;)
The Commentariat -- Nov. 9, 2013
The President's Weekly Address. President Obama commemorates Veterans Day:
Kevin Hall & Anita Kumar of McClatchy News: President "Obama insisted anew Thursday that the problem is limited to people who buy their own insurance. 'We're talking about 5 percent of the population who are in what's called the individual market. They're out there buying health insurance on their own,' he told NBC. But a closer examination finds that the number of people who have plans changing, or have already changed, could be between 34 million to 52 million. That's because many employer-provided insurance plans also could change, not just individually purchased insurance plans." CW: What Hall & Kumar don't say explicitly is that the employees are being shifted in new plans, which may or may not cost them &/or the employers more than the old plans. If you've been employed at a large corporation with good benefits for any length of time, you are aware that pre-ACA employers regularly changed plans or offered a new mix of plans to employees. So the McClatchy report isn't exactly shocking news. But you can bet that employers who are so inclined will blame ObamaCare when they shift plans. ...
... Sam Stein of the Huffington Post: " The Obama administration is considering a fix to the president's health care law that would expand the universe of individuals who receive tax subsidies to help buy insurance.... Such a fix would address the issue of 'sticker shock....'" ...
... Paul Waldman: "... as long as we're going to start proposing fixes, how about we let everyone who got a threatening letter from an insurance company buy in to Medicare? If Republicans are going to take the opportunity to demagogue the issue, why not take the opportunity to expand our extremely popular socialized medicine program?" CW: Two other advantages to Waldman's suggestion: (1) it might just shut up Republicans because they don't give a damn about the people whose premiums are increasing, & (2) it might make insurance companies think twice about their bait-&-switch tactics. ...
... Michael Shear of the New York Times tries to get a handle on the dynamic inside the White House re: the ACA crises. Depends upon whom you ask. CW: Got a kick out of the comment by Bill Daley, who I will admit is a jerk. ...
... As some of you may have noticed, Reality Chex was down for awhile Friday evening on account of "issues with site access." Shit happens. Of course nobody loses health insurance when my site crashes. ...
... Matt Fuller of Roll Call: "House Republicans have handed out an internal GOP playbook on how to best score political points against Obamacare, the White House and Democrats in general. The memo obtained by CQ Roll Call, titled 'House Republican Playbook: Because of Obamacare ... I Lost My Insurance,' is a manual for House Republicans on how to highlight the recent issues with the health care law and how to best 'communicate in your district about the disastrous Obamacare rollout.'" The playbook is here. ...
Brought to you by the authors of death panels, a guide to mislead the American people and discourage their own constituents from getting access to affordable health care. -- Drew Hamill, spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
... Another Bogus "ObamaCare Victim" Claim Debunked. Lori Robertson of FactCheck.org: "Conservative groups are highlighting the case of an Arizona man with leukemia whose insurance plan was canceled because it didn't comply with the Affordable Care Act. A news report quoted the man as saying he would need to pay $26,000 to keep the same doctor. It turns out, he was able to get a new plan, which has his doctor in its network, for a lower premium and a lower out-of-pocket maximum than his old plan." The "victim"'s story was highlighted by the Heritage Foundation & Americans for Prosperity. CW: Both are funded by the Koch brothers, who really don't want us peons to have health insurance. ...
... Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "... many of the poor people who rely on safety-net hospitals ... will be doubly unlucky. A government subsidy ... is being sharply reduced under the new health law. The subsidy, which for years has helped [hospitals] defray the cost of uncompensated and undercompensated care, was cut substantially on the assumption that the hospitals would replace much of the lost income with payments for patients newly covered by Medicaid or private insurance. But now the hospitals in states like Georgia will get neither the new Medicaid patients nor most of the old subsidies, which many say are crucial to the mission of care for the poor.... Hospitals are trying to get Congress to delay the subsidy cuts by amending the health law, but House Republicans in Washington have thus far refused." CW: Bear in mind that the Georgia legislature's & governor's cruel decision to reject the Medicaid subsidy is part of the GOP's war on the poor. John Boehner & his Tea Party caucus are playing along. It's working. The poor are losing.
Donna Cassata of TPM: "The third-ranking House Republican told immigration advocates that lawmakers won't vote this year on the issue, confirming what many had long assumed. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the majority whip, said in a meeting with immigration proponents that there weren't enough days left for the House to act and he was committed to addressing overhaul of the nation's immigration system next year."
Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post: William Dudley, "the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said Thursday that some of America's largest financial institutions appear to lack respect for the law, a potentially explosive charge against an industry already roiling from numerous government investigations into alleged wrongdoing."
Humor Break. The Plagiarist, Ctd. Dana Milbank: "Speech(1) by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky accepting the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, as prepared for delivery. (1) Source: Wikipedia." CW: Some of Paul's "speech" may sound familiar to you. ...
... Sean McElwee & Jenny Kutner of Salon: "Salon has discovered more examples of plagiarism in the work of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). In his speech at the Value Voters Summit on October 11, Paul appropriated written material from the Gatestone Institute, a think-tank chaired by John Bolton. The transcript of the speech has been removed from Paul's web site -- as have the transcripts from numerous other speeches while Paul battles an ongoing plagiarism scandal." Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead.
Apparently Ryan has more tender relationships with catfish than Collins lets on. Yes, he will respect them in the morning. This picture is not photoshopped. Ryan tweeted it to followers during the 2012 campaign. He is exceptionally weird.After she gets through some nonsense about Paul Ryan's fist-fucking fish, Gail Collins makes an important point: "By far the biggest argument between the House and Senate on the farm bill is about the food stamp program, which the House Republicans want to slash by $39 billion, mainly through new screening programs to guarantee that every single recipient is working, drug-free, needy and in general totally and completely worthy of government assistance. Even if that means inadvertently emptying a lot of deserving cupboards along the way. This would be in the same bill that includes crop insurance subsidies that make no attempt whatsoever to screen out the undeserving rich."
Benghaaaazi! CBS News Duped by Typical Right-Wing Conspiracy Claim. Bill Carter & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "As it prepared to broadcast a rare on-air correction Sunday for a now-discredited '60 Minutes' report, CBS News acknowledged on Friday that it had suffered a damaging blow to its credibility. Its top executive called the segment 'as big a mistake as there has been' in the 45-year-old history of the celebrated news program. The executive, Jeff Fager, conceded that CBS appeared to have been duped by the primary source for the report, a security official who told a national television audience a harrowing tale of the attack last year at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. On Thursday night it was disclosed that the official, Dylan Davies, had provided a completely different account in interviews with the F.B.I., in which he said he never made it to the mission that night." ...
... On Thursday, Carter & Schmidt reported, "Dylan Davies, a security officer hired to help protect the United States Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, gave the F.B.I. an account of the night that terrorists attacked the mission on Sept. 11, 2012 that contradicts a version of events he provided in a recently published book and in an interview with ... '60 Minutes.' Mr. Davies told the F.B.I. that he was not on the scene until the morning after the attack.... Mr. Davies ... has disavowed the incident report, saying in an interview last week with ... The Daily Beast that he did not write it and had never even seen it.... CBS News had extensively defended Mr. Davies this week, suggesting ... that he was the object of a campaign by State Department officials to quiet continued questioning about the events in Benghazi. CBS also publicly vouched for the authenticity of Mr. Davies's account on '60 Minutes.'" ...
... The November 2 Commentariat has links to a couple of earlier stories on the fanciful CBS report. CW: I wonder how Fox "News" is covering the CBS retraction, if at all. ...
... Kevin Drum: "Something isn't right here.... CBS needs to investigate what happened, and they need to do it with the same thoroughness that they investigated Dan Rather and Mary Mapes five years ago when they got snookered on the George Bush National Guard story that they obviously wanted to believe just a little bit too badly. Something like that seems to have happened here too." ...
... ** You gotta read Digby on "quote-unquote journalism." Also, she finds out what isn't right about Lara Logan's quote-unquote journalistic integrity. CW: I'll add this about Logan: she is a sucker for sensational stories. When she can, she puts herself in the middle of them. I don't think she's trustworthy. ...
... Ed Kilgore: "... Digby says pretty much everything there is to say about the missed opportunities to ask obvious questions, and the compromised relationship between CBS and its dubious, book-promoting 'source.' And she even identifies a motive: the reporter, Lara Logan, has long expressed righteous anger that the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens hasn't been avenged. So Logan had a personal agenda that nicely merged with her personal interest in getting a big 'scoop.'"
... Ben Dimiero & Eric Hananoki of Media Matters: "From 'Proud' To Pulled: A Timeline Of 60 Minutes' Benghazi Trainwreck." ...
... Al Sharpton discusses the Benghazi story with David Brock of Media Matters:
... Need More Evidence CBS "News" Sucks? AP: "The 50th-anniversary coverage of the Kennedy assassination on CBS News won’t include the recollections of its longtime anchor Dan Rather, further proof of the lingering bitterness following Rather's messy exit and subsequent lawsuit against the network. Rather helped organize CBS' plans for President John F. Kennedy's visit to Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, and as a young reporter was a key component of assassination coverage. Now 82, with his own show on AXS-TV, he's one of the few reporters on the story that day who's still active in journalism. Rather, who later became CBS News' top anchor for 24 years, will appear on NBC's Today show on Nov. 22 this year. 'I held off doing anything for anybody else for a while, thinking I may be asked to do something (for CBS),' Rather said. 'I can't say I had any reason for that hope.'" ...
... As Charles Pierce writes of CBS "News," "... an act of towering chickenshit." Pierce has a few choice words for Sen. Aqua Buddha, too.
The morning light shone harshly on Romney's fitful reverie. -- A real sentence from the nearly spoof-proof Double Down by Mark Halperin & John Heilemann ...
Mitt was perfectly happy to strafe the speaker until he was a human colander. -- Ditto
... Michael Kinsley reviews Double Down for the New York Times. He concentrates on the authors' idiotic prose style.
... ** Reporter Colin Woodard in Tufts Magazine on the 11 "nations" of North America -- a sensible rejoinder to Barack Obama's "United States of America." Via Reid Wilson of the Washington Post.
Joe Nocera on the firing of Dick Metcalf, who wrote a mild defense of mild gun control in a column for Guns & Ammo, & the resignation of the magazine's editor: "If you want to understand why so few gun owners are willing to stand up to the National Rifle Association, even though the majority disagree with the N.R.A.'s most extreme positions, here was a vivid example. Straying from the party line leads to vilification and condemnation that would give anybody pause."
Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "The United States lost its vote at Unesco on Friday, two years after cutting off its financial contribution to the organization over the admission of Palestinians as full members. The move undermined America's ability to exercise its influence in countries around the globe through the United Nations agency's educational and aid programs, according to Western diplomats and international relations experts."
Mary Klas & Lesley Meklas of the Miami Herald: "President Obama arrived in Miami Friday afternoon to headline three Democratic Party fundraisers hosted by the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and, in a surprise move met with Cuban dissidents. Florida's newest high-profile Democrat, former Gov. Charlie Crist, was spotted at the Segovia Tower in Coral Gables at a $32,000-a-head fundraiser...." ...
... AFP: "The United States must continue to update its policy towards communist Cuba, President Barack Obama said late on Friday, speaking at the home of a prominent Cuban-American activist. Freedom in Cuba will come from the work of activists, Obama said, but the United States can help in 'creative' and 'thoughtful' ways."
Local News
Treena Shapiro of Reuters: "Hawaii's House of Representatives approved a bill on Friday to legalize same-sex marriage in the overwhelmingly Democratic state popular as a wedding and honeymoon destination, paving the way for anticipated final passage in the Senate next week. The measure cleared the House in a late-night vote of 30-19, with six of the chamber's seven Republicans joining 13 Democrats in opposing the legislation. Two Democrats were absent for the vote. Governor Neil Abercrombie [D] has indicated he would swiftly sign the measure into law...."
November 2013 Election
Antonio Olivo & Ben Pershing of the Washington Post: "Fairfax County, [Virginia,] election officials said Friday that they believe nearly 2,000 votes went uncounted after Tuesday's elections, a technical error that could affect the outcome of the still unresolved race for Virginia attorney general.... The extra votes, which come from an area that leans heavily in favor of Democrats, could affect the outcome of the attorney general's race, which appears headed for a recount. As of Friday afternoon, state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) was leading state Sen. Mark R. Herring (D-Loudoun) by 1,272 votes, or about 0.06 percent of the 2.2 million votes cast, according to the State Board of Elections' Web site."
News Ledes
Reuters: "The Washington state legislature on Saturday passed a measure to extend nearly $9 billion in tax breaks for Boeing through 2040 in an embattled effort to entice the company to locate production of its newest jet, the 777X, in the Seattle area. Lawmakers acknowledged, however, that their efforts would likely be undermined if the airplane maker's key machinists union votes down a proposed labor contract due to go before the membership on Wednesday."
AP: "Iran's refusal to suspend work on a plutonium-producing reactor and downgrade its stockpile of higher-enriched uranium was standing in the way of an interim agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program in return for easing of sanctions, France's foreign minister said Saturday. A Western diplomat in Geneva for the talks told The Associated Press that the French were holding out for conditions on the Iranians tougher than those agreed to by the U.S. and France's other negotiating partners, raising doubts a final deal could be struck Saturday." ...
... New York Times Update: " Marathon talks between major powers and Iran failed on Sunday to produce a deal to freeze its nuclear program, puncturing days of feverish anticipation and underscoring how hard it will be to forge a lasting solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions."
Reuters: "One of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall devastated the central Philippines, killing more than 1,000 people in one city alone and 200 in another province, the Red Cross estimated on Saturday, as reports of high casualties began to emerge." ...
... AP Update: "The Philippine Red Cross estimated that more than 1,000 people were killed in the coastal city of Tacloban and at least 200 in hard-hit Samar province when one of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall slammed into the country." ...
... AP Update 2: "The death toll from one of the strongest storms on record that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said Sunday after the extent of massive devastation became apparent and horrified survivors spoke of storm surges as high as trees and winds sounding like the roar of a jumbo jet."
AP: "A Miami Herald journalist was being held for a second night by Venezuelan authorities after he was detained by security forces while reporting on the country's economic crisis. Jim Wyss, the newspaper's Andean bureau chief, was detained Thursday by the National Guard in San Cristobal, a western city near the border with Colombia that is the center of a vibrant black market by Venezuelans seeking to circumvent rigid currency controls." The Herald story is here. ...
... Miami Herald Update: "After almost 48 hours in custody, Miami Herald Andean Bureau Chief Jim Wyss was released Saturday to U.S. Embassy officials, who confirmed that the journalist was in good health and had not been mistreated."
AFP: "Two Russian cosmonauts on Saturday took the Olympic torch on its first-ever spacewalk after stepping out of the International Space Station three months ahead of the Sochi Winter Games."
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Reader Comments (6)
I think the first place to look for those 2,000 "missing" votes from Fairfax county is in Kenny's "cooch"--i.e., the vaginal ultrasound probe he keeps in his glove compartment! As he has been know to say: "Ya nevah know when you might find a woman walking down the street checking out abortion clinics." (Wikipedia)
@Re: Benghazi: Dylan Davies' story on "60 Minutes" sounded to me like a "war story." Scaling the wall, knocking out a bad guy with a rifle butt--it all sounded to me like his fevered imagination. When I was still in the Army back in the day, whenever a group would gather there was always someone who would start out with "This is no shit but there I was..." and launch into an exaggerated tale of combat. We knew it wasn't true; it was told for entertainment. CBS got suckered with a similar tale. All it took was a gullible "reporter" like Logan to swallow Davies' bullshit. Mike Wallace must be spinning in his grave.
@Barbarossa. Thanks. The difference between Davies & the typical teller of war stories is that most of those tall-tale tellers would not have repeated their fake heroics to a reporter or put them in a book.
The difference between you & Logan is that you had the sense to take war stories with a grain of salt, even though -- unlike Logan -- you didn't have the ability to check out the tellers' veracity by examining written records of his previous statements or interviewing others who were in the battlefield with him.
Logan wasn't reporting; she was copying down a war story that fit her worldview, then standing by it when actual reporters debunked it. Like much of the MSM, CBS "News" is firmly embedded in the entertainment side of the operation. Ratings trump truth.
Marie
And in other news here in the other Washington:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/09/business/boeing-threatens-to-build-777x-outside-washington-state.html?_r=0
Turns out, just as anyone who has been awake from the last thirty years well knew, Boeing is now bigger than the state in which it was born.
For those who think government should shrink, be drowned in a bathtub, should get out of our lives and let us live the way we want to live, just like those thousands who died as often as they lived on the Western frontiers of Ohio and Kentucky, who tried splendid isolation without adequate protection from their own version of the 18th and 19th century nanny state, try bargaining with international corporations that have more money, more power and no incentive whatsoever to give a damn about anything but their bottom line.
You would think the results of that unequal struggle on display repeatedly worldwide, that only retrospectively dismays so many, would have been obvious from the beginning. Like decades ago.
It's a little hard to control bullies with only weaklings on your team. But the dimwitted lovers of liberty--the "don't tread on me" crowd in their funny hats--continue to weaken the only team they have.
Maybe they bought the death panel nonsense so readily because they harbor such a strong death wish themselves.
I bet the "correction of the record" that is promised on this week's 60 Minutes, will be less than definitive. I wager there will be some suggestion that Davies was reporting the real truth to CBS and was "fearful" about fill-in-the-blank in his account to a commanding officer and the FBI. I see no indication that CBS chickenshittery is on the wane.
The question that is still foremost in my inquiring mind is what the hell Stevens was doing there on 9/11 in the first place. Its has never been addressed. If there is a gov'mint cover-up on Benghazi, it would surely be the answer to that question.
In this morning's Sac Bee, there was a lengthy article (Yousseff / McClatchy) and near the very end: "Even Stevens reason for visiting Benghazi remains unclear,...". Must have slipped that by the editor.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/08/5893792/60-minutes-retraction-of-benghazi.html
Food for thought from Juan Cole on Netanyahu's loud squawking over a potential Iranian deal.
http://www.juancole.com/2013/11/reasons-israels-nuclear.html