People who follow these things tell me that the specific changes Attorney General Eric Holder is introducing this morning tied to non-violent drug offenders are more symbolic than substantive. Not that many people are in the federal system on those kinds of charges. But the larger push to ramp back a generation of mass incarceration, driven in large measure by mandatory minimum sentencing laws, is just an incredibly important development. Especially when it comes from the very top of the criminal justice system in the United States.
But to put the news in perspective – not just today’s news but the news of the last half century which has gotten us to this point – you need to look at this chart. Read More
TPM Reader JL asks whether it’s really possible that we’re about to make another run at defaulting on the national debt or whether there really are limits to the crazy.
I was interested to see TW’s comments on fiscal matters. As an investment advisor, I have a keen interest in the topic. Politico joined the conversation this AM and I read that piece with interest as well.
I agree with TW and the Politico piece that the rank and file GOP seems more nihilistic than ever. Not only are they not afraid of something truly untoward–they seem to crave it. So I get that. And certainly GOP leadership has less control over the rank and file than it ever has. I get that too. But the radicalism, nihilism and disarray of the GOP has its limits. If that wasn’t the case, then the effort to use the threat of a government shutdown to defund Obamacare would be on track and I think everyone acknowledges that that crazy idea is going nowhere.
I think we can say Anthony Weiner is officially done. Three quarters of New York City voters now have an unfavorable impression of him. I’m pretty much used to no scandal information ever tanking candidates quite as much as commentators imagining. But this seems like the exception. I think there was a real chance he would have been elected Mayor pre-rescandal. But take two killed him. Politically.
After finding out that his old pal is cooperating with federal investigators, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell throws a punch of his own.
Tennessee judge rules parents can’t name child ‘Messiah’. “The word Messiah is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,” ruled Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew.
We’re excited to announce that we’ve hired Kay Steiger as our new Associate Editor in our DC office. She’ll be joining us later this month.
So Ted Cruz’s dad tells Iowa Family Leadership Summit that ‘homosexual marriage’ is a plot to make government your God. Watch.
Remember Dr. David McKalip? You’ve got to go way back to the dawn of the Crazy in mid-summer 2009. He was the anti-Obamacare neurosurgeon who has founded ‘Doctors for Patient Freedom’ but then got tripped up when he started circulating an anti-Obamacare picture with hammer and sickle and Obama photoshopped as a witch doctor with an ivory nose ring and headdress. Read More
Meet the immigrants/part-time revolutionaries representing the Syrian rebels in the United States.
As I’ve mentioned a few times in recent days we’re about to relaunch the TPM website on a new publishing platform. This will include a full relaunch of TPMPrime, with a lot of new cool stuff including a cleaner less ad-filled version of the site and new long-form pieces. But what we’re launching affects the entirety of the site, whether you’re a member of not, and among other things dramatically increases the site’s download speed for everyone. But I wanted to take a moment to discuss some significant changes we’re making with comments.
Put simply, we’re moving off the Disqus commenting system and on to our own in-house comment system. So to comment at TPM you’ll need a TPM login and ID. It’s free and totally easy. Just pick a username and password. Simple. Nothing more to it than that.
Let me explain why we’re doing this. Read More