Last Call For The Age Of Austerity

If you've taken a flight anywhere this summer, you've been tied up in long TSA security check lines for hours, maybe even missing your flight as a result.  Guess what? As long as Republicans remain in charge of the House of Representatives and in state legislatures across the country, austerity cuts will only get worse.

This year, discretionary spending — which encompasses airport security, infrastructure, education, research and development and much more — will be lower than it was in 2005. (All spending figures are adjusted for inflation.)

For some, the reductions are dramatic. Since 2003, the National Institutes of Health, which supports critical research into diseases ranging from cancer to AIDS, have seen their funding fall by 23 percent, forcing an 8 percent reduction in grants to researchers even as applications were rising by 50 percent.

In the last decade, inflation-adjusted spending on all education has fallen by 11 percent, including more significant cuts in grants for K-12 programs and to school districts serving low-income students.

Since 2010, the Internal Revenue Service’s budget has been slashed by about 18 percent, even as the I.R.S. was given new duties in connection with the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The result: The enforcement staff has shrunk by 23 percent, leading to a similar reduction in the number of audits.

And fewer audits have meant additional uncollected taxes, estimated at $14 billion over the past two years. Furthermore, almost a million pieces of correspondence from taxpayers await replies.

Then there’s the Environmental Protection Agency, whose budget has been cut by an enormous 27 percent — about $3 billion since 2010. As a result, over the same period the agency had to eliminate more than 2,000 workers, bringing its staffing to the lowest level since 1989. More problems like the poisoned water in Flint, Mich., are easy to imagine. 

And keep in mind, Republicans in Congress don't give a damn about the deficit, all they care about are tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations, and for starving out as many executive agencies as they can.

Beginning last fall, sensible members of both parties on Capitol Hill recognized that these important areas needed bolstering, so $80 billion in new discretionary spending was authorized for the next two years.

But even with that increase and a similar one in December 2013, total spending on these programs will rise by barely the inflation rate between 2014 and 2017. (Happily, the N.I.H. and the I.R.S. will see modestly larger increases.)

Then, by sliding extra money to the military and Medicare, Congress nearly doubled the cost of the $80 billion deal to $154 billion while choosing to counterbalance only about half the tab with legitimate savings.

According to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the remainder either wasn’t paid for at all ($56 billion) or was offset with phony cuts ($20 billion), like changing pension accounting to front-load corporate taxes.

A few months later, Congress went one step further and retroactively extended a raft of expired tax provisions — many of them egregious giveaways like accelerated depreciation for companies — without even a pretense of paying for them. As a result of the fiddling and fudging, the projected 2017 deficit rose to $561 billion, from the $416 billion that was estimated just six months earlier.

That's right: the cost of restoring some funding to the EPA and the IRS?  Extending corporate tax cuts that only made the deficit larger.

And that's how the government has worked for the last six years, and most likely another six at the minimum.

The Neighbors Are Worried About Us

Europe certainly has enough problems to deal with right now with the EU disintegrating, a stagnant economic picture at best, and the rise of violent ultra-nationalism. Needless to say, the problems we have here in the US aren't helping them one bit, and our friends across the pond are spooked, particularly in Paris where the wounds of terrorism are still fresh.

French President Francois Hollande told a NATO conference on Saturday that the U.S. presidential election should not put into question transatlantic relations.

Hollande said a European defense separate from NATO would not make any sense.

Of course, Donald Trump calls NATO obsolete and as president, says he would consider pulling out of the organization completely, so guess what, Francois? The US presidential election will definitely affect transatlantic relations.

Savage asked, “What would your first priority be as president?”

Trump’s answer was that, “Number one would be knock out some of the executive orders from Obama.” He said he would “start Keystone right away” because “we need jobs,” regardless of the fact that Keystone XL won’t create any jobs, as has been well-documented. Talking points know no facts, however.

That’s when Trump launched into his plan to turn the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into a pay-for-protection racket:

“I’d contact countries and I’d say, ‘folks, we love protecting you, we want to continue to protect you,’ but they’re not living up to their bargain. You know, you’re talking about billions and billions of dollars, Michael, numbers that you wouldn’t even believe. But they’re not living up to their bargain and you know we cannot continue to be the policeman for the world. Now, I don’t mind, but they have to pay, they have to pay. If you look at the NATO countries – 28 countries – they’re not living up to what they’re supposed to be living up to. They’re not paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which is very little by the way. So what are we supposed to get into World War III over a country that doesn’t respect us enough to even pay what they’re supposed to be paying?”

This alienating our allies, Trump assured Savage, will make “America a very strong country again.”

That’s right: Trump’s “What’s in it for me?” approach to life directed at foreign policy. At our allies. Nations with which we share a long mutual interest in security and a stable global economy. Republicans have long said the country should be run like a corporation, and Donald Trump intends to do just that.

Yeah, if I were France, I'd be pretty goddamn nervous too.

The Dangerous Days After Dallas

Needless to say, with five dead officers in Dallas, police across the nation aren't exactly in a tolerant mood of Black Lives Matter protests anymore, and a peaceful protest in Phoenix, Arizona last night turned brutal as cops in riot gear unloaded pepper spray and beanbags to end the demonstration nearly as quickly as it started. 

The protest following the police officer-involved shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile had been scheduled earlier in the week, with city authorities asking organizers to hold off after the tragic shooting deaths of police officers in Dallas the previous evening.

Undeterred, marchers showed up late Friday night and attempted to shut down the I-10 freeway when they were met by a phalanx of police in riot gear who blocked them and demanded that they disperse.

As the crowd chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot,” police unleashed wave after wave of pepper spray as the protestors fled, with police following some and making arrests.

According to police, three men were taken into custody for throwing rocks at officers, while six people were treated for injuries from the pepper spray or from falling as they ran.

The message is clear: we're all living in Ferguson, Missouri now.  Protest of police will no longer be tolerated in America.

Last Call For Jobapalooza

And now for some really fantastic news:  Job growth was way better than expected in June and blew away those mediocre May numbers.

The US economy added 287,000 jobs in June, many more than expected, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It was the biggest gain in eight months and was stronger than even the most optimistic forecasts among economists. They had estimated that nonfarm payrolls grew by 180,000, according to Bloomberg.

What was at stake in this jobs report was confirmation that a hiring slowdown had not hit the US economy. In May, just 38,000 job gains were initially reported, excluding the impact of the 35,000 Verizon workers who were on strike.

This was revised lower to 11,000. 

"Last month’s jobs report caught most economists by surprise, and the U.S. is waiting for the other shoe to drop, looking for signs of a broader economic slowdown," said Glassdoor Chief Economist Andrew Chamberlain in a preview.

The unemployment rate increased to 4.9% from 4.7% as more people came back into the workforce. The labor force participation rate rose to 62.7% from 62.6%. And, the number of people who worked part-time for economic reasons plunged.

So no, we're not heading into a recession, May was a blip in the system and June reverted us back to signs of strong continued job growth in 2016.

Meanwhile, Not In Dallas...

It's possible that your reaction blaming President Obama for slain police officers may not be the best idea, as a general rule.

Former Illinois Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh came under fire Thursday night for an inflammatory tweet that included the phrase "watch out Obama" after multiple Dallas police officers were shot, four fatally, by two snipers at the end of a protest against nationwide officer-involved shootings. 

"3 Dallas Cops killed, 7 wounded," Walsh posted. "This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you."

Then he doubles down:

The tweet was deleted, but not before a firestorm erupted on the platform that included singer John Legend calling for Walsh to be arrested. 

"Joe Walsh needs to be arrested for threatening our President," Legend tweeted. 

Walsh later tweeted that he "wasn't calling for violence, against Obama or anyone." 

"Obama's words & BLM's deeds have gotten cops killed," he wrote. "Time for us to defend our cops."

Remember, this man was an elected member of Congress saying this, telling the President and black people to watch out because "real America" is coming for them.

So who's going to take Walsh up on his offer?

An Amazing Admission

I honestly don't think I've ever heard a state governor say something of this magnitude regarding police killings of black people, as Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton openly admitted that he didn't believe Philando Castile would have been shot and killed if he were white.

Dayton said Castile would be alive if he hadn't been black, adding that the shooting demonstrated a troubling pattern of racism among some Minnesota law enforcement officers.

"Would this have happened if those passengers, the driver were white?" he asked. "I don't think it would have."

Dayton said he has spoken with Minnesota's senators, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, and the area's House representatives and would be demanding a Justice Department investigation.

"I can't say how shocked I am and deeply, deeply offended that this would happen to somebody in Minnesota," Dayton said grimly. "No one should be shot in Minnesota for a taillight being out of function. No one should be killed in Minnesota while seated in their car."

The Justice Department is already investigating the Louisiana shooting, and it said Thursday that it was assessing the Minnesota incident.

The St. Anthony Police Department, which covers Falcon Heights, a community of 5,300 people, hasn't detailed what led up to the shooting or said how many times Castile was shot. The officer hasn't been identified, but police described him as a five-year veteran and said he has been placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard in shooting investigations.

I already had a pretty solid opinion of Mark Dayton and Minnesota Dems in general, having lived in the state for a couple years back in my dot com days, but to hear this candid opinion out of the mouth of a sitting governor is staggering.

And here's the thing: I believe Dayton when he says he's going to follow this up with action and reform in the state.

President Obama also weighed in on this week's killings in remarks from the NATO summit in Warsaw.

"These are not isolated incidents," Obama said. "They are symptomatic of a broader set of racial inequalities that exist in our criminal justice system."

Obama said he couldn't comment on the specifics of the shootings, but he made an impassioned plea for all Americans to recognize that "a big chunk of our citizenry feels that because of the color of their skin that they are not being treated the same."

Obama disputed the notion that the explosive issue of police violence was solely a racial matter, calling it "an American issue that we should all care about" and adding: "All fair-minded people should be concerned."

And he specifically urged that Americans not equate protests with opposition to law enforcement.

"There is no contradiction between us supporting law enforcement ... and also saying that there are problems across our criminal justice system," he said.

"There are biases — some conscious, some unconscious — that have to be rooted out. That's not an attack on law enforcement. That's reflective of the values the vast majority of law enforcement brings to the job."

Maybe I'm stupidly naive for believing that something will get done on the police reform front, as police departments across the country have largely been ignoring President Obama and Department of Justice reform guidelines (one notable exception: here in Cincy) but I have to believe at some point things will get better.

I'm hoping this time it does.

StupidiNews!

• Dallas police say five officers are dead, six more "gravely injured" as multiple suspects with rifles opened up on a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest last night in downtown Dallas.
• President Obama has condemned the Dallas police killings, calling the attack a "tremendous tragedy" as he continues to attend a NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland.
• The Senate has passed a food labeling bill that would indicate products contain genetically modified ingredients, but critics say the legislation's loopholes render it useless.
• Vice President Joe Biden will deliver a speech on US trade policy in San Diego next week, he is expected to rebut claims by Donald Trump about America's need for stiff trade tariffs.
• Security firm Check Point Software says 10 million Android phones are infected by Chinese malware that generates millions per year in ad revenue and is nearly impossible to remove.

Last Call For Cadillacs And Dinosaurs

After years of legal wrangling and tens of millions in tax breaks, Kentucky's status as anti-science embarassment full of slack-jawed yokels enters a new phase with the grand opening of Ark Encounter in nearby Grant County.

A 510-foot-long, $100 million Noah's ark attraction built by Christians who say the biblical story really happened has opened in Kentucky.

People lined up as much as an hour before the Ark Encounter opened near Williamstown at 9 a.m. 

Since its announcement in 2010, the ark project has rankled opponents who say the attraction will be detrimental to science education and shouldn't have won state tax incentives. 

"I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history," said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built the ark. 

Ham said the massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-of-the-world warning from God about a massive flood, stands as proof that the stories of the Bible are true. The group invited media and thousands of supporters for a preview Tuesday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure. 

"People are going to come from all over the world," Ham said to thousands of people in front of the ark during a Tuesday preview. 

Ham's group has estimated it will draw 2 million visitors in its first year, putting it on par with some of the big-ticket attractions in nearby Cincinnati.

I'm thinking Ham is overestimating that number by an order of magnitude or so, which means this place is probably going to go belly up before too long.  Frankly, I hope the drainage at the park is so bad the place floods and the ark sinks, but I'm nowhere near that lucky.

Still, it'll bring a couple hundred jobs (for good Christians only, mind you) in Grant County, which does badly need them.  Sure, those jobs are coming at a cost of a quarter-million in tax breaks each, but what would I know about math, I live in Kentucky, right?

Bevinstan needs some attractions to pull the rubes in.  We can't be the nation's laughing stock 100% due solely to Matt Bevin, after all.

Meanwhile In Gunmerica, Con't

So apparently the House GOP won't be holding those gun control votes they promised to hold after all, becuase they're either too busy grilling James Comey or that the gun fetish wing of the party is threatening full revolt.

House Republican infighting has forced GOP leaders to indefinitely postpone a vote on an "anti-terrorism package," leaving Congress with no legislative response to last month's massacre in Orlando. 

As Democrats are pushing Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for votes on their gun control proposals, taking to the House floor Thursday to read the names of victims of gun violence, Republicans can’t agree among themselves on what they will support in a gun package.

While some in House leadership hold out hope for a vote before the July 15 recess, a source cautioned that "there is a lot of work to do to get there."

So Paul Ryan is bailing on his word to Democrats, and there's basically no reason why anyone should ever belive the guy again.

Can't say you didn't see this coming, though.

Black Lives Still Matter

On Tuesday Alton Sterling was murdered in Baton Rouge by police, yesterday Philando Castile was killed in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.  

A 32-year-old man has died after an officer-involved shooting Wednesday night in Falcon Heights.

Philando Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, says he died at Hennepin County Medical Center after 11 p.m.

St. Anthony Police said in a press release that officers pulled over a vehicle at Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street at about 9 p.m. They said “shots were fire” during the traffic stop, and a handgun was recovered at the scene. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating.

Castile’s family says his girlfriend, Lavisha Reynolds, and her 4-year-old daughter, Diamond, were in the car at the time. Reynolds was taken into custody Wednesday night.

They pulled him over for a busted tail light with a woman and a 4-year-old in the car. Castille informed the officer that he had a legal handgun in the glove compartment, and that he was reaching for his wallet in his back pocket.

And then the officer shot him 4 times.  Lavisha Reynolds recorded the stop and the aftermath on her phone.

Reynolds, who was in the front passenger seat, says in the video that they were pulled over for a broken tail light. She says police asked Castile, who was driving, for his license and registration.

She says as Castile was reaching for his wallet, he informed officers that he had a firearm in his possession, and a conceal-and-carry permit.

Reynolds says in the video that an officer then shot her boyfriend four times.

The officer in the video at one point screams, “I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand out …”

Reynolds tells the officer, “You told him to get his I.D., sir, his driver’s license.”

She pans the cellphone camera over Castile, who is covered in blood.

“Oh my God, please don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me my boyfriend just went like that,” Reynolds said.

The officer, whose gun is drawn the entire time, tells Reynolds to, “Keep your hands where they are.”

“Yes I will, sir, I’ll keep my hands where they are,” she said.

In the video you can see Castille writhing in pain in the driver's seat, his final moments passing. Reynolds is very, very calm considering the officer just blasted the person next to her, because she knows that if she gets hysterical here, she will be murdered too.

The cop is screaming and cursing because he knows he screwed up big time, and he's been caught.  In no way was this justified.

And so another black man died to a cop in America last night.

Black lives do matter.

StupidiNews!

• A second black man is dead from a police shooting in two days as Philando Castille was killed in St. Paul, Minnesota at a traffic stop for a broken tail light, two witnesses were in the car.
• The United Nations has leveled new sanctions against North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un over human rights abuses in response to several North Korean missile tests this year.
• An attack by Islamic militants in Bangladesh has killed 3 and wounded 14 as police were protecting an Eid festival marking the end of Ramadan.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders is reportedly in talks to endorse Hillary Clinton at a joint event in New Hampshire next week ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
• Cable giant Comcast says that it's not economically viable or even technically possible to comply with new FCC rules governing third-party cable boxes and applications.

Last Call For At Long Last

It's official: no charges for Hillary Clinton.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday said the Justice Department has decided not to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton or her aides and will close the investigation into her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

The announcement comes a day after FBI Director James Comey held a press conference in which he said “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue a case against Clinton, even though she and her staff were “extremely careless” in their handling of classified material.

Lynch's statement provides further relief to Clinton, whose presidential campaign has been dogged by the email scandal, which spawned myriad probes and lawsuits, some of which will continue even as the DOJ’s investigation ends.

“Late this afternoon, I met with FBI Director James Comey and career prosecutors and agents who conducted the investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email system during her time as Secretary of State,” Lynch said. “I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation.”

Lynch had previously said that she would accept the FBI’s recommendation, a declaration that came after Lynch came under fire for an impromptu meeting she had with former President Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac late last month.

And oh boy, the Republicans are never going to let this go, with Comey and Lynch now facing the House GOP starting tomorrow.  But they haven't let anything go over the last eight years, why start now?

Black Lives Still Matter

As I mentioned in this morning's StupidiNews, we've got yet another example of police executing a black man in front of witnesses and captured on video, this time for the capital offense of selling CDs outside a convenience store, this time in Baton Rouge.

The video showed two Baton Rouge police officers attempting to detain Alton Sterling after the officers responded to a call “from a complainant who stated that a black male who was selling music cd’s and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun” outside the Triple S Food Mart, a convenience store, a Facebook post by Baton Rouge Police Department said. Police said they responded about 12:35 a.m. 

Sterling was shot and killed while pinned down by the officers. 

His killing is the latest in a nationwide string of fatal police-involved arrests captured on video. Like many others, the first versions of what happened are coming more from a video showing a fragment of the incident than from police, who have had relatively little to say so far. Thus no clear picture has yet to emerge of the full sequence of events that led to the death. 

The cellphone video of the incident surfaced on social media. The footage began with police standing a few feet from Sterling. A loud pop — like that of a stun gun — can be heard. 

“Get on the ground,” a police officer yelled. 

“Get on the ground,” the voice yelled again, followed by a second pop. 

Sterling, a large man, remained on his feet. 

A police officer tackled him over the hood of a silver car, then onto the ground. 

Meanwhile, another restrained his left arm behind his back and knelt on it. 

“He’s got a gun,” someone yelled. 

“Gun. Gun.” 

Both officers drew their pistols from their holsters. In the video, Sterling appeared to be fairly immobile. 

Then, the officers shouted something unintelligible, which seemed to include the phrase “going for the gun.” 

Two noises that sounded like shots rang out immediately after. 

Whoever filmed the video then dropped the cellphone.

I'm not showing the video, because I'm getting sick of the black death porn aspect of these police killings.  It's there at the WaPo story if you want to view it, and it's your call if you want to watch it.  I don't need to. Having said that, without the iPhone video of the incident, Sterling's death would have been just another statistic.

Although both officers were wearing body cameras, the Baton Rouge Police Chief reportedly told Louisiana State Rep. Denise Marcelle (D) that they both fell off during the incident and didn’t capture any footage of the incident. 

Civilian cellphone footage filmed from a nearby car shows police confronting a man in a red shirt, purported to be Sterling, and yelling at him to get on the ground. An officer tackles him, throwing him onto a car hood and then to the cement. Both officers are on on top of Sterling, who appears to be flat on the ground when one shouts “He’s got a gun.” The video then shows the other officer shooting at point-black range; The person shooting the video reacts, shifting the video from the scene, and at least two more shots are heard. 

“Thank god for the iPhone because without the iPhone they might have gotten away,” said Mike McClanahan, the president of the Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP, at a press conference. 

The attorney for the Sterling family, Edmond Jordan, said in a press conference that one of the Baton Rouge Police Department’s first moves was to confiscate the store surveillance camera — along with its entire video system — without providing the store owner with a warrant. Police Chief Carl Dabadie also told Rep. Marcelle that there is dashboard camera footage from one of the squad cars. 

“There are no criminal charges pending against anyone as far as we know,” Jordan said. “So why are they holding on to this video?” 

“I don’t think the department knew that there was another video out there,” he said.

No, and if the cops had shaken the witness in the car down and taken their phone, we'd never have known. Governor John bel Edwards is referring the investigation to the feds, needless to say.

What I know is this: Louisiana is an open carry state for both long guns and handguns and has been for years, both police officers say their body cameras came off during the altercation and that they don't have footage, and Alton Sterling is dead.

What I know is that people I consider friends will gaslight this again in order to justify Sterling's death, and that they will continue to believe that the Second Amendment is there for the protection of citizens against the government, and that Sterling's life was forfeit the second he "refused to comply" with the officers.

What I know is that this will happen again, be caught on video in another American town, more protests will happen, and that not a damn thing will change.

What I know is that I'm bone weary of this happening, and that there's little I can do in order to try to stop it.

Meanwhile, here in Kentucky, we're going to enshrine into law that police are above said law.

And so it goes in America.

Meanwhile In Gunmerica...

The issue of gun violence isn't going away, as much as Republicans would like to use the power of "Thoughtsnprayers" to make the issue vanish.  It's not, not with Donald Trump remaining an albatross around the necks of every Republican running in November.  It looks like we're moving into the deal-making stage ahead of the convention recess.

House Democrats and Republicans seem just as destined for an election-season clash over guns as they did before a Democratic sit-in on the chamber's floor ushered in lawmakers' July 4 recess two weeks ago. 

Nearly a month after the Orlando mass-shooting catapulted the issue back onto the nation's radar, the two parties were meeting separately Wednesday to map strategy. 

Republicans have incorporated some gun curbs into a broader bill aimed at addressing domestic terrorism that the House has planned to debate this week, though their plans seemed less certain late Tuesday. Democrats are insisting on amendments tightening gun restrictions far further, which House Speaker Paul Ryan seemed to nix Tuesday, and each party says the other's proposals are defective. 

Ryan, R-Wis., met Tuesday evening with two leaders of the sit-in, Reps. John Lewis of Georgia and John Larson of Connecticut. The Democrats said Ryan listened respectfully and mentioned his party's concerns about protecting gun owners' rights, but made no promise to allow votes on the Democrats' proposals. 

Asked what Democrats would do if they are denied votes, Lewis, the civil rights hero, wasn't specific but said: "There will be action. We will not be silent." 

Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said the two parties "have different views on how to achieve a shared goal of preventing gun deaths," especially over protecting gun owners' rights. She said the next steps on anti-terror legislation "will be discussed and determined by the majority in the coming days." 

That seemed less assured than earlier comments from Ryan that the House would vote on the GOP legislation this week. Late Tuesday, Republicans were working to line up GOP support for their own measure, with some having questions about the bill's procedural protections for gun owners and other concerns. 

Despite the uncertainty, GOP leaders' hopes of staging a vote on their proposal underscored the pressure they've felt since the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, that left 49 victims dead. Since the 2012 slaying of school children in Newtown, Connecticut, Republicans have not brought any legislation broadly restricting guns to the House floor.

Ryan wants this vote over and done with so it becomes the Senate's problem, which is what John Boshner would have done a month ago.  Sadly, Ryan is even worse at this whole Speaker thing than Orange Julius was, and that's really saying something.

Still, Ryan should be able to say that he kept his promise of holding a vote, and then watch the measure die.

Well, unless the House revolts again.  You never know.

StupidiNews!

• Former South African sprinter Oscar Pistorious has been sentenced to six years in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
• Footage from a mobile phone allegedly shows two Baton Rouge police officers holding 37-year-old Alton Sterling to the ground and then executing the unarmed black man.
• Results of a seven-year inquiry into Britain's entrance into the Iraq War will be released today with the focus on former PM Tony Blair and his decision in 2003 to join the US invasion.
• The private equity firm that put Hostess Brands back on America's shelves are hoping to turn Twinkies and King Dons into hipster nostalgia.
• EU lawmakers will go ahead with new regulations to identify and remove terrorist content online, the plan will now go to individual EU countries for final revision.

Last Call For Free Of Charge

FBI Director James Comey gave Republicans and Bernie Sanders supporters the bad news today that the agency is not formally recommending charges against Hillary Clinton over her email server. Ian Millhiser explains why charges aren't forthcoming:

Clinton, like her two most recent predecessors Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, maintained at least two email accounts: one specifically set up to receive classified information and the other for other communications. Clinton’s non-classified email was hosted on a private server (as opposed to Powell’s non-classified email address, which was an AOL account), while the classified email could only be accessed if Clinton complied with a byzantine array of security rules. 

Clinton says that the emails she received at her non-classified address “were not marked classified,” although she acknowledges that “there are disagreements among agencies on what should have been perhaps classified retroactively.” Government officials also confirm that “none of the emails the State Department redacted, or any other emails made public, contained classification markings at the time they were sent.” Although the FBI determined that 110 emails did contain classified information. 

This matters because of a legal concept called mens rea. As a general rule, most crimes require prosecutors to prove that an individual acted with a particular state of mind before they can be convicted of a specific crime. Most federal laws dealing with classified information require someone to “knowingly” violate that law in order to sustain a conviction. Thus, Clinton cannot be charged with transmitting or receiving classified information based on that fact alone. She had to have acted with knowledge that specific information was classified when it was transmitted. There is little, if any, evidence that Clinton possessed this state of mind.

Stupid? Sure. Criminal? Nope. And nearly impossible to prove.

But apparently people are worried that this might be worse than the raging orange anti-semite racist Islamophobe the other team is running.

It’s hard to read Comey’s statement as anything other than a wholesale rebuke of the story Clinton and her campaign team have been telling ever since the existence of her private email server came to light in spring 2015. She did send and receive classified emails. The setup did leave her — and the classified information on the server — subject to a possible foreign hack. She and her team did delete emails as personal that contained professional information. 

Those are facts, facts delivered by the Justice Department of a Democratic administration. And those facts run absolutely counter to the narrative put forth by the Clinton operation: that this whole thing was a Republican witch-hunt pushed by a bored and adversarial media. 

Now for the key question: How much do the FBI findings hurt her campaign? 

Clinton did avoid indictment, a ruling that would have effectively ended her campaign or left it so badly weakened that there would have been a major move within Democratic circles to replace her as the nominee. 

That said, campaigns aren’t governed by the ultimate legality of what Clinton did or didn’t do. So, while dodging an indictment is a good thing — she isn’t under criminal investigation and remains a candidate — it’s a far different thing from being cleared (or even close to it) in the court of public opinion.

Umm, Hillary Clinton has been triend in the court of public opinion since Whitewater, guys. The notion that large swaths of voters are going to be affected by this narrative is next to zero (unlike an actual indictment.)

So no, barring Loretta Lynch indicting, it's not going to happen, kids.

Russian To Judgment

WaPo's Josh Rogin argues that while President Obama may have painfully learned his lesson about trying to negotiate with Republicans who only want to see him obliterated from history, he still hasn't gotten around to figuring out that Vladimir Putin is just as untrustworthy and far, far more dangerous.

The United States cannot afford to write off the U.S.-Russia relationship. There is truth to the argument that the world’s most pressing problems, including Islamic extremism, cannot be solved without some Russian involvement. But Washington cannot ignore Russia’s increasingly horrendous behavior. Russia’s dangerous military maneuvers near U.S. ships are now regular occurrences. Russian harassment and intimidation of U.S. diplomats across Europe is at an all-time high. Russian government cyberespionage and propaganda campaigns have run amok. 

“The fact is, they are engaged in a new global Cold War against the U.S.,” said Samuel Charap, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “There’s absolutely no question about that. We have this festering wound on the relationship that nobody on the U.S. side is spending much time trying to fix.” 

The United States has complicated relationships with lots of problematic countries. China, for example, is internally repressive and externally aggressive, but there’s no thought of cutting off relations with Beijing. Similarly, the policy of isolating Russia as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine has limits. Russia was determined not to cave to sanctions, and if the recent vote in the French senate is any indication, the sanctions regime will not last forever. 

“Putin is a very smart, sophisticated political animal,” said [former Ukranian PM Arseniy] Yatsenyuk. “He can wait and wait for a quite long and extensive period of time. He knows how the Western powers act.” 

The United States must establish a new relationship with Russia that is intellectually honest about Moscow’s actions and intentions while preserving whatever cooperation is possible. That may mean finding an endgame to the Ukraine sanctions before they crumble under their own weight. But it also means pushing back more against Russian provocations and raising the cost for Putin when he acts out on other fronts.

And again, that's a great idea on paper, but "raising the cost" for Putin is kind of hard to do when you need him more than he needs you.  He's perfectly fine walking away from coopoeration in Syria, continuing to hit Ukraine, and conducting a cyberspace Cold War, and frankly there's not a hell of a lot we can do to stop him without friends to back us up.

Ol' Vlad has already made most of our friends offers that they can't refuse either.  He's a smart guy and as smart as Obama is, he's outmanuvered Obama in the President's second term time and time again.

Hopefully Clinton can do a bit better, but I doubt it.  I do know that Trump will do Putin's heavy lifting for him, and Sanders would be too busy muttering about class warfare to realize Putin was taking him to the cleaners on a daily basis.

It's not looking good to "reset" the Russian relationship anytime soon, guys. He's holding most of the cards and more importantly he's willing to play them without constraint.

The Right To Connect

The United Nations has passed a resolution calling for the world's nations not to restrict internet access to citizens and affirming access as a basic human right in 2016, something that's really, really not going over well with the more repressive regimes on the planet.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has passed a non-binding resolution condemning countries that intentionally disrupt citizens' internet access. The resolution builds on the UN's previous statements on digital rights, reaffirming the organization's stance that "the same rights people have offline must also be protected online," in particular the freedom of expression covered under article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The resolution was passed by consensus last Friday, but was opposed by a minority of authoritarian regimes including Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia, as well as democracies like South Africa and India. These nations called for the UN to delete a passage in the resolution that "condemns unequivocally measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to our dissemination of information online." 

Resolutions like this are not legally enforceable, but put pressure on governments and give credence to the actions of digital rights advocates around the world. The UN's decision to target internet shutdowns is particularly relevant, as governments have started freely using this method as a means of controlling citizens in what appear to be even minor matters. 

Just in the last month social media sites have been throttled in Turkey after a terrorist attacks on Istanbul's airport; mobile internet has been shut down in Bahrain and India following local protests; and social media has been blocked in Algeria simply to stop students cheating on school tests. According to digital rights group Access Now, there were at least 15 internet shutdowns in 2015 around the world, and at least 20 just in 2016 so far.

Frankly, when you count the populations of China, India, Russia and the other countries that opposed the resolution, that's not a "minority" at all, it represents the governments of more than half the world's population.  That stuff matters, guys.  Many of us here in the states take access to the internet for granted.

Internet blackouts like this are only getting worse in the post-Arab Spring world and I'm betting they will continue for some time.  Internet is always the first casualty of a crackdown, it seems.

StupidiNews!

• NASA's Juno space probe has reached Jupiter's orbit after a nearly five-year flight and will spend the next several months mapping the largest planet in our solar system.
• A London law firm is suing the British government over Brexit, saying that departure from the EU requires a formal act of Parliament. 
• Three coordinated bombings in Saudi Arabia have killed four and injured dozens as Eid approaches Wednesday, signaling the end of the month of Ramadan.
• Australia's mail votes from Sunday's election are still being counted as neither current PM Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal coalition nor opposition Bill Shorten's Labor party have a majority.
• China continues cracking down on social media, calling services like Facebook and Twitter full of "hearsay" and "distortions" and banning them from being cited by state news agencies.

Last Call For The Frenemy Zone

You have to give the Clinton crew credit: they certainly know how to massage the Village in all the bipartisan erogenous zones.

Should she win the presidency, Hillary Clinton would quickly try to find common ground with Republicans on an immigration overhaul and infrastructure spending, risking the wrath of liberals who would like nothing more than to twist the knife in a wounded opposition party.

In her first 100 days, she would also tap women to make up half of her cabinet in hopes of bringing a new tone and collaborative sensibility to Washington, while also looking past Wall Street to places like Silicon Valley for talent — perhaps wooing Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook, and maybe asking Tim Cook from Apple to become the first openly gay cabinet secretary.

Former President Bill Clinton would keep a low public profile, granting few interviews and avoiding any moves that could create headaches for his wife, like his recent meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch during the F.B.I.’s investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email practices.

Mrs. Clinton would even schmooze differently than the past few presidents have. Not one to do business over golf or basketball, she would bring back the intimate style of former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Lyndon B. Johnson, negotiating over adult beverages. Picture a steady stream of senators, congressmen and other leaders raising a glass and talking policy in the Oval Office with her and her likely chief of staff, John D. Podesta, as her husband pops in with a quick thought or a disarming compliment.

Deeply confident that she would perform better as the president than as a political candidate, Mrs. Clinton wants to pursue a whole new approach at the White House to try to break through years of partisan gridlock, according to a dozen campaign advisers and allies who described her goals and outlook. From policy goals and personnel to her instinct for patiently cultivating the enemy, Mrs. Clinton thinks she would be a better dealmaker than President Obama if she finds willing partners on the other side.

I'm with Steve M. on this: when reality comes by and kicks Hillary Clinton in the ass, it's going to get brutal, fast.

Obama also had large majorities in the House and Senate. Because of gerrymandering in GOP states, a Democratic House is next to impossible in 2017, and the widespread optimism about a Democratic takeover of the Senate seems awfully premature -- the Cook Political Report finds no current Republican seat that so much as leans Democratic (though several are tossups), and Democrats could lose Harry Reid's seat in Nevada, which is also a tossup. If Democrats take back the Senate, it'll be by one or two seats, far less than their margin in 2009.

And Republicans, up against huge Democratic majorities in 2009, still dug in their heels and blocked as much of Obama's agenda as they could manage.

Conventional wisdom says they loathed him more because he's black. I don't buy that. They've hated Hillary Clinton for a quarter of a century. Their voters despise her. And she's likely to win in the fall without being well liked by the broad electorate.

They're going to consider her weak and vulnerable. They know Democrats don't vote in midterms. So they're going to effectively shut the government down again, then blame Democrats, the party that believes in government, for the gridlock, in the hope of another off-year midterm rout.

And there is every reason to believe this will work.  Let's recall Mitch McConnell and the GOP were plotting how to obstruct the Obama agenda on his inauguration day. It worked, too.  They lost on Obamacare, but they won back Congress and all but ended the Democrats in the South in 2010 and in the Midwest in 2014, or have we forgotten that Obama 2008 swing states like Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Ohio and Florida, and even deep blue states like Illinois, Massachusetts and Maryland now have GOP governors and in many cases, GOP legislatures?

Hell, the NYT is talking about "Team of Rivals" again and a new era of bipartisanship and I guarantee you that Paul Ryan will be commenting on the "growing anger by GOP rank and file over articles of impeachment" before St. Patrick's Day, if not sooner.

Grow the hell up, guys.  You'll have Republicans screaming "burn that Clinton bitch!" on the House floor from day one, and the Village will happily enable it by buying into Clinton happy talk.

Does anyone here think the party that created Trump and enabled his hatred and racism, or the 60 million racist, hate-fueled people who will vote for him in November will just magically vanish come January?

Sure, NYT.  Let's test that theory in six months.