;)
Sunday
May042014
The Commentariat -- May 5, 2014
Internal links removed.
NPR: Cinco de Mayo is mostly a U.S. production. Except in the village of Puebla, Mexico, the holiday in not celebrated by Mexicans.
Christian Nation, Ctd. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a town in upstate New York may begin its public meetings with a prayer from a 'chaplain of the month.' Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority in the 5-to-4 decision, said 'ceremonial prayer is but a recognition that, since this nation was founded and until the present day, many Americans deem that their own existence must be understood by precepts far beyond that authority of government to alter or define.' In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said the town's practices could not be reconciled 'with the First Amendment’s promise that every citizen, irrespective of her religion, owns an equal share of her government.'"
Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "A group of wealthy liberal donors who helped bankroll the Center for American Progress and other major advocacy groups on the left is developing a new big-money strategy that could boost state-level Democratic candidates and mobilize core party voters. The plan, being crafted in private by a group of about 100 donors that includes billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros and San Francisco venture capitalist Rob McKay, seeks to give Democrats a stronger hand in the redrawing of district lines for state legislatures and the U.S. House."
E. J. Dionne: "The roughly one-eighth of voters who disapprove of [President] Obama but nonetheless support [Hillary] Clinton for 2016 may be the most important group in the electorate. If Democratic candidates can collectively manage to corral Clinton's share of the national electorate this fall, the party would likely keep control of the Senate and might take over the House of Representatives."
Paul Krugman: " On Thursday, House Republicans released a deliberately misleading report on the status of health reform, crudely rigging the numbers to sustain the illusion of failure in the face of unexpected success.... Mainstream politicians didn't always try to advance their agenda through lies, damned lies and — in this case -- bogus statistics. And the fact that this has become standard operating procedure for a major party bodes ill for America's future."
Digby, in Salon: "Benghazi!™ is about portraying the Obama administration as being wimpy on terrorism, of course. But ... the Obama administration is the one that killed bin Laden and is taking down terrorists -- and anyone who might accidentally look like one, which is a whole other story -- with drone strikes all over the Middle East and Africa. (It's true that he's failed to invade a random country just to prove America's manhood, but he's still got a couple of years.) ... The Obama administration has made not one single move on terrorism with which the right would normally quarrel. But they simply cannot admit that this or one of their most important organizing principles is off the table: National security is as fundamental to them as low taxes and gun rights.... So they're ... making a national security scandal up out of whole cloth. But this isn't about Obama, not really. They have another Clinton to kick around and her involvement in Benghazi!™ as secretary of state gave them a perfect opportunity to dust off the old scandal sheet music and brush up on those old songs." ...
... Michael Hirsh of Politico: "The Benghazi-Industrial Complex is here to stay, fueled by a mania on the right to somehow, in some way, validate Issa's declaration that Obama is the 'one of the most corrupt presidents of modern times' and, above all, to tarnish Clinton ahead of 2016 by linking the former secretary of state directly to the deaths of [Ambassador Chris] Stevens and the others." ...
... John Bresnahan, et al., of Politico explain what-all the House "select committee" on Benghaaaazi! will be doing. Nancy Pelosi may not even name Democrats to the committee. CW: Even Politico writers seem to regard this latest "investigative" effort as a joke.
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "David G. Blanchflower, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, and Adam S. Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, argue in a new paper that the slow pace of wage growth is the best indicator of an incomplete economic recovery. Until wages start rising more quickly, the economy remains far from healthy. The two men also argue that the federal Reserve should focus on wage growth in calibrating its stimulus campaign because wage growth effectively summarizes other measures like unemployment and participation."
Alec MacGillis of the New Republic on what a stupendously lackadaisical regulator SEC chair Mary Jo White is. Not too surprising:
I believe there is too much bias toward Wall Street among regulators. At the time, I said I hoped she would prove me wrong. But I'm still waiting for the S.E.C. to break from the status quo and demand accountability from the financial institutions it oversees. It's time we find watchdogs outside of the very industry that they are meant to police. -- Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), after voting against White's confirmation
... CW: White & her husband got super-rich defending Wall Street muckamucks. Her husband is still working his day job, as far as I know. White was a horrible choice, but I think Obama knew just what he was doing. Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link to MacGillis's piece.
Gene Robinson, the former Episcopalian Bishop of New Hampshire, announces his pending divorce in the Daily Beast.
Katie McDonough of Salon tries to explain racism to a privileged white racist Princeton freshman. Good luck with that: "... like many white people he doesn't want to confront racism and white privilege because those things have -- and will continue to -- really, really help him out in life. And the reality is that he doesn't have to confront this stuff, either.... That's exactly how white privilege works."
Elizabeth Barber of Reuters: "Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush showed courage in breaking his 'read my lips: no new taxes' campaign pledge to broker a 1990 budget compromise that may have cost him re-election two years later, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation said on Sunday. The organization honored the 41st U.S. president with its 2014 Profile in Courage Award, praising the Republican leader's 'decision to put country above party and political prospects' in the deal with congressional Democrats."
Must-Not-Read "Journalism." Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, political journalists known for their detailed, gossip-filled books on the past two presidential campaigns, will join Bloomberg in the coming days to start a new site that will focus on American politics and policy." ...
... Speaking of lousy journalists, Joe Hagan has a profile in New York of Lara Logan. Numerous "Friends of Lara" at CBS "News" diss her -- anonymously, of course. Profiles in courage -- not. ...
... Driftglass sums up the excellent journalism evident on the Sunday shows in one sentence: "It was a Benghaaaazi-fest, with breadcrumb filler." ...
... AND he links to this post by Emily Smith, no doubt an excellent gossip journalist at the New York Post's Page Six: "David Gregory's tenure at 'Meet the Press' has suffered another blow after the show's long-standing producer, Chris Donovan, quit after 12 years and defected to work for ABC rival George Stephanopoulos at 'This Week.' Donovan, who started at ABC last week, was fed up with embattled Gregory and the direction of 'Meet the Press,' sources tell Page Six, which has sunk to third place in the ratings, behind CBS' 'Face the Nation' and ABC's 'This Week.'" ...
... Charles Pierce has a much longer review of "Sunday Showz" "journalism." He wants to see more entertainers & sports figures on the shows. His fave this week:
I did a little bit of research, more whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism. That's why ... why we have shows like Ghostbusters and don't have shows like Racistbuster. You know, it's something that's still part of our culture and people hold on to some of these ideas and practices just out of habit and saying that well that's the way it always was. But things have to change. -- Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, on "This Week"
I totally would watch Racistbusters. If the first episode was a two-parter at the Bundy Ranch, the ratings would be through the roof. -- Charles Pierce
... CW: Maybe Driftglass & Pierce should have watched Univision's Sunday show, where Jorge Ramos repeatedly pressed Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee on Republicans' immigration policy. As Greg Sargent reads Goodlatte's evasive, but still telling, answers, "Republicans have effectively defined their policy stance as follows: Obama is not deporting enough low level offenders with lives here, so therefore we won't embrace any form of legal status for them."
Beyond the Beltway
Tim Devaney of the Hill: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Sunday blamed the state of Oklahoma for a 'botched' execution of a death row inmate last week, but said his state will proceed with the death penalty without pause.... Texas currently has 273 people on death row. The Lone Star State has executed more than 500 people -- the most of any state -- since the Supreme Court reaffirmed the death penalty in 1976."
Congressional Races
Susan Page & Kendall Breitman of USA Today: "A nationwide USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll shows the strongest tilt to Republican candidates at this point in a midterm year in at least two decades, including before partisan 'waves' in 1994 and 2010 that swept the GOP into power."
Presidential Election
Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: Rand Paul's Very Special Guest at the Kentucky Derby: Rupert Murdoch. "There is a great tradition of political theater and back-room dealing at the Kentucky Derby, and the pageant involving Mr. Murdoch fit right in."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Pro-Russian insurgents shot down a Ukrainian military helicopter as heavy fighting re-erupted around a key rebel stronghold on Monday, leaving at least eight people dead and dozens wounded. The fierce fighting in Slovyansk, a separatist stronghold, broke out as the Ukrainian government sought to regain control of the key Black Sea port of Odessa, dispatching a special police unit to that city after deadly clashes there between rival mobs supporting Ukraine and Russia." ...
... Reuters: "Switzerland's federal prosecutor has frozen 170 million Swiss francs ($193.34 million) of assets in Swiss bank accounts belonging to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich and people close to him, a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday."
Reuters: "The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's firm on Monday began distributing another $351.6 million to the swindler's former customers, boosting the amount recouped to nearly $6 billion."
Chicago Tribune: "Gary Becker, a Nobel Prize-winning professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago whom colleagues called one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, died over the weekend. He was 83." ...
... Becker's New York Times obituary is here.
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Reader Comments (19)
Man, oh man. Just a wait a couple of days and proof positive of speculative musings falls into your lap.
The other day a link suggested by (I think it was Safari) one of RC's own, told the sad tale of Bloomberg's far east investigative journalists being cut off at the knees by the suits who want to sell more stuff, not piss off Chinese mucky mucks.
My somewhat obvious observation was that, of course Bloomberg, a business in existence to make money, not to investigate financial skullduggery (although one could make the case that these goals are not mutually destructive--it would require strategy, a well stated vision, and balls to do properly), might be loathe to let journalists, no matter how sharp and professional, impede their ability to encourage stockholder squeals of dee-light at their ever growing pile of shiny shekels with each passing quarter.
My suggestion was that such operations tend to serve up nonsensical bread and circus to keep the rubes quiet. Fox, for instance, props up crash test dummies in front of the cameras and has them shout "Benghazi" and "Impeach" and "War on Christmas" whenever their strings are pulled.
Well, not to be outdone in the dummy category, Bloomberg has now hired two hacks of extraordinary ordinariness. John Heilemann (once upon a time a decent reporter now gone to seed) and Mark Halperin (never in your wildest fairy tale imagination a decent reporter) as bread maker and circus clown, respectively. No need to worry about investigative reportage as long as you have these guys around to weave spectacularly unfactual "both sides" stories and proffer piles of salacious palaver reeking of neglected laundry.
So much for real journalism.
The Times writer suggested that this was being done to invest the new Bloomberg site with "added relevance".
We must all have our little jokes now and then, mustn't we?
It appears that Mary Jo White, Chair of the SEC, doesn't scare the folks with the dark money as we all wished she would. Critics from the left, especially Barney Frank, are having problems with her handling the political spending disclosures. Frank also calls Darrell Issa, our Mad man look alike, (in his eyes only) "semi illiterate"––I'll second that remark. Rob Jackson, a Columbia law professor, says White is the most "investor-unfriendly Chair in two decades." White defends her stance, but do we buy it? Gosh, when I first saw that little lady who looks like someone who could talk down a rabid dog, I rejoiced. Now I read something like this and I wonder if Elizabeth Warren is our only true blue. She keeps telling us the game is rigged ––as though that's something new––but are we destined to live with that rigging or can change actually occur. Big question that gets buried in the sand time after time.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117632/secs-mary-jo-white-whiffs-transparency-wall-street-dark-money
Rand Paul and Rupert Murdoch were at the Derby? I saw a quick shot of a couple of horses' asses. It looked like they were wearing ties and flag pins, which I thought odd.
Mystery solved.
The shameful dissimulation and iniquitous folderol attached to the fake Benghazi scandal would, if there were anything remotely resembling a truly fair and balanced media outfit (never mind the chimerical liberal media), be flushed down the nearest crapper in the time it takes a Fox bot time to say something stupid.
Where were all these junior G-men, these Hardy Boys and Nancy Drews when a true scandal of historically epic proportions was being played out in broad daylight, a scandal that brought war, death, and immense debt to the world, brought on by the slimy lies of a Republican administration?
Oh wait. Most of these guys were part of that scam.
Never mind.
And the media can "never mind" too. They didn't mind it then. Why should they now?
Never fear, Mark Halperin and Sean Hannity will no doubt fill us in on Hillary's plan to stir up trouble in the middle east, murder American diplomats (Vince Foster, Vince Foster), and plot her daughter's timely artificial insemination, Rosemary's Baby style, so she could be elected president four years later.
Plus, it's very possible that the secret treasure that Obama stashed in the basement of that consulate in a trunk labeled "Property of de Massas", (assets stolen from patriotic American corporations) by his Kenyan cousins as "going away" money whenever he decided to jump on Air Force One and hijack it to Mecca where he'd live a life of ease in the desert with his Al Qaeda buddies, boinking young white American virgins whenever it struck his fancy.
No film at eleven. Top Secret.
(The sad thing is that, no matter how outrageous and dim witted a scenario you could come up with, it would in no way outpace the real scandal perpetrated by the GOP and their media (and Democratic) enablers in the run up to an opportunistic war of choice. Not even if you added in forged birth certificates, aliens, Justin Bieber, and Hitler. Put together.)
Sent my comment on yesterday's Krugman piece to one of my sons. Why do the R's lie and how do they get away with it? Here's his response...focussed on the ACA rollout, which he has kept very close track of.
"And why does the GOP lie machine work? One reason the mainstream media’s inability to cover the Affordable Care Act. It is as if reporters (and the biases of journalistic narrative) are unable to figure out how to talk about the big picture in a positive way. Just look at this selection of NYT headlines (opinion pieces not included) in the weeks since it became resoundingly clear that the ACA would exceed enrollment projections, decrease the uninsured, etc.
Envisioning the End of Employer-Provided Health Plans 5/1/14
The Problem With Free Health Care 4/30/14
New York Will Keep Affordable Care Act Health Plans Restricted 4/25/14
How to Get Better Insurance Data, Without Encouraging Conspiracy ...4/25/14
Southerners Don't Like Obamacare. They Also Don't Want to Repeal It.4/23/14
Democrats Confront Vexing Politics Over the Health Care Law ... 4/19/14
Enrollments Exceed Obama's Target for Health Care Act - NYTimes 4/17/14
Census Survey Revisions Mask Health Law Effects 4/15/14
Tax Preparers' New Role: Health-Coverage Advisers 4/14/14
Also, within these articles, the stories selected do not represent the several fold predominance of those helped (e.g. life-saving surgery without bankruptcy) over those “hurt” (e.g. had to switch doctors) by the ACA.
This is how the NYT has described a program that has decreased the uninsured rate to 13.4%, (the lowest since Gallup started tracking it in January 2008).
My son's answer (likely no surprise to RC faithful) suggests that Krugman's own paper is part of the problem...
Regarding the galactically stupid tantrum by the idiot from Princeton (an over-privileged whiner from an Ivy League school who believes he deserves everything he gets and everyone else can just fuck off? Nevah...).
So he won't apologize for being rich and white and privileged?
Great. Who asked him to? Not me, I'm sure.
Sounds like, on some level he realizes that he was born on third base. But not only does he want everyone to believe he actually hit a triple, he wants everyone to quit talking about how he didn't and apologize for suggesting that that's the case.
Sorry, Tal, or whatever the fuck your name is. I'm so tired of these schmucks.
Open your eyes and look around, pal. You can whine all you want as you decide, with your parents, which hot spot you'll vacation in this summer, and exactly which model of Mercedes fits your personal idiom, but just because you have it made doesn't mean there isn't pain and unfairness in the world.
It doesn't mean that others don't have much or lack your many, many opportunities, because of personal failings, immorality, or lack of initiative (such as sending in wild-ass personal ramblings to news organizations and thinking you've made an important statement), but because of a variety of barriers to the upscale life, barriers that you've never seen because you travel the express road, the road populated by other luxury cars, driven by other privileged punks, the road unblemished by potholes or tolls or cops who will stop you and make you get out of the car because you're driving in the wrong part of town or driving while black, or Latino; the road leading straight to prosperity and more privileges.
You don't even need a road map you pissy little snob. You have people around you who show you the ropes, tell you how to avoid the bad shit, if you're smart enough to listen, and have enough money to show you that side of life. Clearly though they haven't shown you what it means to be a mensch. Or if they did, you were too busy looking in the mirror wondering why you aren't already president.
Two words, asshole:
Grow up.
Everyone, meet Tal Fortgang, future head of the SEC.
What if I told you that the powers that be at Fox aren't really conservative douchebags at all, but are dyed in the wool progressives who sought to promote the ideas of equality, non-discrimination, and justice?
This is one of those "look at the facts" type questions.
Every week, it seems, Fox throws some thoroughly brain-dead, soulless creep or cause up into the media stratosphere as an icon of conservatism, which quickly explodes in their face making them and their cause look pitiful and bereft of substance.
Look at Cliven Bundy, this Princeton kid, Benghazi, the IRS "scandal", birther bullshit, "genuine rape", "War on Christians". It never ends.
Someone could look at these outcomes and make a strong case that someone at Fox WANTS wingnuts to look like screwballs. WANTS everyone see how transparent and partisan and unethical most conservative complaints and are and how little critical thinking goes into everything the do.
Either that, or their just really, really stupid.
You decide.
"they're"....arghhh....don't you hate it when you write things like "their really stupid?"
@Akhilleus? Huh? In my opinion, they is really stupid.
Marie
AK re Fox. You've left their audience's attention span out of the mix. By October they'll vaguely remember who Bundy was, but they won't remember why they do.
Don't mean to be the monopolizer out here today, but I couldn't ignore these dispatches from the front lines of the War on Christianity.
The Supreme Court has declared that prayers prior to a public hearing in Greece, NY are entirely constitutional. Or so they say. Anthony Kennedy, writing from his penthouse in Never Never Land, a place far, far removed from facts and actual human interaction, sniffs that it's all good because no one is saying it has to be a Christian prayer. Fact: Christians are the only ones invited to offer these prayers. I don't think they're going to dig into the Bhagavad Gita or the Koran for their prayers. It's a little like saying that there's nothing preventing bats from flying out your ass. I mean, it could happen, right?
And in the enlightened state of Kentucky, where the earth began a couple hundred years ago, the state spends $18 million dollars to bus students to religious schools. Taxpayers foot the bill to support religious teaching (again, how many mosques do you think receive this benefit?) they may not agree with at all, teaching which instructs children that science is fake and myths are real.
Clearly both of these news items underscore the real dangers of daring to be a Christian in America today where they are victimized by god hating liberal elites and get nothing but scorn and hatred.
Martyrs all.
The Pew poll is beyond depressing. Assuming it's at least somewhat accurate, here's my query: What the hell is WRONG with American voters. Seriously, they prefer a clown car to people who are honestly trying to govern responsibly? I just do not get it.
Akhilleus, trusting that the opposite of monopoly is not competition, rather, just another voice, here's mine on the latest SCOTUS outrage:
"Picture this: A prayer at the opening of each government meeting that simply hands over to the Higher Power that really controls our fate those responsibilities we have elected our officials to carry out. With that taken care of, the meeting could adjourn.
Besides the benefit of short meetings, with the Higher Power in charge logic tells us no elected official could be blamed for any shortcomings. Because whatever happened would all be the Higher Power's fault, there would be no need to ever replace an elected official. We could save millions in each election cycle; once elected, each official could serve in perpetuity, content in his or her inspired inadequacy.
And speaking of serving in perpetuity, if the Supremes arrived at this decision following a short appeal to their own version of the Higher Power (largely Catholic, I'd guess), they can hardly be blamed for the depth of their dumbness either. They had no choice. They were merely parroting what the Spirit told them to say.
But here's the rub: As this 5-4 decision (like many other 5-4 decisions of the Robert's Court) suggests, sometimes the Spirit ain't that smart."
And Victoria, I'd guess that depressing poll will receive day-, maybe week-long attention on Fox; if RC were a just another feel-good site for its audience, it would not have appeared here at all.
From the Politico story on Benghazi Industrial Complex: "If this is not a smoking gun, proving beyond any doubt, the story told by the administration about Benghazi was politically motivated and fabricated, nothing will ever prove that," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.),
If only we could get him to realize that what he said is true: Rhodes' memo doesn't prove that, and nothing will, because "the story" was just crappy Briefing Checklist/Talking Point writing/editing. Oh, and by the way, yes, White House TPs are often politically motivated. Bears continue to defecate in woods. The Pope is still Catholic. News at 11.
And a thought about Kagan's naive dissent:
Why should the Court rule as if every citizen "has an equal share of her government," when the Robert's court, by confusing the size of one's bank account with speech, has repeatedly decided he or she does not have an equal share of the right to free speech? Sounds like that one man, one vote fallacy I expect the Court to rectify as soon as it comes before them. I see the Fabulous Five--those who would have us govern by fable--already drooling in anticipation.
If I believed in its efficacy, a prayer would be in order.
Ken,
I like the Higher Power in charge, no matter what, idea.
But here's what will happen. If the outcome is not what is expected or hoped for, it will be determined that whoever commences the prayer to the Supreme Being may not be adequately connected to that power, may, in fact, have sin on their souls, or shit on their shoes. Or something.
There's a story in the Bible wherein the prophet Elijah dares a bunch of other guys, priests of Baal, to produce rain. They can't. Elijah takes them out to the desert and murders them all. (How come this didn't happen to Rick Perry when he prayed for rain and none came?)
Not to mention the fact that, in addition to prayer-commencing guys who don't get the job done, things could get out of control fast if non believers showed up at these meetings and tried the trick of trying to inject reality and rationality. Christian true believers may not take well to either of these possibilities.
Think of the state the place would get into!
Response to non-believers, or insufficiently pious prayer-commencer guys, or whatever they'd be called.
The ride on the journalistic carrousel has been rusting up bad over the last few weeks. FOX "News" has been spouting crazy like they're sniffing glue in the green room, Pierce's rundown on our Sunday national discourse reveals a futile exercise in incompetence and ass-licking, the Grey Lady remains stuck in the centrist quicksand and Bloomberg "News" gets called out for being corporate hacks when it comes to true investigative journalism.
The corporate takeover of our media landscape has purposely engineered this journalistic "quality" that the public is presented with daily. Its certainly not haphazard that the hacks have prevailed. And with its decades of integration and development, the corporate media seems to have morphed into that annoying mini doberman pinscher that your crazy neighbor brought home, looking serious yet ridiculous, while endlessly yapping its piercing shrills at the most insignificant movements to justify its presence.
I'm an animal lover but I had never before wanted so bad to run that little shit over. It always got away.
Monday afternoon chuckle.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/05/1297020/-Here-s-what-happens-on-Fox-when-Obamacare-succeeds
So let me get this straight: It's ok for Christian pastors to take turns and come before legislative meetings, barn burnings, football games, etc. and say a quickie Christian prayer? What happens when a Muslim cleric wants to do the same, praising Allah or some far out religious sect that worships the showy keel-billed Toucan and believes in harvesting bird shit for their ceremonies. Far fetched? Just wait. And why oh why can't we keep religion tucked away without public display the way a supposedly democratic system should operate. I try very hard to swallow a whole lot of "god blesses s" and "prayers for the family" crap but it's getting harder and harder. Johnny Roberts and his band of others has once again set in motion something that is going to bite us in the ass in Jesus's name only. I kid––but I am furious about this.