The Commentariat -- November 15

Since I'm boycotting the New York Times comments, I've found a new (and pretty exciting) venue for my comments on Times op-ed columns: the New York Times eXaminer. Please consider becoming a NYTX subscriber. My comment on David Brooks' column is here. The lede paragraph:

If you think you’re better than Joe Paterno, you’re vain. So says David Brooks in today’s New York Times op-ed section. Brooks turns to science and history to explain away Penn State head coach Joe Paterno’s failure to stop one of his coaches, Jerry Sandusky, from serially raping young boys.... To make his case, Brooks lumps assistant coach Mike McQueary in with Paterno.... False equivalencies are Brooks’ specialty, so let’s see how this one works.

A Conspiracy of Mayors. Gregg Levine of Firedoglake: "Embattled Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, speaking in an interview with the BBC..., casually mentioned that she was on a conference call with leaders of 18 US cities shortly before a wave of raids broke up Occupy Wall Street encampments across the country."

The Gothamist has several stories on the Zuccotti Park evictions. Here's the lede on one:

During our coverage of the eviction of the Occupy Wall Street protesters early this morning, a NPR reporter, a New York Times reporter, and a city councilmember were arrested. Airspace in Lower Manhattan was closed to CBS and NBC news choppers by the NYPD, a New York Post reporter was allegedly put in a "choke hold" by the police, a NBC reporter's press pass was confiscated and a large group of reporters and protesters were hit with pepper spray. ...

... Also see the Democracy Now! main page. ...

... NEW. Chris Spannos of the New York Times eXaminer on the Times' coverage of the Zuccotti Park eviction: "The Times coverage does include some quotes from protesters, and their allotment of some space to Adbusters’ views is complementary. However, the overall framing and emphasis trivializes Occupy Wall Street while at the same time emphasizes the struggles of Mayor Bloomberg." ...

... NEW. Al Baker & Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: the NYPD's operation to evict protesters from Zuccotti Park was a "minutely planned, almost military-style operation.... Hundreds of officers were involved. The overnight hours of Monday into Tuesday were chosen because it was believed the park would be at its emptiest, the police said. The operation was kept secret from all but a few high-ranking officers, with others initially being told that they were embarking on an exercise when they set out on Monday evening."

How to Make a Million Dollars. First, Become a Congressman ...

     ... Carolyn Lochhead of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill ... called the report 'a right-wing smear' based on a new book by conservative author Peter Schweizer of the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University.... Pelosi spokesman Hammill said '60 Minutes' relied heavily on a 'discredited conservative author who has made a career out of attacking Democrats,' citing Schweizer books such as 'Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.'" ...

     ... Update. Daniel Stone of the Daily Beast details the relationship among then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, her husband investor Paul Pelosi, and Visa, whose headquarters are in Pelosi's San Francisco Congressional district. I see a definite conflict-of-interest but no smoking-gun evidence that Pelosi allowed her husband's financial interests to trump her legislative agenda. Just business-as-usual for the One Percenters. Still, I'd like to see your take on Off Times Square.

How to Make $100 Million. First, get a job at Fannie or Freddie.... Chris Isidore of CNN Money: "Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received the biggest federal bailout of the financial crisis. And nearly $100 million of those tax dollars went to lucrative pay packages for top executives, filings show. The top five executives at Fannie Mae received $33.3 million in 2009 and 2010, while the top five at Freddie Mac received $28.1 million. And each company has set pay targets of as much as $17 million for its top managers for 2011." CW: this isn't news, but it's a good reminder of one place your tax dollars are going to enrich the One Percenters.

Dear Super Committee: A Politico poll (here) "is getting lots of attention today because it found solid public skepticism that the deficit supercommittee will reach a deal before the November 23rd deadline. But the numbers in the poll that are more interesting are the ones that clearly display what the public wants the supercommittee to do to cut the deficit. There’s no mystery here. When it comes to the two most contentious items on the agenda, the public strongly backs tax hikes on the rich, and strongly opposes cuts to entitlements." Sincerely, Greg Sargent.

Dear Supreme Court: "A new CNN poll on the issue of health care reform finds that support for the law’s central and most controversial element, the individual health insurance mandate, has climbed into majority territory. In the new poll, support for the individual mandate — requiring people to get health insurance — has climbed to 52%, with 47% opposed. When the last survey was taken in June, that a majority of 54% opposed it, with 44% in support." ...

     ... Paul Krugman comments on the newfound popularity of the individual mandate but adds, "... as one commenter at TPM put it, Republicans appear to have had an eTiffany: New National Polls Show Newt Leading In GOP Race. I’m trying to think of something sarcastic to say, but really, how can satire and parody compete with this kind of reality?" ...

... ** NEW. James Oliphant of the Los Angeles Times: "The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the case before the high court.... Bancroft PLLC, was one of almost two dozen firms that helped sponsor the annual dinner of the Federalist Society.... Another firm that sponsored the dinner, Jones Day, represents one of the trade associations that challenged the law, the National Federation of Independent Business. Another sponsor was pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc, which has an enormous financial stake in the outcome of the litigation.... In attendance was, among others, Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican and an avowed opponent of the healthcare law. The featured guests at the dinner? Scalia and Thomas." CW: what could possibly be wrong with that? ...

... Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times on how the individual mandate became law.

Sunday, Off Times Square commenter Trish Ramey rightly criticized a New York Times Magazine article by Adam Davidson in which Davidson claimed the middle class -- which he defined down to those earning $30,000 a year or more -- would have to "give up some benefits ... or ... pay more in taxes" to reduce the deficit. Ramey & I pointed out a few errors in Davidson's analysis. Now comes Real Economist Dean Baker, in a New York Times eXaminer story, who goes further: Davidson "too quickly dismisses the possibility of getting substantial additional tax revenue from the wealthy." Baker notes that Davidson also ignores healthcare reform as a source of reducing federal expenditures. "At some point," Baker writes, "we likely will need more revenue from the middle class since we will probably want to increase government spending in some areas like infrastructure, education, and research and development. However, this is not a near-term prospect and quite possibly not even something that will be necessary over the course of a decade." 

** Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic: "Celebrating his affinity for crazy talk, Herman Cain said Saturday night ... that he would leave it up to our military to determine what is and what is not torture. Fellow future also-ran Michele Bachmann picked up the ignorance stick and carried it even further down the road; water-boarding those terror detainees, she said, was 'very effective.' Not to be outdone, noted historian Newt Gingrich tried to make believe that Anwar Al-Awlaki, the U.S. citizen killed in a drone strike a while back, was first duly 'convicted' of  being a terrorist.... I would like to blame President Barack Obama for the silliness.... He practically invited it when he refused to authorize a national commission on torture -- a so-called 'Truth Commission' -- that would have filled with factual testimony and documentary evidence the vacuum that now exists on the topic...." Read the whole post. See also today's Right Wing World, wherein we learn Mitt Romney has jumped on the torture bandwagon. ...

... Political science Prof. Jonathan Bernstein dissents: "So, yes, blame Obama for not addressing an issue he should have addressed, but do remember that controlling what the opposition says and believes is far beyond the powers of the presidency." CW Translation: Cain will still be ignorant, Bachmann will still be crazy & the Newt will still be a congenital liar.

Pretty clear Elizabeth Warren is no Martha Coakley. -- Chuck Todd, MSNBC, Tweet ...

... Scott Brown Is Worried. Bobby Caina Calvan of the Boston Globe: "Senator Scott Brown today endorsed the nomination of Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general, to lead the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- whose chief architect, Elizabeth Warren, is challenging Brown in his reelection bid next fall. Cordray’s nomination is being fiercely opposed by Senate Republicans, 44 of whom signed a letter to President Obama in May expressing their concerns that there is too little oversight over the new agency.... Brown ... did not sign the letter...."

Right Wing World

Public Policy Polling: "Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in PPP's national polling. He's at 28% to 25% for Herman Cain and 18% for Mitt Romney. The rest of the Republican field is increasingly looking like a bunch of also rans: Rick Perry is at 6%, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at 5%, Jon Huntsman at 3%, and Gary Johnson and Rick Santorum each at 1%." ...

Michael Tomasky, in the Daily Beast: "The idea that [Newt Gingrich is] a serious presidential candidate is preposterous. Even if he were the nominee..., he’d say crazy things. He’d reignite the whole Obama-is-a-Kenyan-anticolonialist business.... He’d be a disaster.... The guy has more baggage than a Stones tour.... Poll respondents probably don’t remember the government shutdown or even have any idea it ever happened. They’re also probably not quite fully aware that his wife is his ex-mistress, the woman with whom he was committing infidelity at precisely the same moment he was baying that Bill Clinton had driven America to ruination by doing the same." ...

... Clea Benson of Bloomberg News: "Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said during a Nov. 9 debate that he earned a $300,000 fee to advise Freddie Mac as a 'historian' who warned that the mortgage company’s business model was 'insane.' Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with the consulting work Gingrich was hired to perform for the company in 2006 tell a different story. They say the former House speaker was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it."

Roger Simon of Politico: "Obama ... may not even need an opposition research team this election. All he needs is a guy with a DVR and the patience, the grit, the sheer fortitude to watch every minute of every Republican debate.... There have been 10 major debates over the past six months. And what has been the result? They have made Obama look better." An amusing & apt commentary.

Brig. Gen. John Johns (Ret.), in a New York Times op-ed: "The problem with [GOP presidential candidates' bellicose] arguments is that they flatly ignore or reject outright the best advice of America’s national security leadership. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, former congressman Admiral Joe Sestak and former CENTCOM Commander General Anthony Zinni are only a few of the many who have warned us to think carefully about the repercussions of attacking Iran. Two months ago, Sestak put it bluntly: 'A military strike, whether it’s by land or air, against Iran would make the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion look like a cakewalk with regard to the impact on the United States’ national security.'”

Must See Teevee. In a conversation with Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editors, Herman Cain tries to remember what Libya is. Maybe he has it confused with "Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan":

     ... Richard Oppel, Jr., of the New York Times: "Video of Mr. Cain’s appearance on Monday before editors and reporters at The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel went viral almost immediately after it was posted online, and drew immediate comparisons to Rick Perry’s recent stumble in a debate when he froze in discussing which federal agencies he would eliminate." ...

     ... Adam Serwer of Mother Jones: "There are plenty of valid criticisms of Obama's Libya effort.... Cain didn't mention any of [them]." ...

     ... Prof. Daniel Drezner in Foreign Policy: "The Herman Cain Mercy Rule Is Now in Effect.... I have a personal preference that ignoramuses should be drummed out of presidential politics as quickly as possible.... There's no point in blogging about him anymore.  I can only pick on an ignoramus so many times before it feels sadistic." ...

     ... Charles Pierce of Esquire channels Cain: "How come they know so much about Libya in Milwaukee? How come they know so much about Wisconsin in Milwaukee? What is all this stuff twirling around in my head? Ideas? Ahh, probably not, but you can never tell."

He Hears Voices. I have had one very well known Muslim voice say to me directly that a majority of Muslims share the extremist views. -- Herman Cain, to GQ Magazine. Later in the interview (linked), Cain confirmed he was talking about American Muslims. Later in the day, Cain's spokesman said Cain was talking about Muslims "in another country." ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: " Victor Zuckerman, a pediatrician, said on Monday that he was dating Sharon Bialek in the 1990s when she told him that Herman Cain had touched her inappropriately. Dr. Zuckerman held a news conference Monday with Gloria Allred, the lawyer who represents Ms. Bialek, in an attempt to buttress the allegations that Ms. Bialek lodged against the Republican presidential candidate last week."

"Pre-arranged Dishonesty -- A Conspiracy before the Fact." David Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix recounts the deal Mitt Romney made with William Bain before agreeing to head up Bain Capital. "To me, this vignette perfectly gets to the core of Mitt Romney.... Romney always leverages his considerable assets ... to manipulate circumstances to avoid personal risk.... The number-one goal is to protect, at all costs, the Mitt Romney brand.... It's very hard to tell whether people have agreed to lie on someone's behalf or not. But it certainly seems that Romney has always been able to seize credit for successes, and avoid blame for problems." Via Greg Sargent. ...

... "Faking It." Steve Benen. "... one of Romney’s key rhetorical problems — he can fake it when it comes to giving the appearance of competence, which raises expectations, but the facade falls apart when anyone stops to consider the details. Indeed, Saturday night’s debate was a disaster for Romney, at least for those who gave his answers meaningful scrutiny." ...

... Waterboard Romney. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Mitt Romney did not weigh in during the debate, but aides later told reporters that the former Massachusetts governor does not believe waterboarding is torture and did not rule out its use in a Romney administration. At the debate, candidates got cheers for supporting waterboarding — but so did Paul for declaring it torture." CW: in his press conference Sunday, President Obama responded to the GOP presidential candidates' support of torture. "They're wrong," he said. And elaborated. (See video of full press conference under Monday's Ledes.)

Charles Pierce: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is busy being a populist again. He's incensed about "welfare for the well-off," something he apparently never noticed before. Pierce writes,

The problem, of course, is that, even if you believe Coburn is sincere, and not using this as a dodge to avoid putting the top rate back where it belongs, every one of these loopholes can be recreated in a heartbeat when the 'millionnaires and billionnaires' and their tax lawyers get a hold of whatever 'reform' passes to close them. That's not even to mention that lurking behind Coburn's ostensible concern ... is the argument for a flat tax 'with no loopholes at all.' The cuts to Social Security and Medicare will be real and they will be permanent. Oligarchy, on the other hand, never sleeps.

"Tea Party Plans Premeditated Felony." Paul Tascoupe of PolitiScoop: "The kick off campaign to recall embattled governor Scott Walker [R-Wisc.] kicks off in just four days and with that date approaching, the tea party has plans of its own. Politiscoop has received several screen shots of tea party and right wing activists planning to pass themselves off as those circulating petitions to recall the governor. In one facebook post a user named Charles Atlas Shrugging begins the plan by saying 'I'd like to collect signatures of those who want to recall Walker ... so I can have something to feed my shredder....'" Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...

     ... In a follow-up post, Tascoupe identifies "Charles Atlas Shrugging" as Charles Brey. Besides his litany of Tea Party activities, which includes an appearance on "Fox & Friends," Brey "belongs to a Militia known as 'The Regulators Anti-Socialism Vigilance Committee.'"

News Ledes

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Organizers started the official clock Tuesday on gathering more than a half million recall petitions against Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four senators. Surrounded by media cameras and led by two possible Walker opponents if a recall election is triggered - former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin President Mahlon Mitchell - the recall group United Wisconsin marched through downtown here to make the filing with state elections officials." Wisconsin State Journal story here.

AP: "Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality. Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters." ...

     ... The New York Times City Room has a liveblog here. The main Times story, which I also linked in yesterday's Ledes, and which has been updated numerous times, is here. ...

     ... The Guardian has a liveblog here which looks to be slightly more timely than the NYT liveblog. Update: The Guardian has switched to a new liveblog (here). So for background go to the first link; for the latest, check out the second. ...

     ... AP Update: "A New York judge has upheld the city's dismantling of the Occupy Wall Street encampment, saying that the protesters' first amendment rights don't entitle them to camp out indefinitely in the plaza. Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman on Tuesday denied a motion by the demonstrators seeking to be allowed back into the park with their tents and sleeping bags." New York Daily News story here. The text of the judge's decision is here. ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The police opened the gates to Zuccotti Park just after darkness fell and let in a single-file line of people as a crowd surrounded the park.... 'You have to walk through a gantlet of officers,' said Andy Nicholson, 54, of Manhattan.... One by one, about 750 people crowded into the park. Those carrying backpacks and large amounts of food were turned away, and the evening’s general assembly meeting began with logistics, like where demonstrators would be able to eat and sleep."

AP: "Pounding away with executive actions, the White House is laying out new steps to cut fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, keeping up its campaign of acting without Congress as President Barack Obama tends to diplomacy — and relaxation — far from Washington. Many of the moves that support Obama's "we can't wait" mantra are modest and bureaucratic, including the newest measures being announced Tuesday, but are nevertheless intended to show a president in action while he largely faces gridlock over jobs with Republicans in Congress."

Al Jazeera: "At least 70 people have been killed in violence across Syria over the past 24 hours in one of the bloodiest days since an anti-government uprising began eight months ago, activists reported. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that 27 civilians were shot dead by security forces and 34 soldiers as well as 12 suspected army deserters were killed in clashes. Most of the victims were killed in the southern flashpoint province of Deraa, the observatory said in a statement."

NEW. Tampa Tribune: "Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary 'didn't just turn and run' after witnessing Jerry Sandusky allegedly sodomize a boy and 'made sure it stopped,' according to an email McQueary sent to friends and former teammates."

NEW. Guardian: "The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has lodged an application to take to the (British) supreme court his case against extradition to Sweden. Assange, 40, who faces sex crime allegations, recently lost a high court battle against removal.... He will ask senior judges in London on 5 December to certify that his case raises a question of general public importance, and should be considered by the highest court in the land."

The Commentariat -- November 14

POTUS for a Day. Today's question on Off Times Square: if you could impose only one policy change on the federal government, what would it be?

No, Regulations Do Not Kill Jobs. Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: "In the face of the country’s unemployment crisis, many politicians have portrayed regulations as the economy’s primary villain.... The critique of regulations fits into a broader conservative narrative about government overreach. But it also comes afteir a string of disasters in recent years that were tied to government regulators falling short, including the financial crisis of 2008, the BP oil spill and the West Virginia mining accident last year.... Economists who have studied the matter say that there is little evidence that regulations cause massive job loss in the economy, and that rolling them back would not lead to a boom in job creation. Firms sometimes hire workers to help them comply with new rules. In some cases, more heavily regulated businesses such as coal shrink, giving an opportunity for cleaner industries such as natural gas to grow.... Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that very few layoffs are caused principally by tougher rules.... In 2010, 0.3 percent of the people who lost their jobs in layoffs were let go because of 'government regulations/intervention.'" CW: that's 3/10ths of one percent. This is a news analysis, not an opinion piece. It appears in the right-leaning Washington Post. Guess if it will do anything to silence GOP fiction writers.

Kevin Bogardus of The Hill: "Unions and Occupy Wall Street protesters will be joining forces next week for a 'day of action' to pressure lawmakers on jobs. The AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union and the Laborers’ International Union of North America will partner with Occupy Wall Street for 'We are the 99 percent' rallies on Thursday. Liberal groups like MoveOn.org and the American Dream Movement plan to participate." ...

... Aren't the Cops among the 99 Percent? Peter Moskos in Slate: "If you think of police as coming whenever you call for help, you may be surprised to learn that police do not work for you. Officers work first for the police department and then for the city that pays them. A force designed to maintain order and the status quo will never sing Kumbaya with protesters who combine a desire for change with a privileged sense of agency and entitlement.... There are guidelines of protest behavior that can mitigate police unpleasantness: 1) don’t hurt yourself or others, 2) don’t shut down the city, 3) don’t antagonize the police, and 4) no surprises."

Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration will announce Monday as much as $1 billion in funding to hire, train and deploy health-care workers, part of the White House’s broader 'We Can’t Wait' agenda to bolster the economy after President Obama’s jobs bill stalled in Congress. Grants can go to doctors, community groups, local government and other organizations that work with patients in federal health-care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid." 

CW: As a service to readers, I intended to read Bill Keller's column in today's New York Times about how Mitt Romney could win the presidency. But right near the top, Keller wrote this:

Despite efforts to polarize our politics into ideological base camps, in presidential elections the deciding vote still belongs to the middle. These voters have been drowned out lately by the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, but they are the main prize in 2012.

      ... So that's as far as I got. Several weeks ago, after Keller described OWS as "warmed-over anarchists," he got -- and acknowledged -- a flood of protest letters from people, many of them nicer than I, explaining to him what OWS was all about. I guess Keller didn't do well in math, because there's something about "99 Percent" he just can't grasp. Ninety-nine percent is not a fringe -- unless Keller, whose father was CEO of Exxon -- thinks everyone who is not part of the One Percent is the left-wing fringe.

"Green Graft." Peter Schweizer provides an excerpt of his book Throw Them All Out to the Daily Beast & Newsweek: "A large proportion of the winners [of DOE alternative energy grants] were companies with Obama-campaign connections. Indeed, at least 10 members of Obama’s finance committee and more than a dozen of his campaign bundlers were big winners in getting your money. At the same time, several politicians who supported Obama managed to strike gold.... According to the Department of Energy’s own numbers..., [in one of the programs,] $16.4 billion of the $20.5 billion in loans granted as of Sept. 15 went to companies either run by or primarily owned by Obama financial backers.... The department’s loan and grant programs are run by partisans who were responsible for raising money during the Obama campaign from the same people who later came to seek government loans and grants.... These programs might be the greatest — and most expensive — example of crony capitalism in American history. Tens of billions of dollars went to firms controlled or owned by fundraisers, bundlers, and political allies, many of whom—surprise!—are now raising money for Obama again."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "With a little over a week left to reach a deal, members of the Congressional deficit reduction panel are looking for an escape hatch that would let them strike an accord on revenue levels but delay until next year tough decisions about exactly how to raise taxes."

** Jason Zengerle of New York Magazine has a fine profile of Elizabeth Warren, whom he contrasts to President Obama: "'I’ll just be blunt, I thought the whole fight was 2008,' she says. 'We’d put sensible people in place, we’d write sensible rules, and we’d spend 50 years rebuilding America’s middle class.' The question that hangs over Obama — and the entire Democratic Party, for that matter — is why that didn’t happen." Here's another tidbit:

Congressman Barney Frank says he advised Obama that nominating Warren to head the CFPB was 'a win-win, because if the Republicans filibuster her, they’ll make her a hero who can run for the Senate, and because of that, to avoid her being a Senate candidate, you might get them to confirm her.' But the White House didn’t have the stomach for such a confrontation....

       ... Here's the "Daily Show" segment from January 2010 which Zengerle refers to at the top of his profile:

Votes, No. Guns, Yes. Michael Luo of the New York Times: "Under federal law, people with felony convictions forfeit their right to bear arms. Yet every year, thousands of felons across the country have those rights reinstated, often with little or no review. In several states, they include people convicted of violent crimes, including first-degree murder and manslaughter.... While previously a small number of felons were able to reclaim their gun rights, the process became commonplace in many states in the late 1980s, after Congress started allowing state laws to dictate these reinstatements — part of an overhaul of federal gun laws orchestrated by the National Rifle Association. The restoration movement has gathered force in recent years, as gun rights advocates have sought to capitalize on the 2008 Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms."

Occupy APEC! Zaid Jilani of Think Progress: At a meeting of APEC leaders, including President & Mrs. Obama & others heads of state & their guests, "Hawaiian guitarist Makana opened his suit jacket to reveal a shirt that read 'Occupy Aloha,' and played “We Are the Many,” the protest ballad he wrote. Thanks to reader Lisa for the link. In the video below, Makana describes the event:

... Here's a CNN report:

 "A Culture of Impunity." Chris Hayes of The Nation & NBC News speaks with Rick Herzberg, Elizabeth Holtzman, Victoria Defrancesco, Michael Eric Dyson & David Zirin about the Penn State scandal:

     ... CW: Taylor Branch, in a long Atlantic article published last month, argues that college athletes should be paid. I didn't read it, but generally speaking, I'd say Branch has the "solution" to the exploitation of young athletes ass-backwards. Instead of making millions & billions off the kids & then paying them for their contributions, the programs should be cut back to the ideal of the "student athlete" that Branch claims never existed.

Right Wing World

In today's column, Paul Krugman elaborates on the post we linked in Saturday's Commentariat: Mitt Romney's bright idea to privatize veterans' health care, despite the fact that the V.A. program is a phenomenally successful healthcare delivery system, and even partially privatizing it would inevitably make it worse. Why privatize? "Ideology, of course. It’s literally a fundamental article of faith in the G.O.P. that the private sector is always better than the government, and no amount of evidence can shake that credo. In fact, it’s hard to avoid the sense that Republicans are especially eager to dismantle government programs that act as living demonstrations that their ideology is wrong."

... David Atkins in Hullabaloo: "At some point the pearl clutchers and bipartisan fetishists are going to acknowledge that there is a political civil war in this country, that the right wing is going off the rails at an accelerated pace, and that these people represent a grave threat to democracy should they ever take power again."

Rick Perry's Mindless Moment. E. J. Dionne:  "Forgetting an idea at the heart of your program ... is not the same as forgetting a phone number.... Perry’s memory lapse showed that he wasn’t asserting anything that he is truly serious about because he is not serious about what government does, or ought not to do. For him, governing seems a casual undertaking.... The [conservative] movement has been overtaken by a quite literally mindless opposition to government."

Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post: "In her first televised interview ever [with Fox "News"'s Greta Van Susteren], Gloria Cain, wife of Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, sat down with her husband and said that the allegations of sexual harassment against him don’t square with the man she knows.... Cain’s wife, who is ... a registered Democrat according to her husband, has steered clear of the spotlight and has not assumed the traditional role of candidate’s wife."

CW: in case you'd like to know why Michele Bachmann says the liberal media outlet CBS News is discriminating against her -- a story I avoided all day yesterday -- Jeremy Peters of the New York Times has all the details of the scandalous disclosure that CBS would rather talk to a candidate whose poll numbers are not -- like Bachmann's -- in the single digits.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The New York City police began clearing Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters about 1 a.m. Tuesday, telling the people there that the camp would be 'cleared and restored' before the morning and that any demonstrator who did not leave would be arrested." The story has been updated. Michael Moore is livestreaming here. Global Revolution has a two-camera feed here with commentary.

New York Times: "Close to 10 [would that be 9??] additional suspected victims have come forward to the authorities since the arrest of the former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on Nov. 5 on 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys, according to people close to the investigation. The police are working to confirm the new allegations.... In a phone interview with Bob Costas that was broadcast Monday night on 'Rock Center,' Sandusky said he was innocent of the charges against him and declared that he was not a pedophile. He did acknowledge, 'I shouldn’t have showered with those kids.' ... On Sunday, Jack Raykovitz, the chief executive of the [Second Mile] foundation for 28 years, resigned."

New York Times: "At a special session of the Nebraska Legislature, a state senator announced Monday that TransCanada had agreed to adjust its intended route of the Keystone XL oil pipeline to avoid the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region of the state."

New York Times: "As members of the Congressional deficit reduction panel retreated to conference rooms Monday to continue negotiations, House Republicans and Senate Democrats were putting their final touches on a series of spending bills that they hope will avert another showdown over short-term financing of the government."

AP: "The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear arguments next March over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.... The decision to hear arguments in the spring allows plenty of time for a decision in late June, just over four months before Election Day.... The justices announced they will hear more than five hours of arguments, an extraordinarily long session, from lawyers on the constitutionality of a provision at the heart of the law and other related questions about the act." ...

     ... New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals from just one decision, from the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, the only one so far striking down the mandate.... The appeals court went no further, though, severing the mandate from the rest of the law." Washington Post report here. The Supremes' cert grant is here (pdf). Also, SCOTUSblog has a good summary of the writ.

New York Times: "President Obama will be far from Washington this week meeting with Pacific Rim allies, but on Sunday he weighed in on simmering domestic issues, warning Congressional Republicans that voters will turn them out if they do not pass some of his job-creation proposals. Speaking at a press conference at the conclusion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum here, Mr. Obama also defended his policies on Iran against assaults from Republican presidential candidates and boasted of those policies’ support among foreign leaders." AP story here.

... Oakland Tribune: "Hundreds of police officers raided the Occupy Oakland tent city early Monday morning. In anticipation, protesters from Occupy Oakland had gathered overnight in the intersection of Broadway and 14th Street. Some campers started taking down their tents early." This is a liveblog, so go back for updates. ...

     ... San Francisco Chronicle Update: "About 1,000 Occupy Oakland protesters returned Monday night to Frank Ogawa Plaza, 12 hours after police evicted the movement's tent city, and debated a range of reactions from re-establishing the encampment to refocusing on community organizing. The city reopened the newly cleared plaza outside City Hall around 5 p.m. and said protesters could gather there around the clock. However, police said they would prevent camping from now on, and as the night went on, there were no tents in evidence."

... Oregonian: "... in daylight hours Sunday, after throngs of supporters had gone home to sleep..., Portland police successfully cleared the two downtown parks where protesters had camped since Oct. 6, but the evictions sparked an hourslong standoff as protesters spilled into the streets and filled Pioneer Courthouse Square into the evening." ...

AP: "The Department of Transportation said Monday it has fined [American Eagle Airlines,] a regional affiliate of American Airlines, $900,000 for keeping hundreds of passengers cooped up for hours on planes in Chicago earlier this year, a clear warning to airlines on the eve of the holiday travel season that similar incidents won't be tolerated.

NBC News: "The judge who granted bail to former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was a volunteer for his Second Mile organization, according to the biography on her former law firm's website. Sandusky was arrested on Nov. 5 and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period. Deadspin, a sports blog, reports that upon Sandusky's arraignment, prosecutors requested $500,000 bail for Sandusky. They also wanted him to wear a leg monitor. However, Judge Leslie Dutchcot freed Sandusky on $100,000 unsecured bail, meaning he’ll only have to pay if he doesn’t show up for court." Also watch Mike Isikoff's video report, which is embedded on the linked page.

AP: "Italy's premier-designate Mario Monti began talks on Monday to create a new government of non-political experts tasked with overhauling an ailing economy to keep market fears over the country from threatening the existence of the euro. Investors initially cheered Monti's appointment, though concern lingered about the sheer amount of work his new government will have to do to restore faith in the country's battered economy and finances."

New York Times: "Afghan and coalition forces may have captured a prominent spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, three Afghan officials said Monday."

Guardian: "The names of 28 News International employees appear in notebooks belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the News of the World, the Leveson inquiry into press standards heard on its first day at London's high court. Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry also heard that Mulcaire wrote the words "Daily Mirror" in his notepad, which suggests he may have carried out work for the paper." CW: and nobody gave a hint to James or Rupert Murdoch about News Corps' tactics. Right.

The Commentariat -- November 13

** The Founding Fathers Would LOVE OWS. Rick Ungar in a Washington Monthly column, on how the Tea Party-deified founders regarded corporations: "... every single investment bank on Wall Street, as we know it today, would have been illegal in the days of our founding. And ... in the early days of the nation, most states had rules on the books making any political contribution by a corporation a criminal offence.... Were they around today, our founders would not only be standing on the front lines of the Occupy Wall Street movement, they would likely be pursuing a far more strident strategy than playing some bongo drums in Zuccotti Park." The Boston Tea Party itself was, after all, a revolt against England's most powerful corporation: the East India Trading Company. Care for a cup of originalist tea, Mr. Scalia?

Jeffrey Sachs, in a New York Times op-ed: Ronald "Reagan’s [edict that "government is the problem"] was a fateful misdiagnosis. He completely overlooked the real issue — the rise of global competition in the information age — and fought a bogeyman, the government. Decades on, America pays the price of that misdiagnosis, with a nation singularly unprepared to face the global economic, energy and environmental challenges of our time.... Both parties have joined in crippling the government in response to the demands of their wealthy campaign contributors, who above all else insist on keeping low tax rates on capital gains, top incomes, estates and corporate profits." Occupy Wall Street is poised to lead a new progressive movement that will get us out of the mess Reagan got us into. Sachs has some suggestions & observations about the way the movement will do that. ...

... Karen Garcia: "I don't think we have to worry too much any more about the Democratic Party co-opting OWS. The elite of the DNC have pretty much shut up about it.... If you're paying any attention at all to the Democratic leaks out of the SuperCommittee, you're finding out that they're bending over backwards, offering cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- even permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts -- in exchange for some loopy closings of corporate tax loopholes.... But at the local level, in the cities, the encampments are under direct siege by..... Democratic mayors.... It's about time we 'Occupy the Democratic Party', too." ...

... Markos Moulitsas tells ten stories, some with videos, of big banks forcibly trying to stop customers from closing their accounts. They're pretty good stories. Since September 29, more than 700,000 customers have moved their money out of big banks to small banks & credit unions.

Julia Preston of the New York Times: "A new Obama administration policy to avoid deportations of illegal immigrants who are not criminals has been applied very unevenly across the country and has led to vast confusion both in immigrant communities and among agents charged with carrying it out."

Nicholas Kulish & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "The window of opportunity to save the euro is rapidly closing, as the sovereign debt crisis erodes the solvency of Europe’s banks and drives up borrowing rates for even once rock-solid countries like France." ...

... Jim Fallows of The Atlantic: "I am as happy as the next person to see the well-deserved end to Silvio Berlusconi's reign in Italy. But I don't think many people can, or should, feel too happy about this second resignation of a democratically elected government (after Papandreou in Greece) because of pressure from bankers outside the country's borders." Fallows includes a letter from Piero Garau, a retired UN official who lives in Rome, who is not optimistic about the future of the euro, or really, of the E.U. ...

... AND in a somewhat Manhattan-centric analysis, Seth Meyers takes "A Closer Look at Europe":

Jerry Markon of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers are objecting to the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to deny an anti-human-trafficking grant to a Catholic group, a dispute that reflects deep divisions over access to abortion and birth control. In late September, HHS ended funding to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to help victims of trafficking.... The church group had overseen nationwide services to victims since 2006 but was denied a new grant in favor of three other groups. The bishops organization ... had refused to refer trafficking victims for contraceptives or abortion. HHS officials have said they made a policy decision to award the grants to agencies that would refer women for those services."

National Service -- Could It Happen? Ryan Cooper of the Washington Monthly: "... the idea of national service, mandatory or not, has ... been coming up amongst American thought leaders across the media spectrum. [Former NBC anchor] Tom Brokaw devotes a substantial portion of his new book The Time of Our Lives to it. [PBS newsman] Jim Lehrer said recently ... he would impose mandatory national service, and Joe Klein [of Time] ... mentioned non-military national service favorably. [Actor George] Clooney personally supported the idea.... House Republicans, many of whom voted just two years ago to triple AmeriCorps’ size, are now [in the thrall of the Tea Party and] attempting to zero out the program entirely.... Before the country can expand national service, national service has to survive." ...

... A cynic's view of the appeal of national service. From "The Ides of March" (in theaters now!):

Harvard, Tuition-Free. "Justice," with Prof. Michael Sandel. This tape includes two lectures. The first is titled "The Moral Side of Murder." The second, which begins about 24:30 in, is titled "The Case for Cannibalism":

Right Wing World

If I were president, I would use waterboarding. Barack Obama is letting the ACLU run the CIA! -- Michele Bachmann, in last night's GOP candidates' debate

I do not agree with torture — period. However, I will trust the judgment of our military leaders on what is and what is not torture. -- Herman Cain, having it both ways, as usual

"Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran." A Old McCain Refrain Returns. Karen Tumulty & Perry Bacon of the Washington Post: "With the International Atomic Energy Agency warning in a new report that Iran may be proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon, the leading Republican candidates for president accused President Obama of not being forceful enough to prevent that from happening. At the first GOP debate that focused on foreign policy, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former House speaker Newt Gingrich indicated that if either of them were commander in chief, they would be willing to use military force against Iran, if tightened economic sanctions and support for the Iranian opposition did not work to deter nuclear weapons development in the country." ...

... Roger Simon of Politico: "Nothing awful happened. Rick Perry exhibited no brain freeze (at least no more than usual), Herman Cain did not stumble badly (at least no more than anybody else), Newt Gingrich did not attack the moderators (much) and the audience booed only once (when Ron Paul opposed torture)."

Mitt Romney, Corporate Raider. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "By the green-hued yardsticks of Wall Street, the 1990s buyout of an Illinois medical company by Mitt Romney’s private equity firm was a spectacular success.... But an examination of the ... deal shows the unintended human costs and messy financial consequences behind the brand of capitalism that Mr. Romney practiced for 15 years." ...

... CW: I wonder if we can't find some way to make things worse. Count on Mitt. "Vouchers for Veterans":

Sometimes you wonder, would there be some way to introduce some private sector competition, somebody else that could come in and say, you know, each soldier gets X thousand dollars attributed to them and then they can choose whether they want to go on the government [healthcare] system or the private system and then it follows them, like what happens with schools in Florida where they have a voucher that follows them. Who knows? -- Mitt Romney, "brainstorming" with a group of veterans in South Carolina ...

      ... Evan McMorris-Santoro of TPM: "The idea is similar to Romney’s plan for Medicare, which would allow recipients to choose a private plan instead of the classic government-run health care structure. Jerry Newberry, a spokesman for Veterans Of Foreign Wars, told TPM his group has long opposed policies along the lines of Romney’s proposal." ...

     ... Steve Benen: "Even the most conservative Republicans rarely venture into privatizing veterans’ health care benefits.... The taxpayer-financed, government-run V.A. hospitals are some of the finest medical facilities in the country.... Romney ... prefers to change this, and would apparently rather hand vets a voucher. Perhaps the inexperienced former one-term governor with no background on military policy hasn’t fully thought this through. For him to go this far on Veterans’ Day, of all days, seems remarkably tone deaf, even for him." ...

     ... Paul Krugman: "This is awesome on multiple levels. First..., the vouchers would be inadequate, and become more so over time, so that veterans who don’t make enough money to top them up would fail to receive essential care. Patriotism! Second, the VA is one of the great policy success stories of the past two decades. But the VA clearly delivers care as good or better than most civilians receive, at sharply lower cost. So naturally Romney wants to privatize it. Because let’s remember, he’s the serious Republican.... So, our serious Republican is committed on ideological grounds to demolishing successful programs and replacing them with conservative fantasies that have failed repeatedly in the past.

        "Maybe we would actually have been better off with Rick Perry, who might have left good government programs in place because he couldn’t remember what they were."

Truth in Advertising. Americans for Prosperity, the Karl Rove managed Koch Brothers front group, recently held a summit they called 'Defending the American Dream.' Based on their priorities and goals, I think a better name for their group should be 'America for the Prosperous' and their summit should have been called 'Defunding the American Dream.' -- Reality Chex reader Lisa

Dana Milbank: "The era of personal responsibility, if it ever began, has surely ended with the 2012 Republican presidential campaigns. The candidates blame the media, the elites, the Democrats, the government and each other for their problems, but never themselves.... But none has a blame game quite like Cain’s. When the allegations of sexual harassment first arose, he blamed the accusers for failing to get his 'sense of humor.' Then he blamed a 'witch hunt.' Then he claimed it was 'the Perry campaign that stirred this up.' ... Cain moved on to blame 'the D.C. culture' for his troubles, before blaming 'the Democrat machine in America.' Naturally, he blamed the media, winning cheers at the debate [last Wednesday].... Cain even played the same race card that he condemned Democrats for using, claiming that he was victimized because he’s 'a black conservative.'”

** Lies and the Lying Liars.... Steven Levingston of the Washington Post: "Of all the places you’d expect to find Bill O’Reilly’s new history'“Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever,' Ford’s Theatre — the site of the dreadful act — should rank right at the top. But you’d do better to search for the bestseller on Amazon because it has been banned from the theater’s store. The crime? O’Reilly and his co-author Martin Dugard have displayed a serial disregard for historical fact. For a purported history of the assassination..., 'Killing Lincoln' is sloppy with the facts and slim on documentation, according to a study conducted by Rae Emerson, the deputy superintendent of Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site...." Sen. Al Franken must find this hilarious.

News Ledes

Raleigh News & Observer: in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, "a police tactical team of more than 25 police officers arrested eight demonstrators Sunday afternoon and charged them with breaking and entering for occupying a vacant car dealership on Franklin Street. Officers brandishing guns and semi-automatic rifles rushed the building at about 4:30 p.m. They pointed weapons at those standing outside, and ordered them to put their faces on the ground. They surrounded the building and cleared out those who were inside. About 13 people, including New & Observer staff writer covering the demonstration, were forced to the ground and hand-cuffed."

Politico: "President Barack Obama announced Saturday that a group of Pacific Rim nations reached the 'broad outlines of an agreement' on a key trade partnership and warned Iran that the U.S., Russia and China would work together to counter its attempts to develop its nuclear capability." ...

... BUT. AP: "President Barack Obama prodded the skeptical leaders of Russia and China for support in reining back Iran's nuclear ambitious, but without winning public endorsement from either man. Neither Russian President Dmitry Medvedev nor Chinese President Hu Jintao publicly echoed Obama's push for solidarity over renewed concerns on Iran as Obama met separately on Saturday with each leader on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim economic summit here." ...

... Reuters: "Asia-Pacific leaders will call on countries on Sunday to do what they can to prop up economic growth, rallying around the common threat from Europe's debt crisis despite divisions over trade and currency policies. Fresh off a rare success in securing agreement on the outlines of a regional trade deal, the heads of the 21 nations that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will turn their attention to the more immediate problem of preventing contagion from Europe."

AP: "Anti-Wall Street protesters and their supporters flooded a city park area in Portland early Sunday in defiance of an eviction order, and authorities elsewhere stepped up pressure against the demonstrators, arresting nearly two dozen. Crowds converged on two adjacent downtown Portland parks where protesters are camped after city officials set a midnight Saturday deadline to disperse. But hours later, the protesters were still there, backed by many supporters who spilled out into the streets next to camp, tying up traffic. At one point the numbers swelled to thousands but then started to thin in the early morning hours." ...

... Oregonian: "Portland police held off from sweeping two downtown parks early today as thousands of chanting people converged on the city center to support the Occupy Portland movement. A police officer was injured shortly before 2 a.m. from a projectile thrown by someone in the crowd. One person was arrested as tensions rose. At one point, police warned people that they would use chemical agents to keep control as the crowd pushed against police lines. Before then, demonstrators remained peaceful and even festive at times as officers watched and directed traffic, but didn't move to clear Lownsdale and Chapman squares." ...

     ... Reuters Update: "Occupy Portland encampments were nearly empty on Sunday as protesters packed up and left after warnings by city officials that they would be evicted over the weekend. Fewer than a dozen tents remained at two downtown parks where protesters have camped since early October as part of the nationwide Occupy Wall street movement against alleged economic injustice. City officials said they planned to put up fences around the two Portland parks to close them to protesters on Sunday afternoon."

... AP: In Salt Lake City, "police arrested 19 protesters supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement who refused to remove tents from a downtown park late Saturday but avoided the violent clashes that have occurred in other cities. Although police entered the park at sundown with a significant show of force — including a couple dozen cars, two buses for prisoner transport and spotlights — officers were not wearing riot gear or flashing batons. Instead, Chief Chris Burbank and other officers worked their way methodically from tent to tent, asking people to leave and arresting those who didn't comply." ...

... Denver Post: "Denver police in riot gear forced stubborn protesters out of Civic Center park Saturday evening, tearing down illegally pitched tents. A cloud of smoke rose — not from tear gas, but from wood smoke as the protesters' cooking fire was extinguished. Seventeen people were arrested, according to Sonny Jackson, spokesman for the Denver Police Department. Five of those arrests were made on the 16th Street Mall, where some protesters headed after the encampment was cleared. The confrontation came about five hours after Occupy Denver demonstrators marched through downtown for the sixth straight Saturday." ...

... St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "After 27 protesters spent Friday night in jail, Occupy St. Louis said Saturday it would continue to keep an around-the-clock presence at Kiener Plaza.... On Saturday night, about 10 protesters followed police orders and moved to the sidewalk surrounding the park. Another 20 people stood outside the St. Louis Justice Center awaiting the release of three protesters who remained in jail. Mayor Francis Slay's staff reiterated Saturday that it was amenable to Occupy St. Louis staying around, as long as the protesters obey the ordinances." ...

... San Diego Union-Tribune: "More than 80 self-described 'everyday, middle-class women' brought rainy-day supplies and food to Occupy San Diego Saturday.... The woman, mostly in their 40s and 50s, filled five wheelbarrows with food, tarps, blankets, socks and other items."

AP: "The Syrian government has called for an urgent Arab summit to discuss the deepening political unrest in the country. The Arab League on Saturday voted to suspend Syria over its bloody crackdown on the country's eight-month-old uprising."

Reuters: "Italy's president [Giorgio Napolitano] raced to appoint an emergency government on Sunday to face a crisis endangering the whole euro zone and replace Silvio Berlusconi who resigned as prime minister to the humiliating jeers of thousands of protesters."