Ed Kilgore on what’s really going on with the Republican ‘Civil War’.
We’ve learned this afternoon that the child porn investigation tied to Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) chief of staff is being run by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which so far isn’t saying much because the case is still under seal.
We’ve also put together some background about the chief of staff, Ryan Loskarn, who has been placed on leave by Alexander’s office.
The Justice Department just announced that Ryan Loskarn, the chief of staff for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), was arrested this afternoon on child pornography charges. More here.
Keith Michael Novak, an intelligence analyst with the Minnesota National Guard and self-styled “militia commander” has been charged with stealing the names, Social Security numbers and clearance IDs of some 400 soldiers from Fort Bragg in order to make fake IDs for members of his militia.
Remember, the official nominations period has begun for the 2013 Golden Dukes Awards! We’ve already gotten a slew of great nominations and what I guess we might call open enrollment for Golden Dukes nominations closes on Monday the 16th. So seriously, get your nominations in now. For instructions on submitting your nomination and this year’s categories, see yesterday’s announcement.
We’ve got a hot new interactive tool for tracking Obamacare enrollment. We’re launching it today and will keep updating it through the end of the open enrollment period in March. See how your state is doing.
For all the launch problems with Obamacare, the political consequences of that debacle in the 2014 congressional races remain very uncertain because what Republicans are offering as an alternative — repeal and replace — is less popular than fixing the law and continuing to implement it.
For Democrats, the message strategy in 2014 on Obamacare is all about avoiding a referendum on the new law and instead setting up a choice for voters between the less than perfect reforms and the GOP alternative. It’s not rocket science, but it’s why the lack of real GOP policy alternatives on health care reform comes with a political price for Republicans.
This has been installment #462 in why Democrats are lucky to have Republicans as opponents.
If you’re a Prime member and have been asking about ‘credit subscriptions’, we finally plan to start selling them this week. If you don’t remember what they are, please give me a moment to explain what they are and why we think they’re so important to our readers and to TPM as an organization.
Diane Ravitch: “For the past dozen years, ill-advised federal policies have rained down on students, teachers, principals and schools.”
We’re hosting a TPM Prime (sub. req.) live chat with Ravitch tomorrow at noon ET. Also joining us: Rachael Brown, manager of teacher retention and recognition for District of Columbia Public Schools, and Chad Alderman, associate partner at Bellwether Education Partners. Should be a good discussion.
Fired Chief of Staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander allegedly had hundreds of child porn videos in his possession.