Month: February 2015

50 years ago people knew about climate change

by digby

50 yrs ago today (2/8/65) said Pres. LBJ (http://t.co/ayP76XaMm7): #ProblemAcknowledged #HalfCenturyAgo #ActOnClimate pic.twitter.com/UwfcNMlQr3
— Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) February 8, 2015

I would have thought half a century is long enough lead time to make people accept this reality but it appears that until the planet is so changed that massive number of people are starving and rioting in the streets, nothing will change.

By  the way, here’s a little reminder about Syria that might be of interest:

Brad Plumer: There are obviously a whole slew of reasons why civil war erupted in Syria. But you’ve argued that a severe drought and water shortages were a much-neglected factor. Explain how water fits in.

Francesco Femia: We looked at the period between 2006 and 2011 that preceded the outbreak of the revolt that started in Daraa. During that time, up to 60 percent of Syria’s land experienced one of the worst long-term droughts in modern history. 

This drought — combined with the mismanagement of natural resources by [Syrian President Bashar] Assad, who subsidized water-intensive crops like wheat and cotton farming and promoted bad irrigation techniques — led to significant devastation. According to updated numbers, the drought displaced 1.5 million people within Syria.

We found it very interesting that right up to the day before the revolt began in Daraa, many international security analysts were essentially predicting that Syria was immune to the Arab Spring. They concluded it was generally a stable country. What they had missed was that a massive internal migration was happening, mainly on the periphery, from farmers and herders who had lost their livelihoods completely.

Around 75 percent of farmers suffered total crop failure, so they moved into the cities. Farmers in the northeast lost 80 percent of their livestock, so they had to leave and find livelihoods elsewhere. They all moved into urban areas — urban areas that were already experiencing economic insecurity due to an influx of Iraqi and Palestinian refugees. But this massive displacement mostly wasn’t reported. So it wasn’t factoring into various security analyses. People assumed Syria was relatively stable compared to Egypt.

BP: To be clear here, you’re not saying drought caused the conflict. But these environmental stresses were an overlooked factor in creating unrest?

FF: The conflict is ongoing, so it’s hard right now to study the dynamics in Syria and look at exactly how population movements might have put pressure on the economic and social dynamics in various areas. So we’re not making any claim to causality here. We can’t say climate change caused the civil war. But we can say that there were some very harsh climatic conditions that led to instability.

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Veni, vidi, vaya con Dios
by Tom Sullivan

It seems a bright eighth grader in Vermont thought it would be a good idea for the state to adopt a Latin motto. So Republican state Sen. Joe Benning introduced legislation recommending Stella quarta decima fulgeat (“May the fourteenth star shine bright”). The phrase harkens back to when Vermont entered the union as the 14th state.

Wonkette has what happened next:

And then Burlington TV station WCAX put the story on its Facebook page with the headline, “Should Vermont have an official Latin motto?” and all Stupid broke loose when morons thought that Vermont was knuckling under to a bunch of goddamned illegal immigrants.

An email from Benning to the Vermont Political Observer captured the irony:

I anticipated suffering the backroom internal joking from my colleagues in the legislature. What I did not anticipate was the vitriolic verbal assault from those who don’t know the difference between the Classics and illegal immigrants from South America.

A couple of samples:

“I thought Vermont was American not Latin? Does any Latin places have American mottos?”
“ABSOLUTLY NOT!!!! sick and tired of that crap, they have their own countries”
“How do you say idiotic senator in spanish? I’d settle for deport illegals in spanish as a back up motto”
“Hell No! This is America, not Latin America. When in Rome do as the Romans do!”

Later commenters jumped in to lampoon the earlier posts, of course. Wonkette and the Vermont Political Observer have more.

Quod erat demonstrandum.

It’s always something Part DCLXXIV

by digby

Oh, and can someone please come over and help me figure out how to program my new phone? I’m stymied by all these hop-skip-and jump whimsies …

h/t to Radley Balko
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War stories

by digby

Compared to a some of our most revered and loathed politicians, Brian Williams is a piker. A lot of people have been reminding the Republicans about Ronald Reagan’s tall tale about having been there when the allies liberated the Death Camps. Brian Beutler wrote about this one a while back:

Ronaldus Magnus. The most beloved man in all of conservatism repeatedly confused (or “confused”) scenes from his acting career with heroic battlefield moments…that he never participated in or witnessed. Reagan, for instance, is reported to have boasted to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Simon Wiesenthal of photographing concentration camps at the end of World War II. He even told Shamir he’d helped liberate Auschwitz. In his autobiography he wrote “by the time I got out of the Army Air Corps all I wanted to do–in common with several million other veterans–was to rest up, make love to my wife.” But as Michael Schaller wrote in his bookReckoning with Reagan, “This obscured the fact that unlike most of the “several million other veterans,” Reagan had left neither home nor wife while in military service.”

I don’t see how anyone can condemn Williams and defend this. Not only was Reagan’s recollection an total fabrication, he put himself at the site of one of the most memorable moments in World War II. No word on why he’d abstained from making love to his wife for the duration since he was in Culver City and she was in the Palisades. Maybe he needed to rest up from schtupping starlets …

But how about this one which people may not recall:

Joe McCarthy AKA Tailgunner Joe. Because of his education McCarthy was given a commission, and he retired from the Marines as a captain. But he later claimed he’d enlisted as a private, flown more missions than he’d actually flown and been sent a letter of commendation by the Chief of Naval Operations. Turns out McCarthy wrote the letter himself. This all occurred before the work that made him truly famous: chief Communist witch hunter on Capitol Hill and chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

You have to give the guy some credit. It takes real chutzpah to write your own letter of commendation.

There’s nothing new about embellishing war stories.It’s a bipartisan sport. Williams’ doesn’t strike me as much of a transgression as those things go. Then again he is a journalist and I suppose they have to get worked up so they can pretend that “integrity” is something they still care about.

Oh, by the way, last time I checked, Lara Logan is still the chief foreign correspondent for 60 Minutes.

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It’s getting hot in New Jersey

by digby

In the Governor’s office anyway. From TPM:

According to a report published last night in the Bergen (NJ) Record, federal investigators working for the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey in January subpoenaed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for records relating to the personal travel of its former chairman, David Samson. Included in the report, written by the indefatigable Shawn Boburg, were details surrounding a now-cancelled nonstop flight route that United Airlines briefly ran between Newark Liberty Airport and Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina, less than an hour from Aiken, South Carolina, where Samson has owned a home since 2006. United ran that flight for nineteen months before canceling the route on April 1, 2014, three days after Samson resigned from his position as the head of the bi-state agency with an annual budget of just under $8 billion. According to an insider, Samson referred to the briefly-lived and lightly-used Newark-Columbia route as “the chairman’s flight.”

For months there have been signs that U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman’s investigation of September 2013 toll lane closures on the George Washington Bridge has ventured deep into the offices and activities of officials at the agency, and well beyond interrogating the now-debunked claim that the closures were part of a “traffic study.” Former Port Authority deputy director Bill Baroni, agency director David Wildstein, Gov. Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly, and former Christie re-election chief Bill Stepien are all thought to remain at risk of being indicted if and when Fishman unveils charges. So are several members of government relations staffs at both the agency and in the N.J. governor’s office, as well as one staff member in the agency’s counsel’s office whose legal representatives have figured prominently in bills obtained through FOIA requests to the Port Authority. I recently reported that Ray Pocino, the vice president of the N.J. Laborers and a Port Authority commissioner, was interviewed last fall by federal prosecutors not long before Governor Christie himself was questioned by Fishman’s investigators at the governor’s mansion in Princeton, N.J.

But until now it has been unclear whether Governor Christie is a target of Fishman’s investigation, largely because it has been unclear how deeply David Samson would be implicated in any wrongdoing at the Port Authority.

Read on. This is one of those byzantine state scandals that never seem to truly end. The problem for Christie is that there are enough “mainstream” candidates running for president that there’s really no reason for the Big Money Boyz to take a risk on him. (Not that all the “mainstream” candidates aren’t dirty as hell themselves. Christie, however, is the only one that has a US Attorney investigating him at them moment.)

I didn’t think this story would have legs because I thought most Republicans’ eyes would glaze over at a “traffic” scandal. Big city problems, who cares? But once you get a federal prosecutor on your trail anything can happen.

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QOTD: Joe Biden

by digby

Let’s take a shot at making hope and history rhyme in the United States, Europe, and around the world. pic.twitter.com/GBqnonlJ1H
— Vice President Biden (@VP) February 7, 2015

Okaaay. But I have absolutely no idea what that means. Maybe it’s Bidenspeak for kumbaaya?

“Onward Christian Soldiers”?

by digby

Fergawdsakes:

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Mr. Obama said Christians can’t lay claim to a higher moral ground in discussions of how to confront violent extremist groups such as the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember, during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Mr. Obama said. “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often [were] justified in the name of Christ. It is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency, that can pervert and distort our faith.”

His comments, in the wake of the president’s much-publicized reluctance to utter the phrase “radical Islam” out of concern that he’ll alienate moderate Muslims, drew angry reactions from some Christians and accusations that Mr. Obama was inadvertently offering justification for Islamist extremists.

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore said the president’s comments “are the most offensive I’ve ever heard a president make in my lifetime.”

“He has offended every believing Christian in the United States,” said Mr. Gilmore, a Republican. “This goes further to the point that Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share.

Gosh and to think that it was george W. Bush who very famously backtracked on even suggesting there was some kind of religious “crusade”. Even he knew this was fatuous bullshit. George W. Bush!

15 years after 9/11 and we’re sliding into that place that we managed to assiduously avoid for the first decade — the idea that as a “Christian nation” we had to fight the Muslim infidel. We weren’t going to go there. And now we are.

Ed Kilgore explains the reasoning behind all this and it’s so infuriatingly idiotic it makes me want to scream:

While some of Obama’s critics may claim the Inquisition and the Crusades just weren’t all that bad (though an auto-da-fe in a capital case for, say, the refusal to eat pork, was probably about as “barbaric” as a beheading), I think Gilmore articulates the main objection: we’re in a “religious war” and the president needs to show solidarity with “our” religion. Others, of course, reject the idea of separation of church and state that Obama spoke of yesterday, typically by drawing on David Barton’s spurious histories of the Founders’ intentions.

But the deeper offense, I suspect, was caused by Obama’s return to the theme he articulated back in 2009 at a famous commencement address at Notre Dame: doubt as essential to faith, and humility as essential to obedience to God.

In my own commentary on the Notre Dame speech, I argued Obama was reviving an idea of the “fear of God” that fundamentalists had all but extinguished in their determination to claim divine sanction for their all-too-secular agenda of cultural conservatism and intolerance:

Fundamentalism, particularly in its political application, is typically based on the redefinition of “humility” as a rejection of civility and [of] mutual respect as an act of obedience to God, whose revelation of His will, through scripture, teaching or tradition, is so clear that only selfishness and rebellion could explain the persistence of doubt. This inversion of the “fear of God” as requiring aggressive and repressive self-righteousness has been responsible for endless scandals of faith over the centuries, quite often in conjunction with the divinization of culturally conservative causes from slavery to nationalism to patriarchy.

Obama was even more emphatic about that connection in his latest speech. And this sort of talk is why some conservative evangelicals and “traditionalist” Catholics deny mainline Protestants like Obama (and roughly 40 million other Americans) status as “real” Christians.

There’s more detail about this at the link.

Kilgore hopes the MSM pays attention and sees that fundamentalism isn’t the only Christian worldview. But I guess I just don’t know why he’s speaking in these terms at all. If there was ever a time when it was more important for American politicians not to engage in religious rhetoric I don’t know when it might have been. President Obama was measured in his speech but to many people, American politicians in general might as well be singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and vowing to take back Jerusalem for Jesus.

I appreciate that Obama may be speaking for the mainstream Protestants in his speeches about this. I’m sure they appreciate his having their back. But the he more politicians speak about all this in religious terms the more dangerous it is. Isn’t it enough that the terrorists are religious fanatics who use their religion as an excuse to kill people? Do we really need to jump on that bandwagon? (Again?)

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Poor Terry McAuliffe

by digby

According to this article Governor Terry McAuliffe is in an “awkward spot” because even though he ostensibly opposes the death penalty he is backing a bipartisan measure to make the mechanics of the death penalty in his state even more secret so as not to create unpleasantness around the fact that they are torturing the inmates in the course of their executions.

State-sponsored executions in Virginia would become shrouded in unprecedented secrecy under legislation that is advancing with bipartisan support, including that of Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

The measure is intended to keep drugs used for lethal injections flowing into Virginia by shielding manufacturers from public scrutiny and political pressure.

Foreign companies have stopped selling such drugs as a result of pressure from their governments, leaving some states unable to carry out death sentences and prompting others to experiment with chemicals that have been blamed for several ­high-profile botched executions.

The legislation would prevent the public from scrutinizing most everything to do with the death penalty in Virginia. The bill states that “all information relating to the execution process” would be exempt from the state’s open ­records law. Although the names and quantities of chemicals used would have to be disclosed, the names of the companies that sell them and information about buildings and equipment used in the process would be withheld.

Adding a political twist to the situation, the bill’s chief booster is McAuliffe, a Democrat who opposes the death penalty but whose support makes passage more likely.

The measure would place Virginia in the vanguard of states trying to continue a practice that most of their residents still support but that has become increasingly difficult to administer, for both political and technical reasons. The proposal has been praised by people who say it would ensure that executions are carried out in the most humane way possible. But it is denounced by death penalty opponents, as botched executions have increased scrutiny across the country, including a Supreme Court review of lethal injections in Oklahoma.

The secrecy provisions, in particular, are a matter of disagreement. Lisa Kinney, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said the law would provide “security” by shielding drug providers from “harassment, threats or danger.” Foes contend that more scrutiny of state-sponsored executions, not less, is the way to prevent inhumane deaths.

“This bill is about them trying to hide challenges to them, not about their security,” said defense attorney Jonathan Sheldon, who has been involved in litigation over lethal injection. “We don’t need to know the name of who the [executioner] is. . . . What we really want to know is: ‘What is the procedure?’ They’re cloaking this in a false mask of security.”

McAuliffe’s spokesman said that he’s a Catholic so there’s “a moral dimension” to his concerns but he will follow the law.

Here he has an opportunity to help capital punishment opponents to put a stop to this barbaric practice but he’s going to help the opposition.

This is what passes for moral leadership among the big money Democratic centrists who covet office at any price.

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They’re comin’ ta git ya
by Tom Sullivan

No, really. I keep saying that what we’re seeing nationally is the next phase of Defund the Left. If it feels as if there’s a target on your back, dear Reader, it’s not your imagination.

On All In Thursday night, Chris Hayes spoke with Lisa Graves of the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison, Wisconsin about Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to strike 13 percent from the budget of the University of Wisconsin. Shocking enough. But there was more, as Jonas Persson and Mary Bottari reported for CMD’s PRWatch:

Walker’s executive budget (see below) amends Sec. 1111 of the statutes to remove language specifying that the UW system has a public service mission to “extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campus” and to “serve and stimulate society.” He strikes language ensuring that the mission of the UW is to extend “training and public service designed to educate people and improve the human condition,” as well as the language specifying that “the search for truth” is “basic to every purpose of the system.”

Walker backtracked, claiming the strikeout of language core to the state’s guiding principle since the Progressive Era, the “Wisconsin Idea,” was a drafting error. Politifact rated that claim “Pants on Fire.”

But this observation about Walker by Chris Hayes jumped out at me (emphasis mine):

There’s something sort of ingenious about this from a political standpoint. It seems to me that one of his M.O.s in office has been to sort of use policy as a mechanism by which to reduce the political power of people that would oppose him — progressives, the left. I mean, go after the unions, right? Which is a huge pillar of progressive power in the state of Wisconsin. And another big pillar of progressive power in the state, frankly, is the university system.

Speaking of M.O.s, this is eerily similar to what is happening in North Carolina, and no accident, is my guess. Like Walker’s, the GOP-led legislature here has been looking to weaken any foci of opposition. Three weeks ago and without explanation, UNC Chapel Hill’s president, Tom Ross, was forced from office. A local blogger offered this explanation to the Charlotte Observer:

Without a clear explanation of why Ross, 64, was being forced from his job, political consultant Thomas Mills concluded politics was the reason. Ross is a former executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a financial backer of progressive groups, and that may have hurt him, Mills said.

“Maybe what they want is somebody who’s going to kowtow to the legislature, and he has pushed back about some legislative priorities,” said Mills, who has worked for Democrats. “If they want that, what’s the point in having a system president?”

Rumors fly that “third Koch brother” Art Pope wants the job.

Chad Nance at Camel City Dispatch believes much more is being targeted.:

Art Pope’s Civitas has long wanted to close North Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges… now they just may get their chance. In 2014 their hand-picked UNC Board of Governors targeted programs throughout North Carolina’s university system that are geared toward the studies of poverty, economy, climate and other sciences, and diversity studies. Any part of academia that might contradict these right-wing partisans’ anti-science and anti-working people agenda is on the chopping block.

Just this week, Greensboro got blindsided when a GOP state senator from the county introduced a bill to restructure elections for city council. (North Carolina is a Dillon’s Rule state.) The News & Record reported:

Senate Bill 36 would shrink the size of the council, fundamentally change the role and powers of the mayor, lengthen council terms, and reduce the number of council members who are elected at-large.

The changes would mean that residents would vote for two council representatives — their district member and the mayor — instead of five.

The legislation also puts four current City Council members in the same newly drawn District 4. Council members Mike Barber, Marikay Abuzuaiter, Zack Matheny and Nancy Hoffmann would have to battle it out for a single seat.

And wouldn’t you know? Of the four, three are Democrats, as is the mayor.

Same M.O.

The News & Record reports this is “the third time in recent history that the legislature has sought to rearrange a local government body.” That is incorrect.

They did it to Buncombe County (mine) in 2011, going from at-large elections to districts to weaken the influence of the city of Asheville — and increasing the number on the commission by two. Now, you can argue that it’s more representative for county voters, and it might be, but this arrived via virtually the same M.O. as Greensboro. No advance warning. No consultation with local officials or referendum of voters. Imposed by fiat from Raleigh by the “small government” people. And hanging in the air is the implied threat to do the same to Asheville city council in retribution for the city not rolling over and submitting to Raleigh’s will when they passed legislation to wrest away control of the city’s water system — that’s still in the courts — as they attempted to with Charlotte’s international airport. Remember Detroit’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr? First piece of public infrastructure he targeted for privatizing was water and sewer.

First they came for the labor unions, etc. Are we seeing a pattern here?

Cocktail hour

by digby

No adorable animals this Friday night. Have a little adult beverage and watch this instead: