Rachel Maddow's Blog, page 3357

Tuesday's Mini-Report

Today's edition of quick hits:

* President Obama was in Arizona this afternoon, where he laid out his housing policy. I haven't read the speech yet, so check out Ned Resnikoff and Ylan Q. Mui.

* Benghazi: "U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday that a Libyan man, Ahmed Abu Khattalah, has been charged with playing a significant role in last year's attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi."

* Fort Hood: "An Army psychiatrist accused of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history told jurors that 'evidence will clearly show' that he was the gunman responsible for the rampage that traumatized the Fort Hood military base in Texas nearly four years ago." Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan concedes he is the shooter, but said the evidence wouldn't tell the entire story.

* Tehran: "Iran's new president said the country was determined to resolve the nuclear disagreement with the U.S. and the West and was ready to enter "serious and substantive'' negotiations."

* Public health: "The obesity rate among young children from poor families fell in 19 states and U.S. territories in recent years, federal health officials said Tuesday, the first major government report showing a consistent pattern of decline for low-income children."

* Gun violence: "A gunman blasted shots through the wall of a Pennsylvania municipal building during a meeting on Monday and then barged into the meeting room and killed three people before being tackled by a local official and possibly another person and shot with his own gun, a witness said."

* Manning had faced up to 136 years in prison: "A military judge has reduced Army Pfc. Bradley Manning's maximum possible sentence in the WikiLeaks case to 90 years in prison."

* AARP lends a hand: "The top U.S. senior lobby is launching online tools to help consumers navigate ObamaCare and their new coverage options."

* Eleven: "The number of women publicly accusing San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment rose to 11 on Tuesday, after Michelle Tyler, a vocational nurse, came forward and detailed an exchange that occurred after she tried seeking aid for a U.S. Marine two years ago."

* Andrew Sabl considers the larger context of Jim Messina's unexpected decision to work for the British Tories.

* "Abortion Barbie"? Really, Erick Erickson?

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

Exactly 12 years later

Associated Press

George W. Bush talks with aides on Aug. 6, 2001, the day he was briefed on a memo titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US."

Former Vice President Dick Cheney popped up a few months ago, in the hopes of exploiting the deaths of Americans in Benghazi for partisan gain, with an unusually cheap shot. "When we were there, on our watch, we were always ready on 9/11, on the anniversary," he said.

The rhetorical shot was hard to take seriously -- Cheney apparently thinks his administration was ready, presumably everywhere, for everything, every Sept. 11, which is absurd -- but more important was the fact that Cheney had to add the "on the anniversary" qualifier because he and the Bush administration clearly weren't ready on 9/11 itself.

I thought of this because Hayes Brown noted this morning that today happens to be a related anniversary, which has particular salience given the larger contemporary context.

[Today]marks the 12th anniversary of the day that President George W. Bush received the infamous Presidential Daily Briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." [...]

"Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US," the declassified version of the 2001 report reads.

What is less well known is that when George W. Bush received that intelligence briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, and was handed the "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." memo, the then-president was on a month-long vacation at the time. After listening to the briefer, Bush reportedly replied, "All right. You've covered your ass, now." We know what happened a month later.

Exactly 12 years later, however, remnants and off-shoots of al Qaeda remain, and U.S. officials are still working to prevent additional attacks. "You've covered your ass, now" is no longer considered an acceptable presidential response to terrorist threats.

Rachel will have more on this on tonight's show.

A spoonful of terror prevention helps the surveillance go down

Last night Rachel highlighted a Pew study that showed Americans are more willing to sacrifice their privacy to domestic surveillance if it's in the name of preventing terror attacks. The graphics were so clear I wanted to reshare them here.

The study, in a nutshell, tested how framing domestic surveillance with different words changed how people described their feelings about it. So do people care more if it's "metadata" or "content?" Or does it matter if it's your phone or your e-mails that are being watched? Depending on how they framed the question, they were able to generate found a 25-point discrepancy in public response.

Combined in this way, respondents who heard the program described as collecting only “data such as the date, time phone numbers and e-mails… with court approval as part of anti-terrorism efforts” were the most supportive: 41% said they would favor this kind of program. By contrast, only 16% favored a program they heard described as collecting recordings of phone calls or the text of emails with no mention of either courts or the goal of fighting terrorism – fully 25-points lower than support when these other considerations are mentioned.

Since last night's story was about data collected ostensibly for anti-terror purposes being used for general crime investigations, we focused on how public opinion changes when the purpose of the surveillance is anti-terror or not:

PolitiFact finds its pants on fire

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) appeared on Fox News on Sunday, and when the discussion turned to a possible self-imposed budget crisis, the Virginia Republican said lawmakers should be "focused on trying to deal with the ultimate problem, which is this growing deficit."

What Cantor said was the opposite of the truth -- he said the nation has a "growing deficit," when in reality, we have a shrinking deficit. We can have a discussion about whether the House Majority Leader was deliberately trying to deceive the public -- Republicans have an incentive to convince the public that U.S. finances are in sores shape than they really are -- or whether Cantor simply doesn't know the basics of current events. But I'm afraid it's either one or the other.

Unless, that is, you're PolitiFact.

As regular readers know, I have, from time to time, taken issue with the fact-checking website's work, but this Cantor example should be an easy one. Cantor said the deficit is growing; the deficit is shrinking; so even PolitiFact can't ignore the straightforward arithmetic.

Or so I thought. My colleague Will Femia found this report last night.

Cantor said that the federal deficit is "growing." Annual federal deficits are not growing right now, and they are not projected to grow through 2015, a point at which the deficit will have shrunk by three-quarters since 2009. By this standard, Cantor is wrong. However, unless policies are changed, deficits are projected to grow again in 2016 and beyond, according to the CBO. On balance, we rate his claim Half True.

You've got to be kidding me.

I would have hoped for a "Pants on Fire" rating, but would have settled for at least a "False" conclusion.

But the House Majority Leader can make a claim that's the polar opposite of reality and it's "half true"? Seriously?

Imagine your home town has experienced a heat wave, which then faded, and I told you, "You know, it's actually getting hotter," despite the fact that it's getting cooler. By PolitiFact's reasoning, my claim may be the opposite of the truth, but it's still "half true" because at some point in the future, it's likely to get hotter again.

Imagine we're driving down the highway in a car and I step on the accelerator. I then assure you, "Don't worry, the car is slowing down," despite the fact that the car is speeding up. PolitiFact would apparently say my claim is "half true" because sometime soon, the car will probably decelerate.

In theory, I'm not reflexively opposed to the idea of websites fact-checking important claims made by political figures, but if you're going to have the word "fact" in your name, you have a responsibility to get the details right. And too often, PolitiFact just isn't good at its job.

But even by its standards, this is a doozy. Cantor said the deficit is growing; PolitiFact knows that the deficit is shrinking; but it nevertheless tells the public that the claim is "half true" because in future years, if certain budget conditions happen a certain way, Cantor's claim might someday become true.

I suppose my follow-up question for PolitiFact is this: what incentive do political leaders have to tell the truth when you tell the public their patently false claims are "half true"?

Morning Maddow: August 6

Hani Mohammed/AP

The U.S. Embassy in Yemen is evacuated.

VA Gov. Bob McDonnell declines Ken Cuccinelli's call for a special session to address ethics reform.

Ibragim Todashev's father plans to sue the FBI over his son's death.

The Wall Street Journal on the connection between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and a disabled man with a penchant for conspiracy theories.

The IOC is reportedly engaging in "quiet diplomacy" with Russia over enforcing new anti-gay laws at the Olympics in Sochi.

Look who's meeting President Obama at the airport in Phoenix (again) today.

The North Carolina NAACP wants a sit down with Gov. McCrory about the elections changes he has yet to sign.

Links for the 8/5 TRMS

Citations for Monday night's show are listed after the jump.

10,000 year clock

What Makes Jeff Bezos Tick? A $42 Million Clock, for Starters

COMPARING JOHN HENRY'S COMPANIES: BOSTON RED SOX VS. 'BOSTON GLOBE'

Newsweek Sold Again

Conservative Koch Brothers Turning Focus to Newspapers

Qaeda Leader's Edict to Yemen Affiliate Is Said to Prompt Alert

U.S. extends embassy closings; warnings renew debate over NSA data collection

Government Surveillance: A Question Wording Experiment

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts

NSA handing over non-terror intelligence

Other Agencies Clamor for Data N.S.A. Compiles

Exclusive: U.S. directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans

Weatherford calls for hearings on 'stand your ground'

Governor to launch new purge of Florida voter rolls

Florida's Scott readies second 'disgusting' voter purge

Deficit reduction picks up speed

As deficit shrinks, debt-ceiling crisis looms

Detroit mayor sample ballot (pdf)

4-Year-Old Mayor Bobby Tufts Wins Re-Election

Ultrahazardous Activity Liability

INTERIM INVESTIGATION REPORT - CHEVRON RICHMOND REFINERY FIRE (pdf)

At least 160 arrested at Richmond refinery protest

Richmond Files Lawsuit Against Chevron For Alleged Negligence in 2012 Refinery Fire

Chevron agrees to pay $2 million in fines, restitution for Northern California refinery fire

Ahead on the 8/5 Maddow show

Tonight's guests include:

Dan Rather, anchor and managing editor of “Dan Rather Reports” on AXS TV

John Shiffman, Reuters Enterprise Correspondent

Lori Edwards,  Supervisor of Elections in Polk County, Florida

Here is tonight's song! And here is executive producer Bill Wolff, with a preview of tonight's rockin' show:

Monday's Mini-Report

Today's edition of quick hits:

* According to the White House, the terrorist threat in the Middle East and North Africa is "significant" and "ongoing."

* More on the threat: "An intercepted electronic communication in which two of al Qaeda's top world leaders agreed they 'wanted to do something big' this past Sunday is what caused the U.S. government to shut nearly two dozen diplomatic posts around the world, according to intelligence sources."

* More from Carney: "As Al Qaeda's core has been diminished through the efforts of the United States and our allies, affiliate organizations, including in particular, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have strengthened. We have here in Washington have identified AQAP in particular as the dangerous threat."

* A huge media story: "The Washington Post Co. has agreed to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family's stewardship of one of America's leading news organizations after four generations. Bezos, whose entrepreneurship has made him one of the world's richest men, will pay $250 million in cash for The Post and affiliated publications to the Washington Post Co., which owns the newspaper and other businesses."

* Iran: "Hassan Rowhani was inaugurated as president of Iran on Sunday, according to local media, following eight years of damaging sanctions and diplomatic wrangling with the West under the leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

* This'll be interesting: "The White House will announce 'in the coming days' whether President Obama plans to scrap planned bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, press secretary Jay Carney said Monday."

* I wonder who: "An anonymous Republican senator has delayed a vote on legislation that would require police to obtain a warrant before accessing emails and other online messages. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) ... secured unanimous support from Democrats, but at least one Republican objected to the bill."

* What's the House Democrats' strategy on immigration? As Greg Sargent reports, there's some disagreement among members about whether to push a discharge petition.

* Should be a no-brainer: "More than 80 lawmakers have called on the Obama administration to allow gay men to donate blood. The lawmakers say the administration should change what they say is an "outdated" policy." Of the 82 lawmakers who signed the letter, 81 are Democrats.

* And then there were 10: "A tenth woman came forward Sunday to accuse San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of making an unwanted advance when he asked her for a 'private song.'"

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

Starting a 'relatively small hedge fund'

If this Jezebel item hasn't already crossed your radar, it's worth reading, just to get a sense of the mindset of a very unique group of people.

To set the stage, an unnamed, hyper-wealthy young guy wrote an email to his fraternity brothers, offering some of them a new career opportunity.

As some of you may already know, I have been interested in the world of finance for some time. After a series of summer internships, however, I have somehow found myself without a full-time job offer for the upcoming year. F***n' Obama's fault for strangling this economy.

Luckily, due to the tough job market, my dad has agreed to let me access my trust fund early (mid 7-figures) to start a relatively small hedge fund, __— Ventures, after graduation. I'm emailing you guys today to let you know that, for the rest rest of the year, I will be recruiting 2 full-time employees and 1 intern to help me get this off the ground.

With my financial expertise, help from my powerful father and connections, and a skilled team, I have no doubt that this fund will rise quickly to prominence. We'll all get filthy rich and, inevitably, bag hot slampieces. If possible, I'd love to give all 3 of these positions to my brothers.

Jon Chait joked this morning, "I've never even been slightly tempted to think, 'Screw it, let's give communism a try,' until I read this email."

There is certainly something nauseating about the message. The same college student complaining about that darn president "strangling" the economy has the freedom to tap a trust fund, make plans to start a hedge fund (before he even graduates), hire some of his frat buddies, and exploit his family connections.

And as a result, he and his pals will "get filthy rich" and "bag hot slampieces." For the record, I haven't the foggiest idea what a "slampiece" is, but in context, it's not too tough to figure out.

This same guy will also inevitably vote Republican because, gosh darn it, people have to learn personal responsibility and stop looking for handouts.

It's easy to forget sometimes that the caricature of the Spoiled and Obnoxious Trust Fund Brat can actually exist in human form. Adding insult to injury, Ezra Klein added, "This kid is a misogynist and a moron who couldn't get a real job even with his dad's connections. But that doesn't mean his hedge fund will fail. It might be exactly why it succeeds, at least for awhile."

Florida's Scott readies second 'disgusting' voter purge

Associated Press

The voting process in Florida last year was a national disgrace, which was unfortunately the result of a deliberate scheme -- state Republican policymakers closed the early-voting window, cracked down on voter-registration drives, and created painfully long voting lines, especially for minorities and the poor.

But that's not all they did.

Last summer, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) launched an aggressive voter purge, which he claimed was necessary to remove non-citizens from the state's voter rolls. As we discussed at the time, this too was a fiasco -- Scott's administration used faulty data and targeted eligible voters, all in the hopes of executing an unnecessary voter-suppression scheme five months before an election. (It got messier when nearly every county elections supervisor in the state said Scott's scheme was illegal, and they refused to enforce it.)

In an unfortunate twist, Rick Scott apparently enjoys this disaster so much, he's ready to do it again.

Gov. Rick Scott will soon launch a new hunt for noncitizens on Florida's voter roll, a move that's sure to provoke new cries of a voter "purge" as Scott ramps up his own re-election effort.

Similar searches a year ago were rife with errors, found few ineligible voters and led to lawsuits by advocacy groups that said it disproportionately targeted Hispanics, Haitians and other minority groups. Those searches were handled clumsily and angered county election supervisors, who lost confidence in the state's list of names.

"It was sloppy, it was slapdash and it was inaccurate," said Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards. "They were sending us names of people to remove because they were born in Puerto Rico. It was disgusting."

And what better way to than to celebrate this "disgusting" debacle than by doing it twice?

It's worth noting that the governor's 2012 voter purge had very little practical effect. The Scott administration originally targeted 182,000 voters, which eventually shrunk to 198 people before the state gave up as Election Day drew closer.

Whether this sequel, however, is also a dud, remains to be seen.

Election supervisors remain wary of a new removal effort, which the U.S. Supreme Court effectively authorized in June when it struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act. That ruling nullified a federal lawsuit in Tampa that sought to stop new searches for noncitizen voters, and Scott quickly renewed his call for action.

"If there's anybody that we think isn't voting properly, from the standpoint that they didn't have a right to vote, I think we need to do an investigation," Scott said the day of the high court decision. Last fall, Scott joined the Republican Party in a fundraising appeal that accused Democrats of defending the right of noncitizens to vote.

Scott's top elections official, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, is now creating a new list of suspected noncitizen voters by cross-checking state voter data with a federal database managed by the Department of Homeland Security.

Rachel will have more on this on tonight's show.