Indefinite Detention? But I Have Soccer Practice at 4: U.S. Politics 2012

chillwave moderne

buzza I want you to know that this didn't pass unappreciated btw

aero i <3 u but i think you are being unreasonably unreasonable here

ps "you're kinda bad at being cynical and that's why you'll never understand politics" is prob the single ad hommiest thing I have said to you on years of debates. there's nothing wrong w/ being a romantic, it benefits you in other aspects of life and makes you an interesting person to read on like 95% of subjects. it's just a fundamentally poor way to understand how politics - any politics, anywhere - works.

in years*

aero i <3 u but i think you are being unreasonably unreasonable here

impossible

ps "you're kinda bad at being cynical and that's why you'll never understand politics" is prob the single ad hommiest thing I have said to you on years of debates. there's nothing wrong w/ being a romantic, it benefits you in other aspects of life and makes you an interesting person to read on like 95% of subjects. it's just a fundamentally poor way to understand how politics - any politics, anywhere - works.

btw I'm sure this is all true? it's just like not germane to what I'm on about, which is your insistence on this weird bad-people deal which I oughta just type "sigh" to and be done with but the very naivete you cite coupled with our general other-spheres compatibility sort of obligates me by my nature to say "oh come on you can't actually think that way" every damn time

though I'd say 95% of subjects is a pretty generous estimate, ty

impossible

i know!

I think republicans are 'bad people' because I don't think you can really be a morally sound person because the only thing the gop sells in 2012 is morally bankrupt policy. you can be stupid or you can be bad. I don't think every single person in oklahoma is a weird-bad person, believe it or not. but a lot of them are racist, a lot of them are homophobic, a lot of them genuinely would be fine w/ a woman dying instead of getting an abortion. you can pretend those people don't exist, and america is nothing but good-hearted souls, that there is nothing crass, heartless, vain, warmongering in our culture itself. but pretending that makes american politics a lot more confusing. why would such a great place consistently elect horrible people? etc.

outside of this I think you confuse my disgust w/ poor urban planning w/ a disgust for people who live places.

er rewrite the first sentence:

I think republicans are 'bad people' because the only thing the gop sells in 2012 is morally bankrupt policy.

jeez I fall asleep listening to a baseball podcast and look what happens.

SI did vote somethin like 75% for Giuliani, but admittedly I skew closer to George Carlin's "we suck."

They have houses with waterfalls where the water flows over the front of the house.

― Mordy, Thursday, February 9, 2012 4:42 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://hellogiggles.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/twin_peaks_twin_peaks_fire_walk_with_me_1991_reference.jpeg

They have houses with waterfalls where the water flows over the front of the house.

― Mordy, Thursday, February 9, 2012 4:42 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://hellogiggles.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/twin_peaks_twin_peaks_fire_walk_with_me_1991_reference.jpeg

Can we get back to the bit where Obamacare / Iraq / Gitmo are "super left-wing" policies? Because as someone outside the US, that shit is fascinating.

Like is "nationalise" an ab-word that obliterates any word put next to it, which cannot be put into a sentence?

(writing this from NHS dentist's waiting room, feeling kind of smug)

oh shit dental death squad fghsxzzz

Can we get back to the bit where Obamacare / Iraq / Gitmo are "super left-wing" policies? Because as someone outside the US, that shit is fascinating.

― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, February 9, 2012 9:13 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

imo they aren't. Bush was close to closing gitmo in 2008 and backed off, in part, because it was so complicated to do so. Iraq drawdown is bipartisan in the extreme.

and every democrat promises broad healthcare reform. Clinton promised it and no one thought he was wildly left wing.

Obama didn't run as a liberal Democrat. Why would he?

even if he was a liberal democrat, it would be in his best interest to pretend he was a centrist.

I recall at least one 2008 appearance where he explicitly called himself "progressive."

Sorry, most libs who voted for him thought he was liberal, eyes and ears notwithstanding.

Don't make fun of the president's ears.

Republicans to issue report on Gitmo, including their outrage on this:

While the Obama administration overhauled the transfer policies, the report said the changes were inadequate to sufficiently mitigate risks. The December 2010 report said that of 66 detainees transferred under President Obama, five — including two ordered released by courts — were “suspected” of having re-engaged or “confirmed” as having done so, for a combined rate of about 7.5 percent.

Under Bush: A December 2010 intelligence report said that of the 600 detainees transferred out — mostly during the Bush administration — 13.5 percent were “confirmed” as having re-engaged in hostile activity and 11.5 percent were “suspected” of doing so; nearly half of those are now dead or back in custody. Last year, Mr. Clapper said the combined figure was 27 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/us/gop-report-criticizes-transfers-from-guantanamo.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

btw calling Obama's 2008 positions "far left" -- plz cut that shit, Cokie Roberts and "Fox & Friends" do not get to rewrite the dictionary.

"nationalise"

Americans do recognize this spelling

not, I meant

giving up politics on ILE & Facebook for Lent

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2012/02/09/schneiderman-victims-share-your-thoughts-on-the-settlement/

Not everyone's happy with the Obama and state attny gens settlement

yeah i still have to make my way through the yves smith fury about that

kinda wish there were more finance-critical bloggers that didn't read like they went through a keyboard a week from whiteknuckle damage

Wells Fargo, Citi, Ally/GMAC, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America just sealed a deal with 49 State Attorneys General that will release them from liability for out-right defrauding millions of homeowners. In exchange, families defrauded by the banks can apply for what amounts to 2 months rent ($1,800-$2,000) compensation for losing their homes.

I heard the Maryland Attorney General on the radio defending this and insisting that he and the NY, California and Delaware attorney generals improved this and made it strong--pushing the amount up from 6 billion to 26 billion and making other changes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/faq-the-foreclosure-settlement/2011/08/25/gIQAcvGV1Q_blog.html

The deal is currently worth $26 billion. Is that really a lot of money? Depends what you mean by “a lot of money.” The deal is the largest of its kind since a multi-state agreement with the tobacco industry in 1998. But that deal was worth around $350 billion in today’s dollars. It’s also not a lot of money compared to the $700 billion in underwater mortgage debt, or the bailout of the banks that issue and bought the debt in the first place.

The settlement increased in size thanks to the participation of California and New York’s attorneys general, who had been holdouts. However, some critics say the amount is relatively paltry, given the extent of the nation’s housing crisis.

What’s in it for the banks? The banks have been operating under a cloud of legal uncertainty over their exposure to bad mortgages that were not properly documented. That has hurt banks’ stock prices and tied up capital. As part of today’s deal, officials have promised not to pursue certain mortgage-related claims against the targeted banks.

So are they off the hook entirely? No. One reason the deal is relatively small is that it doesn’t fully end the banks’ legal liability. New York AG Eric Schneiderman, for instance, is able to move forward with his lawsuit.

I have no reason to doubt Harris will aggressively go after the banks on behalf of California.

“‘I was thinking about how sexy it would be to kiss you,’” world renowned pickup artist Wayne Elise told a group of young Rick Santorum fans. “You can say that (to a girl), it’s a cool.”

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/professional-pick-up-artist-teaches-cpac-crowd-how-to-run-game.php

it's a cool

positively Wilsonian....

http://www.salon.com/2012/02/09/obamas_unprecedented_war_on_whistleblowers/singleton/

giving up politics on ILE & Facebook for Lent

― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Thursday, February 9, 2012 1:39 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol Lent doesn't start until the 22nd

oh, didn't realize. i'll just update my calendar then...

(altho i guess i did realize that since we're going to NOLA soon during mardi gras and i know that's like the last hurrah before lent.)

positively Wilsonian....

Jesus!

A+ trolling, someone buy this dude a beer:

Mississippi State Rep. Steve Holland has had a busy afternoon. After we reported his introduction of H.B. 150 yesterday, a bill that aims to rename the Gulf of Mexico the very pro-'Merican, Onion-worthy title "Gulf of America," the Democrat's office has been flooded with press calls to respond to, essentially, "what the hell are you doing?"

Turns out Holland has a bit of a goof streak going on. He called Gambit to tell us the bill is his tongue-in-cheek single-finger salute to mock his Republican peers obsessed with illegal immigration.

"That's exactly what it is," he says. He's throwing the bill into session with his Republican counterparts, who he says should be focused on helping "feed, clothe and educate children, take care of older adults, provide economic development and high systems in this state, and all the hell they want to talk about is running illegal immigrants out, and drug testing welfare and Medicaid recipients — all superfluous crap as far as I'm concerned. So I thought I'd just join them with a bill to chew on, saying the Gulf of America instead of the Gulf of Mexico, since everything Mexican and Hispanic is 'so bad.' Nothing but a 'spamalot' bill is all it is. Tongue-in-cheek."

Despite his ruse, he's drawn ire from Café Con Leche, a GOP group of Minnesota Latinos who demanded Holland withdraw the bill, which the group dubs anti-Mexican. Café Con Leche suggested Holland rename the Mississippi River “Lincoln River,” while he’s at it. But his home state hasn't peeped yet.

"Nobody in Mississippi has responded, but I've been responding to phone calls all over the world," Holland says. "Maybe I didn't think about it, but hell, I've been here 29 years, I got to try and have some fun as best I can with all these jerks."

Speaking of fun, you might catch Holland at Mardi Gras.

"I'm coming into New Orleans the week after next to raise hell," he says. "Just time to have my New Orleans fix. I go once a quarter. I love it."

lol Mordy can't wait

positively Wilsonian....

Jesus!

judge for yourself:

One of the things to which he paid particular attention at this time was the matter of the pardon of Eugene V. Debs. The day that the recommendation for pardon arrived at the White House, he looked it over and examined it carefully, and said: "I will never consent to the pardon of this man. I know that in certain quarters of the country there is a popular demand for the pardon of Debs, but it shall never be accomplished with my consent. Were I to consent to it, I should never be able to look into the faces of the mothers of this country who sent their boys to the other side. While the flower of American youth was pouring out its blood to vindicate the cause of civilization, this man, Debs, stood behind the lines, sniping, attacking, and denouncing them. Before the war he had a perfect right to exercise his freedom of speech and to express his own opinion, but once the Congress of the United States declared war, silence on his part would have been the proper course to pursue. I know there will be a great deal of denunciation of me for refusing this pardon. They will say I am cold-blooded and indifferent, but it will make no impression on me. This man was a traitor to his country and he will never be pardoned during my administration."

"They will say I am cold-blooded and indifferent, but it will make no impression on me."

The crazy thing is that he probably meant this to be taken unironically.

wmc's real name is Steve Holland?

lol

Was really hoping dude would turn out to be director "Savage" Steve Holland in a new career phase, but alas.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/white-house-to-announce-accommodation-for-religious-organizations-on-contraception-rule/

One source familiar with the decision described the accommodation as “Hawaii-plus,” insisting that it’s better than the Hawaii plan — for both sides.

In Hawaii the employer is responsible for referring employees to places where they can obtain the contraception; Catholic leaders call that material cooperation with evil. But what the White House will likely announce later today is that the relationship between the religious employer and the insurance company will not need to have any component involving contraception. The insurance company will reach out on its own to the women employees. This is better for both sides, the source says, since the religious organizations do not have to deal with medical care to which they object, and women employees will not have to be dependent upon an organization hostile to that care in order to obtain it.

David Frum:

The Contraception Fight
by David Frum Feb 9, 2012 12:00 PM EST

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136081892AW002_SEBELIUS_HOL

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (R) takes questions as Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Richard Gilfillan (L) looks on during a news conference December 19, 2011, Alex Wong / Getty Images

Glendower:

I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Hotspur:

Why, so can I, or so can any man;

But will they come when you do call for them?

- Henry IV, Part 1.

As Republicans go to war over including contraception in health plans, they are repeating to themselves a reassuring mantra:

"This is not a contraception issue. This is not a social issue. This is a constitutional issue."

The idea is that they are not against contraception. They are only against requiring any employer or plan to provide contraception if that employer or plan conscientiously objects to contraception.

So they say, so they may sincerely believe.

But politics is not only about what you say. It is also about what your intended audience will hear.

If the audience is paying attention, for example, it will notice that Republicans are not proposing to allow employers and plans to refuse to cover blood transfusions if they conscientiously object to them (although there are religious groups that do). Or vaccinations (although there are individuals who conscientiously object to those as well). Or medicines derived from animal experimentation. (Ditto.)

No, Marco Rubio's Religious Freedom Restoration bill provides for one conscientious exemption only: contraception and sterilization.

Which means it will be very hard if not impossible to persuade the target audience that this debate is not in fact about contraception. Everybody quite sure that's a wise debate to have?

ha what the hell do republican voters care about jehovahs witnesses

obvs they don't but it's just nice to have them publicly called on their bullshit.