Month: April 2013

Chris Hayes nails it again

by digby

Instead of spending his entire show with a bunch of boring pundits saying the same thing over and over again, he offers perspective on the days news.

This is just so good:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

… the cycle is the same, something horrible happens, we all watch it happen in real time and feel terrible and want to know who were the perpetrators, what are the circumstances, and why did it happen? We get some inkling and have a discussion of what the implications are for policy, what we might do to prevent something from this happening again in the future.

When it’s guns, when the killer is a shooter, the answer is — nothing. We are told “this just happens.” But if it gets put in a special category called terrorism, then the answer is, everything must be done, no cost should be spared, no legal precedent should stand in the way. Once it gets put in the terrorism bucket, we must do everything in our power. No one ever says “people are going to die from terrorism, that’s just the way it is.” And if it’s in the gun bucket, “yeah, 30,000 people are going to die every year from guns, that’s just the way it is.”

Why is that the case? In the last 30 years, there have been 30,000 to 40,000 gun deaths in the United States per year, more than 900,000 people. In the last 40 years since 1970, there have been about 3,400 terror-related deaths, depending how you define terror according to the integrated united states security data base.

A million gun fatalities in the 33 years since 1980 versus 3,400 terror fatalities since 1970 …

I urge you to watch the whole thing. He does not discount the unique meaning of terrorism and the special fear it invokes. But he contextualizes how we deal with fear and violence in a way that no one else does and offers us some needed perspective on our priorities and responses.

This is why his show is important.

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Itching for a lynchmob

by digby

If I were this kid, I’d take a vacation because these wingnuts are ginning up a lynch mob. Alex Seitz-Wald reports:

This could have be an embarrassing, almost CNN-worthy, misstep for the expert, but speaking with Sean Hannity on Fox last night, [alleged terrorism “expert” Steve Emerson] found a workaround [for his earlier terrible reporting on the Saudi blast victim who was later exonerated]:

EMERSON: Let me throw in another curve ball here that is going to make news. Remember the Saudi that they initially had arrested, or at least detained? … Well I just learned from my own sources that he is now going to be deported on national security grounds next Tuesday, which is very unusual.

Sensing a golden opportunity to hammer the administration, Hannity was totally onboard. He jumped in and noted that, according to Reuters, Obama held a meeting with the Saudi foreign minister, which did not appear on the president’s schedule. Could that be related, Hannity asked? (Reuters said the meeting was to discuss Syria.) Emerson continued:

EMERSON: This is the way things are done with Saudi Arabia, you don’t arrest their citizens, you deport them, because they don’t want them to be embarrassed and that’s the way we appease them.

Aha! The Saudi man may still have been involved in the bombing, but the cowardly Obama administration is bowing the Saudi pressure to cover it all up. Piggybacking on Emerson, Pamela Geller had more on “the shocking news,” claiming that the person of interest came from “a very powerful Saudi family” that is “steeped in terrorism,” with several relatives who “are members of Al-Qaeda.”

This morning, Glenn Beck broke even more news on his radio show, citing “an FBI source.” Beck explained that it “looks like they were trying to make this a ‘lone wolf’ crime, so the Saudi government would be spared embarrassment and the U.S. would avoid explaining how a terror cell was active when we had AQ on the run.”

So there you have it, a vast attempt to coverup terrorism from the Obama administration, working in cahoots with the Saudi government!

This isn’t just Geller and Alex Jones, folks. It’s Fox news.  And Glenn Beck has millions of followers.

This is disgusting public speculation about a young kid who has already been exonerated by the cops. These jerks are basically prodding one of their nutballs to go after him.  Let’s hope that none of their nutballs are as far gone as they are.

Update:  This is probably what that bozo was talking about:

They went to his residence in Revere and found two other Saudi nationals. It turns out — and they had visa problems, so Immigration and Customs Enforcement took them into custody. But it seems as if this is a — this is not where the investigation is going.

Nice.

Update II:

Jake Tapper has more. It may not even be the roommates. But in case you were wondering if anyone’s listening to these Fox news bozos, it would appear that at least one member of congress is. Sheesh.

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Props to the GOP: it’s SOP

by digby

Greg Sargent:

Of all the arguments we’ve heard in the gun debate, few are more absurd than the claim that President Obama and Democrats have used the Newtown families as “props” in a nefarious plot to exploit them for political ends.

Those making this case are using eerily similar language. Rand Paul yesterday said: “I think in some cases the president has used them as props.” The Washington Times today opined: “The shame is how the gun-control advocates have exploited the grief of these families, bearing up under a sadness beyond knowing by the rest of us, using them at every opportunity as props to make a political argument.”

And here’s GOP consultant Ed Rogers:

It was cruel of the president to involve the Sandy Hook families in a fight that was not their fight. For all the good they can do and all the deference and respect they deserve, it is a travesty that the families of the Sandy Hook victims were used as props and lobbyists and that the tragedy of Sandy Hook was contorted into a Washington legislative battle about expanding the federal paperwork required to make a gun purchase. The Sandy Hook families didn’t create this farce; it was the president’s idea.
As it happens, the idea that Obama and/or gun control advocates are “exploiting” the families and using them as “props” is not just silly; it’s demonstrably misleading on the facts.

Greg actually has to go to the trouble to prove that the Newtown families aren’t dumb animals being led around against their will by the Washington sharpie Barack Obama. It’s pathetic.

But if you want to see some props, I’ll show you some props:

You can understand why all these Republicans would assume the White House would cynically use the families of the victims as props.

To them, cynical manipulation is SOP:

On May 1, 2003, Bush became the first sitting President to make an arrested landing in a fixed-wing aircraft on an aircraft carrier when he arrived at the USS Abraham Lincoln in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, dubbed Navy One, as the carrier lay just off the San Diego coast, having returned from combat operations in the Persian Gulf. He posed for photographs with pilots and members of the ship’s crew while wearing a flight suit. A few hours later, he gave a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq War. Far above him was the warship’s banner stating “Mission Accomplished.”

Bush was criticized for the historic jet landing on the carrier as an overly theatrical and expensive stunt. For instance, it was pointed out that the carrier was well within range of Bush’s helicopter, and that a jet landing was not needed.Originally the White House had stated that the carrier was too far off the California coast for a helicopter landing and a jet would be needed to reach it. On the day of the speech, the Lincoln was only 30 miles (48 km) from shore but the administration still decided to go ahead with the jet landing.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer admitted that Bush “could have helicoptered, but the plan was already in place. Plus, he wanted to see a landing the way aviators see a landing.” The Lincoln made a scheduled stop in Pearl Harbor shortly before the speech, docked in San Diego after the speech, and returned to her home port in Everett, Washington on May 6, 2003.

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The kerning sleuths are on the case. Is law enforcement foolishly listening to them?


by digby

This post by Greg Mitchell is scares the bejeezuz out of me and I really, really hope his speculation isn’t true.  He reports that on Reddit yesterday, amateur sleuths were combing pictures of the Boston Bombing and picking out possible “suspects.”  This  led to a one of the targets coming forward to protest their innocence and having to go to the police to clear it all up. It was a high school athlete and his coach hanging out at the marathon. Reddit monitors eventually shut down the witchhunt and some contributors expressed regret.

It’s not a pretty story, but it may not be the the worst of it:

Okay, end of story and not at all surprising, right? The problem is, from stories in news outlets and on cable TV (such as here), you might conclude that the two suspects that the feds had allegedly “IDed” were, indeed, these two men. The FBI showed some media folks photos and–can’t be sure–but they may have been the same shots that Reddit posters obsessed over. The media descriptions match up, although missing the backwards baseball cap. The New York Post even put their photos on its front page today (“Bag Men“), referring to them as the FBI’s suspects, and claiming the photo was emailed to reporters by the feds. 

It’s quite possible, as we know, that the media (and certainly the Post) could be wrong about this, and the feds have IDed two other men, but it at least raises the question: Did the online sleuths point the official probers in the wrong direction and that, actually, the whole official and media “ID” claim from yesterday is now totally bogus? Or is the FBI distributing photos of two other men? 

This can be settled if a reputable news outlet comes forward now and says that they were sent photos by FBI–and yes, they featured those two men, or did not. One also wonders if FBI twice cancelled press conferences yesterday after they realized their “suspects” were bogus?

I fervently hope that the leaks to the press yesterday about finding and arresting a “suspect” was not based on some information gleaned from some “kerning experts” (long time blog readers will know what that means) on Reddit. I really would start to be frightened for our safety, especially considering the hundred of billions that are spent on law enforcement in this country.

But let’s just say that it wouldn’t be surprising if this is exactly what happened.  The media didn’t completely make up their clown show script yesterday.  Yes, none of them used any common sense and asked whether it made sense that they could have so easily “identified” someone in the crowd and arrested them so quickly.  But they got this information from law enforcement, not from Reddit.

As Mitchell says, and Atrios said yesterday, it’s time for some people in the press to talk about this.  We need to know if our very expensive policing agencies are using Reddit crowdsourcing to do their work for them.  Everyone knows we need to cut some fat out of the budget and if this is how they do their work they obviously don’t need all that money.

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The blast zone

by David Atkins

Despite my having reacted somewhat hastily on Twitter in the aftermath of the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, I’m going to withhold fire on Texas zoning and regulation practices until more details about the plant are known, and experts in zoning policy can weigh in. But something seems very wrong with this:

It seems especially wrong when said fertilizer plant had not even been inspected in the last five years.

I suppose one could say that everyone in this case had perfect freedom. The fertilizer plant owners had the freedom to run a plant without “big government” intrusion. The home builders had the freedom to sell their units wherever they saw fit to build. The home buyers had the freedom to assume irresponsibility on the part of the plant owner and the government, and take responsibility for themselves by not living near the plant. It was a conservative paradise of total economic liberty. No one could have foreseen what would happen. It was a tragedy. Instead of politicizing it, we should just pray for the victims. Wolverines.

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Huge outpouring of grief in Edinburgh

by digby

 …. for Margaret Thatcher’s funeral:

Well, it was sprinkling.

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The Dred Scott award for revealing Supreme Court Justice statements

by digby

And the winner is …. Uncle Nino:

Justice Antonin Scalia this week escalated his criticism of the Voting Rights Act ahead of a Supreme Court decision expected within the next two months — raising the likelihood that he and perhaps a majority of justices will overturn the landmark law.

Speaking on Monday night at the University of California’s Washington Center, in D.C, Scalia described a centerpiece of the 1965 law as an “embedded” form of “racial preferment,” in remarks captured by the Wall Street Journal. He reportedly warned that the law would be reauthorized into perpetuity unless the courts invalidate it.
[…]
During oral arguments in the case, Shelby County v. Holder, in late February, Scalia said that portion of the law — and its repeated renewal by Congress — reflects a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.” The other conservatives justices were also deeply skeptical that Section 5 of the law remains valid given the changing times.

“Racial preferment”, “racial entitlement” c’mon say what you really mean:

On Monday, Scalia also characterized the law as unfair because federal law doesn’t make similar efforts to protect whites from racial discrimination, according to the Journal.

I saw that Andrew Sullivan commented the other day that he’s noticing conservatives adopting the liberal habit of victimization. (I know, I know …) Evidently he has never noticed the scourge of discrimination across this land against white people. It’s a huge problem. We must work to make things right.

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The gun safety people aren’t going away

by digby

And they can play hardball too:

And by the way, Mitch McConnell is one classy guy. This is from his Facebook page:

Don’t whine, Sen. Feinstein

by David Atkins

The already incredibly watered-down gun background checks proposal has “failed” by a 54-46 margin, missing the automatic filibuster threshold by six votes.

There are already a number of Democratic Senators complaining about the Republicans’ corruption and extremist intransigence. That’s fine insofar as it goes, but it’s a case of crocodile tears.

There was an opportunity at the beginning the session to change the rules to prevent Republicans from blocking a vote with only 46 Senators, without even needing to hold the floor making speeches to defend standing against 90% of the American public. Senators Reid and Feinstein were among those who refused to make that change.

They knew when they kept the Senate rules as is that this sort of thing would almost certainly happen. And it has.

So no whining. They had an opportunity to fix this, and they didn’t.

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The latest right wing hissy fit against the “liberal media”


by digby

So apparently the wingnuts are now in the midst of a full blown, all encompassing hissy fit over the “abortion doctor trial”. Why they believe that a doctor being tried for murder and performing illegal abortions is an argument for making all abortions illegal eludes me, but logic isn’t their strong suit. And anyway, they are making an emotional argument not a logical one: bad abortion doctor killed babies = all abortion doctors are killers. I think that conflating all this makes some sense to a certain subset of people who don’t want to think about this and are more than happy to just take whatever side feels more socially comfortable.

Fox News and it satellites have managed to convince their nutball base that the mainstream media “blacked out” the story and the mainstream media has foolishly, once again, rolled over for their absurd claims. Don’t believe it.  In fact, it’s been shown over and over again that while the right wing media ignored this story, it was the left that wrote about it in depth. Unfortunately, this ends up having real world ramifications as the right wing pursues this lurid tale and convinces the media to report it with a heightened “sensitivity” to conservative concerns  — and this alleged psychopath becomes the face of abortion in America.

Here is a long list of relevant stories about this hideous crime. I particularly recommend this one by a doctor who performs legal abortions and who explains why she is not in any way like this psycho Dr. Gosnell if he’s proven to have done what they say he did. It’s refreshingly open and above board.

But it occurs to me in reading them and watching the Fox News clowns have a pearl clutching party today, that we may have found a perfect Third Way, “common ground” let’s-sing-kymbaaya moment: everyone thinks clinics that perform unsafe, dirty, cruel and barbaric illegal abortions are very, very bad. So let’s agree to outlaw them.  Oh wait …

Update: Irin Carmen has been writing on the politics of all this and has found a very interesting angle that shows the anti-abortion right is as divided as the Republican right in general. This hissy fit is directed by the establishment right which wants to highlight icky baby killing while the hardcore grassroots types just want to keep fighting for bans in the states. I’m not convinced they actually work against each other, but if there are real divisions, it could present some opportunities to push them back.

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