Frontline goes inside the first term of the Obama presidency in tonight’s episode. An extended excerpt: Read More
David noted Chuck Schumer’s announcement supporting Chuck Hagel this morning. But let’s just state for the record: this means the Chuck Hagel ‘drama’ is over. Yes, you’ll still have some tough questioning. And it’ll still remain a niche hobby for Bill Kristol. But this baby’s done. And the whole Hagel nomination thing turned out to be a triple, mustard ketchup tomato lettuce and bacon nothingburger.
Can President Obama get retired Senator and Army vet through Senate to serve as his Defense Secretary right after he’s reelected and his own party has expanded majority? Please.
Jon Stewart to Krugman: “Motherfucker, I’m out here banging it out four days a week, 22 minutes a day. So don’t tell me I don’t work hard!”
In a just-released statement, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said: “Based on several key assurances provided by Senator Hagel, I am currently prepared to vote for his confirmation. I encourage my Senate colleagues who have shared my previous concerns to also support him.”
This email from TPM Reader JS over-simplifies a lot and doesn’t cover a lot of people. There are obviously plenty of female gun aficionados, though it’s obviously an overwhelmingly male scene. It’s a ‘complicated issue’ as we all say about pretty much every issue. But when I read it I could not help think, ‘Yeah, you’re definitely on to something.’
I view gun control from the prism of the gender wars. It’s a last-gasp attempt by lower-income men to hold onto some shred of self-respect: at least a capacity for autonomous violence, if they are left with nothing else.
Top Filibuster Reformer (i.e., Curtailer) fears Harry Reid is getting behind a watered down filibuster reform bill.
The ‘Archive Team’ releases the ‘Aaron Swartz Memorial JSTOR Liberator’ as a tribute to Aaron Swartz who committed suicide over the weekend. Our Carl Franzen talks to a member of the team.
From the Globe …
Swartz and his lawyers were not looking for a free pass. They had offered to accept a deferred prosecution or probation, so that if Swartz pulled a stunt like that again, he would end up in prison.
Marty Weinberg, who took the case over from Good, said he nearly negotiated a plea bargain in which Swartz would not serve any time. He said JSTOR signed off on it, but MIT would not.
Another response to TPM Reader JH’s letter on gun control as a fool’s errand.
My response to JH’s very pragmatic and reasonable discussion is this: I keep coming back to this page.
Normally, I’m all in favor of not wasting political capital on unwinnable battles. But for me, this started in Tucson. I had just about hit the point where I had thrown up my hands and said “fine. This is the way America wants to be and so be it. The people who want to have their guns are willing to put up with the occasional massacre and frequent homicides–accidental or deliberate in ones or twos as the cost of whatever psychic benefit they derive from their hobby and I can’t stop it, so to hell with it. Let’s let it be and move on to the things we can change.”