Rachel Maddow's Blog, page 3351
August 14, 2013
Links for the 8/14 TRMS
Citations for Wednesday's show are listed after the jump.
Husband of former Post reporter among journalists killed in Egypt violence
Xpress reporter killed in Egypt clashes
tom finn - @tomfinn2 Getting arrested
CNN's Arwa Damon ducked from gunfire during a report from Cairo.
How To Successfully Ruin Al-Qaeda's Day On Twitter
10 Years After The Blackout, How Has The Power Grid Changed?
Computers, trees and terrorism, lessons from 2003 US blackout: Kemp
10 Years After the Great Blackout, the Grid Is Stronger — but Vulnerable to Extreme Weather
B-52 carrying nukes mistakenly overflies U.S.
Gates fires Air Force's top brass
After Losing Nukes, Air Base Flunks Security Tests
Air Force nuclear units fail inspection in Montana
Confirmed: Air Force Flunks Nuke Inspection
Malmstrom nuclear missile wing fails inspection
Minot operations commander relieved of duty
AP EXCLUSIVE: COMMANDER CITES 'ROT' IN NUKE FORCE
U.S. Air Force gives failing grade to Montana nuclear unit
Ahead on the 8/14 Maddow show
Tonight's guests include:
Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, live from Cairo
Maggie Koerth-Baker, science editor at Boing Boing and author of “Before The Lights Go Out”
Here is tonight's soundtrack. And here is executive producer Bill Wolff with a preview of tonight's show:
The .50 caliber question
Wikimedia Commons
As Rachel was saying on the show yesterday (video), the .50 caliber bullet is a different kind of deal. The inventor of the round and weapons to fire it marketed one of the guns this way, in a 1980s brochure:
The cost-effectiveness of the Model 82-A-1 cannot be overemphasized when a round of ammunition purchased for less than 10 USD can be used to destroy or disable a modern jet aircraft.
The .50 caliber is legal in every state except California. Last month the New Jersey legislature voted to ban .50 caliber rifles. The bill is now sitting on Governor Chris Christie's desk. He has not said whether he will sign it.
While I was looking around yesterday for video of people using the .50 caliber -- it's a favorite of big-gun enthusiasts -- I found this old clip labeled "Guy hit in head with .50 caliber ricochet." The good news is that he survives in great shape. But watch how quickly he and his friends swear off using the .50 caliber (or adding, from @That_One_Guy_in_WA: "shooting it at iron targets").
Watch on YouTubeThanks to the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence for the old Barrett Firearms brochure. Rachel's segment from last night is after the jump.
Wednesday's Mini-Report
Today's edition of quick hits:
* Chaos in Egypt: "At least 235 people were killed and 2,001 injured, the country's health ministry said, but the toll looked certain to rise as unrest spread from Cairo to other parts of the country."
* Bradley Manning spoke today at the sentencing part of his court martial. "I'm sorry I hurt people. I'm sorry that I hurt the United States," he said. "I'm apologizing for the unexpected results of my actions. The last three years have been a learning experience for me."
* Israel: "Shortly before Israelis and Palestinians sat down Wednesday for the first direct negotiations here in five years, Israeli war planes struck two sites in Gaza in response to rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave."
* Jackson sentenced: "Former Illinois lawmaker Jesse Jackson, Jr., was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. He will also face 36 months of probation, 500 hours of community service and continued mental health care."
* Wall Street: "Federal authorities announced criminal charges on Wednesday against two former JPMorgan Chase employees accused of disguising losses on a trade that spun out of control last year, a rare show of government force against Wall Street risk-taking."
* Several Republican lawmakers from Arizona balked at Hurricane Sandy aid for New Jersey and New York. Now they're wondering where the federal aid is for areas affected by Arizona wildfires.
* If you missed Sam Stein's terrific report on the effects of sequestration cuts on scientific research, it's excellent and well worth your time.
* So typical: "Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) invited the rodeo clown who sparked controversy by donning a mask of President Obama at the Missouri state fair to perform in Texas, his office said Wednesday."
* And I have plenty of typos, but this one from Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli (R) is amusing: "My #1 goal is to secure VA's economic future, including for our children & that beings with education." Always check your spelling when writing about education.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
'That's the only gun violence that I'm aware of'
Associated Press
We're accustomed to certain arguments from opponents of abortion rights when they try to shut down women's clinics. Irin Carmon reports, however, reports on an unexpected twist in Kansas, where the right hopes to close the South Wind Women's Center.
Tuesday morning, abortion opponents went before the Wichita City Council seeking to shut down the South Wind Women's Center, a clinic that provides abortions. Among their complaints: The clinic draws gun violence.
This struck some, including the clinic's director, Julie Burkhart, as ironic. After all, South Wind opened in April in the same building that housed George Tiller's clinic. Before Tiller was murdered in church by an anti-abortion extremist in 2009, there was indeed documented gun violence in front of the clinic -- by Shelley Shannon, an abortion opponent who shot Tiller.
"That's the only gun violence that I'm aware of," Burkhart, who has been fielding attempts to shut down the clinic since before it even opened, told MSNBC. "We talk to law enforcement regularly and I've never had any complaints of gun violence."
The argument seems to have a circular quality, doesn't it? The women's clinic lead abortion opponents to bring guns ... and gun violence is a problem ... so close the clinic to make abortion opponents happy ... or they'll be inclined to bring guns ... and gun violence is a problem ...
Carmon talked to Mark S. Gietzen, chairman of the Kansas Coalition for Life, who referenced other "gun incidents," which included clinic security staff removing guns from their holster -- without firing them -- on two separate instances.
So Carmon asked the next logical question: if gun violence is tied directly to protestors, wouldn't it make more sense to limit the protests rather than close the clinic? Gietzen didn't quite see it that way.
"The fact is that this is typical about what happens at the abortion clinic," he said. "Abortion clinics are going to bring that sort of clientele."
I suppose restrictions on firearms might also address the possibility of gun violence, though that's probably out of the question, too.
In an unsettling exchange, Gietzen also criticized a South Wind Women's Center escort -- people who ensure women can enter and exit the facility safely -- who the protestors accuse of picking fights.
And then he issued what sounded a lot like a threat. "Even a well-meaning dog will bite at some point in time if you keep antagonizing it," Gietzen said.
Asked what he meant by that, Gietzen said, "We have this concealed carry thing where half the people in Kansas are walking around with firearms."
"The way this guy acts, I'm afraid that someone's going to shoot him," Gietzen continued, referring to the escort. "He's asking for it. I don't want for that to happen.... It's not good for the cause."
Gietzen refused to say whether he or his fellow protesters are armed. "That's not a polite question to ask an individual," Gietzen said. "That's why it's concealed."
The Wichita City Council will consider the request to rezone the relevant area, and if council members agree, they will once again close the clinic. There is no date set for the decision, though the clinic's owners have already expressed a willingness to sue if the zoning decision goes against them.
When Heritage plays the congressional GOP for fools
Associated Press
The Heritage Foundation's political activism arm is so heavily invested in the idea of shutting down the government in the hopes of sabotaging the federal health care system that it's trying something new: Heritage is trying to play its own Republican allies for fools.
Heritage Action for America has been pushing a new "poll" -- I use the word loosely -- that purportedly surveyed likely voters in 10 relatively competitive congressional districts. And wouldn't you know it, Heritage found that the electoral effects of a shutdown wouldn't be that bad for the GOP.
But before congressional Republicans take the results too seriously, they might want to look at how some of the questions were worded:
* "As you might know, major parts of the Obama health care law will soon be implemented, including the mandate that requires every individual to buy health insurance or pay a fine, and the government-sponsored health insurance exchanges that are affecting private sector health care premiums and access to doctors. Do you think it would be appropriate for Congress to temporarily halt funding for the health care law before these provisions take effect, to make sure they do not do more harm than good?
* "In order to get President Obama to agree to at least have a 'time out' on implementing the health care law and its full effects, would you approve or disapprove of a temporary slowdown in non-essential federal government operations, which still left all essential government services running?
* "If there was an impasse between President Obama and Congress on whether to continue to fund the health care law, and that impasse resulted in a partial government shutdown, among the following, who would you say would be mostly to blame for that?"
Heritage apparently forgot to ask, "Don't you think Democrats, who are notorious for having cooties, are less cool than the super-awesome Republicans?"
I mean, really, Heritage. You were once an influential think tank. Have you no pride?
But wait, there's a punch-line to this that makes it even funnier.
Heritage Action for America claims this is a reliable poll, but it clearly isn't. Heritage claims the survey was conducted in relatively competitive congressional districts, but it was really conducted in Republican-led districts.
And Heritage claims that the results should set GOP minds at ease, but even after asking truly ridiculous questions, a plurality of respondents in this so-called poll still said they'd blame Republicans for a shutdown.
That's after respondents heard the slanted questions and after the pollster described a government shutdown as "a temporary slowdown in non-essential federal government operations, which still left all essential government services running."
Jonathan Bernstein's summary rings true: "Yes, that's right. Heritage is asking Republicans in Congress to base their choices about the next fiscal showdown on a partisan poll of GOP House districts. So we have a loaded sample asked loaded questions -- and Republican politicians are supposed to stake their careers on it? Really, any politician who would take this sort of stuff seriously deserves whatever he or she gets."
Decryptomaddowlogical #80
If there were such a thing as scandal insurance for politicians, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell would surely want to give serious thought to taking out a policy. But first he'd have to undergo a
Need help? Need to shout out the answer without spoiling anyone else's game?
*Remember to mention the number of the puzzle you're talking about.
Pentagon expands benefits for same-sex military couples
Associated Press
In February, the Defense Department made a welcome announcement, extending new benefits to gay men and women serving openly in the military and their families. But as we discussed in June, there was a catch: the Defense of Marriage Act prevented the Pentagon from going as far as officials wanted to.
After the Supreme Court's ruling striking down DOMA, the Defense Department quickly endorsed full benefits for same-sex military couples, and today, the Pentagon went a little further still.
The Department of Defense announced a plan Wednesday to extend a range of federal benefits to same-sex spouses of military service members starting Sept. 3.
The Pentagon will extend to legally married same-sex couples the same privileges and programs that are provided to legally married heterosexual couples, including benefits tied to health care, housing, and family separation allowance, compensation paid to military members when their dependents can't live with them at their permanent duty station.
In a statement, the Pentagon said, "The Department of Defense remains committed to ensuring that all men and women who serve in the U.S. military, and their families, are treated fairly and equally as the law directs."
The "as the law directs" phrase isn't just a superfluous phrase -- it's actually a relevant caveat. Servicemembers who are stationed in states that have approved marriage equality can, of course, now get legally married and live with their same-sex spouse in military housing. But what about servicemembers in other states? NBC News reported that they'll be offered up to 10 days of leave so they can travel to one of the 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, that grant same-sex marriage licenses.
This is a level of military progressivism that was simply unthinkable in the not-too-distant past.
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), true to form, isn't pleased: "I am unaware of any legal authority for the DoD to grant 10 days of non-chargeable leave, a benefit that offers preferential treatment to same-sex marriage over heterosexual marriage.... As I have warned before, this administration is eroding our military's historical apolitical stance by using it as their activism arm for their liberal social agenda."
It's the kind of whining one generally expects from those who fought and lost a culture war.
Deadly violence rocks Egypt
Conditions in Cairo and much of Egypt have been precarious for quite a while, culminating in the military ousting the country's elected president last month, and the nation's capital "descended into a chaotic bloodbath" today after Egyptian security forces "sent bulldozers into protest camps set up by supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi."
A month-long nationwide state of emergency was declared, and a nighttime curfew imposed in some areas, as the interim government tried to restore order.
At least 149 people were killed and 1,403 injured, the country's health ministry said, but the toll looked certain to rise as unrest spread from Cairo to other parts of the country.
Among the dead are two Western journalists, with many more reporters injured and/or detained.
Interim government minister Mohamed ElBaradei has resigned, and a wide variety of countries, including the United States, have forcefully condemned the violence. The NBC News report added that the U.S. Embassy has been closed, Egypt's stock exchange was suspended, and train services have been halted.
Wednesday's campaign round-up
Today's installment of campaign-related news items that won't necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* In New Jersey, Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) and former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan (R) won their respective primaries and will meet in October in a U.S. Senate special election. American Bridge, a progressive super PAC, welcomed Lonegan to the general election last night with this video.
Watch on YouTube* On a related note, National Journal reports that Gov. Chris Christie (R) is expected to "offer Lonegan a formal endorsement," but the governor won't campaign for his party's Senate candidate or raise money for him.
* In new results from PPP, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's (R) approval rating is down to 39%. The governor has only been in office since January, but this is his weakest support to date.
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday his party does have a candidate for West Virginia's open U.S. Senate race, but he can't say who he or she is yet. "I think we're going to be very competitive in -- in West Virginia, we have a candidate there who should be announcing shortly," he said.
* In Detroit, billboards put up by local officials recently advertised the wrong date for the city's local elections -- getting both the day and the month wrong (thanks to my colleague Kent Jones for the tip).
* And Progress Kentucky, the controversial liberal super PAC, permanently closed its doors late last week, wrapping up a difficult eight-month run.
