Last Call

The "trillion-dollar platinum coin" idea is officially dead, and good riddance.  Ezra Klein has the autopsy:

The Treasury Department will not mint a trillion-dollar platinum coin to get around the debt ceiling. If they did, the Federal Reserve would not accept it.

That’s the bottom line of the statement that Anthony Coley, a spokesman for the Treasury Department, gave me today. “Neither the Treasury Department nor the Federal Reserve believes that the law can or should be used to facilitate the production of platinum coins for the purpose of avoiding an increase in the debt limit,” he said.

So why should we all be glad this didn't happen?

The platinum coin idea gained some powerful adherents during the debt-ceiling crisis of 2011, but it really developed traction following the 2012 fiscal cliff deal, as politicians and economics writers realized that the country would, indeed, be facing another debt-ceiling crisis in a matter of months. A Twitter campaign by Joe Weisenthal, of Business Insider, and Josh Barro, of Bloomberg View, forced it into the conversation, and subsequent endorsements by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and former U.S. Mint director Philip Diehl gave it further legitimacy.

But others, including myself, worried that the coin would be seen as an unprecedented power grab by the president, leading to a far more bitter standoff over the debt ceiling, a possible panic in the financial markets and a showdown in the courts. There was also the simple fact that it would, indeed, represent an admission that the government’s executive and legislative branches could no longer be trusted to come together and effectively manage the country’s finances.

And furthermore from a purely political standpoint, minting the coin would have been a response that was a tacit admission that the GOP had the right to default on our already appropriated obligations.  The debt ceiling isn't to stop further spending, it's to block our existing financial obligations.   That means we would be in default.  And that would destroy our economy:

The Treasury may have some ability to choose which payments to default on, and when to default on them, but the bottom line will be the same: The Treasury will only be able to pay about 60% of the bills that are owed.

In relatively short order, therefore, the United States will stiff about 40% of the people and companies it owes money to.

Importantly, this default is different from the "government shutdowns" that have happened from time to time (in the 1990s, for example). In those cases, Congress had yet to authorize government spending. This time, the spending has been authorized: Congress has already promised to pay these bills. This time, in other words, we will be choosing not to pay people and companies we have already promised to pay.

This has never happened before in the history of the United States.

The full faith and credit of the United States would disintegrate overnight.  The GOP would be responsible for destroying our economy.  This statement by the Treasury and Fed make it unequivocally clear that if Republicans in Congress plunge us into default, they will take the full blame for the recession (if not depression) it would trigger.

Republicans know this.  They are bluffing.  President Obama has already said he will not negotiate with these terrorists.  So please proceed, congressional Republicans.

I'd love to have the House back in 2014.

Legitimate Rape Repeat

Sigh.

I really thought we were past this, folks.  But here we are again, with Phil Gingrey saying Todd Akin really did sort of kind of if you really work it over through a few hoops know what he was talking about when he brought up legitimate rape.

“In Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’ — and what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, ‘Hey, I was raped.’ That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. I don’t find anything so horrible about that. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that.”

“And I’ve delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true. We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, ‘Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.’ So he was partially right wasn’t he? But the fact that a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you’re not going to prevent a pregnancy there by a woman’s body shutting anything down because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak. And yet the media took that and tore it apart.”

Got it.  Women can't be trusted.

The next bit is the priceless stupidity that only Akin and his intellectual brethren can accomplish.  When facts won't hold up, the next thing to do is run it through some ass backwards logic to try to confuse folks.   That wasn't what he said, guys. That wasn't really what he meant, you know.  It's the public's fault for believing it and it's the media's fault for putting his direct quote out there for people to read.  But hey, now that we're on that subject, let's read it one more time just for giggles:

"From what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," Akin said of pregnancy caused by rape. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume maybe that didn't work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist."

Akin says it's really rare that legitimate rape creates babies.  Funny, there's no mention of ovulation.  Kind of like how our doctor friend doesn't mention that his deep understanding of Todd Akin's remark would only matter if you were being raped within hours of ovulation. Never mind this comes from a physician and a man who sits on the House Committee for Science, Space and Technology.  Don't concern yourself with the fact that Gingrey is repeating this nonsense for no reason except to try to make a point.  That is medically proven to be false.  Through science.

The silver lining is that we are adding quotes to the library for the next round.  Let these twits run at the mouth and commit political suicide, I'll just document it.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• Spanish police officials say they intercepted material bound for Iran's nuclear program in the northern Spanish province of Alava.
• Leaders of Canada's First Nations are meeting with PM Stephen Harper to try to settle grievances brought by decades of aboriginal poverty and treaty violation.
• A draft leaked of the quadrennial US National Climate Assessment report indicates that the country is already feeling the effects of man-made climate change.
• French troops have entered the battle for northern Mali as PM Francois Hollande calls Islamist rebels there a "threat to the entire world".
• FOX News has declared war on global warming, asking NOAA scientists to update their climate findings repeatedly over the last several years.

Last Call

Harry Reid and Senate Dems are...*gasp*...actually backing President Obama for once when it comes to the debt ceiling.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats are putting new pressure on the White House to circumvent Congress to boost the nation’s debt ceiling if no bipartisan agreement can be reached.

In a strongly worded letter to President Barack Obama obtained by POLITICO, Reid and his leadership team argue that failing to raise the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling would threaten the full faith and credit of the United States. Reid and Sens. Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Patty Murray asserted that Obama “must make clear that you will never allow our nation’s economy and reputation to be held hostage.”

“In the event that Republicans make good on their threat by failing to act, or by moving unilaterally to pass a debt limit extension only as part of an unbalanced or unreasonable legislation, we believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without congressional approval, if necessary,” the Friday letter to Obama says.

Shorter Honey Badger:  "Go for it, Mr. President."

This is the kind of thing the Democrats need to be doing, not buying for a second that the Republicans are in the right for trying to hold the economy hostage yet again, and fully backing the President on this one.

Good call, Senate Dems.  Keep it up.

Trying To Put The Crazy Back In The Tube

Our new friend James "I'm going to start killing people" Yeager is trying to fix his little image problem after you know, threatening to start a civil war over gun control.  His recent attempt at an apology isn't exactly helping much, either.

"I do not condone anybody committing any kind of felonies up to and including any aggravated assaults or murders, unless it's necessary," Yeager said in the second video. "Right now it is not necessary."

"I have drawn my line in the sand: Not one more inch," he said.

Yeager opened the latest video saying that he "probably allowed my mouth to overrun my logic," and announced he had edted some of the more heated comments out of his previous video and reposted it. Then he added: "But I don't, I don't retract any of my statements."

Yeager continued to get worked up over the Obama administration's "tyranny" and talked urged people to pack backpacks, get in shape, and load their guns. He said that his first video had "accidentally assembled an army … a quite formidable army."

He also asked those who "stole" and posted the unedited video version of his first video, which includes the statement about killing people, to take those videos down.

Shorter Rambo Jimbo here:  "I'm sorry you misinterpreted my call for the deaths of gun control advocates in a bloody rampage as a threat.  That's your problem, libtards.  Not mine."

Once again, if this guy was not white and/or a Muslim, and owned a self-defense company that trained people how to shoot, we would have the right screaming about the need to enforce firearms laws, yes?

Funny how this works.

[UPDATE] Guess who just lost his gun permit?

The CEO of a weapons and tactical training company has had his gun permit suspended by Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security after he published a video on YouTube in which he threatened to “start killing people” if President Obama pushes forward with increased gun control, reported News Channel 5.

Have a nice day, jagoff.

Sign Of The Unfortunate Times

Nice of Congress to admit that with the US Secret Service fielding thousands of yearly threats to President Obama that the idea of ending the lifetime protection detail for a guy who probably has another 40-50 years ahead of him is a bad idea that needed to be corrected.

With the stroke of a pen Thursday, President Barack Obama gave himself and his wife Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives.

The new law, which passed the House and Senate in December, designates that all former U.S. presidents who served after January 1, 1997, along with their spouses, receive protection from the Secret Service for their entire lifetimes – meaning former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura are also covered. The law also stipulates that children of presidents receive protection until the age of 16.

Lifetime government-provided security for former presidents was the law of the land until 1997, when Congress passed legislation limiting Secret Service protection to ten years after leaving office.

Which meant President Obama's coverage would have been up in January 2027.  You think A) he'd still be around then at age 65 and B) the crazies would still be around then too?

Yeah, thought so.  Good call by Congress for once.  I'm sure lifetime protection for Shrub wasn't a bad deal either.

No rest for the hardest working men and women in the federal government, it seems...

StupidiNews!

• A 16-year old is in custody after allegedly shooting a classmate with a shotgun at a California high school.
• Accused Aurora, Colorado theater shooter James Holmes will stand trial for all 166 charges after a judge's ruling last night.
• Saying that the public wants the President to act on curbing gun violence, Vice President Biden's task force on gun violence will deliver recommendations on Tuesday.
• Japan's new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has unveiled a $112 million stimulus package to kickstart Japan's flagging economy.
• Scientists say that a clock made from a single atom may be the key to preserving the precise mass of the world standard kilogram.

Last Call

Here's the best argument for gun control since Alex Jones was on Piers Morgan earlier this week:  meet the CEO of a little self-defense company called Tactical Response, in Tennessee.  His name's James Yeager, and he has a message for those interested in gun laws.

In a video posted to YouTube and Facebook on Wednesday, Tactical Response CEO James Yeager went ballistic over reports that the president could take executive action with minor gun control measures after the mass shooting of 20 school children in Connecticut last month.

After the Drudge Report likened Obama to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin on Wednesday, pro-gun conservatives expressed outrage over the idea that the White House could act without Congress.

“Vice President [Joe] Biden is asking the president to bypass Congress and use executive privilege, executive order to ban assault rifles and to impose stricter gun control,” Yeager explained in his video message. “Fuck that.”

“I’m telling you that if that happens, it’s going to spark a civil war, and I’ll be glad to fire the first shot. I’m not putting up with it. You shouldn’t put up with it. And I need all you patriots to start thinking about what you’re going to do, load your damn mags, make sure your rifle’s clean, pack a backpack with some food in it and get ready to fight.”

The CEO concluded: “I’m not fucking putting up with this. I’m not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I’m not letting anybody take my guns! If it goes one inch further, I’m going to start killing people.”

Boy, it's a good thing this guy has the self-discipline necessary for being a responsible gun owner, huh. 

PS, Imagine this guy wasn't white, and/or was a Muslim.  Would you still feel the same way about his call for people to rise up in a civil war and his promise to start killing people?

So why doesn't this asshole have the FBI knocking on his door right now?

Sticking Around For More

Several members of President Obama's cabinet are staying for a second term, most notably Attorney General Eric Holder.

A White House official says Attorney General Eric Holder and the secretaries of Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs will remain with the Obama administration as it enters a second term.

The official said Holder, who leads the Justice Department, and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki will remain with the administration amid changes to the Cabinet as President Barack Obama moves into his second term.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis submitted her resignation.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel changes, said the three remaining officials were not an exhaustive list of which Cabinet members intended to stay.

Holder has been a solid AG, and Sebelius is definitely going to be needed to implement the Affordable Care Act over the next several years, so there are some clear advantages for the Obama administration to keep some people in the same roles.  That's something of a change from Bill Clinton and George Bush, who pretty much flushed everybody in a second term, and in a couple cases had several nominees for various cabinet posts over 8 years.

On the other hand, it's not like President Obama will be able to get anyone confirmed for anything at this point, thanks to unprecedented GOP obstruction of everything and everybody.

We will see how it shakes out.

But It's Not About Race

President Obama is pretty magical, not only can he sell record guns and ammo, he can triple the membership of the Klan in Virginia just by being President.  Nobody seems to know why, though...

Residents in Richmond, Virginia have reported seeing more recruitment flyers from the Ku Klux Klan, in part of what one Klan member told WTVR-TV is a push for a membership surge fueled by opposition to President Barack Obama.

“Since Obama’s first term our numbers have doubled,” said the hooded man, who identified himself as a “Grand Dragon,” a leader of the state network. “And now that we’re headed to a second term it’s going to triple, this is going to be the biggest resurgence of the Klan since 1915.”

Think Progress reported that hate group membership is on the rise around the country, with racial animus against Obama cited as a reason.

However, the Klansmen told the station they see their group as the “white separatist” equivalent to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples.

“Everyone thinks that we’re a hate group,” he said. “We’re not a hate group, we don’t hate anyone, and we want to see good things come to our race.”

Yeah, because white men have had it so terribly hard in America over the last 150 or so.  Can't possibly imagine what's so different about President Barack Obama that would make Klan enrollment go up. 

Funny how that turned out.

StupidiNews!

• Pentagon officials will continue high-level talks today with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
• Australian research on how insulin binds to glucose molecules could be a major breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes.
• White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew is expected to replace Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary, but Republicans are signaling yet another tough confirmation fight.
• Vice President Joe Biden says that the President is considering executive orders to combat gun violence as his task force continues to meet with pro-gun lobbyists.
• Military radar technology is getting a boost from quantum physics, with the goal of making an "unjammable" radar system.

Last Call

From the Department of Asymmetrical Warfare, it seems that if US cyber cowboys can go around ruining Iranian centrifuges with tailored viruses, Iranian hackers can do it the old fashioned way and launch denial of service attacks on US bank websites.

The skill required to carry out attacks on this scale has convinced United States government officials and security researchers that they are the work of Iran, most likely in retaliation for economic sanctions and online attacks by the United States. 

“There is no doubt within the U.S. government that Iran is behind these attacks,” said James A. Lewis, a former official in the State and Commerce Departments and a computer security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 

Mr. Lewis said the amount of traffic flooding American banking sites was “multiple times” the amount that Russia directed at Estonia in a monthlong online assault in 2007 that nearly crippled the Baltic nation. 

American officials have not offered any technical evidence to back up their claims, but computer security experts say the recent attacks showed a level of sophistication far beyond that of amateur hackers. Also, the hackers chose to pursue disruption, not money: another earmark of state-sponsored attacks, the experts said. 

“The scale, the scope and the effectiveness of these attacks have been unprecedented,” said Carl Herberger, vice president of security solutions at Radware, a security firm that has been investigating the attacks on behalf of banks and cloud service providers. “There have never been this many financial institutions under this much duress.” 

Since September, intruders have caused major disruptions to the online banking sites of Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp, PNC, Capital One, Fifth Third Bank, BB&T and HSBC. 

Well, you know it's not like we haven't orchestrated crippling sanctions against Iran's economy or anything, so.  They're going after our online banking sites.  Sure, that's about par for the course for this nifty little war, right?

Oh but this seems like propaganda, you say?  Most likely.  Dumping every bank DDoS attack on Iran for the last 4 months seems awfully sloppy on our part.  You'd think we'd be able to stop it if it was them.  Curiously, we can't.

Funny how that works.

Do The Huckleberry Block

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham is moving on from complaining about Chuck Hagel as Pentagon head and is the first to jump into the pool of GOP senators threatening to block John Brennan as the President's choice to lead the CIA because of Benghazi.

Sen. Lindsey Graham threatened Tuesday to block Senate consideration of President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the CIA in retaliation for the Obama administration’s failure to provide more details about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The South Carolina Republican’s threat to place a hold on the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director raises doubts about a second senior national security leadership pick by Obama, with several senators already questioning former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s qualifications to be defense secretary.

Needless to say, here we go again.  Graham doesn't want to block his friend John Kerry, so he's going after John Brennan instead with his endless Benghazi stupidity.

“I have not forgotten about the Benghazi debacle and still have many questions about what transpired before, during and after the attack on our consulate,” Graham said in a prepared statement.

“In that regard, I do not believe we should confirm anyone as director of the CIA until our questions are answered – like who changed Ambassador Susan Rice’s talking points and who deleted the references to al Qaida?” Graham said. “My support for a delay in confirmation is not directed at Mr. Brennan, but is an unfortunate, yet necessary action to get information from this administration.”

Big surprise, Huckleberry here will block anyone and everyone because he's President, you know.  He's the most important man in Washington.

It's entirely possible the President will have to make a recess appointment to a cabinet position.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/01/08/179324/sen-lindsey-graham-might-block.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/01/08/179324/sen-lindsey-graham-might-block.html#storylink=cpy

Maybe This Time Really Is Different

On Sunday, newly minted North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp was not only dismissing the President's position on gun control out of hand, sight unseen, but then she called gun control something that "shouldn't even be talked about."

That lasted approximately 48 hours before the rookie got her welcome to DC. This time around, it's different.

Chalk one up for the gun control crowd? A spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence said Tuesday that his group had scared freshman Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) off of her tough criticism of the White House gun violence task force.

The group ran newspaper ads on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. and North Dakota, two days after Heitkamp went on television to express serious concerns about gun control ideas the White House was reportedly considering in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. school massacre. A spokesman for the group said the ads worked.

“She got the message,” Ladd Everitt, spokesperson for the CSGV, told TPM. He said the 48 hours since Heitkamp went on TV showcase a new, more aggressive tactic by gun control advocates to push politicians to back its agenda.

In fact, it didn't take long at all for Heitkamp to go the Full Manchin:

“Senator Heitkamp believes that Americans have a right to bear arms. But with that right, come responsibilities. And we have a responsibility to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, while protecting the rights of law abiding gun owners. Senator Heitkamp also believes that the problem of violence in America must be dealt with in a multifaceted way. While every option must be considered there is no one single answer. The discussion and ultimate solution to these mass violence tragedies must go beyond a singular focus on gun laws, and that the discussion must examine mental health, school security, and community development to help parents identify and address children potentially suffering from mental illness. Senator Heitkamp has clearly stated that all options must be on the table when it comes to addressing gun violence in America.” 

It's a start, at least.  We'll see where her votes lie.

StupidiNews!

• US officials say the White House is considering the possibility of removing all US troops from Afghanistan in 2014.
• Cyclist Lance Armstrong will discuss allegations of doping in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, scheduled to air on January 17th.
• Tunisian authorities have released the only suspect held so far in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi, prompting new worries about the Libyan investigation.
• After five years of steep cuts, state and local governments are expected to finally start adding more than 200,000 jobs in 2013.
• As more and more gamers turn to online purchases, brick and mortar GameStop has cut 4th quarter estimates from a slight gain to a 7% loss.