Month: April 2015

They just make stuff up Part CCLVI

by digby

Harold Pollack noticed a little boo-boo at the Weekly Standard:

Kimberly Pinter is a tax attorney in northern Virginia. So her April 3 article in the Weekly Standard, “Obamacare Pinches the Poor,” on ACA’s tax requirements will understandably concern many low-income citizens. She writes:

According to the www.healthcare.gov web site, you can get an income-based exemption if “you don’t have to file a tax return because your income is below the level that requires you to file.”

Sounds simple enough, right? Until further investigation reveals that this exemption is claimed directly on the tax return. That’s right – the tax return you’re not required to file.

While the circular nature of this exemption is ludicrous on its face, its effects are far-reaching and incredibly regressive….

It’s a safe bet that many members of this population will not be cognizant of their need to file simply to avoid the Obamacare penalty for being uninsured.

[….]compliance with this behemoth law disproportionately burdens the poorest of the poor. Like a shark silently stalking its unknowing prey, Obamacare lurks waiting to take a bite out of the unwary. And in this case, it’s the poor.

Yet another stupid Rube Goldberg application of the Nanny State, right? Well no. actually. ACA has its share of glitches and complications. But this isn’t one of them. As ACA legal expert Timothy Jost notes over email, Pinter is wrong.

Indeed here is the government’s actual directions to low-income people. I found this through a quick Google search at a website called IRS.gov:

If you are not required to file a tax return and don’t want to file a return, you do not need to file a return solely to report your coverage or to claim an exemption.

I just love conservative crocodile tears for the poor. These are the people who think the “solution” (to the extent they care at all) is to have poor people negotiate the private health care system and shop around for the best prices on heart transplants. Nothing Rube Goldberg about that …

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Mislearning the Civil Rights era

Racially fraught incidents at colleges around the country highlight what PBS describes as “a failed lesson in colorblindness.” Good intentions gone awry.

This week, a white female at the University of South Carolina was suspended over a photo showing her writing a racial slur on a whiteboard. The comment blamed blacks for the poor wifi reception on campus. The incident followed the expulsion of three students at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania over racial comments broadcast on college radio:

…one of the students used the N-word, a second said “black people should be dead” and the third said “lynch ’em.”

A student at Duke University is under investigation after hanging a noose from a tree on campus. A former University of Mississippi student faces federal civil rights charges for placing a noose on the statue of James Meredith, the first student to integrate the Ole Miss campus in 1962. Then there was the infamous video of University of Oklahoma fraternity members’ racist chant. And others.

The Christian Science Monitor quotes a PBS op-ed by Mychal Denzel Smith:

“As children of the multi-cultural 1980s and 90s, Millennials are fluent in colorblindness and diversity, while remaining illiterate in the language of anti-racism,” Mychal Denzel Smith, a journalist and social commentator, wrote in an op-ed for PBS.

Smith writes:

To be fair, that’s not entirely their fault. They were taught by their elders, Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers, about how to think about race and racism. The lessons Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers gleaned from the Civil Rights era is that racism is matter of personal bigotry — racists hate people because of the color of their skin, or because they believe stereotypes about groups of people they’ve never met — not one of institutional discrimination and exploitation. The history Millennials have been taught is through that lens, with a specific focus on misunderstanding the message of Martin Luther King, Jr. Certainly, a world where we all loved one another would be ideal, where each person is seen as equal, where “the dream” of children of all different racial backgrounds holding hands with one another without prejudice is a reality. But Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers generally decided to ignore King’s diagnosis of the problem — white supremacy — and opted to make him a poster-child for a colorblind society, in which we simply ignore construct of race altogether and pray that it will disappear on its own.

Hence the insistence after the election of Barack Obama that we now live in a post-racial society, recent evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Three-quarters of a century after the Silents before them, Smith’s analysis suggests, race is again a taboo subject decent people don’t talk about in polite society. Only 20 percent of millennials say they’re comfortable having a conversation about it.

Smith elaborates on how the pursuit of colorblindness as an ideal misses the mark:

For Millennials, racism is a relic of the past, but what vestiges may still exist are only obstacles if the people affected decide they are. Everyone is equal, they’ve been taught, and therefore everyone has equal opportunity for success. This is the deficiency found in the language of diversity. We have spent the post-Civil Rights era concerned with whether or not there is adequate representation for racial minority groups within our existing institutions, not questioning whether these institutions are fundamentally racist and rely on white supremacy for their very existence. Armed with this impotent analysis, Millennials perpetuate false equivalencies, such as affirmative action as a form of discrimination on par with with Jim Crow segregation. And they can do so while not believing themselves racist or supportive of racism.

Writing for Aljazeera in January, Demos’ Sean McElwee finds that “while young white Americans are clearly aware of interpersonal racism, they seem unwilling to address structural or implicit biases. It may be that racial progress will occur simply because there are fewer young whites relative to people of color.” That is, demographic factors are also work.

Responding to the Duke noose incident, Ed Dorn, who teaches civil rights history at the University of Texas in Austin told the Monitor:

“A lot of people, even of the Millennial generation, grew up believing that this country would always look a certain way, and that the people who were in charge of major institutions would always be of a certain color … But the color line is shifting, and in a few decades this will no longer be a white man’s country. That makes them uncomfortable, angry, and anxious.”

[snip]

“We’re seeing a major pushback against the progress that’s been made since the 1960s, and one manifestation of that is a racist song by a bunch of drunken fraternity members and incidents like [the noose at] Duke,” says Professor Dorn. “It’s also important to note that free expression on campus has traditionally not been sanctioned strongly, which means that a few 20-somethings on a college campus, fueled by a few beers, feel that they can get away with a few things. There’s a reason we use the word ‘sophomoric.’ “

Regarding our own college years, most of us might not want to look too closely in the mirror.

Aging rocker: Pacino in Danny Collins

Alter cocker: Depardieu in Welcome to New York

The timing of the film’s release is interesting, in light of the current banking crisis and plethora of financial scandals. From what I understand, certain elements of the story are based on the B.C.C.I. scandal. I predict this will become the new trend in screen villains-the R. Allen Stanfords and Bernie Madoffs seem heaven-sent to replace Middle-Eastern terrorists as the newest Heavies du Jour in action thrillers. You can take that to the bank.

47 years ago today

by digby

This happened:

What a horrible, horrible thing that was. What an awful world we inhabit sometimes.

Later that night, this happened:

And then a couple months later … well, you know what happened. I was just a kid. Many of you weren’t born yet.  Let’s just say that it felt like we were coming apart at the seams. But we didn’t.

Another salvo in the war on women

by digby

They’re coming fast and furious these days:

The last time Texas lawmakers met in the state capitol, it was to pass the mammoth anti-abortion bill that was the target of state Sen. Wendy Davis’ all-night filibuster. Now the Legislature is in session again after a year-and-a-half-long recess, and conservatives are pushing a slew of new measures that would make it harder for women to end pregnancies.

Two of these bills would publicize the names of judges who give minors permission to obtain abortions—a step that critics say would put judges under intense pressure, or even jeopardize their safety.

In 38 states, it is illegal for a minor to terminate a pregnancy without one parent’s knowledge. (Some of those 38 states go further, and require a parent’s permission.) Girls who are afraid or unable to involve their parents can ask a judge for permission instead. This confidential process, which the Supreme Court helped establish in the late ’70s and early ’80s, is called judicial bypass.

Since 2010, when Republicans captured a record number of legislative bodies and governors’ seats, lawmakers in several states have passed laws that limit the counties where a minor can petition for bypass or forbid anyone other than lawyers or court staff—such as an aunt or a teacher—from helping a young woman obtain one. And Alabama has approved a harsh new measure—blocked in court—that requires district attorneys to cross-examine minors who want to get abortions.

But Texas is the first state in recent memory to consider naming the judges who rule on bypass cases. One bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Ron Simmons, would name the judges outright. Another proposal, authored by fellow Republican Rep. Geanie Morrison, would list the courts that grant bypass petitions. Since some courts have just a few judges, Morrison’s bill would make it easier for abortion foes to identify and pressure judges who give minors permission to get abortions. Morrison did not respond to requests for comment, and Simmons declined to comment.

Many of the girls who seek a judicial bypass are victims of incest. It used to be that everyone understood that girls should not be expected to gestate and give birth to their own brothers and sisters. But that’s no longer the case. A lot of anti-abortion advocates have become so absolutist that they want to force girls and women to give birth to their rapists children, and they don’t care how it happened or who raped them — not even if it was their own brother or father.

Now they want to make it an election issue for judges so they no longer feel they have discretion to help these girls either.

These people are sick.

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The Iran Deal for dummies

by digby

From the Atlantic:

To assess the impact of the accord that the United States and its partners reached with Iran on Thursday, it is useful to start with five bottom lines. To what questions are 15,000, 12,000, 10, 5, and 0 the answers?

15,000 is the number of pounds of low-enriched uranium that would be neutralized. 

12,000 is the number of centrifuges that would be decommissioned. 

10 is the number of months by which Iran’s “breakout” timeline to a bomb would be extended. 

5 is the number of bombs’ worth of low-enriched uranium that would be neutralized. 

0 is the number of bombs’ worth of plutonium that Iran would be able to produce.

Of course, the framework accord still has to be translated into a more specific, binding agreement. And even more important, assuming that is done, the agreement has to be implemented. But if this happens, a state that currently has seven bombs’ worth of enriched uranium and 19,000 centrifuges, and is six weeks away from breaking out to produce the core of a bomb, will have been pushed back materially on each of these fronts. Moreover, the route to a bomb using plutonium rather than uranium, which Iran has pursued for over a decade at its Arak facility, will have been abandoned.

Click over to read the charts that explain this all more fully.

Honestly, I cannot fathom how people can be against even trying this. The only explanation is that they just want war and then occupation. That’s unfortunately where imperialist ambitions always lead. And these people have some serious imperialist ambitions.

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Christian charity

by digby

On Easter week-end too:

#RFRA pic.twitter.com/SSXGPCFwBK— CatholicVote.org (@CatholicVote) April 2, 2015

It was Easter week 10 years ago that the Christians of the US all celebrated their most joyous holiday as this highly contentious display of inhuman cruelty played out all over the nation:

The Schiavo case was a weighty one. But the religious right, with the help of Jeb Bush and his big brother in the White House, turned it into a vicious, public culture-war battle.

Who can forget when Bush, under increasing national pressure from the religious right, personally wrote to a judge in Schiavo’s case? When Bush’s lawyers and the Florida state legislature rushed through a blatantly unconstitutional law allowing the governor to issue a “one-time stay” of a court order? When Bush convinced Republicans in Congress to intervene, with Bill Frist memorably offering a snap medical “diagnosis” of Schiavo on the Senate floor without ever seeing the patient?

Throughout the ordeal, Bush used every connection available to him to intervene in the Schiavo case. Even after Schiavo’s death, he tried to instigate a criminal inquiry into her husband.

As Schiavo’s husband chillingly told Politico this year, if Bush and others could do this to him and his wife, “they’ll do it to every person in this country.”

“That man put me through misery,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “He acted on his personal feelings and religious beliefs, so how can he talk about limited government?”

It’s no wonder that Bush is now downplaying his role in the Schiavo case. At the time, an overwhelming majority of Americans wanted the government to get out of the family’s private struggle. But the case still has a strong resonance with the religious right, and to many of them, Jeb Bush is its hero.

It’s probably a coincidence that these displays of social conservative cruelty keep coming up on Easter week-end. One certainly hopes so anyway.

I would guess the vast majority of Christians don’t want to spend this holiday, of all holidays, having to contend with a faction of believers in their midst who insist on mistakenly casting themselves as the martyrs when they are, in fact, the Romans. But it looks like it’s going to be another one of those family gatherings for a lot of them.

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Facebook polling

by digby

I don’t know how relevant this is to anything but it’s sort of interesting anyway:

Inside and outside Indiana, the sentiment on Gov. Mike Pence is split, according to data provided to BuzzFeed News by Facebook.

The bitter debate surrounding the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act exploded: In a seven-day period, there were 1 million interactions about Pence on Facebook in just Indiana alone.

The law prohibits the government from infringing on religious liberty unless certain standards are met. The law is similar but not identical to many of the RFRAs in other states; Indiana’s includes private litigation and corporations. Critics alleged the law would open up the state to legalized LGBT discrimination; proponents argued the law codifies the legal process for conscientious objection.

On Thursday, Pence signed an amendment that prevents the law from being used as a legal defense to deny service based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

As the debate got bigger, though, the sentiment improved for Pence to about evenly split in Indiana (47% positive) and nationally (49% positive).

Obviously Facebook users aren’t representative of the country as a whole. It’s not a real poll. But it is a look at people who use social media and pay attention to some level of politics. (It’s not Kim Kardashian Instagram users …) And it frankly surprised me a little bit. I would have thought it would show a more lopsided number in favor of gay rights. But then I suppose that the most vociferous anti-gay people are the ones most likely to weigh in on Facebook so perhaps that’s tilting the results.

Still, I suppose that this still represents progress and a lot of it. It’s hard to imagine 10 years ago when Democrats of all stripes were dancing on the head of a pin with their “marriage is between and man and a woman but I believe gay people should be treated with respect blah, blah, blah…” that this would be the result.

Still, this is one more bit of evidence that the social conservatives aren’t done yet. But then, they’ll never be done as anyone who has worked in reproductive rights can tell you.

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Curiouser and curiouser
by Tom Sullivan

Sen. Ted Cruz is enough to grok before the second cup of coffee, but this may take some espresso:

A Philadelphia woman was arrested Friday on charges she tried to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, a day after two women in New York City were charged with plotting to build a bomb and use it for a Boston Marathon-type attack.

Keonna Thomas, 30, was preparing to travel overseas to fight with the armed group and hoped to make it to Syria, authorities said. Instead, she was arrested at her home, which has three small U.S. flags adorning the porch. If convicted, she could face 15 years in prison.

This woman’s arrest comes on the heels of the two New York women arrested Thursday:

“The defendants allegedly plotted to wreak terror by creating explosive devices and even researching the pressure cooker bombs used during the Boston Marathon bombing,” said Assistant Director in Charge Diego Rodriguez, of the FBI’s New York Field Office.

The justice department said the two women have plotted to build an explosive device since at least August of last year and studied chemistry and electricity.

They did not have a specific target but at one point considered Herald Square in Manhattan, according to the court documents.

Ms Velentzas apparently criticised a US Air Force veteran who was recently arrested for attempting to travel to Syria engage in violent jihad.

She questioned why people would try to travel overseas when there were targets in the US that provided opportunities for “pleasing Allah”, the justice department said.

A grain of salt, of course. American authorities are not above entrapping people on terrorism charges. Yet these three join Jihad Jane and young women from England, France, and Austria (among others) willing to turn on, tune in, and check out. They are about “10% of those leaving Europe, North America and Australia to link up with jihadi groups,” according to the Guardian.

George Packer wrote in the New Yorker in February:

There’s an undeniable attraction in this horror for a number of young people around the Middle East, North Africa, and even Europe and America, who want to leave behind the comfort and safety of normal life for the exaltation of the caliphate. The level of its violence hasn’t discouraged new recruits—the numbers keep growing, because extreme violence is part of what makes ISIS so compelling. Last year, Vice News shot a documentary in the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria, and what was striking in the footage was the happiness on the faces of ISIS followers. They revelled in the solidarity of a common cause undertaken at great personal risk. They are idealists—that’s what makes them so dangerous.

Packer told PRI’s “The World”:

“People who leave their comfortable lives to join ISIS might actually find the ultra-violence of ISIS exciting and somehow fulfilling, and it might almost prove to them that ISIS is serious,” Packer says. “It satisfies the more apocalyptic longings that ISIS and its members have to purify the world of non-believers and apostates, and to galvanize and lift the hearts of the believers.”

Packer says calls for “purification” are key for any extremist group when they call for ridding “the world of these contaminants — whether it’s the Jews, whether it’s the Christians, whether it’s the Slavs, whether it’s the seculars, whether it’s the intellecutal [sic] Cambodians.”

Still, it’s tough to see what in ISIL propaganda is attractive for young women. Their reasons for joining are complex, no doubt, but as with most propaganda, the reality is a tad less glossy, as the manifesto released in January, “Women of the Islamic State,” reveals.

But the motivations for joining terrorist groups tend “not to be different between men and women,” according to researcher Mia Bloom, Professor of Security Studies at the University of Massachusetts. The social media recruiting savvy of these groups is far superior to al Qaeda or the Tamil Tigers. She discussed the manifesto with Euronews in February:

Bloom: “I think the reason this document was not intended for an English-speaking audience is that it contravenes almost completely this Disney, idealised version that ISIS has portrayed for women, when they’re addressing women in the UK, Canada or Australia by saying, ‘It’s a wonderful life and you’re going to come here and have everything taken care of for you, and you’re going to have excitement and you’re going to be able to make this contribution,’ whereas the Arabic document makes clear that you’re going to be married off and there’s a good possibility you’re not going to be able to leave the house, but you’ll still be able to do more in the caliphate than you will in your home societies.”

euronews: “How can Western countries try to counteract this type of propaganda?”

Bloom: “For example, I’ve seen on Twitter a British jihadi who said, ‘I came here to be a hero and a martyr, and they have me cleaning toilets.’ It’s one of the things that I have to think about when we are very concerned about returning foreign fighters, that perhaps if we could have these individuals who are disillusioned address the public and talk to people who are on the fence and at least plant the seeds of doubt.”

The recruiting strikes me as the little different from that of other apocalyptic death cults around the world. The Kool-Aid comes in different colors, but it all tastes the same.

The coolest “mom dancer” in the land

by digby

I loved the first one they did and this one is just as good:

That’s in honor of the five year anniversary of Michelle Obama’s Stalinist program to force Americans to dance at gunpoint. (Also known as the “Let’s Move” campaign to encourage Americans, especially kids, to exercise for good health. She might just as well have sentenced them to the gulag.)

Somehow I don’t think either Mrs Bush, Mrs Walker or Mrs Rubio are quite this cool. Neither is Mr Clinton, although when he ran the first time everyone was thrilled that he could play the sax… The bar for first spouse coolness and good humor is now very, very high.

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