IT'S NOT JUST DYLAN DAVIES

(h/t Anne Laurie)

CBS really botched its Benghazi report in ways that I didn't know but McClatchy spells out:

Questions about ‘60 Minutes’ Benghazi story go beyond Dylan Davies interview; CBS conducting ‘journalistic review’
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Foreign Staff
November 13, 2013

- The report repeatedly referred to al Qaida as solely responsible for the attack on the compound and made no mention of Ansar al Shariah, the Islamic extremist group that controls and provides much of the security in restive Benghazi and that has long been suspected in the attack.

- Logan claimed that “it’s now well established that the Americans were attacked by al Qaida in a well-planned assault.” But al Qaida has never claimed responsibility for the attack, and the FBI, which is leading the U.S. investigation, has never named al Qaida as the sole perpetrator.

- Another questionable assertion in the “60 Minutes” report was Logan’s unsourced reference to the Benghazi Medical Center as being “under the control of al Qaida terrorists,” an assertion that McClatchy correspondents on the ground at the time and subsequent reporting in Benghazi indicates is untrue.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/13/208446/questions-about-60-minutes-benghazi.html#storylink=cpy

- The piece closed with a picture of a document outlining Stevens’ schedule for Sept. 12, “a day (Stevens) did not live to see.” According to the piece, “When a member of our team went to the U.S. compound earlier this month, he found remnants of the Americans’ final frantic moments still scattered on the ground.”
But the compound owner, Jamal el Bishari, told McClatchy on Wednesday that he began clearing debris in April from the compound’s four buildings and is still renovating the site. McClatchy visited the site in June and saw a pile of debris sitting outside the compound walls, but no documents were discernible among the broken concrete, clothing, furniture and soot.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/13/208446/questions-about-60-minutes-benghazi.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/13/208446/questions-about-60-minutes-benghazi.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/13/208446/questions-about-60-minutes-benghazi.html#storylink=cpy

"OVER 50 AND OUT OF WORK"

That's the title of this NBC News article on one of the problems facing too many Americans.  I was pleased to find that not many wingnuts were in the comments yapping about a free market utopia.  Those who did were as usual misinformed about even the most basic data.

UPDATE: The NY Times has a little more.

FATS LIMBAUGH IS NO LONGER THE BIG BAD WOLF

It used to be that when a Republican spoke out against Limbaugh, he or she would have to apologize in a few days but that doesn't seem to be the case now.  First, a New Jersey Republican takes a swipe at Fats:

During an appearance on NJTV Wednesday, Republican Bill Palatucci was confronted by host Mike Schneider over Limbaugh “tearing into Governor Christie.” Palatucci’s response was less than kind to Limbaugh.

“I take with a grain of salt people who are promoting their radio station, they’re promoting their book, or promoting their movie on HBO because––by picking on somebody, whether it’s from Bill’s party or my party. They’re out there shilling for themselves, looking for viewers or for book sales.”

Next, a GOP congressman says the Limbaugh is poorly informed:

Republican Congressman Fred Upton pushed the bill that passed the House on Friday to let Americans keep their health care plans if they like them, but Rush Limbaugh argued against it, saying it was essentially throwing a lifeline to Democrats and President Obama. Upton responded on Hugh Hewitt‘s show, saying Limbaugh didn’t have the right information about the bill.

Upton said, “It would have been nice if he had checked in with us and gotten some information.” He argued that this was an important step to help the millions of people losing their insurance in the real world so they don’t continue to suffer.

FIRST PALIN, NOW PAT BUCHANAN

Pope Francis' moderation has upset some of the Fundies and Buchanan let us know how in plain terms:

Papal Neutrality in the Culture War?
Pat Buchanan | Nov 15, 2013
Clown Hall

Yet here is further confirmation His Holiness seeks to move the Catholic Church to a stance of non-belligerence, if not neutrality, in the culture war for the soul of the West.

There is a small problem with neutrality. As Trotsky observed, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." For the church to absent itself from the culture war is to not to end that war, but to lose it.

In these two sentences, Buchanan melds Communism with Nietzsche which is typical of the conservatives' conceptual confusion:

The cultural revolution preached by Marxist Antonio Gramsci is continuing its "long march" through the institutions of the West and succeeding where the violent revolutions of Lenin and Mao failed. It is effecting a transvaluation of all values.

In The Anti-Christ, Nietzsche wrote:

I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, petty -- I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind…

And one calculates time from the dies nefastus on which this fatality arose -- from the first day of Christianity! Why not rather from its last? From today? Revaluation of all values!

SOMETIMES READING THE COMMENTS PAYS OFF...

In this case, I was reading about John Quiggin's new article at Jacobin and found this:

Michael 

November 15th, 2013 at 09:25 | #6

Reply | Quote

I’m still waiting for an answer to the question Paul Woolley from the Centre for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality poised before the GFC: if the theory of efficient markets is true (which it obviously isn’t) how are super profits possible in a sector that is supposed to enable efficient transactions and services to the real economy? The answer seems to be that they have totally gamed the system through corrupting politics.

THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS

(h/t Jodi Cassell)

Despite having so many uninsured and under-insured people in Texas, Gov. Perry thinks it's an infringement on freedom to expand Medicaid and the dismal results are obvious in these 2 articles, here and here.   I just can't understand how Perry can consider himself to be a real Christian.

ANOTHER BAGGER MEME IS DEFLATED

(h/t CNNMoney)
One argument against Obamacare is the claim that it will lead to much longer waiting times.  Right now, our glorious medical care system isn't doing very well compared to socialist hellholes:

UPDATE: More data on "the best healthcare system in the world"

SELLING MAHINDRA TRACTORS IS A DESPERATE MOVE...

but selling adult "body liners" really shows the main demographic for the Limbaugh show:

Wed Nov 13, 2013 at 02:34 PM PST
Rush Limbaugh Fans Now Literally Crapping Their Pants

by ProgLegs

On Tuesday, an alert Flush Rush monitor caught an ad during the Rush Limbaugh broadcast for Butterfly Body Liners, a product designed to protect against "accidental bowel leakage."

"IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?"

For Fundies, that question is not just a part of a joke, it's for real because Pope Francis is revealing that Catholicism and by inference Christianity is relatively LIBERAL.

Palin shares some Catholics’ concerns about Pope Francis and his ‘liberal’ agenda
By Travis Gettys
Wednesday, November 13, 2013 8:00 EST
The Raw Story

Sarah Palin says she’s dismayed by the apparent liberal agenda of Pope Francis, although she suspects her perception may have been shaped by misleading media reports.

“He’s had some statements that to me sound kind of liberal, has taken me aback, has kind of surprised me,” Palin said Tuesday in an interview on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

THE GOP FINDS ANOTHER WAY TO FAIL

Reuters and POLITICO report that the House Baggers are going to try to bring articles of impeachment against Attorney General Holder but the GOP House leaders may not go along.  I'm sure Limbaugh, Hannity & Levin will promote this stupid move but other than that, there's not much to this.

Here's another example of a Bagger FAIL:

Commissioned poll: Mike Enzi up 53 on Liz Cheney

THIS IS PRETTY CLEVER

The Koch brothers are targeting state legislatures with their financial support of ALEC and the State Policy Network.  This is clever because it's cheaper to get your way at the state level and fewer people are paying close attention.

AMERICA REALLY IS EXCEPTIONAL BECAUSE...

we give broadcast time to a war criminal:

(h/t FOX NATION)

LATE IN THE LAST CENTURY...

I was listening to an NPR show and a older female caller said that biracial marriages were just wrong.  Today I learned that a WaPo opinion writer thinks that is the "conventional view" but he doesn't give ANY data to support his position.  Links to more reactions here.

UPDATE: Here's some recent data from Gallup:

July 25, 2013
In U.S., 87% Approve of Black-White Marriage, vs. 4% in 1958
Ninety-six percent of blacks, 84% of whites approve
by Frank Newport

THE (BAGGER) TAIL IS WAGGING THE (AMERICAN) DOG

 Even though 76% of Americans favor raising the minimum wage to $9, Speaker Boehner refuses to even consider a bill that would do that. It's a little more remarkable that this has bipartisan support:

the [Gallup] poll shows that 58 percent of Republicans also approve of raising the minimum wage to $9. For comparison, 76 percent of independent voters and 91 percent of Democrats would vote in favor of such a law.

UPDATE: Australia and Denmark prove that raising the minimum will not lead to a catastrophe.

GOOD FOR POLITICO

This article accurately describes a key segment of modern American conservatives and gives a great example:

For instance, a conspiracy that was spread by partisan outlets include the one PPP found 25 percent of Americans believing in - that Obama is secretly seeking a another four years in office, despite the constitutional prohibition. PPP pollster Jim Williams said it came to his attention when he was soliciting theories to survey.

“One thing we’re starting to see a lot on Twitter now is people thinking President Obama is secretly trying to find a way to a third term, which I didn’t see until I stated researching questions, so that’s a new one,” Williams said.

With a little searching, he found it easily on the Internet, including a Mother Jones article that traced the idea back to an advertising email distributed by Townhall.com, Newsmax, Human Events and Gingrich Marketplace, as well as mentions from popular radio hosts Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh.

STATES THAT DIDN'T EXPAND MEDICARE

Ezra Klein provides a useful map:

FATS LIMBAUGH VS THE HOUSE GOP

Limbaugh doesn't want any changes made to Obamacare because he wants the implementation to be as painful as possible for the American people but that's not what the House GOP think:

“I want to foist the least amount of damage on the folks I represent so if we could do anything that helps them out, I'm all for it,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said.

THIS IS NICE TO READ

Some of the Baggers are really pissed off at the GOP as you can see from these excerpts from this post at Tea Party Nation:

In the 2010 midterm election I worked on the Sharron Angle campaign from beginning to end. During that election cycle it became obvious to the most casual of observers that We The People were fighting battles on TWO fronts: the Liberal / Democrat machine AND the Republican National Committee. 


It is time for open and aggressive insurrection by We The People AGAINST the GOP.

The GOP is NOT our friend. The GOP does NOT represent us or our values. The GOP is more focused on destroying the Tea Party and its supporters than it is interested in defeating the Liberal / Progressive / So-Called-Democratic agenda.

Wake Up America! We The People are AT WAR with our government - ALL of our government. We have very few “friends” in Washington like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.

WORTH LOOKING INTO

Rick Perlstein wrote this in The Nation:

As Thomas Frank points out in Pity the Billionaire, most participants at the sparsely populated (but overly covered) early “Tea Party” rallies were either staffers from conservative groups or congressional offices. The grassroots came later, at which point the entrepreneurs raised the stakes by launching congressional campaigns.

GEORGE WASHINGTON ON RELIGION & THE STATE

In a letter to the Society of Quakers written in 1789, Washington made this point:

The liberty enjoyed by the People of these States, of worshipping Almighty God agreable to their Consciences, is not only among the choicest of their Blessings, but also of their Rights—While men perform their social Duties faithfully, they do all that Society or the State can with propriety demand or expect; and remain responsible only to their Maker for the Religion or modes of faith which they may prefer or profess.