that differs in several ways from the version approved by the House."

Obama 2.2 Kate Zezima of the Washington Post: "President Obama is scheduled to announce Friday that he will nominate San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro as the next secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Castro will replace Shaun Donovan, who Obama will name as head of the White House Office of Management and Budget...."

Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that it has delayed and is revamping new rules intended to curb political activity by tax-exempt groups and that were proposed after the agency was accused last year of targeting Tea Party groups. The I.R.S. said it made the decision after receiving 150,000 comments -- both positive and negative -- about the proposal, the biggest public response to any proposed rule in its history. The decision postpones public hearings originally expected for this summer." ...

... Molly Redden of Mother Jones: "Arkansas is witnessing what may be the most expensive political ad campaign in state history: $1.5 million-worth of glowing TV spots hailing Tom Cotton, a Republican congressman who's running against Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor. The race could decide which party controls the Senate. But no one knows who's paying for this giant ad buy -- and that's partly because the group behind those ads may have flaunted IRS law in order to conceal the identities of its donors."

Jordain Carney & Stacy Kaper of the National Journal: "the sheen of shame over the VA's failures spreads across time and party affiliation. It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy and condemns past Congresses whose poor oversight allowed the problem to fester. The VA itself is also not without fault, as bureaucracy and intransigence let the department deteriorate to the point the problem became nearly impossible to fix. So who really broke the VA? In sum, it's a failure with many silent fathers." CW: Quite a helpful summary. ...

CW: I meant to post video yesterday of President Obama's Wednesday presser on the VA problem. It's here.

I don't want to be critical of the president, but he waited 23 days before he responded, and I think he should have done it sooner. -- Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kansas), a veterans' advocate

... Here Carney & Kaper offer some solutions for the VA's health management problems. As they write, "None of them involve floor speeches or finger-pointing." ...

     ... That goes for you, too, John Boehner. ...

     ... And you, Kevin McCarthy. ...

... Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said Thursday that he intends to remain on the job to address allegations of mismanagement and delayed care for military veterans, adding that he has not offered his resignation to President Obama because of the recent controversy." ...

... Paul Waldman: "The controversy over the Veterans Health Administration offers an opportunity for some positive change."

Hear that? ... That's the sound of people opening their electric bills to discover they've nearly doubled.... An 80 percent cost hike? That's something we better get used to if extreme new Obama administration power plant regulations take effect. -- Radio ad sponsored by the National Mining Association regarding EPA regulations on new coal-plant carbon emissions

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "The NMA has seized upon a high-end wholesale estimate for 'full recapture' carbon capture and sequestration technologies which the EPA specifically rejected -- and then leveraged that factoid to make a wholly unsupported claim that the same increase would be reflected in retail prices. The EPA's proposed regulations, along with other factors, may boost the cost of electricity, but the NMA should not rely on such bogus, hyped evidence to make its case."

... BTW, Kessler gave Democratic Senate nominee Alison Grimes three Pinocchios for this remark, which she made during her nomination victory speech: "Never gone without a pay raise for himself, [Sen. Mitch McConnell] quadrupled his net worth on the backs of hardworking Kentuckians that can't afford it." Kessler argues that since McConnell received the bulk of his wealth from an inheritance his wife received, it has nothing to do with "hardworking Kentuckians." Really, Glenn? McConnell has taken the lead in efforts to reduce and/or repeal the "death tax." As a result, the McConnells lost little of their inheritance to estate taxes. Who takes up the slack? Well, "hardworking Kentuckians" -- and other taxpaying Americans, of course. ...

     ... Update: Kessler responds, "McConnell has certainly voted repeatedly to eliminate estate taxes, but in 2007 there was still a fairly hefty estate tax, so his wife would have still paid at least a million dollars in taxes on the inheritance. Don't know how much she inherited but it's between $5 million and $25 million, and there was still a 45 percent rate after a $2 million exemption in place then. So that's between $1.3 million ($5 million gift) and $10.2 million ($25 million) in taxes."

Diane Barnes of the National Journal: "A senior U.S. envoy accused Russia of giving its Syrian ally international cover for its alleged past use of chemical weapons against opponents. Ambassador Samantha Power leveled the assertion on Thursday, after Moscow and Beijing blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council proposal for the International Criminal Court to examine possible violations of international law in Syria's 3-year-old civil war. More than 160,000 people have died in the conflict, a British watchdog organization said this week."

Paul Krugman: "The truth is that the European project -- peace guaranteed by democracy and prosperity -- is in deep trouble; the Continent still has peace, but it’s falling short on prosperity and, in a subtler way, democracy.... It's terrifying to see so many Europeans rejecting democratic values, but at least part of the blame rests with officials who seem more interested in price stability and fiscal probity than in democracy."

** Gene Robinson: "What's happening in the Republican primaries is less a defeat for the tea party than a surrender by the GOP establishment, which is winning key races by accepting the tea party's radical anti-government philosophy.... The tea party's extremism and obstructionism live on." ...

     ... Frank Rich made the same point a couple of days ago.

CW: There is a real 47 percent. They are not Romney's lazy bums looking for government handouts. Still, most are likely in need of assistance from social services. They're the 47 percent of unemployed Americans who, according to a survey, have given up looking for work.

Marie's Pro Sports Roundup

Steve Kastenbaum of CNN: President "Obama on Thursday became the first sitting president to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in upstate New York." ...

... BUT professional sports are great! Ask the under- or unpaid NFL cheerleaders. Julia Lurie & Nina Liss-Schultz of Mother Jones: "Jiggle Tests, Dunk Tanks, and Unpaid Labor: How NFL Teams Degrade Their Cheerleaders." Thanks to safari for the link. ...

... Maybe white sports moguls should STFU when it comes to musings on racism.

Today in Gun News. Coming to you from an undisclosed location. CW: I have learned from my various recent visits to McDonald's & Wendy's (my Internet service is down) that a prime reason for the Second Amendment is to provide old farts with an endless store of boring hunting stories. Check out the "Federalist Papers." I am pretty certain that's what the Founders had in mind. Wendy's & McDonald's may post-date Constitutional deliberations, but old farts telling endless boring hunting stories pre-date recorded history.

Senate Race

Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "After a string of humbling defeats in Republican primaries this spring, the tea party's last best hope to oust a lawmaker is in Mississippi. But things are not going well for the movement's Chris McDaniel, who is challenging longtime senator Thad Cochran. The race has been roiled over the past week by a bizarre incident in which a pro-McDaniel blogger was arrested in connection with taking an illicit photo of Cochran’s bedridden wife, Rose, who has dementia and lives in a nursing home. More arrests were made on Thursday, including a Mississippi tea party activist who is closely connected to McDaniel."

Goeff Pender & Sam Hall of the Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion Ledger: "The vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party and one other suspect have been arrested in connection with the photographing of the bedridden wife of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. Attorney Mark Mayfield, a vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party and an officer with the Central Mississippi Tea Party, was arrested Thursday by Madison police.... District Attorney Michael Guest confirms that Richard Sager of Laurel is the second person arrested today in relation to the Rose Cochran photo scandal.... Authorities have said John Mary of Hattiesburg has been charged with conspiracy, but he will not be kept in custody because of a medical condition."

Josh Marshall of TPM tries but can't quite figure out how "multiple people were involved and someone didn't say, 'Hey, this is f'ing crazy. I think we need to rethink this.'" Best explanation: "This is Mississippi."

CW: I thought I'd see of Charles Pierce weighed in on this. But Wendy's is my Internet connection just now, & apparently Wendy thinks Esquire is the sort of deviant publication that her customers have no business reading. I'll check tomorrow to see if Ronald McDonald has also blocked all access to Esquire. ...

     ... Late-Breaking Update: Pierce appreciates the entertainment value of this weird, developing story.

Beyond the Beltway

Erik Schelzig of the AP: "Tennessee has decided how it will respond to a nationwide scarcity of lethal injection drugs for death-row inmates: with the electric chair. Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill into law Thursday allowing the state to electrocute death row inmates in the event prisons are unable to obtain the drugs, which have become more and more scarce following a European-led boycott of drug sales for executions."

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) claims he's not that Sheldon Silver. In all likelihood, he's lying.

News Lede

AP: "In the deadliest raid yet on Ukrainian troops, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint Thursday, killing 16 soldiers, and the interim prime minister accused Moscow of trying to disrupt the upcoming election for a new president to lead the divided country out of its crisis."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (15)

I found tonight's Krugman unusually weak.

He links his standard economic argument against austerity to the Right's rise in Europe. To the degree that hard times can bring out the worst as well as the best in people, I agree, but I think that in Europe, like here in our beloved land, there's a distinctly racial element at work, too. Leaving aside the old inter-nation rivalries that provided Europe with so much of its grim history, the more of those dark-skinned folks from Africa, India and the Mideast end up in the Eurozone, dressing funny, wearing scarves, practicing non-Christian religions, even rioting occasionally, the more attractive the Right has become to many.

While there is much to admire in Europe's social democracies, when it comes to successful melting pot politics, much of Europe still has a long way to go. When it comes to skin color, one could argue maybe even farther than we do.

Grand experiment that it is, the euro has not yet papered over all differences between people, and those differences are not all economic.

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Re: House NSA bill. David Corn and Kevin Drum, writing in"Mother Jones" say that the bill is so weak, it doesn't do much to rein in the NSA. Many of the bill's sponsors voted against it after it was gutted.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/nsa-usa-freedom-act-weak

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

Came across this article thanks to the intertoobz. Not pressing information but as a sports fan I guess I should have seen it coming but youthful ignorance blinds.

It gives a short rundown on how professional female cheerleaders are treated in the NFL (spoiler alert: like dirt) and gives a good allusion to the unequal pressures and demands put on women in our society. Clearly they've chosen this "job" on their own, nobody forced them into their skimpy costumes and I assume the attention they get is likely a heavy contributing factor to accepting the ridiculous circumstances they have to submit to. That said, I'd be very interested to know who was the brains behind the mysterious "manuel" that meticulously emcumbers every aspect of their lives (I'm guessing he has a weiner...).

From their choice of panties, spaghetti etiquette, "jiggle" quality, tampon advice and restricted freedom of speech, their employers wholly dominate these women's lives and to top it off, some pay them with a parking pass to the game that can sell to earn a buck.

Given the money making machine that is the NFL and the exorbitant salaries of the all the men (players, coaches, owners) you don't think they could all kick some back to the cheerleaders who work just as hard to stay in shape and pass their "jiggle tests"? Maybe. But like men's general indifference to the equal pay gap in today's society, well just keep the women on the sideline of society, looking good and smiling pretty, while the men take care of the 'real' business.

http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/05/nfl-cheerleader-lawsuits-sexism

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered Commentersafari

Just imagine the conversations we would be having if it weren't for that selfish yahoo Snowden. Can you believe his revelations were the impetus for actually getting something done in DC? My guess is even the Koch brothers and Cheney don't like having their communications scooped up.

Safari: was it a couple years ago that the NFL referees tried to organize protections, in the form of a union, for themselves and were swatted down by the monopolistic, tax subsidized takes of the 1% that constitute the owner ship class of the NFL? You know, poker buddies guffawing over the plight of the 99% with their 'close personal friend' Don Sterling.

I'm thinking a John Prine song about the wayward character of sports teams owners would be timely served about now.

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterCitizen625

Re: Yesterday's news; fading away. As a fancier of history I am not surprised that there is a VA scandal going on. What's surprising is that with the recon I did on the various news articles none mentioned what I believe is history; nobody gives a shit about veterans. Never have.
Sure, you get the parade, maybe a shiny medal, lucky you, a folded flag for your mom, and every Memorial Day a ride down Main Street. That's it. Reality is you come home to the same fuckn' place you left behind.
Note I said "fancier of history" I'm sure the historians among us can cite historical incidences of fair and honorable treatment of vets but I read nothing in the last two days about the Civil War vets struggles including the march on Washington, nothing about the vets from the War of Independence, starving in the streets of East Coast cities. Nothing about the WW One vets suffering from the effects of mustard gas. Nothing about the WW Two vets stacked like core wood on piss stained mattresses. Nothing about Vietnam vets with active cancers caused by Agent Orange being denied help because the VA did not believe. Nothing about the Iraq wars where the depleted uranium dust from thousands of rounds of ammo is deep in the lungs of those vets.
And that is just a short list of US vets. How about stories from around the world? France; selling medals for food. Russia, drunk in the street after returning from Afghanistan. Brits , Beggin' a bob.
No, nobody has ever given a shit about vets. Nobody likes to remember the dirty work or the workers. War, everybody loses.

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJJG

@JJG: I beg to disagree. I grew up listening to WWII stories. Now it's true that vets in recent decades were "blamed" for the wars in which they fought. Korea was unpopular, so it took a long time for the veterans of that war to receive public recognition, & Nam of course was a special case. But over the past couple of decades -- perhaps because some of those vets became members of Congress & other persons of influence -- attitudes changed. Veterans of all U.S. wars now -- with the likely exception of the top brass -- get something close to their due in public appreciation -- and in benefits. I may despise the wars, but I honor those who serve & have served. I think most Americans, whatever their views of the wars & "conflicts," hold soldiers & veterans in particular regard & empathize with the unique problems veterans face.

In a quick Google search, I didn't find a reliable poll to support my belief, but this unscientific poll backs up my opinion.

Marie

May 23, 2014 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Marie; If that's the case; why the problems?

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJJG

@JJG: In the real world, people who care about you don't necessarily recognize or solve your problems. Also, Republicans.

Marie

May 23, 2014 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Not hard to find "scandals" these days, mostly manufactured, some very real (the VA mess at the top of my current list), but the ur-scandal of all, IM-not-so-HO, is uncurbed money in politics. Doesn't look like it's going to get better soon either. The IRS (like the VA, sadly underfunded) is running scared...shouldn't be that hard to identify political activity and ensure it's not granted tax-exempt status, should it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/23/us/politics/irs-delays-new-rules-on-taxation-for-activists.html?hp&_r=0

As a class the wealthy have been performing (ala the Powell Memo) a kind of financial jujitsu on American taxpayers for forty years, using their ungodly profits (swollen by tax breaks, untaxed billions parked overseas, and direct government subsidies) garnered from those same taxpayers to convince them that it is the government that is the enemy rather than the conscienceless profiteers, whose profits increase dramatically in the absence of a strong government. Of course they have oodles of millions to spend on political activities. We gave it to them.

And labeling their anti-government activities charities, making them tax-deductible, is the final insult to sense. It's kinda funny, but the joke is on us and it's cruel, indeed.

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ken's concern about the primary cause for scandal in politics today is not just the abundance of untraceable money (thanks, Johnny, Sam, Tony, Nino, Clarence! You guys have made it so much easier to tilt the playing field and not leave so much as a fingerprint! You must be very proud.) but where that money goes and the uses to which it's put.

For instance, the Koch Machine is veering ever closer to Matt Taibbi's famously apt description of Goldman Sachs as a great blood sucking vampire squid. In the case of the Kochs, their apparatus is more of a many tendrilled monster attaching its suckers to every area of public life into which it sees an opening for injecting its poison.

The Kochs are everywhere. Funneling money to crazed wingnut groups, insane politicians, flunkies, stooges, and shills, but also using the American scene as their personal board game or laboratory in which to test a variety of complex schemes to deprive voters of their rights and municipalities of their autonomy, all in an effort to force feed Americans their vision of autocratic rule, a country where government is broken and oligarchs rule with an iron fist.

Besides their routine union busting, depriving workers of a chance to bargain for their livelihood, they have chloroformed a plan in Nashville for a public transit line that would allow more mobility for those for whom transportation is difficult. Too bad for those poors and tourists, they should have their own Maybachs. Another good government plan killed by the Kochs who simply cannot allow government anywhere to work, even if it means prosperity and an improved quality of life.

In Detroit, the Kochs are working to torpedo a bankruptcy settlement that would allow municipal workers to retain some of their retirement, it would also help the city stay afloat, but neither positive outcome fits with the Koch schemes. Daily Kos tells why: " The metro Detroit area, the suburban municipalities around the city, would be devastated if Detroit is turned over to the wealthy corporate interests that would like nothing more than to turn the city into their own personal investment project. If you think the Koch brothers' petcoke piles on the Detroit River are a problem, wait until they run the show there. Detroit would become Potterville -- or, rather, Kochville -- in short order."

When the ACA began to attract younger citizens, the Kochs, through their many shadow operations and untraceable cash--because FREEDOM--began setting up booths on campuses, plying students with booze and misinformation to get them to stay away, hoping to scuttle healthcare reform, something that doesn't stand to benefit them. Any success for government and the people is considered a net loss to these traitorous scumbags.

For years now they've also infiltrated colleges around the country, buying their way into control of academic departments such as the economics department at Florida State University where they get to decide who teaches and what they teach. Naturally, there'll be nothing taught that is not Koch approved or does not serve their larger interests.

These guys are fucking monsters. They were monsters before Citizens United, but now, they're hall of fame monsters. Blood sucking, poison injecting, treasonous pig fucking monsters.

And who will say No to them? Certainly not Republicans, or their wholly owned "justices" on the Supreme Court.

Many wingnuts try to ram their values down our throats. The Koch Monsters succeed.

And they never stop.

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

A grand day in Christian Country!

Tennessee has decided that lethal injections have become so messy (never know when some convicted felon who may or may not be guilty will be writhing around bothering everyone within earshot with all that screamin' and carryin' on and such, tongue lollin' around, and who may or may not die in agony. Plus there's always the chance that the whole thing may be called off while they try to recover what's left of the guy, and where's the fun in that?) that it may not be the most trustworthy way to kill someone, in the state's name, of course.

Hmmm....What would Jesus do?

Bingo!

Bring back the 'lectric chair, of course. Great idea. Because it was always so reliable in the past. Forget about those stories of guys frying, skin falling off, taking 30 minutes and about a million volts to kill someone. At least it will be great theater for all those Christians frothing at the mouth to kill someone. Anyone.

But just to be sure no one misses out on a chance to kill, kill, kill, let's have a few backup plans.

If the chair fizzles (sorry), the next will be hanging. That was always fun. That trap door sound is surely the sound of justice, right, boys n' girls? But if the rope breaks, or the executioner isn't up on his hangin' knots (because sometimes those heads, why, they just pop right off, like one a them Pez containers), we can go to the firin' squad. But if the boys have been tyin' one on, and we're afeared they might hit a bystander who--surely--are all innocent, unlike the convict, who may be guilty, but then again, might not be, we have a few more good ideas.

First, there's burnin' at the stake. A great Old Time Religion way to go. Or we can slit his throat. A bit messy, but loads 'a fun. Then we can try stoning, burial alive, crushed under boulders, or, even crucifixion.

Hey, that's what Jesus would do, now, ain't it?

Praise the lord. Who's next to fry? Better git them laws changed so there cain't be no lookin' at new evidence sayin' the guy is innocent at the last minute. That wouldn't be Christian, now would it?

The state of Tennessee has a new theme song.

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I don't know about all of you, but I'm shocked, man, shocked.

The three assholes (three that we know of so far) who plotted to break into a nursing home in Mississippi to videotape the mentally disabled wife of a political opponent, in her bed clothes, had only one apparent point of connection.

The Tea Party.

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

My favorite part of this despicable and criminal clown show is that one of these loathsome teabagger scumbags who conspired to take advantage of a woman with mental and medical problems begged off being arrested because he claims he has MEDICAL PROBLEMS!!

These people get more contemptible and hypocritical by the day.

It's been a long time since we've seen a political group in this country with such an enormous range and appetite for such odious, unethical, and reprehensible behavior. Not to mention pure, unadulterated, eye watering stupidity.

All three of these assholes will be running for office any day now.

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@JJG: Why the problems? If you read several posts from yesterday's RC (including mine), you'll see why. Also links to media in yesterday's and today's RC, clarify the problems.

As I said yesterday, much of the blame can be laid on two wars: Afghanistan and Iraq. Especially Iraq, which was stupid and unnecessary. The NJ articles lay out why the system couldn't cope with thecc sudden surge of wounded vets.

Maybe past generations didn't honor veterans, but I have never felt dishonored or disrespected. At first, "Thank you for your service" annoyed me, because I thought it was an empty gesture. Upon reflection, now I realize most people are sincere when they say it.

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

@JJG

I think John Stewart heard you and does a little round up of veteran treatment going back 200 years.

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/qelsqv/world-of-warriorshaft---terrible-memory-lane

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered Commentersafari

This story by John Amato on Crooks and Liars has me spitting nails! I cannot tolerate even ONE more narcissistic, sociopathic wing nut dissing government programs for poor kids. Boo on you, Ben Carson!

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/05/welfare-recipent-ben-carson-deserved-his

May 23, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterKate Madison
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