The Commentariat -- October 24, 2015
Internal links removed.
Michael Schmidt & Matt Apuzzo The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said on Friday that the additional scrutiny and criticism of police officers in the wake of highly publicized incidents of police brutality may have led to an increase in violent crime in some cities as officers have become less aggressive. With his remarks, Mr. Comey lent the prestige of the F.B.I. ... to a theory that is far from settled: that the increased attention on the police has made officers less aggressive and emboldened criminals. But Mr. Comey acknowledged that there is so far no data to back up his assertion and that it may be just one of many factors that are contributing to the rise in crime, like cheaper drugs and an increase in criminals who are being released from prison."
Richard Perez-Pena, et al., of the New York Times: In a successful mission to free ISIS hostages, "the only rescuer who died was Sergeant [Joshua] Wheeler, a veteran of 14 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, with a chest full of medals. His honors included four Bronze Stars with the letter V, awarded for valor in combat; and seven Bronze Stars, awarded for heroic or meritorious service in a combat zone. His body will be returned to the United States on Saturday."
Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State John F. Kerry met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah Saturday as he continued his quest to defuse an escalating wave of violence between Israel and Palestinians."
Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "Four years before Pentagon officials discovered potentially life-threatening problems with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's ejection seat, a top official warned in an urgent memo that the escape system should be more thoroughly vetted before pilots were trained on the plane.... [The] warnings were rejected by Pentagon brass, who pressed on with the controversial program, according to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post.... Lighter-weight pilots face a 'high' risk of danger, and the risk is deemed 'serious' for mid-weight pilots, according to an internal risk assessment of the problem.... Lighter-weight pilots, those weighing less than 136 pounds, are now prohibited from flying the aircraft, officials said, until the problem is fixed." ...
... CW: Now, I'm sure this has nothing to do with the Pentagon's careless decision, but who do you suppose most of those "lighter-weight" pilots are? Hint: think gender.
Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "When HealthCare.gov opens on Nov. 1 for a third open-enrollment season, the online insurance marketplace will be easier for consumers to use, Obama administration officials predict. But one main new tool to help consumers decide on health plans will not be finished."
White House: "In this week's address, the President laid out the importance of serving as good stewards of the environment and maintaining the planet for generations to come":
Sam Thielman of the Guardian: "A federal district court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the National Security Agency.... The judge in the case, TS Ellis III, said the suit relied on 'the subjective fear of surveillance', because the NSA did not admit to having collected any of the information it was alleged to have collected by the ACLU." ...
... CW: Ellis is a Reagan appointee. Ellis has hit upon an excellent means to reduce -- to almost nothing -- our courts' burdensome caseloads. By his logic, few lawsuits could survive judicial scrutiny because few defendants stipulate that they're guilty. Want to reduce government spending? Throw out all the cases where the defendant does not admit to the underlying crime or tort. Wow!
Another GOP Conspiracy Theory Bites the Dust. Evan Perez of CNN: "The Justice Department notified members of Congress on Friday that it is closing its two-year investigation into whether the IRS improperly targeted the tea party and other conservative groups. There will be no charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner or anyone else at the agency, the Justice Department said in a letter. The probe found 'substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints. But poor management is not a crime,' Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said in the letter." ...
We found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution. We also found no evidence that any official involved in the handling of tax-exempt applications or IRS leadership attempted to obstruct justice. -- Assistant AG Peter Kadzik
... David Nir of Daily Kos: "There's an amazing irony in this. Conservatives have railed against the IRS from the moment it was born, and Republicans have done everything in their power to starve it of funds and undermine its very existence. As a result, the agency was unable to process applications for non-profits in an efficient manner, which those very same conservative haters decided was proof that the IRS was out to get them." CW: Yeah but. It was the Obama DOJ that let Lerner off the hook. This is absolute proof of a vast left-wing conspiracy! ...
... They Just Can't Help Themselves. Right on cue, Paul Ryan says the result was "predictable" & the House Ways & Means Committee will continue to investigate Lois Lerner for "depriv[ing] conservative organizations of their Constitutional rights." ...
... Winger Erick Erickson: "The Department of Justice has, for decades, been a stronghold of progressives. Both [I guess he means the DOJ & the IRS] are hotbeds of partisan Democrats and devoted socialists who use the coercive power of the regulatory state to advance their agenda regardless of who is in the White House. One of the first tasks of a Republican president, should we elect one, is to carry out a ruthless purge of the Civil Service in general and the Department of Justice in particular." ...
... CW: Socialists! Investigate Bernie Sanders! How about a House Select Committee with Louis Gohmert as chair. We know Bernie can stand on his feet & talk for 8+ hours straight, but can he stay calm in the face of an 11-hour Gohmert grilling? Since Paul Ryan is so keen on House investigations, he should make the establishment of a Sanders select committee his first order of business as speaker. Hillary got her 11 hours in the spotlight. Give Bernie equal time. ...
... Kevin Williamson of National Review: "DOJ won't lift a pinky against a friend of the Obama administration. This is banana-republic stuff." CW: So the conspiracy theory just gets broader.
John Harwood in the New York Times: "In 2004, when fewer people paid attention to him, gave CNN a bottom-line assessment of political parties: 'It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats.' If that sounds awkward now for Mr. Trump..., it may be even more awkward for his party next year, because its ability to claim superior economic know-how over Democrats has grown weaker ever since he made that assertion." ...
... Simon Rosenberg has the charts to prove it. Via Paul Waldman.
Eric Lipton & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "... calls to oust Republican leaders in Congress ... came from conservative websites and bloggers who have helped stoke a grass-roots rebellion to make Congress more conservative, a fevered continuation of the six-year Tea Party movement. But these politically charged appeals to conservatives around the country were often accompanied by a solicitation for money, and the ultimate beneficiaries, records suggest, are the consultants who created the campaigns rather than the causes they are promoting." ...
... Paul Krugman: "As Rick Perlstein pointed out several years ago, the modern conservative movement is in large part a 'strategic alliance of snake-oil vendors and conservative true believers' with 'a cast of mind that makes it hard for either them or us to discern where the ideological con ended and the money con began.'... I don't think you can understand the depth of Obama- and Hillary-hatred without understanding just how much of it is generated by scammers out to make a buck off the racism and misogyny of some -- sad to say, fairly many -- older white men."
Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Democratic leaders warned Friday that they won't negotiate with Republicans on legislation to raise the debt limit. Behind House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the lawmakers said the economic ramifications of a debt default -- both domestic and global -- are too severe to endanger the bill with additional riders. Siding squarely with President Obama, the Democrats said they won't support anything but a "clean" bill to extend the federal government's borrowing authority." ...
... They Just Can't Help Themselves. Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post: "House Conservatives moved one step closer to forcing President Obama to veto a bill that would repeal large portions of the Affordable Care act and defund Planned Parenthood, but the legislation could still be defeated in the Senate. The House voted 240 to 189 to pass a budget reconciliation bill that seeks to gut Obamacare by repealing key sections of the law, including the individual and employer mandate and the so-called 'cadillac' tax.... House leaders were forced to scale back the legislation in recent weeks to ensure that it conformed with parliamentary rules governing reconciliation bills. That frustrated conservatives who said they were promised a bill that would fully repeal Obamacare." ...
Romney
ObamaCare. Without Tom pushing it, I don't think we have had RomneyCare. Without RomneyCare, I don't think we would have ObamaCare. So, without Tom a lot of people wouldn't have health insurance. -- Mitt Romney, commenting on the death of Tom Stemberg, cofounder of Staples
Oops! Looks like the Mittster realized his gaffe. Here's his Facebook retraction: Getting people health insurance is a good thing, and that's what Tom Stemberg fought for. I oppose Obamacare and believe it has failed. It drove up premiums, took insurance away from people who were promised otherwise, and usurped state programs. As I said in the campaign, I'd repeal it and replace it with state-crafted plans.
... They Just Can't Help Themselves. Caitlin Cruz of TPM: "House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced Friday the appointment of eight Republicans (four women and four men) to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Select Investigative Panel focused on 'big abortion providers' -- namely Planned Parenthood. He appointed Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) as panel chair. Other members are Rep. Joe Pitts (PA), Rep. Diane Black (TN), Rep. Larry Bucshon (IN), Rep. Sean Duffy (WI), Rep. Andy Harris (MD), Rep. Vicky Hartzler (MO) and Rep. Mia Love (UT)." ...
... Paul Waldman: "... I guess because the Select Committee on Benghazi has been such a success. And John Boehner even appointed some women to sit on it, which was mighty generous of him." ...
... Charles Pierce: "... John Boehner, who may just be pranking the bastards at this point, on Friday announced the members of the next Special Committee For Expanded Ratfcking. This one will look into the fictitious sale of baby parts by Planned Parenthood. Here are your dogged GOP inquisitors tasked with 'investigating' 'evidence' produced by phony videotapes." CW: You will want to read Pierce's dive into the views of these excellent legislator-investigators, one of whom is a member of the "watch China caucus" on accounta she read an article -- I'm sure in a highly-regarded, peer-reviewed journal -- that China is spying on us through our appliances." ...
... CW: You think life imitates art? In Right Wing World, life is art. Every notion that passes through that thing between their ears is pure fiction, contrived by a vast crackpot conspiracy.
Julian Hattem of the Hill: "House Democrats have decided to stay put on the Select Committee on Benghazi, at least temporarily, despite mounting pressure for them to boycott its work.... Still, after a roughly hour-long meeting with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on Friday, the committee's five Democrats repeated their demand that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) end the 'abusive, wasteful, and obviously partisan effort.' ...
... Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton's appearance before the House Benghazi committee provided one more example of the breakdown of a Republican Party torn by factionalism and heavily influenced by a cadre of supporters who are far less interested in governing than in expressing its anger." ...
It might as well have been an informercial for the Clinton campaign. Courtesy of the Benghazi Committee. -- Josh Marshall of TPM
Yup. And that's why Fox "News" dropped its coverage when the other cable news networks did not. -- Constant Weader
... Adele Stan of the American Prospect on "why Hillary makes right-wingers so crazy.... In the right-wing mind, there is nothing so ruinous to America as the liberation of women. The right's entire ideological structure is built on worship of the Great White Father and veneration of the stern, Caucasian, disciplinarian dad. It's a worldview centered on a jealous, blue-eyed Father God, a military dispatched to teach the world a lesson, and a president who serves as the national patriarch. A President Hillary Rodham Clinton poses the gravest threat to that worldview yet -- perhaps even graver than the threat to it posed by the nation's first black president, given that more than half of Americans are women."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Paul Krugman: "The Republicans wanted to portray Hillary Clinton as a super-villain, and ended up making her look like a superhero. But the real losers here are the reporters and centrist pundits who let themselves be played, month after month, by Trey Gowdy and company. I mean, anyone who took these chumps seriously has proved himself an ever bigger chump than they are."
Presidential Race
Gail Collins: "Monday is Hillary Clinton's birthday. Don't bother sending a gift. This week has given her all the presents she needs."
Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Throughout her political career, Hillary Rodham Clinton's greatest curse -- the reaction she provokes in her adversaries -- has also been her salvation. That was proved once again during her 11-hour inquisition by the House Select Committee on Benghazi, a Republican-engineered train wreck from which she emerged without a scratch....'She generally has been better with her back to the wall than when she is comfortably ahead,' said David Axelrod, who was Barack Obama's chief political strategist for both of his presidential campaigns...." ...
... Francis Wilkinson of Bloomberg: "... not only is Clinton back where she started, so is the GOP. The party is no closer to gaining Hispanic, Asian or black votes than it was in 2012. (Spanish media has been highlighting Republican anti-immigrant tirades for months.) Meanwhile, the elderly white share of the electorate -- the Republican base -- continues to shrink. Bernie, Biden and Benghazi have been fun, but they've done nothing to alter the demographic dynamic of 2016. And Republicans appear no more prepared to answer the challenge." ...
... Patrick Healy & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "With Hillary Rodham Clinton emerging as the unrivaled leader in the Democratic contest, the unruly Republican presidential field suddenly seemed to lack a center of political gravity on Friday, leaving party strategists and voters to fear a long nomination fight that could end with a damaged standard-bearer facing a more unified left. [Jeb] Bush cut salaries, fired consultants and laid off or reassigned many campaign workers. It was the latest sign that contenders vying for support from moderates and the party's establishment are all but running on fumes -- exhausting their cash, or the patience of their supporters, but barely moving in the polls. [Donald] Trump, for months a leading candidate, has now fallen behind in Iowa to [Ben] Carson ... a retired neurosurgeon, raising questions about how aggressively he will act to reverse his sagging poll numbers. And Mr. Carson, whose fund-raising has roughly kept pace with his climb in the polls, is moving to run television commercials in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina...." ...
... "Toasttoasttoasttoasttoast."* Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Jeb Bush acknowledged Friday what has been obvious for weeks: The rise of Donald Trump and other political outsiders has fundamentally reshaped the contours of the 2016 presidential race, forcing Bush to retrench with a major downsizing of his political operation and a reassessment of how and where he will campaign. A week after reporting third-quarter fundraising results that only the Bush staff claimed were adequate, the onetime Republican front-runner who now lags in the polls detailed a series of substantial cutbacks and changes to his strategy." ...
* Thanks, Gail.
... Here's the Bush campaign staff memo outlining the cutbacks. Includes whiney snark: "We would be less than forthcoming if we said we predicted in June that a reality television star supporting Canadian-style single-payer health care and partial-birth abortion would be leading the G.O.P. primary." ...
... Not a Good sign, Jeb! Eliza Collins of Politico: Megyn Kelly of Fox "News" asks Jeb!, "What would it take to make you get out?" CW: Me, I wonder if his fatcat friends will still support him, as they've been doing, once he leaves the race & has zero prospects of ever becoming a purchasable pol. ...
... Justin Wolfers of the New York Times: "Jeb Bush is no longer the leading contender to become the Republican candidate for president. Instead, prediction markets now rate Marco Rubio as far more likely to get the nod. One broad measure of the betting markets puts Mr. Rubio's chances at 34 percent versus Mr. Bush's at 23 percent."
I don't believe those polls, by the way, because both of those pollsters don't like me. -- Donald Trump on two Iowa polls -- Quinnipiac & the Des Moines Register -- that show him 8 & 9 points respectively behind Ben Carson
Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Conflicting headlines -- such as one from Fox News -- said [Ben] Carson was already close to having Secret Service protection activated. Meanwhile, a Washington Post story threw cold water on the report citing an official saying the Department of Homeland Security was still debating the matter. 'I'd prefer not to talk about security issues but I have recognized -- and people have been telling me for many many months -- that I'm in great danger, because I challenge the secular progressive movement to the very core,' Carson told WABC radio's Rita Cosby Show on Thursday. 'You know, they see me as an existential threat but I also believe in the good lord and we take reasonable precautions.'"
News Ledes
New York Times: "Maureen O’Hara, the spirited Irish-born actress who played strong-willed, tempestuous beauties opposite all manner of adventurers in escapist movies of the 1940s and ’50s, died on Saturday at her home in Boise, Idaho. She was 95."
Weather Channel: "Hurricane Patricia became the strongest hurricane ever known to make landfall on the Pacific coast of Mexico after the center of its eye crossed the coast of Jalisco state early Friday evening. Its winds are rapidly losing strength as its center of circulation slices into the interior of southwest Mexico overnight." ...
... Washington Post: "Hurricane Patricia, packing the strongest hurricane winds ever recorded, weakened overnight to a Category 1 storm as it moved inland over southwestern Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane is expected to become a tropic storm later today, but could still produce heavy rains that cause flash floods and mudslides, the center warned."
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Reader Comments (7)
".. CW: Now, I'm sure this has nothing to do with the Pentagon's careless decision, but who do you suppose most of those "lighter-weight" pilots are? Hint: think gender"
Of course! When I got to the part where it said those lighter than 136 I stopped and scratched my head –––males under 136? Shows my lack of military prowess in that gender hadn't entered my mind.
If the scientists at Delft U Tech are right––"prove" pretty much means right doesn't it?)––––"they had conducted an experiment that they say proved one of the most fundamental claims of quantum theory — that objects separated by great distance can instantaneously affect each other’s behavior." ––something that Einstein rejected, so when he famously said, "God does not play dice with the universe" he was probably wrong about that, too, although I never quite got his meaning here. However, given this new discovery, I wonder whether this theory could be applied to our political system. How great distance between parties can have a major affect on our system of government. Seems that's already in play. Who knew we were so close to quantum theories.
Re: Fox coverage of the Inquisition.
They may have dropped the hearing coverage but they didn't stop commenting on it. Searching channels for a soccer game to fall asleep by last night, I came across Megan Kelley (I don't know when the spot was first aired) pretending outrage at the hearing's purported bombshell, the one Gowdy apparently missed. In an early email it seems Clinton actually admitted Benghazi was a terrorist attack, not a riot prompted by a film.
Wow! Reminded me of an exquisite moment in a Presidential debate a few years back, the "in fact Mr. Romney" correction from a reporter actually doing her job....
And also of my very young grandson who repeatedly delights in discovering he has toes.
I look at the lede here and think, who is actually protecting the interests of the United States this lawyer, corporate tool Comey or RIP Joshua Wheeler? In a nutshell, Comey is accorded far too much respect when someone like Wheeler had clearly earned his respect. Comey, like Rudy Guliani prays for an attack so they can wrap themselves in the flag, spoon feed their supporters in the media and glibly send the sons and daughters of others off to fight wars they take credit for winning. Joshua Wheeler was probably an American hero and he and his friends and family deserve more than an asterisk and a flag.
Citizen 625:
I am sure MSgt. Wheeler earned his respect; but after 14 combat tours, I am equally sure that he was a shell of his former self. This new style of war that the younger men are experiencing is absolutely destructive of their humanity (small special forces insertions and extractions). I don't see anyone wondering what the personal cost of this type of warfare is. I think the military doesn't want citizens to know.
The Carson/Trump platform have been reduced to their lowest common denominators, ignorance, racism, misogyny, and in Trump's case, reality series showmanship. Both candidate's constituencies are angry and that's the controlling aspect. Anger doesn't need facts to thrive. Noise and more anger keep it going, its self perpetuating for voters and candidates. Therefore, real policy positions are irrelevant.
As much as I wish that rational thought ( or even self interest), compassion for others, and a bigger vision will prevail, I think that race will eliminate Carson and Trump's silly TV act is already beginning to reach its shelf life. Like the 2008/2012 Tea Party, overblown emotions and intimidation make constituencies seem bigger and more powerful. The chaos that remains post Trump and Carson, will sort itself into either Bush or Rubio. Both are throwaways. I think its steady on for Hilary to the WH. I do believe, Bill and his flappin' lips and runaway penis could be a significant problem for Hilary if he isn't managed expertly.
For me, the Presidency is less a worry than the down ticket races, which have been woefully ignored by Democrats far too long. That's not a new observation either. The Presidency is critical because of the Supremes and the down ticket races because of voter rights and personal/ social freedoms. I used to admire Wasserman-Schultz, I now feel betrayed. The DCC needs a new leader now. I've let my Congressman, Mr. Wishy Washy know, but I am not holding my breath.
I couldn't agree more Victoria. I abhor the policies that exploit the best instincts of young people.