The right is being asked to give up something important and large which will change the course of this nation's politics for 40+ years, to our detriment.

And the left?

The left is being asked to provide a fakey figleaf with which conservative politicians can con conservative voters.

They've agreed to do so. Go figure.

Among the many misrepresentations, falsehoods, deceptions, and outright lies told by supporters of the Gang of Eight bill, the biggest involve border security.

Put simply, there is no border security in the bill. ItÂ’s a mirage. The bill only requires the DHS secretary to present a plan to secure the border. Meanwhile, the amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants isnÂ’t merely a plan, itÂ’s a reality.

The bill’s various border-security “triggers” are little more than “boob bait for the bubbas,” providing no guarantees whatsoever that any steps will be taken to secure the border. In fact, the enforcement mechanisms are far weaker than the security requirements in previous immigration bills. The border promises to be an even bigger sieve affter passage of the bill than before.

...

The bill, after amendments, is now over 1,000 pages long. They could’ve easily reduced it to just a single page with one word: “Amnesty.”

Posted by: Ace at 01:37 PM | Comments (167)
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I don't know if I'd say "stupid," if I were interested in being technically accurate.

I'd say "not very intelligent" and certainly not very "intellectually curious."

But we usually say "stupid" in politics when we mean those things. Even when we don't say it, we mean it.

As far as the political lexicon, he's right, Obama's "stupid."

He wonders why people won't call a not-very-intelligent man not very intelligent. Here's his guess:

Maybe we pundits don’t tell President Obama, “You’re stupid,” because we are proudly showing off our sensitivity to the negative stereotypes that hurtful language engenders in a way that we didn’t feel was necessary when we were telling Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush, “You’re stupid,” even though actors, WASPs, and Texans are burdened with their fair share of negative lamebrain stereotypes.

More likely itÂ’s because we pundits prize signs of intelligence. We take every opportunity to display our own signs, and President Obama exhibits the same wordy, wonky, academic intelligence indicators that we do, so we donÂ’t call him stupid.

I've been much taken lately with analysis of people's self-definitions of themselves, and the external Signs they post to advertise those internal self-definitions. Before the long weekend, Allah spotted a dopey writer in the New Yorker all but admitting the only thing that matters to her is the signage, not the reality.

First, quoting Jane Meyer of the New Yorker, giving Obama a pass on drone-strike kills because he shows how anguished he is all about it, thus flattering Meyer's own self-conception as The Sort of Person Who Would Put on Shows of Anguish Over Drone Strikes (While Not Objecting To Them Terribly Much In Reality).

One first impression left by President ObamaÂ’s much-anticipated speech re-casting U.S. counterterrorism policy is that of the contrast between BushÂ’s swagger and ObamaÂ’s anguish over the difficult trade-offs that perpetual war poses to a free society. It could scarcely be starker. While Bush frequently seemed to take action without considering the underlying questions, Obama appears somewhat unsure of exactly what actions to take. That is not a bad thing: at least he is asking the right questions. ...

Obama agonized over other limitations, too..... Obama embraced both constitutional and international legal limits, at least in principle, even as he struggled to define them in practice. In fact, his speech was a paean to the theory of “just war,” which requires a balance between means and ends, demanding proportionality whenever the state resorts to the use of force. It’s a sophisticated and nuanced moral theory, on which the law of conflict rests. Obama has openly grappled with the most difficult questions posed by the most serious thinkers in this area…

Note Meyer's more-or-less explicit concession that while Obama talks up a limitations to his power to order assassinations, these limitations exist only "in principle" and Obama "struggles" to actually actuate them into reality. But hey, "it's a sophisticated and nuanced moral theory," and that ought to count!

Finishing up:

Obama’s evident pain over the [drone] program, whose civilian deaths he said would “haunt” him and his command “as long as we live,” seemed a telling change from the secrecy and winking smugness of the past.

Again, Meyer does not seem to care much that Bush's policies are not very different from the one Obama has adopted-- just that Obama puts on shows of Anguish (flattering her Tribe of People Who Pretend to be Anguished About Any Number of Things) and that Bush, on the other hand, didn't "seem" to show Anguish (which, in contrast, flatters the Tribe of People Who Are Sort of Sick of the Tribe of People Who Pretend to be Anguished About Any Number of Things).

I mention all of this because of O'Rourke's mention of the fact that Obama comes from the writerly class (well, Bill Ayers' book put Obama in that class, as far as appearances), and reporters and wordsmiths are themselves flattered when they flatter someone much like themselves.

Recall David Brooks' ruminations on the impeccable crease of Obama's trousers. And note that this is actually a reflexive boast on the part of Brooks himself-- praising Obama for having a terrific crease in his pants is also praising other people who have terrific creases in their pants, and people who can appreciate a jaunty bit of pants-creasing, a group which just happens to include one David Brooks himself.

When I tell you guys I appreciate you for your wit and no-bullshit attitude, think about what I'm really saying: I appreciate your wit and no-bullshit attitude because firstly I appreciate my own.

Thus it really should be no large surprise to find that a soi-disant (self-proclaimed) intellectual, proudly wearing all the Warrior Plumage of that caste but actually lacking all the achievements typically bestowing the right to wear such plumage should be excessively praised by those who themselves wear the signs of the Intellectual without themselves having done much at all to warrant such a display.

As they flatter him, they first flatter themselves.

Consider: more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:41 PM | Comments (300)
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[Update - Andy]: Gigantic animated gif embed replaced with a still image to help page load times:

A gif from a witness' cellphone, via @johnekdahl

The cellphone video that gif is taken from can also be watched, here, but Moderate Content Warning for language including the N-word.

This is a cargo train track. Amtrak trains run on separate lines.

Live coverage of the aftermath from a local station, here.

Posted by: Ace at 11:46 AM | Comments (309)
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As much as I thought Treadwell was a hippie lunatic for trying to make a bear his special friend, I have to admit: I get it.

Imagine having a bear for a friend. Why, the world would be your oyster, my friends.

See below and tell me I'm wrong.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:19 AM | Comments (165)
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Well, of course. I should hope so.

Media Matters, naturally, says it wasn't perjury at all. Is this the best defense they have?

HolderÂ’s on-the-record denial of involvement in any prosecution of news organizations for publishing classified information in no way conflicts with any knowledge he may have possessed or action the DOJ may have taken against reporters for soliciting said information.

They're claiming Holder meant he had never been involved in prosecuting someone for disclosing classified material. But soliciting it? Sure, he's been involved in prosecuting someone for that. But you didn't ask about that.

Speaking of Damning Defenses, Bob Shrum writes at Daily Beast (no link) that the IRS "scandal" is no scandal at all.

It's merely massive incompetence reminiscent of Carter, that's all.

He also claims that the scandal is not about the scandal, but only about communications regarding the scandal; and it's just about the "West Wing" serving Obama, not Obama.

For the White House, there is no crime here, there is no scandal, no matter how feverishly, irresponsibly, or demagogically the GOP labors to concoct one. This is not a case of Nixonian indifference to the Constitution, the law, and the president's oath of office. But it does look like a reprise of Cartersque incompetence, increasingly so as we learn more about how the White House staff handled—or mishandled—a crisis they knew was coming.

...

As anyone who reads my columns knows, I regard Barack Obama as an exceptional president of high achievement....

On the IRS, the course probably will be longer than it had to be. For the White House, the problem here resembles Carter, not Nixon. It isn't about crime; it's about competence. This president didn't do anything wrong. But the West Wing sure didn't do everything right.

Never ascribe to farfetched, convoluted incompetence that which may be more simply explained by conspiracy.

Posted by: Ace at 10:58 AM | Comments (192)
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John Sexton finds the common thread and pulls at it.

President Obama is outraged over the IRS scandal. Attorney General Holder is remorseful over the James Rosen subpoena. Former Secretary of State Clinton is exasperated by Benghazi. Lois Lerner is apologetic for the targeting of Tea Party groups. An unnamed White House adviser is chagrined by his own idiocy.

All of these emotive responses to scandal have in common that they help insulate the person doing the emoting from any real responsibility. Holder feels bad about what he has done but that's it. He's not leaving office.

Secretary Clinton is frustrated that people working for her denied additional security, rewrote talking points and blamed everything on a You Tube video. But "What difference does it make?!" she blurted out during her appearance before Congress. She feels terrible, just don't hold it against her in 2016.

President Obama has been on an emotional jag lately. He was outraged by the IRS targeting of his political opponents is shocked by the subpoena of James Rosen's emails and, (implicitly) by the drone strike that killed a 16 y.o. American citizen on his orders. It's all very shocking and he knew nothing (except when he did) but in those cases he's going to make sure it never happens again.

The idea behind all of these responses is that the person responsible has learned their lesson. Everything in Washington becomes an Aesop's fable the moment it goes wrong. The powerful ham-handedly act out the role of the enlightened pupil and then carry on as if expecting more than a self-inflicted slap on the wrist would be, well, outrageous.

Actually, per that horrible Daily Beast apologetic, it is argued that they will now be "wiser" in the pursuit of their duties due to having received some good life lessons.

Posted by: Ace at 10:02 AM | Comments (254)
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At some point maybe I'll write an actual review, but the thing was just so misconceived and badly executed on top of that it would take a lot of words, and I know that you Morons hate words.

There are some bad consequences that flow from this major misfire:

1. As far as Arrested Development itself, the perfect ending of Season 3 is now undone. In its place is now this sprawling mess, with no ending, with an unsolved murder (well, whatever, suspected murder) and the Michael and George Michael now apparently hating each other and alienated.

2. And because Season 4 -- if you can call it that -- was so bad, there will not be a Season 5, nor a movie; so the series now ends, forever, with Season 4, with the family completely disintegrated and even the one unshakable bond in the series -- Michael's and George-Michael's relationship -- now shattered.

3. As appealing as the idea is of Netflix or other alternative content providers picking up old, beloved shows and doing a batch of new episodes, the Arrested Development failure will tend to keep such ventures from happening. No Firefly for you, probably, not after this Hot Mess.

This Daily Beast article discusses some of the reasons for the failure.

Even the liberals are knocking the laugh-free attempts at political edginess, too.

Posted by: Ace at 09:16 AM | Comments (320)
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From Breitbart's Joel Pollack.

Obama and his supporters refuse to be judged on normal criteria, such as the president's actual record in office. Though he is quick to claim credit on the rare occasion--such as the bin Laden raid--when things go right, President Obama typically adopts a prophetic distance from the office he holds that insulates him from criticism and allows him to attack the very Washington he leads, the very political games he plays.

The heresy of Fox News is not just that it criticizes the Obama administration or that it provides a platform for conservative opinion, but that it rejects the attempt to place Obama beyond politics and accountability. It refuses, in other words, to endorse the idea that Obama inhabits a unique category, beyond the obvious (and, for most governing purposes, meaningless) historic fact that he is the nation's first black president.

Posted by: Ace at 08:28 AM | Comments (203)
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Third time's a charm?

The link is to Gateway Pundit, and he links to Ryan Lizza at the New Yorker. (Lizza is admirably aggressive on these issues and, IMHO, should be white-listed as far as any boycott.)

The new documents show that two judges separately declared that the Justice Department was required to notify Rosen of the search warrant, even if the notification came after a delay. Otherwise: “The subscriber therefore will never know, by being provided a copy of the warrant, for example, that the government secured a warrant and searched the contents of her e-mail account,” Judge John M. Facciola wrote in an opinion rejecting the Obama Administration’s argument.

Machen appealed that decision, and in September, 2010, Royce C. Lamberth, the chief judge in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, granted MachenÂ’s request to overturn the order of the two judges.

Holder's gonna make it all right, thought. As Step One in Making It All Right, he has let it be publicly known that he now feels a "creeping sense of remorse" when reading the search warrant he already read and signed years ago.

This Daily Beast article is incredible, and seems to represent a Crisis Communications firm's response to the scandal. Eric Holder really, really wants you to know he's sorry... even though he didn't do anything wrong.

Here are some representative quotes:

HolderÂ’s Regrets and Repairs

by Daniel Klaidman

How the attorney general feels about his own role in the Fox News case—and how he plans to prevent it from happening again. By Daniel Klaidman.

But for Attorney General Eric Holder, the gravity of the situation didnÂ’t fully sink in until Monday morning when he read the PostÂ’s front-page story, sitting at his kitchen table....

Kitchen table! Why, he's Just Like You!

Holder knew that Justice would be besieged by the twin leak probes; but, according to aides, he was also beginning to feel a creeping sense of personal remorse....

By weekÂ’s end, Holder knew he had to be proactive in stemming the criticism and restoring the departmentÂ’s credibility with the press. He and his advisers began exploring ways to reform the Justice DepartmentÂ’s internal guidelines for investigating leaks to safeguard the media against overly intrusive tactics....

I'll bet. A mafia don just called me and said he was feeling "remorse" and was exploring ways to reform LCN's "internal guidelines" for extortion and theft.

As one of Holder’s advisers put it, the message was: “Look we get it. We understand why this is so controversial, and we’re ready to make changes to find the right balance.”

...

But sources close to the attorney general says he has been particularly stung by the leak controversy, in large part because his department’s—and his own—actions are at odds with his image of himself as a pragmatic lawyer with liberal instincts and a well-honed sense of balance—not unlike the president he serves. “Look, Eric sees himself fundamentally as a progressive, not some Torquemada out to silence the press,” says a friend who asked not to be identified.

...

To begin the process of recalibrating that balance, Holder is initiating a dialogue with representatives of major media organizations. Invitations go out today, with the first meeting taking place possibly as early as this week. HolderÂ’s aides say he is encouraging a no-holds-barred conversation with the goal of updating and strengthening DOJ guidelines. But HolderÂ’s own personal soul searching has already begun, with, among other things, the question of why he signed off on an affidavit that in retrospect he believed may have crossed the line.

A Listening Tour. How novel.

I really get it, guys. I feel a growing sense of remorse. I think that something bad may have happened.

Next comes...

As an explanation, if not a justification...

Which is in fact an attempt at a justification, explaining that poor Eric Holder was "besieged" by demands for leak investigations from the CIA 'n stuff.

Then the writer explains that Eric Holder just might be too dedicated to his job.

Holder, his aides say, believes there may also be a cultural factor at the root of his decision. Prosecutors tend to have a somewhat insular mindset, not always able to see clearly beyond the walls of their cases. They are often dogged investigators, trained to vacuum up as much evidence as possible to sustain convictions in courts of law. That sometimes means taking maximum advantage of every law and procedural rule. It also can mean seeing every activity of those in their sights through a more sinister lens than may be justified.

...

Perhaps the most significant structural flaw in the current system, however...

Oh thank God, The System is to blame. For a moment I was afraid this Crisis Communications Firm's defense of Holder would forget to blame The System instead of its client.

...is that the fox is guarding the henhouse. Prosecutors whose main interest is catching and convicting leakers call the shots on how aggressively to pursue reporters as part of their investigations. That is why, Holder believes, there is ultimately no better solution than passing a media-shield law that would place those decisions in the hands of an independent federal judge. But until then, Holder will be the judge—a little more experienced, and perhaps a little wiser.

Hilarious. It ends on such an optimistic coda -- well, he screwed up, you know, but now he's got all this Wisdom he'll be using to protect us. Lose-Win, but accent on the Win.

I think the article should have stopped much earlier, after this sentence in the fourth paragraph:

DOJ officials, realizing the issue could turn into a press feeding frenzy, went into damage-control mode.

That is really the only news here. All the rest of this, about remorse and "internal reviews" and wisdom, is jut details.

It's all about damage control. And about nothing but that.

Posted by: Ace at 07:13 AM | Comments (275)
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Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:30 AM | Comments (218)
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