Rachel Maddow's Blog, page 3395
June 10, 2013
McDonnell's case before a grand jury
Getty Images
As his term in office nears its end, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) hoped to invest time and energy talking to his aides about his future political ambitions. Right about now, however, the governor is probably investing invest time and energy talking to his lawyers.
A Virginia state delegate has confirmed that he's been called to appear next month as a witness before a federal grand jury as part of an investigation related to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell.
Del. David Ramadan (R-Loudoun) declined to comment further, saying that the federal subpoena prohibits him from disclosing its details, which might reveal what authorities are seeking from the first-term legislator.
It's not at all clear why Ramadan has been called -- he attended the governor's daughter's wedding, with a gift, though that's not legally problematic -- but according to the Washington Post's reporting, the fact that the state lawmaker was subpoenaed at all "is the first public indication of the impaneling of a grand jury to review evidence in the McDonnells' case -- a significant escalation in the investigation."
At an event this afternoon, McDonnell was asked about the federal grand jury inquiry, at which point he was "hustled out" of a luncheon and "hurried into an elevator." From the back of the Ritz-Carlton elevator, McDonnell said, "I really can't... I really can't talk about it."
Making prison reform a conservative issue
Associated Press
Richard Viguerie, the Republican direct-mail pioneer, co-founder of the Moral Majority, and chair of ConservativeHQ.com, would probably never be characterized as a moderate. When it comes to conservative orthodoxy, Viguerie is probably as doctrinaire as any activist in his party.
And with this in mind, I was glad to see his New York Times op-ed today on the "conservative case for prison reform."
Conservatives should recognize that the entire criminal justice system is another government spending program fraught with the issues that plague all government programs. Criminal justice should be subject to the same level of skepticism and scrutiny that we apply to any other government program.
But it's not just the excessive and unwise spending that offends conservative values. Prisons, for example, are harmful to prisoners and their families. Reform is therefore also an issue of compassion. The current system often turns out prisoners who are more harmful to society than when they went in, so prison and re-entry reform are issues of public safety as well.
These three principles -- public safety, compassion and controlled government spending -- lie at the core of conservative philosophy. Politically speaking, conservatives will have more credibility than liberals in addressing prison reform.
In the not-too-distant past, the conservative line on prisons lacked all reason and nuance. The right wanted more prisons, more prisoners, longer sentences, and no questions. To disagree was to invite the "soft on crime" condemnation. As the nation's prison population soared to unprecedented levels, the right simply responded, "Good."
That's clearly changing in a hurry. The status quo on prisons is extremely expensive, and plenty of conservatives looking to cut government spending see this as a fine place to start.
Democrats have waited for this shift for a while. Former Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) got the ball rolling on prison reform several years ago, to the delight of his Democratic colleagues, and though other national priorities took precedence, the conversation has slowly been building, and gaining broader ideological acceptance.
For Viguerie, there's even a name for conservatives coming around on this issue: the "Right on Crime campaign."
This Right on Crime campaign supports constitutionally limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility and free enterprise. Conservatives known for being tough on crime should now be equally tough on failed, too-expensive criminal programs. They should demand more cost-effective approaches that enhance public safety and the well-being of all Americans.
Some prominent national Republican leaders who have joined this effort include Jeb Bush, Newt Gingrich, the anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, the National Rifle Association leader David Keene and the former attorney general Edwin Meese III.
Keep in mind, this isn't entirely new. Johns Hopkins's David Dagan and Steve Teles wrote a Washington Monthly piece last year on conservative movement on prison reform over the last decade, including support from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Libertarians like the idea of reforming the system, because it would mean less government and less spending, and social conservatives have been on board thanks in large part to Chuck Colson and his allies.
As we discussed in November, there just aren't many major issues in which common ground between Democrats and Republicans is possible, but if we're making a list, reforming the criminal justice system deserves to be on it. There's a real opportunity here for much-needed change here and here's hoping it can be in the mix for President Obama's second term.
In March 2009, Webb said on the Senate floor, "Let's start with a premise that I don't think a lot of Americans are aware of. We have five percent of the world's population; we have 25 percent of the world's known prison population. There are only two possibilities here: either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States, or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice." There's no reason for Congress to avoid this question.
Monday'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:
* With the Senate special election in Massachusetts just two weeks away, the DSCC is intervening in support of Rep. Ed Markey (D), launching this ad targeting Republican Gabriel Gomez. (Is it me or does the image at the 13-second mark look a little like the Romney 47-percent video? Coincidence?)
Watch on YouTube* On a related note, the DSCC will reportedly spend at least $750,000 on advertisements in the Bay State, while Majority PAC, run by a former DSCC executive director, will invest an additional $500,000.
* The most recent Public Policy Polling survey shows Markey leading Gabriel Gomez by eight, 47% to 39%.
* In New Jersey's upcoming Senate special election, the Democratic field is already quite crowded: Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Rep. Rush Holt, and Rep. Frank Pallone are already in, and State Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver is reportedly interested, too.
* Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) not only trails Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D) by 10 points in the latest Quinnipiac poll, he also trails state Treasurer Rob McCord (D), who's interested in the race, by eight points.
* Speaking of the Keystone State, it's a little early for 2016 polling, but Quinnipiac also found Sen. Pat Toomey (R) with a five-point lead over former Rep. Joe Sestak (D), 42% to 37%, in a possible rematch.
* Vice President Biden's travel schedule -- he'll headline Virginia's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner later this month -- continues to fuel speculation about his 2016 plans. Biden also delivered Jefferson-Jackson keynotes in South Carolina and Michigan earlier in the spring.
* And Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) will retire at the end of this Congress, but she said late last week that she "may run for another public office."
When politicians ponder 'optics' and 'atmosphere'
Associated Press
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas)
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) appeared yesterday on "Face the Nation" and seemed wholly unconcerned about the scope of the NSA surveillance programs. Indeed, like many of his congressional colleagues, McCaul expressed far more concern with prosecuting Edward Snowden for leaking the information than scaling back intelligence-gathering operations.
But notice how the Republican Texan chose to use the story to criticize President Obama anyway.
"The optics are terrible in this case when you consider the recent scandals," said McCaul on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Ah, yes, the "optics." McCaul has no problem with the NSA's expansive surveillance programs, and has no intention of criticizing the efforts or voting for new restrictions, but he nevertheless sees a political problem for the White House -- because of the "optics."
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said something similar last week on "Meet the Press":
"You know, when you look at the IRS and you look at the Benghazi issue and you look at the AP issue, I think the trouble here isn't even the individual specific scandals, it's this broader notion that there's a pattern of this activity."
See what he did there? The "individual specific scandals," according to the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, don't really matter. Indeed, they can't really matter since the so-called "scandals" are either unrelated to the White House, deal with actions that are probably legal, or both.
So it becomes necessary to shift attention to "broader notions" and "optics," since factual details are politically unsatisfying. It turns politicians into pundits, reflecting less on policy and more on perceptions.
Greg Sargent had a sharp take on this last week after hearing Rogers' comments.
Those who remember the 1990s well ... will recall that this is a time tested tactic. The goal is to create an overarching atmosphere of scandal, because this intensifies pressure on news orgs and reporters to hype individual revelations within that framework with little regard to the actual importance or significance of each new piece of information.
It's worth emphasizing that all of this predates the NSA revelations. But it nevertheless provides a context to McCaul's quote: "The optics are terrible in this case when you consider the recent scandals."
Or to put another way, "We couldn't get any of the scandals to stick, but we created an environment with some vague notion of the White House in crisis, despite the absence of wrongdoing. We can therefore opportunistically complain about NSA activities, even if we endorse them and want them to continue."
When politicians talk about "optics," instead of specifics, red flags should immediately go up.
RNC boosts evangelical outreach
Drew Johnson/Flickr
Chad Connelly in 2011
In the wake of the party's election setbacks last year, the Republican National Committee has focused on outreach to a variety of constituencies that have been turning towards Democrats: Latinos, African Americans, younger voters, women, etc.
But it's against this backdrop that we also see the RNC boosting its outreach efforts to a group of voters that ostensibly represents the party's existing base.
The Republican National Committee has brought on a director of evangelical outreach to massage the party's complicated relationship with religious conservatives, GOP sources told CNN on Saturday.
The party organization has hired Chad Connelly, a consultant and motivational speaker who, until this weekend, was the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.
Connelly resigned from that job Saturday and informed members of the state party's executive committee that he will be taking a job at the RNC.... Connelly, a Baptist, has told multiple South Carolina Republicans that he will be steering the national party's outreach to faith-based groups.
There are two broad questions to consider. The first is, who's Chad Connelly? The Republican is far better known for his work leading the South Carolina GOP than engaging in faith-based activism. Upon taking over the state party two years ago, Connelly vowed to become President Obama's "worst nightmare," and then largely faded from the national scene.
That said, Connelly wrote an 80-page book in 2002, called "Freedom Tide," which made a series of ridiculous claims about the United States being founded as a "Christian nation." The book was panned for its inaccuracies and wasn't exactly a best-seller
But the other question is, why in the world would the Republican National Committee have to focus on evangelical outreach right now?
The answer, I suspect, has something to do with the fact that the religious right movement isn't nearly as pleased with its RNC allies as one might assume. As we discussed in April, many of the movement's most prominent leaders and activists publicly threatened to abandon the Republican Party altogether unless it continues to push -- enthusiastically -- a far-right culture war agenda.
The threats coincided with a call from Tony Perkins, president of the right-wing Family Research Council, that social conservatives stop contributing to the RNC until the party starts "defending core principles."
That might help explain why the RNC hired Connelly, but as we talked about at the time, it's not at all clear what more the religious right community seriously expects of the party.
After all, Republican policymakers are banning abortion and targeting reproductive rights at a breathtaking clip, pursuing official state religions, eliminating sex-ed, going after Planned Parenthood, and restricting contraception. Heck, we even have a state A.G. and gubernatorial candidate fighting to protect an anti-sodomy law.
What's more, folks like Reince Priebus are condemning Planned Parenthood and "infanticide," while Paul Ryan is speaking to right-wing groups about a future in which abortion rights are "outlawed."
And social conservatives are outraged that Republicans haven't pushed the culture war enough? Why, because the RNC hasn't officially declared its support for a theocracy yet?
Presumably, it's now up to Connelly to help make this clearer to the party's evangelical base.
June 8, 2013
At Their Wit's End
Thousands of Turkish protesters are heading to the streets for a ninth day of demonstrations, and to counter their government's heavy-handed tactics, they've found some pretty clever ways to get their message out.
On Thursday, we talked about game show host Ali Ihsan Varol overcoming media censorship by transforming the show's signature word puzzles into political statements.
What's a democracy breather? Gazmaskesi!
A social network site described as a curse? Twitter!
Varol was taken off the air after Monday's show, but following public outcry, resumed regularly scheduled live broadcasts on Friday.
In addition to media censorship, protestors have had to contend with aggressive policing, including tear gas and water cannons.
This is TOMA, a riot control vehicle.
TOMA has followed these protesters around for several days now, which prompted the protester on the right to make a sign saying: I have been with TOMA for 8 days. We're getting serious. (Note the little hearts at the bottom of the sign.)
The guy next to him is holding a green sign saying: Without (tear) gas, what remains? Life just isn't the same. (H/T Selen Koksal for the translations.)
Turkish protestors have even found a way to turn President Erdogan's nickname for them into a new anthem. Capulcu (pronounced CHA-pul-joo), means "looters", so naturally, they came up with this:
LMFAO would be so proud!
There's a map for that: MarineTraffic.com (again!)
MarineTraffic.com is a favorite of The Rachel Maddow Show (see here and here) and this may be the coolest use of it I've seen yet.
First a bit of back story: The Koch Brothers own a giant pile of high-sulfur, high-carbon petroleum waste called petroleum coke, sitting on the bank of the Detroit River. By "giant pile" I mean three stories high and a block long. There is a refinery across the river that processes tar sands from Canada. The coke is a waste byproduct of that refining process.
Naturally, the locals are not too keen on it.
But one man's waste is another man's low-cost, high pollution power plant fuel, so that's where the Koch Brothers have a business angle. That raises the next question of concern to environmentalists (and people with lungs and... earthlings): if the Koch brothers are selling piles of their black mountain to be burned, who's doing the burning?
Enter our hero, MarineTraffic.com. The International Maritime Organization requires all ships over a certain size to carry something called an AIS transponder. The AIS transponder transmits basic data like position, speed, course, and the ship's name. MarineTraffic.com maps that data.
So when observers see a ship called the Atlantic Huron being loaded up with the Koch's coke, they enter the name and track it. One of the options in the vessel's search result is "Show Vessel's Track" and clicking that gives you a green line that shows roughly a day's worth of travel. When I looked yesterday, the green like started at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and when down to Quebec City. Right now it looks like it's docked in Montreal.
I don't know if the Atlantic Huron is still doing petcoke deliveries, but when it was spotted at the Kochs' black heap, observers were able to follow where it went next, all the way to Nova Scotia where they figured out there are two plants licensed to burn coke fuel.
Richard Engel's full drone pilot interview
Wednesday night, Rachel interviewed NBC News chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, about U.S. drone strike accounting documents he'd obtained, and shared a clip of his remarkable interview with Senior Airman Brandon Bryant about his experiences as a drone pilot and how he is handling the awareness that the list of people he is officially, directly or indirectly, responsible for killing totals 1,626 people killed.
Richard's full report for the Today show is below. After the jump is a slightly longer, less edited version that is the "extended interview" Matt Lauer refers to at the end of the Today segment.
Double Decryptomaddowlogical! (#64 and #65)
I have found inspiration and overcome my mental block for a Thursday night clue, plus I have the Friday night clue. I'll put Thursday's after the jump and start with the fresh one:
Governor Christie's protestations aside, it's clear to most observers that the reason he scheduled the special election to replace the late Senator Frank Lautenberg just a few weeks before the regular election is because he's afraid of what might happen if energized Democrats are voting on a ballot that also includes his name for reelection along with a number of local Republicans. Despite high approval ratings, Christie apparently lacks confidence in his political security. You might say he's
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.
But wait, there's more! Thursday's puzzle is next.
As Rachel pointed out Thursday night, even as a series of leaks has led to a wave of news stories that have overtaken the national conversation, the fact of the leaks themselves is as much a story as the stories they've produced. For whatever reason, programs and papers that were once hidden behind a scrim of secrecy are showing their face. The public is hearing a whole new set of facts as leakers have broken the ...
June 7, 2013
Links for the 6/7 TRMS
Citations for Friday night's show are listed after the jump.
Frontline: Spying on the home front
AT&T Whistle-Blower's Evidence
AT&T gave feds access to all Web, phone traffic, ex-tech says
Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts
Four Librarians Finally Break Silence in Records Case
NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls
Senate OKs immunity for telecoms in intelligence bill
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily
NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others
NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program
PRISM scandal: tech giants flatly deny allowing NSA direct access to servers
Mississippi man linked to ricin letters to Obama pleads not guilty
Texas woman arrested in ricin letters to Obama, Bloomberg: Officials
Senate seat scramble is on in N.J.: how Christie, GOP may benefit from it
Christie blasted for plans to hold special elections
Christie Decides on October Vote for New Senator
Rubio Won't Vote for Rubio's Immigration Bill
House Republicans Vote to Defund Immigrant Program
House conservatives bash immigration reform
John McCain letter to Chinese President Ma Ying-jeou (pdf)
Chinese hacked Obama, McCain campaigns, took internal documents, officials say
Obama, talk about political reform with Xi
Inside Sunnylands, the Luxe California Estate Where Obama Will Host Chinese President Xi Jinping
