Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 986

Why Boehner Wants to Put Off Immigration Reform Until After Labor Day

House Republicans head home for the August break having done little to pass immigration reform, falling well short of Speaker John Boehner’s goal to vote on legislation before next week’s monthlong recess begins. But far from a failure of leadership, top House Republicans are casting the inaction as a tactical play designed to boost reform’s chances.

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Keeping immigration on the back-burner helps avoid a recess filled with angry town-hall meetings reminiscent of the heated August 2009 protests where the backlash against health care reform coalesced. Doing nothing also starves Democrats of a target, Republicans argue.

“August was a central part of our discussions. People don’t want to go home and get screamed at,” a House GOP leadership aide said.

Instead, they’ll go home and talk about the need to stop government overreach, trying to draw voters’ attention back to the now largely dormant IRS controversy and the dismantling of Obamacare, a message that plays well with the Republican base.

But more than that, Republicans say, the delay in dealing with immigration helps them internally.

After a special conference meeting on immigration July 10, Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy realized there was only enough support to pass tougher border security and, maybe, beefed up stateside enforcement before August.

But for Boehner, who by all accounts wants to see some kind of immigration reform pass, that raised serious strategic problems.

First, passing tougher enforcement measures before August would take all the momentum away from other more divisive measures, such as giving “Dreamers,” the children brought to the United States illegally, a legal option for staying in the country. While House leaders publicly insist on dealing with the immigration issues separately, they privately are wary of letting their piecemeal approach be taken out of context.

Second, voting on border security before August would hand Democrats a gift-wrapped political cudgel, a case that again paints Republicans as interested only in legislation that cracks down on immigrants. Or, as one senior House leadership aide put it, “all you did was pass bills that on the surface look discriminatory.” A month of ads smacking Republicans for being anti-immigrant was not a happy prospect.

So Boehner, Cantor, and McCarthy have privately discussed holding off on immigration until October. (September has only nine legislative days that will be jammed with fiscal negotiations as House Republicans and Senate Democrats scramble to fund the government after the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.) The August break gives Republicans time to chart a course on immigration ahead of a packed fall schedule that leaves little time for strategizing.

“The fall’s going to suck because you’ve got the CR. You’ve got immigration. You’ve got the debt limit. We have a nutrition bill we gotta do,” the aide said. “Our plate’s full, so we have to strategically map out how we’re going to do each step.”

Republicans discussed their options and decided there was no reason to pass legislation before August.

“There’s no rush on this. There’s no deadline. We want to get this done, and we want to get this done right,” another House leadership aide said.

Further hampering the effort, said a senior House leadership aide, is Republicans’ basic lack of trust in the president.

“Our members fundamentally don’t believe that this administration will enforce the parts of the bill that they don’t like,” the aide said.

Republicans also believe that Democrats’ unwillingness to work with them on a piecemeal approach is proof that they are more interested in scoring a political victory than a policy win. Democrats, for their part, argue that they’re not interested in passing legislation that doesn’t include a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people who are in the country illegally.

But that fight looks to have been postponed for at least two more months.

       

Olbermann's Days as Liberal TV Host Have Followed Him Back to ESPN

When ESPN announced the hiring of Keith Olbermann, they knew more than anyone about the baggage that comes with employing the former SportsCenter anchor, but now that ESPN's ombudsman (yes, ESPN has an ombudsman) has emptied his inbox, it's one bit of baggage in particular that have viewers furious: his past as a political talking head. 

Olberman spent 16 years away from ESPN before singing on to return with a nightly talk show on ESPN2 that is set to debut in late August. His departure was a legendary television personnel meltdown — the sort that makes his rehiring at ESPN in any capacity a shock to observers. In the intervening years, Olbermann spent time as a contributor on MSNBC and then on Current TV, the network owned by Al Gore that would eventually become Al Jazeera America, building a brand as a liberal firebrand during his offseason from covering sports, and ESPN knew it. The New York Times' James Miller reported some inside the network thought Olbermann had become "too politicized" to come back. But, heck, they decided to hire him anyway.

ESPN's ombudsman, Robert Lipyste, revealed some of the hate mail ESPN received for hiring Olbermann from people having a hard time separating the Olbermann on MSNBC from the Olbermann who talks about baseball: 

• Bill Dart of Caldwell, Idaho: “I have removed all ESPN channels from my channel guide. I have no interest in supporting in any manner a network that hires one of the most partisan, mean, bigoted, commentators to ever disgrace television.” 

• Thomas Strickland of Olathe, Kan.: “WHAT were you thinking? Olbermann made his living as a Left-wing fascist nut job bomb thrower that routinely mocked HALF your viewing audience! Olbermann is divisiveness incarnate! I'm starting Facebook and Twitter campaigns to let everyone know about the obscene nature of your actions. Olbermann is the anti-Christ!” 

Now, the guy wasn't that popular around ESPN hallways when he left in 1997, but at least Suzy Kolber (one of Olbermann's biggest detractors) learned to bury the hatchet.

       

The D.C. Vandalism Suspect Was Found With a Soda Can of Green Paint

The woman believed to be responsible for vandalizing the a series of significant sites in D.C. made her first court appearance today, and now we know her name. Jia M. Tian, 58, was found in the National Cathedral's Children's Chapel on Monday afternoon, holding a soda can filled with the same color of green paint used to deface the Cathedral. 

The woman, who has no permanent address, has a Chinese passport and was traveling on a visa that expired three days ago, according to the Associated Press. As we noted earlier today, she appears to speak little English. She'll be held without bail on charges of defacing property. The AP explains, citing court documents, how she was found: 

When a police officer approached her, she walked away and placed the soda can with green paint inside one of three bags that were sitting on chairs in the chapel, documents show. She also had green paint on her clothing, shoes and body, according to the documents.

She was wearing a multicolored sock on her right arm, and a similar sock was found in a trash can in a bathroom at the cathedral on top of a can of green paint, according to the documents. The bags placed in the chapel also had cans of green paint in them, the documents show.

Her arrest likely solves the mystery behind a week-long spree of green paint vandalism targeting a series of landmarks in the nation's capital, which prosecutors believe are all linked to Tian. 

The vandalism targeted the Lincoln Memorial: 

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(photo: AP) 

The Joseph Henry statue outside of the Smithsonian Institution: 

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(Photo: Reuters) 

The National Cathedral: 

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(Photo: AP) 

And on a statue of Martin Luther in Thomas Circle: 

NEW: More green paint splatters found on Martin Luther statue at Thomas Circle pic.twitter.com/PfaOwDhIRW

— NBCWashington (@nbcwashington) July 29, 2013

A witness also reported seeing the woman at a church service near Thomas Circle. At that church, an organ was left defaced with white paint, urine, and feces, according to the AP. 

The cleanup from the paint vandalism will carry with it an estimated $15,000 price tag at the National Cathedral alone. 

       

The Former Indiana Education Chief Changed a GOP Donor's School Grade

Florida Schools Commissioner Tony Bennett, who is currently revamping that state's grading system for school performance, apparently changed the grade of an Indiana charter school run by a major Republican donor while serving as Indiana school chief. 

That's according to emails obtained by the Associated Press, which outline a series of conversations between Bennett and his staff after they discovered that Christel House, a charter school founded by Christel DeHaan, was about to get a "C" grade thanks to low 10th grade algebra scores. DeHaan gave $130,000 in contributions to Bennett, and over $2 million overall to Republicans since 1998. 

It's not clear from the emails exactly what changed in the way the grades were calculated to successfully raise Christel House's ranking from a "C" to an "A." (According to the AP, the charter school's grade was raised twice in the process) The documents do show that, despite Bennett's claim that about a dozen schools benefitted from the overhaul, Christel House was at the front of the education department's mind, in no small part because Bennett had already told the charter school that they'd get a good grade under his system. Here's an email to that effect, from Bennett to his staff: 

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(via JCOnline)

DeHaan, speaking to the AP, said that representatives from her school may have talked with the Department of Education about improving the grading system overall, but not, specifically to convince the state to single out Christel House for a bump — in other words, they're saying they didn't ask for any special treatment, whether they got it or not. Meanwhile, Bennett told the AP that he did nothing wrong — the fact that Christel House's rating was low, he said, indicated that the system was flawed, and not the other way around. The grade change represented improvements to the formula used to determine the grades. 

Those school rankings are very consequential: A school scoring several failing grades under Bennett's system (which Bennett's Democratic replacement is overhauling) could be taken over by a private company assigned by the state. They also affect funding. 

Bennett was voted out of office in Indiana last November. He moved down to Florida's school system one month later.

The AP's emails are here (via JConline): 

TzHXyo

 

       

San Diego's Mayor Would Like San Diego To Pay for His Sex Scandal Legal Fees

Late last week, San Diego Bob Filner let everyone know that he was headed to therapy after seven women accused him of sexual harassment, hoping that a two-week stint getting help would let him keep his office. And now, it looks like the mayor wants the city of San Diego to pitch in, too, by paying his legal fees in a sexual harassment lawsuit. 

That lawsuit was filed by attorney Gloria Allred on behalf of Filner's former press secretary, Irene McCormack Jackson. The request for the city to pay for Filner's defense, filed by attorney Harvey Berger, will go before the city council tomorrow afternoon for consideration in a closed session, But before then, there'll be a public comment section. It's unlikely, however, that Filner will prevail here: seven of the nine members of the council want Filner to resign. Council President Todd Gloria told The San Diego Union-Tribune that, as far as he's concerned, giving Filner city money to fight the lawsuit is off the table (emphasis ours): 

"This is about personal behavior," he said. "We certainly provide defenses to city employees who have been caught up in legal issues as a result of their day-to-day work but obviously sexual harassment is not tolerated in the city. It's not necessary for the conduct of your work. I think it would send the wrong message to taxpayers that we'd be willing to pay for the defense."

Filner, 70, had a double-decade career in Congress before becoming San Diego's mayor at the beginning of the year. The Democrat came under fire a few weeks ago when a close friend of the mayor's held a press conference calling for Filner to resign. He didn't, and soon after the specifics of the allegations against him — to which he has more or less admitted — emerged. Seven women, most of whom either worked with Filner for the City or were otherwise well-known in the community, have come forward describing the Mayor's unwanted touching, kissing, and comments. While, at first, Filner tried to pass off his actions as the remnant of a previous generation, he's since apologized for that excuse, too.

Here's KPBS, speaking with four of the women accusing Filner of harassment: 

Meanwhile, 67 percent of San Diegans want Filner to resign, according to a poll from 10News and The San Diego Union-Tribune. And 60 percent of the city's residents would like Filner recalled if he continues to refuse to resign. On Monday, a notice of intent to circulate a recall petition was filed in San Diego by one of two groups attempting to mount a successful recall challenge against the mayor. The petition will begin collecting signatures of San Diego voters in mid-August. Before submitting a completed petition, they'd need to show signatures from 15 percent of the city's population, or just over 100,000 residents. But as the LA Times explains, the effort to recall Filner may have to overcome a series of legal questions, first, even if one of the volunteer groups is able to get the needed signatures. 

       

Thomson Reuters Is the Latest Pro-Assad Twitter Hack Victim

Late on Monday afternoon, the Thomson Reuters corporate Twitter account started posting a series of tweets supportive of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad, leading many to believe that the account @thomsonreuters was the latest victim of a series of twitter hacks targeting news organizations. 

Normal. RT @stefanjbecket: Or had dramatic editorial shift. RT @katz: Appears that @thomsonreuters has been hacked

— Jonathan Wald (@jonathanwald) July 29, 2013

The apparent hack affected Reuters's social media-managed corporate account with about 83,000 followers, not to be confused with the more popular @Reuters breaking news Twitter feed, which pulls about 3 million followers. Here's the account's feed, as of late Monday:  

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After a 20-minute break, the individuals posting from the account followed up with a somewhat expected claim that the account had been compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army: 

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It looks like Thomson Reuters will join the Financial Times, the AP, the Onion, the BBC and NPR, among others, in falling victim to the SEA. A sampling of the images tweeted from the Reuters corporate account are below, but be warned: while cartoons, they're still somewhat graphic and offensive:

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Update 8:40 p.m.: The Thomson Reuters Twitter account is now suspended. 

       

Gitmo's Favorite Read is 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

Military officials toured members of Congress through Guantanamo Bay's Camp Seven last week, and the representatives managed to come away with some previously unknown info -— the high-value detainees at the camp love the Fifty Shades of Grey series.

Rep. Jim Moran told The Huffington Post:

Rather than the Quran, the book that is requested most by the [high-value detainees] is Fifty Shades of Grey. They've read the entire series in English, but we were willing to translate it. I guess there's not much going on, these guys are going nowhere, so what the hell.

Moran advocates closing Guantanamo.

Military officials won't comment on the high-value detainees reading habits (they don't admit to the press that Camp Seven even exists). However, this isn't the detainees' first foray into American pop culture. Allegedly, the detainees have a library where they can play FIFA on Playstation 3 and watch Everybody Loves Raymond DVDs.

Christian Grey, it must be said, is decidedly racier than Ray Romano. But not nearly as funny.

       

Rand Paul Was the Only 'No' Vote as Comey Gets FBI Director Confirmation

Rand Paul gave up his latest attempt at a drone-themed delay of senatorial business on Monday, clearing the way for James Comey to become the new FBI director. Ninety-three senators voted for Comey, with Rand Paul voting all by himself against him. Two senators voted "present."

Paul released his hold on Comey's nomination after receiving a letter from the FBI in response to his query on the domestic use of drones. The reply, describing the FBI's use of drones under "very limited circumstances," read: 

Since 2006, the FBI has only used UAVs in 10 cases for surveillance to support missions related to kidnappings, search and rescue operations, drug interdictions, and fugitive investigations, including earlier this year in Alabama in the successful rescue of a 5-year-old child being held hostage in an underground bunker by Jimmy Lee Dykes. Further, the FBI does not, and has no plans to use UAVs to conduct general surveillance not related to a specific investigation or assessment.

However, the letter also detailed why UAVs don't necessarily need a warrant to conduct surveillance in areas deemed to be in public view. Paul took issue with that argument while agreeing to lift the hold:

The FBI today responded to my questions on domestic use of surveillance drones by saying that they don’t necessarily need a warrant to deploy this technology. I disagree with this interpretation. However, given the fact that they did respond to my concerns over drone use on U.S. soil, I have decided to release my hold on the pending FBI director nominee." 

Comey will succeed Robert Mueller, who is stepping down as FBI Director in September. The Republican is known as a key figure in a Bush Administration tussle over warrantless wiretapping. 

       

Hemp Is Used in Over 25,000 Products — Now Including BMWs

Hemp fibers are probably something you associate more with ropes, sacks and baggy ethnic clothing than with luxury cars. But in a report on BMW’s new electric car, the i3, Bloomberg notes in passing that the car maker will line the door panels with hemp, as part of an interior design apparently aimed at making the i3′s drivers feel closer to nature and less likely to drain the battery in a speed-freak fit.

 

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Companies have been using the organic raw material, which is made from the marijuana plant (usually with the cannabinoids stripped out), for decades. The Hemp Research Association estimates that the retail value in the US of hemp products came to $500m in 2012, even though the US remains the only industrialized country in which it’s illegal, except in two states, to grow even the drug-free form of hemp.

And while it hasn’t lost its hippie associations, hemp has been taken up by a number of fashion brands. Giorgio Armani started using hemp in an Emporio Armani collection in 1995, while Ralph Lauren makes hemp floor rugs. In 2010, Burberry designed a suit for actor Woody Harrelson out of hemp, and a Canadian company, CRAiLAR, tried to commercialize a process for developing softer materials from hemp fibers. (It ultimately decided to shift its attention to flax, due partly to the US’s hemp-growing ban.)

But it’s not just fashion designers who have been using hemp. At the end of last month the US Congressional Research Service published a paper by Renée Johnson, an agricultural policy specialist, entitled Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity (pdf), which says:

Some estimate that the global market for hemp consists of more than 25,000 products in nine submarkets: agriculture; textiles; recycling; automotive; furniture; food/nutrition/beverages; paper; construction materials; and personal care. For construction materials, such as hempcrete (a mixture of hemp hurds and lime products), hemp is used as a lightweight insulating material.

Hemp has been used in cars for some time, and not just for the door panels. Students at the University of Warwick even developed a race car in 2007 whose outer shell was made from hemp. James Meredith and his team believe that hemp can replace carbon fiber as a light-weight material for a car body. Perhaps BMW can think about that for its next electric car.

       

Which Hillary Clinton Movie Will You Watch in 2016?

The former Secretary of State hasn't announced whether she's going to run for president in 2016 yet, but that's not stopping movie and television executives from green-lighting projects that will capitalize on the wave of Hillary hype that will come should she enter the race. For now, Clinton is enjoying her retirement by occupying her with presidential and vice-presidential lunch dates. But considering the public's excitement for a Hillary Clinton presidential run is already high, it's not surprising that entertainment executives would try and cash in on that wave ahead of the race. Here's your preliminary guide to the Hillary-related media that will be landing in 2016, ahead of the November election, whether Hillary is running or not: 

The Documentary

CNN just announced they've recruited Academy-Award winning documentary filmmaker Charles H. Ferguson, who won his Oscar in 2010 for Inside Job, the movie about the financial crisis, to direct a movie about Clinton's life. The movie will apparently air in select theaters, and on CNN, of course. 

The "Event" Mini-Series

NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt announced the network would produce a four part "event" miniseries, like the wildly popular Under the Dome, about Clinton's life from the Monica Lewinsky scandal to her time as secretary of state. Dianne Lane will play Hillary, though some think she's too sexy for the job. (We disagree, for the record.)

The Major Motion Picture

There's a movie in the works call Rodham, directed by James Ponsoldt, and starring, well, we don't know that yet. The script is apparently great, and the movie will cover the younger years of her life when she was still wet behind the ears politically, before she was the secretary of state, or a senator, or the first lady. (The Atlantic Wire will have more about this project later this week, so stay tuned.)

All Clinton needs is a Netflix series order and she's got the quadfecta. So that's what you can expect from the already crowded schedule of Hillary-related offerings in 2016. The scary part is that two of those projects were announced within the last three days, and it's still 2013. There's more than enough time for duplicates and copycats to show up. Heck, we'd bet on it happening.