Orange Julius Gives Them The Gas Face

With gas prices down to around $2 a gallon from $3.50, the notion to raise the federal gas tax by a bit in order to pay for the Federal Highway Trust Fund to keep America's interstates running seems pretty reasonable.

But let's remember you're dealing with 2015 Republicans like John Boehner, who are never reasonable. Steve Benen:

The Highway Trust Fund, which plays a central role in financing U.S. infrastructure projects, is financed through a federal gas tax. It’s been a pretty effective system, at least up until recently – the current tax hasn’t changed in more than two decades, and as a result, American investment in infrastructure has fallen to its lowest point since 1947. Making matters slightly worse, the Highway Trust Fund is on track to run out of money in May. 

The simple, efficient, and painfully obvious solution is to approve an overdue increase to the gas tax – with prices at the pump already having plummeted, this is an ideal time – which would bolster the fund, boost investments, and help both the economy and our infrastructure, which even Republicans concede is currently “on life support.” 

Indeed, while Democratic support for an overdue gas-tax increase comes as no surprise, some conservative GOP lawmakers also agree that we don’t have much of a choice.

But oh well, John Boehner won't even allow that up for a vote in the House.

Asked for further clarification, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told Greg Sargent, “The Speaker doesn’t support a gas tax hike. Period.”

Now Orange Julius does concede that somebody has to pay for the Highway Trust Fund, or thousands of construction jobs will be lost this summer and our interstate highways won't get repaired.  The obvious and easy way is to bump up the gas tax.

But that won't happen.  What will happen?  We don't know, that's up to Republicans.

Good luck with that whole "governance" thing, boys.

Last Call For General "Betrayed By His Little Soldier", You Mean

Remember Gen. David Petraeus and his career-ending affair with a mistress while CIA chief back in 2012?  The DoJ and FBI sure as hell remember, and he's about to get fried up like catfish.

The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against retired Gen. David H. Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress while he was director of theC.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison.

The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other highly classified information. F.B.I. agents discovered classified documents on her computer after Mr. Petraeus resigned from the C.I.A. in 2012 when the affair became public.

Mr. Petraeus, a retired four star-general who served as commander of American forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has said he never provided classified information to Ms. Broadwell, and has indicated to the Justice Department that he has no interest in a plea deal that would spare him an embarrassing trial. A lawyer for Mr. Petraeus, Robert B. Barnett, said Friday he had no comment.

Mr. Holder was expected to decide by the end of last year whether to bring charges against Mr. Petraeus, but he has not indicated how he plans to proceed. The delay has frustrated some Justice Department and F.B.I officials and investigators who have questioned whether Mr. Petraeus has received special treatment at a time Mr. Holder has led an unprecedented crackdown on government officials who reveal secrets to journalists.

Needless to say, Eric Holder's going to be under a lot of pressure to prosecute, but it may not be his decision at all as Loretta Lynch, his replacement, has her confirmation hearings staring as early as the end of the month.

Things just got real interesting.

Manchin On The Hill, Con't

Sen. Joe Manchin has two jobs these days, representing West Virginia in the Senate, and repeating weak Republican attacks against the leader of his own party.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Thursday he was disappointed that the White House threatened to veto his legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing the president’s move was “not the way a democracy works.” 

The West Virginia lawmaker said he was upset Obama did not reserve judgment on the bill until it went through the committee and amendment process in an interview with Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.”

“I just couldn't believe that out of the gate, two hours after [Sen.] John Hoeven [R-N.D.] and I announced that were introducing the bill, that they would come out from the White House and the president would make a statement that he's going to veto it,” Manchin said. 

The Democrat said he had been hopeful the president’s history serving in the Senate would have led him to hold off on a veto threat. 

“I would have thought the president would say, ‘Listen, being a former legislator, I'm going to wait until this process unfolds. And at the end of the day, I'll tell you, do I like what they came up with, or do I not like what they came out with, and this is my reason for veto,’ ” Manchin said. “[He] never even gave it a chance, never even gave it a chance. Now, that's just not the way you do legislation. It's not the way a democracy works. And it's not the way the ... three branches of government should work.”

Reread your Constitution, chuckles.  The President vetoing a bill is precisely how American democracy works.  The redress to this, also in said Constitution, is for the Congress to override the President's veto, which it can do with a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.  If you can do that, you can pass anything you like no matter what the President says.

Get to making those phone calls, Joe.  Your energy company masters are waiting.

Rich Man, Poor Man

If you want to know how the GOP is going to get away with massive Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid cuts, it's because the majority of Americans feel that the poor in America have it too easy. And the richer you are, the more you despise America's lower class.

Most of America's richest think poor people have it easy in this country,according to a new report released by the Pew Research Center. The center surveyed a nationally representative group of people this past fall, and found that the majority of the country's most financially secure citizens (54 percent at the very top, and 57 percent just below) believe the "poor have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return." America's least financially secure, meanwhile, vehemently disagree — nearly 70 percent say the poor have hard lives because the benefits "don't go far enough." Nationally, the population is almost evenly split.

Why the surprising lack of compassion? It's hard to say. At the very top, the sentiment is likely tied to conservatism, which traditionally bemoans government programs that redistribute wealth, calling them safety nets. Some 40 percent of the financially secure are politically conservative, according to Pew. And conservatives are even more likely to say the "poor have it easy" than the rich — a recent Pew survey found that more than three quarters of conservatives feel that way.

More broadly, the prevalence of the view might reflect an inability to understand the plight of those who have no choice but to seek help from the government. A quarter of the country, after all, feels that the leading reason for inequality in America is that the poor don't work hard enough.

35 years of Reagan's "welfare queens", Bush 41's "war on drugs",  Clinton's welfare reform and financial sector remake, Bush 43's "soft bigotry of low expectations" and crashing the economy and yeah, even six years of the "Obama recovery" and it's still not enough wealth for the 1%.

The people with the tens of billions of dollars are paying the people with hundreds of millions of dollars to convince the people with hundreds of thousands of dollars that the people with a couple of hundred bucks left over at the end of the month are making too much money.

These are also the people who believe "most corporations make a fair and reasonable profit" (51%), believe "government is almost always wasteful and inefficient" (61%) and then there's this:



Pretty much across the board, if you're black and poor, it's your own goddamn fault.

Combine the two and as Lyndon Johnson said, if you can convince the poorest white man that he's better than the highest black man, then he won't mind you picking his pocket.

StupidiNews!

• The manhunt by French police for the two suspects in Wednesday's deadly shooting in Paris has led to a hostage situation in a storage complex near Charles de Gaulle Airport.
• The US Olympic Committee has chosen Boston as the site of the US bid for the 2024 Summer Games, beating out LA, San Francisco, and Washington DC.
• Cuba has freed eight more political prisoners as part of a continuing deal with the United States in order to normalize relations between the two countries.
• The US Supreme Court could decide as early as today whether or not to review same-sex marriage laws in the US, which could lead to a national ruling on the matter.
• Intel is showing off a new "stick computer" that is an entire Windows 8.1 or Linux machine on a palm-sized unit with USB and HDMI connections.

Last Call For Boxing Day

California Dem Sen. Barbara Boxer is "retiring" in 2016, leaving the door open for a number of Dems looking to move up in the ranks in the Golden State.

According to CNN, the long-serving Boxer said that she is stepping down from the Senate, but has no plans to retire. 

“I am never going to retire,” Boxer said. “The work is too important.” 

She intends to channel her energy into her PAC for Change group and to ensure that the White House and her Senate seat stay in Democratic hands in the next election cycle.
Boxer, 74, said that her age has nothing to do with her decision. 

“Some people are old at 40, some people are young at 80. I feel as young as I did when I got elected. I was in my 50s,” Boxer said. 

Boxer closed an interview with CNN with a series of rhymes, saying, “The Senate is the place where I’ve always made my case. For families, for the planet and the human race. More than 20 years in a job I love, thanks to California and the Lord above. So although I wont be working from my senate space and I wont’ be running in that next tough race. As long as there are issues and challenges and strife, I will never retire because that’s the meaning of my life.”

After 24 years, Boxer is moving on.  Who will replace her?

The smart money is on Attorney General Kamala Harris, or Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom.  LA Mayor Eric Garcetti has already said that he's not looking to replace Boxer.  Any of the three could take a crack at it I guess but with Gov. Jerry Brown term limited in 2018, that leaves the Governor's Mansion in an open race too. It's also very possible that California's other senator Dianne Feinstein will retire in 2018 as well and not seek a fifth term, meaning if 2016 doesn't work out, 2018 will provide opportunities.

Of course, Scott Brown could show up and lose a Senate race in a third state too.

The Unkindest Cuts Begin

So a GOP Congress means a lot of things for America, and pretty much none of them good.  One of those "not good" things is the return of the Catfood Commission, as House Republicans are going to force a fight on Social Security disability benefits.

Buried in new rules that will govern the House for the next two years is a provision that could force an explosive battle over Social Security's finances on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. 

Social Security's disability program has been swamped by aging baby boomers, and unless Congress acts, the trust fund that supports it is projected to run dry in late 2016. At that point, the program will collect only enough payroll taxes to pay 81 percent of benefits, according to the trustees who oversee Social Security. 

To shore up the disability program, Congress could redirect payroll taxes from Social Security's much larger retirement fund — as it has done in the past. However, the House adopted a rule Tuesday blocking such a move, unless it is part of a larger plan to improve Social Security's finances, by either cutting benefits or raising taxes. 

Long the third rail of American politics, tinkering with Social Security has never been easy. Throw in election-year politics and finding votes in Congress to cut benefits or raise taxes could be especially difficult. 

But if Congress doesn't act, benefits for 11 million disabled workers, spouses and children would be automatically cut by 19 percent. The average monthly payment for a disabled worker is $1,146, or a little less than $14,000 a year.

And yes, disability benefits are different from old age benefits.  Technically, those are two separate funds, and the disability fund is definitely running out of money.  But House Republicans are blocking the usual move to tap old age benefits to fund the disability account (and the old age account is doing just fine, thanks.)

That means the fight over Social Security cuts is now one of the big issues in 2016, and Republicans are going to try to find a way to force President Obama to accept them, then blame Democrats for the cuts in perpetuity.

We'll see how this fight plays out this year and next, but keep an eye on the news.  Republicans have been waiting to gut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for years now, and this is the best chance they've got.  (What, did you think they were going to wait until a Republican president was in the White House to do it?  Can't blame the Democrats then, can they?)

Shifty bastards.

Seeing Stars Late At Night

Well here's what I call smart television: Neil DeGrasse Tyson is bringing his Star Talk radio/podcast show to TV.

On Wednesday, the National Geographic channel announced that Tyson would be hosting the network's first ever late-night talk show, Variety reported. It will be loosely based on Tyson's popular podcast, Star Talk, and feature the cosmologist in the starring role. Few other details have so far been announced, but if it is anything like the podcast, you can expect a slew of comics, celebrities and fellow scientists to join Tyson to discuss "astronomy, physics and everything else about life in the universe." 

"Cosmos allowed us to share the awesome power of the universe with a global audience in ways that we never thought possible," Tyson reportedly said. "To be able to continue to spread wonder and excitement through Star Talk, which is a true passion project for me, is beyond exciting." 

Star Talk will also mark NatGeo's continuing expansion into such original programming (they're also planning an upcoming comedy from the creators of HBO's Silicon Valley). And as an educational channel that actually still has educational programming (unlike some other guys) hopefully they'll make this expansion carefully and deliver something good.

"We continue to bolster our programming with series and event specials that are brand definitional, andStar Talk is the perfect opportunity to offer our audience an edgy, late-night alternative with the credibility and authenticity that are the hallmarks of our network," National Geographic Channels CEO Courteney Monroe reportedly said.

I enjoy watching The Nerdist on BBC America, and SyFy's The Wil Wheaton Project is also a good time, so I know there's room out there in the vast cable spectrum for smart late-night hosts and talk shows. Hell, Craig Ferguson was brilliant on The Late Late Show.

Looking forward to watching this, as the Star Talk podcasts I've listened to have been pretty good. Neil is a natural and here's hoping it's even better.

StupidiNews!

• French police continue to hunt for two of the three gunmen responsible for the deadly attack at Paris' Charlie Hebdo weekly, the third suspect has surrendered.
• Comedian Bill Cosby will go ahead with three Canadian shows this week despite growing allegations of widespread sexual assault of women over many years.
• Billionaire investor George Soros is urging the world's banks to put together a $50 billion aid package to Ukraine to shore the country up against further Russian incursion.
• President Obama will announce lower mortgage insurance premiums backed by the FHA in order to spur new home ownership and refinancing of home loans to new lower rates.
• The Los Angeles Police Department will outfit 3,000 officers with Tasers that will automatically activate body cameras when fired.

Last Call For Reading Left To White

Former Virginia Dem Sen. Jim Webb isn't going to run a dog whistle campaign for 2016, no sir. Nia-Malika Henderson at WaPo:

Some think Jim Webb could be the liberal Democratic alternative to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Perhaps it's more likely, though, that Webb could position himself as something the Democratic Party — or any party, really — hasn't seen in some time: the vocal champion of the working-class white man. 

The former Virginia senator offered this critique of his party to Matt Bai over at Yahoo!, and it sounds like something that you might hear on the campaign trail going forward. 

“I think this is where Democrats screw up, you know?” Webb said. “I think that they have kind of unwittingly used this group, white working males, as a whipping post for a lot of their policies. And then when they react, they say they're being racist.” 

Rather than run as a liberal (which he is not, in a whole host of ways), Webb could run as a kind of anti-Hillary. He would be an explicit counter to the sort of progressive, feminist narrative that would inherently undergird a Clinton run. He would also be the anti-Obama, a break from the sort of identity politics around race, gender and ethnicity that have, in Webb's telling, excluded working-class white men. 

(A white woman running for president after the nation's first black president could certainly underscore the "what about us" feeling among this demographic.)

So let me get this straight:  Jim Webb is running on "You know what, we gave black people six, eight years out of 240.  That's more than enough.  So, sorry Hillary, but it's time to get back to white guys running the place, and white guys voting for him."

And this is a Democrat running on this.

Whatever.

Drawing Attacks From Extremists

The Paris offices of French satire weekly Charlie Hebdo were attacked by three gunmen Wednesday, killing 12 and generally proving once again that religious fundamentalist idiots really cannot handle humor.

Masked gunmen burst into the Paris offices of a French satirical newspaper on Wednesday and killed 12 people, including top journalists and two police officers, before fleeing in a car. The gunmen were still at large at dusk, as an extensive police dragnet spread across a traumatized city. 

Among the dead were four prominent cartoonists who have repeatedly lampooned Islamic terrorists and the Prophet Muhammad, leading to speculation that the attack on the newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, was the work of Islamic militants acting alone or in concert with extremist groups. 

A police guard assigned to protect the newspaper was among the first victims. A second police officer, who responded to reports of the shooting, was killed on the sidewalk outside the office by the fleeing suspects, the Paris police said. The shooting of the second police officer was captured in a widely-seen video. 

President François Hollande immediately declared that the attack was an act of terrorism and an assault on freedom of the press. He ratcheted up France’s nationwide terror alert to its highest level, and met with his cabinet in an emergency session. He said France was already on high alert after several planned terrorist attacks were thwarted in recent weeks.

And speaking of idiots with no sense of humor:

Tom McInerney, a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant General, told Steve Doocy that “this is a classical radical Islamist attack, Steve, and political correctness is killing us. This is a prime example.” 

“We must hold the Arab world and the Muslim world accountable,” he continued, “for this radical Islamic ideology — which, as I’ve said before — is as evil as Nazism, fascism, and communism. It is not a religion.” 

Doocy then introduced a clip of the gunman firing, and noted that that “I’ve been getting a lot of tweets from people from Paris who said that most cops choose not even to carry a gun. That, thankfully, is not the case in New York.” 

“Thankfully,” McInerney replied, “but with the current leadership in New York — and I’m referring to the mayor, the communist mayor you have up there — that may change.” 

“So I think that the world must wake up. We’ve been doing this for almost 13-plus years since 9/11, and I think it’s time to hold the people accountable with global public opinion. Challenge them.” 

“What do you know specifically about the growth of radical Islam in France?” Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked. 

“Well, France has got approaching 20 percent of a Muslim population,” McInerney answered. “When they get there, they provoke the culture of the nation they are in, and tell them about the culture they want the nation to adopt. That’s where the political correctness comes.”

“That’s the danger, Elisabeth — they become much more assertive, and they do these kinds of things.”

13 plus years since 9/11 and some of us have learned nothing.

So when do we invade France to free them from Muslim tyranny, or whatever?

The Softest Book Ever Thrown At A Crook

Sentencing for former GOP Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was handed down Tuesday afternoon by a federal judge. He could have seen 20 years in prison, the government wanted at least 10 years, the judge limited the maximum to 6 1/2 to 8 years, and Bob here ended up with 2 years prison and 2 years probation.

For hour upon hour before sentence was passed, the court heard accounts of Mr. McDonnell’s good works, and the judge said they were a mitigating factor. But, he said: “A price must be paid. It breaks my heart.” 

Nearly 450 people, including Mr. McDonnell’s relatives and their friends, had written letters seeking leniency to Judge Spencer. Some spoke of the former governor’s generosity with the homeless. Others noted his devotion to the Roman Catholic Church. Still others said he had always taken care to notice the lowest rungs of the political ladder during campaigns. 

Most striking were the letters from Mr. McDonnell’s family members. One daughter, Jeanine McDonnell Zubowsky, wrote to Judge Spencer blaming her mother, Maureen McDonnell, who was also convicted of various charges and is to be sentenced in late February. 

Ms. McDonnell “has always been concerned about getting discounts or freebies,” Ms. Zubowsky wrote. 

“This was one of the main reasons she would not communicate with him,” she said. “She hid her coordination with people for free or discounted things or services, and she didn’t communicate with my dad because she knew he would not approve.” 

Ms. Zubowsky offered another reason for leniency, noting that she is to give birth to his grandchild soon.

As Leo DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort said in "Wolf of Wall Street" after being sentenced and facing the prospect of actual prison, "Then I remembered. I'm rich."

McDonnell's angling to stay out of prison on bond pending appeal, so who knows if he'll even go to jail. Bonus points too for McDonnell's daughter freely throwing her own mother under the Virginia Department of Corrections bus to save dear ol' dad. Mrs. McDonnell's sentencing is February 20th, by the way.

That's going to be a fun hearing, I think.

StupidiNews!

• A gunman shot and killed a doctor at a Texas veterans' hospital Tuesday before turning the gun on himself.
• Recently discovered planet Kepler 438b in the Lyra constellation may be the closest exoplanet yet to an Earth-like environment.
• Republicans in Congress say their first order of business is passing legislation to force the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is facing an immediate veto threat from President Obama.
• Ohio Republican John Boehner has once again been re-elected as Speaker of the House, but he's not above punishing those Republicans who didn't vote for him.
• Intel says it will pledge $300 million to improve diversity hiring in the tech sector, funding college scholarships and supporting historically black colleges and universities.

Last Call For 2015 Comes In With A Bang

What domestic terrorism problem?  I don't see any domestic terrorism problem.

An explosion outside an NAACP office building in Colorado on Tuesday morning that rattled neighbors was caused deliberately, officials say.

An improvised explosive device was detonated against the exterior wall of the NAACP building on South El Paso Street in Colorado Springs around 10:45 a.m. Mountain time. No one was injured, said Amy Sanders, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Denver.

A gasoline can had been placed near the device but did not ignite during the explosion, Sanders said.

FBI Denver and the Colorado Springs Police Department are on the scene. A 40-year-old man is a person of interest in the investigation. He may be driving a 2000 or older-model dirty, white pick-up truck with paneling, a dark colored bed liner, an open tailgate and a missing or covered license plate.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is also investigating the case, according to Christopher Amon, acting spokesman for the agency's Denver office.

Nope, no domestic terrorism problem here.

So, which gun-loving conservative is going to call for the NAACP to start making efforts to arm African-Americans in order to protect themselves from attacks like this?

I'll just wait a bit for that to happen.

The Game's On In New York From Day One

House Republicans from New York are already having major issues in the 114th Congress, and today's only the first day it's in session.  First, convicted tax felon Michael Grimm is immediately resigning today, leaving an open seat.  As I've said, Staten Island Republican prosecutor Daniel Donovan, the man who failed to indict the cop that killed Eric Garner, is running on the GOP side. The Democrats are going to try to make this seat competitive with the man Grimm originally beat.

The DCCC had high hopes for this race in 2014, though the party’s top recruits bowed out, reluctant to take on Grimm, even after his 20-count felony indictment. The party eventually backed Domenic Recchia, who struggled as a candidate and lost badly.

Democratic recruiting efforts are likely to be a little easier in an open-seat special election, and former Rep. Michael McMahon (D), who held the seat between Fossella and Grimm, has said publicly that he’s “definitely taking a look” at the race.

Meanwhile, up in the Hudson Valley, Republican Chris Gibson is expected to immediately announce his retirement.

The Republican, who was re-elected to a third term in November, will open a competitive seat in 2016 with his departure following this Congress. President Barack Obama carried the district with 52 percent, making it a must-win for House Democrats if they want to put a dent in the GOP’s historic majority this cycle.

Last year, Gibson annihilated venture capitalist Sean Eldridge, the Democratic nominee with deep pockets, by nearly 30 points. 

Initially, Democrats were optimistic about defeating Gibson in the lush and rolling Hudson Valley-based district north of New York City. But Eldridge’s candidacy quickly flamed out, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee never reserved airtime in the 19th District to support his campaign. 

Without Gibson on the ticket, Democrats will target the district as a pick-up opportunity.

And yes, Sean Eldridge ran arguably the worst House campaign for the Dems in 2014 in what was a miserable year for them anyhow.  He made no effort to hide the fact he was buying the seat as a techbro trophy, and managed to piss off everyone in the district doing it.  The good news is the Dems can basically run anyone and they'd do better than Eldridge.

But that leaves two open seats that the Dems pretty much have to win back in order to try to make any attempt at shifting the House.