Rachel Maddow's Blog, page 3390

Morning Maddow: June 17

AP/Jon Shenk

House GOP quietly adds a rape/incest exception to Rep. Trent Franks 20-week abortion ban.

The NSA says it doesn't collect information about where your cellphone is.

Edward Snowden strikes again: with a revelation of spying at the G-20 summit.

Meet the guy expected to head the newly reopened State Dept. Office of Guantanamo Closure.

The Social Security Administration makes life a little easier for transgender people.

Iranian ex-pats aren't sure how they feel about Iran's new president.

Turkish labor unions plan a general strike after this weekend's crackdown on anti-government protests.

How do you move a 15-ton magnet from New York to Chicago? Very carefully.

Getting your internet from balloons.

Week in Geek: resonance edition

Watch on YouTube

This amazing video comes from the same guy who brought you the zig zag water video who clearly likes to illustrate the effects of sound with different media. This time around it's sand. Based on work originally done by Robert Hooke and Ernst Chladni in the 17th and 18th centuries, the video demonstrates the modes of vibration in a metal plate atop a tone generator. When the frequency of the tone generator equals a resonant frequency of the metal plate, the sand covering the plate is forced into patterns along the nodal lines (areas of zero vibration) between regions of the plate that are vibrating in opposite directions. At low resonant frequencies, there are only a few areas vibrating like this, but as the frequency increases, smaller and smaller areas on the plate start vibrating opposite to each other, creating more and more complex patterns. There is another version of this video where you can hear the tone actually being generated to make each pattern, but it comes with serious volume warning as the pitch goes high enough to cause hearing damage.

Here's your weekly roundup of geek:

Hilarious GIFs reenacting how different animals eat their food.
Human powered Ferris Wheel in Myanmar via Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. [VIDEO]
Hollywood geek: gravity defying tricks of Fred Astaire revealed from Royal Wedding. [VIDEO]
How '@' went from analog to digital, from bookkeepers to email.
Got some time to kill? How about looking for some warped galaxies?
If you like hamburgers, stay clear of this tick that can turn you vegetarian.
Tourists on Brownsea Island are damaging local bird populations by using an app that mimics their mating songs.
A stunning selection of images from Princeton University's Art of Science competition. Explore the full set of images here.

Finally, today is the 50th anniversary of the first woman launching into space. Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, was launched on a Vostock rocket on June 16, 1963. She spent three days in space, orbiting the Earth approximately 48 times, which was more than all six of the American Mercury astronauts combined. At the risk of sounding cliche or dated or both: you go girl!

@Summer_Ash

This Week in God

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's big event in Washington -- this year's not-so-subtle theme: "Road to the Majority" -- where activists from the religious right movement heard from all kinds of political and theological leaders about the need for an ongoing culture war.

But of particular interest were remarks from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose libertarian views do not always dovetail with the social conservative worldview, but who also thought of a way to present his agenda in a way the religious right finds appealing.

Watch on YouTube

For those who can't watch clips online, Right Wing Watch, which posted the video, also provided a transcript:

"It saddens me to see these countries that are supposedly our allies that they continue to persecute Christians. It angers me to see my tax dollars supporting regimes that put Christians to death for blasphemy against Islam, countries that put to death Muslims who convert to Christianity and countries who imprison anyone who marries outside their religion, I say no more money to countries that are doing that to Christians. There is a war on Christianity, not just from liberal elites here at home, but worldwide. And your government, or more correctly, you are having to pay for it. You are being taxed to send money to countries that are not only intolerant of Christians but openly hostile.

"In Egypt, in Pakistan, they burn our flag -- I say not one penny more to countries that are burning the American flag."

So, the United States already devotes a very small percentage of our budget to foreign aid, and the Kentucky Republican wants to make it much smaller. But to sell this idea to the Faith & Freedom Coalition, Paul has to put a specific spin on his preferred approach: we shouldn't just cut off aid for libertarian principles, we should cut off aid to Muslim countries.

But what I saw as the funny part was Paul's contention that countries that burn American flags shouldn't get American aid. The trouble with that argument? Americans can and occasionally do burn American flags -- and Paul might have trouble cutting off all domestic aid.

As for the notion that "liberal elites" in the U.S. are waging "a war on Christianity," the argument is plainly silly, and Paul's remarks help demonstrate why. When American progressives start pushing for laws that that put Christians to death for blasphemy, kill Christian converts, and imprison those who marry outside their faith, Rand Paul and the Faith & Freedom Coalition might have a point. In the meantime, religious liberty is alive and well here at home.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* A victory over discrimination: "A Catholic school teacher who was fired after she became pregnant through artificial insemination was awarded more than $170,000 Monday after winning her anti-discrimination lawsuit against an Ohio archdiocese. A federal jury found that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati discriminated against Christa Dias by firing her in October 2010" (thanks to reader R.P. for the heads-up).

* Glenn Beck, citing the Book of Mormon, thinks the world is coming to an end -- literally.

* Unexpected remarks from the new pope: "For years, perhaps even centuries, it has been an open secret in Rome: Some prelates in the Vatican hierarchy are, in fact, gay. But the whispers were amplified this week when Pope Francis himself, in a private audience, appeared to have acknowledged what he called a 'gay lobby' operating inside the Vatican, vying for power and influence."

* As North Carolina's Republican-led legislature continues to pursue a very right-wing agenda, local leaders of the faith community are getting more involved in protesting needlessly punitive new state laws. This week, at a rainy "Moral Monday" protest, 84 clergy members were arrested for civil disobedience.

* And in a terrific example of a man lacking in self-awareness, radical TV preacher Pat Robertson told his viewers that disaster prophecies are "nutty" and come "from the pit of hell." For the record, Robertson has spent much of his career making disaster prophecies, which invariably do not come true.

Watch on YouTube

Decryptomaddowlogical #69

The Republican-led House of Representatives has failed to pass any meaningful gun reforms since the gun massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary six months ago while doing their part to set a new record for unpopularity (and on the heels of setting a new low bar in do-nothingness as the 112th Congress). It's almost like they're in some kind of anti-accomplishment competition. If they were in such a competition, it'd be called

Need help? Need to shout out the answer without spoiling anyone else's game?

There's a thread for that.

*Remember to mention the number of the puzzle you're talking about.

Links for the 6/14 TRMS

Citations for the Friday night show are listed after the jump.

Gov. Perry signs 'Merry Christmas' bill

Perry 'indeed' open to 2016 bid

Public Preferences Differ on Top SCOTUS Cases

Post-ABC poll: Same-sex marriage and affirmative action

Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (pdf)

Reid becomes 50th ENDA sponsor

Portman Won't Support ENDA in Current Form

No Prop. 8, DOMA Supreme Court Decisions Today -- Next Possibility is Monday

Faith & Freedom lobbies against same-sex marriage on Capitol Hill

6 months after Newtown: Rush of gun laws, mixed results

Santa Monica shooting spree suspect identified as death toll climbs

Fox Business host pushes Alex Jones' theory: Government is 'arming up' and disarming citizens

DHS Purchases 21.6 Million More Rounds of Ammunition

Why Is Homeland Security Buying 450 Million Rounds of Hollow Point Bullets?

Why is government stockpiling guns, ammo?

S.843 - Ammunition Management for More Obtainability Act of 2013

House votes to delay bulk ammunition purchase by DHS

Confidence in Congress continues to plummet

Scott P. Brown - ‏@ScottBrownMA Eternal

From Here To Timbuktu: Myth And Reality At The World's Edge

Richard Engel's 'Hidden Planet' premiere: Discovering Timbuktu

In Timbuktu, al-Qaida left behind a manifesto

MALI-AL-QAIDA'S SAHARA PLAYBOOK (pdf)

AP Exclusive: Rise of al-Qaida Sahara terrorist

Mali manual suggests al-Qaida has feared weapon

U.S. disrupts al-Qaeda's online magazine

Document: Major resources needed for Obama Africa trip

U.S. Is Said to Plan to Send Weapons to Syrian Rebels

Video: McCain: We can't just do nothing anymore

U.S. considers no-fly zone after Syria crosses nerve gas 'red line'

Sources: U.S. to send small arms, ammo to Syrian rebels

El Planeta Newspaper endorses Ed Markey

Scott Brown says he will do "whatever" the Gomez campaign needs

Ahead on the 6/14 Maddow show

Tonight's guests include:

Tom Goldstein, co-founder of SCOTUSblog, Harvard Law School lecturer and frequent Supreme Court litigant

Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News foreign correspondent 

Here's a song to help pass the time - and here is executive producer Bill Wolff with a preview of tonight's show!

 

Friday's Mini-Report

Today's edition of quick hits:

* The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary was six months ago today.

* Syria: "Clashes that antigovernment activists described as the heaviest in months erupted on the edge of a rebel-controlled neighborhood in Syria's largest city on Friday while opposition activists debated how the United States' decision to send arms would affect their fight to topple President Bashar al-Assad."

* Snowden: "The decision by a former National Security Agency contractor to divulge classified data about the U.S. government's surveillance of computers in mainland China and Hong Kong has complicated his legal position, but may also make China's security apparatus more interested in helping him stay here, law and security experts said on Friday."

* Hasan denied: "A military judge barred Army Maj. Nidal Hasan on Friday from arguing at his court-martial that he was legally acting to protect Taliban leaders when he killed 13 people and injured 32 others in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009."

* Iran: "Iran's electoral authorities reported heavy turnout in presidential voting on Friday, extending polling hours three times to accommodate what appeared to be a late surge of interest."

* What to watch next week: "Sen. Mark Udall will introduce legislation that would greatly reduce the federal government's ability to collect data on Americans' phone calls without a demonstrated link to terrorism."

* To be a fly on the wall: "President Obama will directly press Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop supporting Syria's government in a meeting Monday."

* Colorado: "The fight against a massive, deadly wildfire in Colorado faced a new challenge Friday when isolated thunderstorms packing gusting winds and lightning – but little rain – churned into the region. The fire, the worst in the state's history, has killed two people and made ashes of 379 homes."

* This issue tends to be on the periphery, but it's important: "President Obama today issued a Presidential Memorandum that builds on the Administration's commitment to make additional spectrum available for wireless broadband to drive innovation, expand consumer services, and increase job creation and economic growth."

* The so-called "Hastert Rule" isn't actually a rule, but far-right House lawmakers are worried about protecting it anyway.

* Did you hear about the Affordable Care Act and Ohio's "rate shock"? Jonathan Cohn sets the record straight.

* And Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have a message for Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif): tick tock.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

How zombie lies maintain their grip

Getty Images

Roger Ailes, president of Fox News, won a Bradley Prize this year, along with the $250,000 award that comes with it, which apparently is bestowed upon conservatives who are good at being conservative. Ailes delivered a curious acceptance speech in accepting the honor, explaining his preoccupation with the manufactured Benghazi political controversy, his concerns about "anti-Americanism," and his disappointment about the extent which "we" have "allowed ourselves to be manipulated" by others who "want to impose" their beliefs on others.

Fact-checking the entire piece would require a lengthy time commitment, but there was one gem in particular that seemed vaguely important. "The federal government is about to hire 16,000 more IRS agents to enforce health care. Forty-seven new tax increases! No wonder they need guns!" Ailes told the event's attendees, adding, "[W]e don't need more people with guns enforcing our health care! 'Hi, granny, get your hands up, we're tired of telling you this, but take your Metamucil.'"

As Jon Chait explained, none of this is rooted in reality.

1. The weird idea that the IRS was going to hire 16,000 agents to enforce health care was circulated by Republicans three years ago, and debunked by fact-checkers as a “wildly inaccurate claim.” The agency was authorized to hire some new staff, nowhere near 16,000, most of them not agents, and not for “enforcing” health care but helping process tax credits for businesses to insure their employees.

2. "Forty seven new tax increases" is a distortion of a McClatchy report about the IRS carrying out 47 provisions, including things that are the opposite of a tax increase (i.e. "Provide refundable tax credits for companies with fewer than 25 workers that do provide health care coverage; Provide help for lower-income taxpayers who purchase health insurance from a newly created state-run exchange."

3. Agents with guns? Well, apparently Republican representative Jeff Duncan toured the Department of Homeland Security and saw IRS agents training with AR-15s, prompting a predictable wave of outrage from Glenn Beck and like-minded freedom-lovers. The IRS has a small enforcement division. (Anybody watch The Untouchables?) It is not a massive new storm-trooper squad, and it has nothing to do with Obamacare.

4. It's not clear what has connected "granny" to Obamacare in this particular fever dream, since the IRS's role is confined to people who are of working age and not Medicare eligible. It may be a death-panel reference -- an old myth that Fox News continues to recirculate.

I mention this, not because Ailes is confused, but because the anecdote speaks to a larger truth. The Fox News chief was given a lucrative award for his work in conservative media, which includes repeating politically-motivated falsehoods. In accepting the award, Ailes repeats even more politically-motivated falsehoods. In this world, such activities are rewarded and attendees very likely believed what they were told -- because after all, the claims were coming from the head of a major news organization.

It creates quite a cycle, doesn't it? Create propaganda, get rewarded, create more propaganda, get rewarded again.

Why do zombie lies maintain their grip on so many people? I suspect this anecdote has something to do with it.

The same tired talking points win again

Associated Press

It was just three weeks ago that President Obama made a persuasive case for closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. He described a military prison that costs too much, has become an international embarrassment, and is filled with "people who have been charged with no crime."

The vision the president outlined has been embraced by liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, civilians and military personnel. And yet, GOP lawmakers in Congress appear to be going backwards.

Last week, House Republicans once again barred the Obama administration from transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Today, against a backdrop of a terrible hunger strike, a Democratic effort to do the right thing was easily defeated in the face of mindless, reactionary conservative opposition.

"These terrorist detainees pose a very real danger to our security in America. They mean us real harm," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), a veteran of the Iraq war who called closing Gitmo "appeasement."

"Who are these detainees? They are not innocent goat herders swept up by marauding United States military, of which I was a part, and of which I detained numerous potential terrorists," said Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), referring to his service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) argued that moving the prisoners to the United States would paint targets for terrorists "on every elementary school, every shopping mall, every small business" in the area where they end up being housed.

Arguments like these predictably won the day in the lower chamber. Rep. Adam Smith's (D-Wash.) proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, calling for a plan to close the detention facility was crushed on a 174 to 249 vote.

What about the dozens of prisoners who've already been cleared by military and intelligence officials for transfer? What about the hundreds of terrorists who are already locked up safely in American prisons? What about the extent to which this facility undermines our standing and credibility on the international stage?

According to 249 members of the House, these facts just don't matter.

Freedom from religion

Office of the Texas Governor

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) this week signed a strange bill into law this week. Apparently hoping to solve a problem that doesn't exist, the governor put his signature on a bill that says "a school district may educate students about the history of traditional winter celebrations, and allow students and district staff to offer traditional greetings regarding the celebrations, including 'Merry Christmas,' 'Happy Hanukkah,' and 'happy holidays."

At an event to celebrate the new measure, Perry declared, "I'm proud we are standing up for religious freedom in our state. Freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion."

My friend Rob Boston had a good take responding to the argument.

[R]eligious freedom must, by its very nature, include the right to reject all religion or else it isn't really religious freedom. [...]

Consider this as well: Under the right conditions, we all want freedom from religion -- or at least freedom from certain religions. A Methodist is not a Muslim for a reason. If the public school system or some other arm of government began imposing Islam, Scientology, Zoroastrianism (or even liberal Christianity) onto people against their will, I'd expect Gov. Perry and his followers would immediately demand to be free from that religion.

This has long been one of the right's more inane talking points: "The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion."

But this is silly. The Constitution actually guarantees that there will be no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. If I'm a Buddhist, I have the freedom not to be a Baptist. If I'm Catholic, I have the right not to follow Confucianism. If I'm Jewish, I have the freedom not to be gentile.

Of course we have a freedom from religion. There are hundreds of faith traditions, and Americans are free to believe as they wish, including the ability not to follow a spiritual path at all.

Rob concluded, "Perry and his pals would like Americans to think that we must choose between 'freedom of' and 'freedom from' religion. That's nonsense. Those two concepts complement one another and do not fight. We can have both. We must have both. We do have both. It's the only way we can remain truly free."