If failing to plan is planning to fail, President Obama will never be caught short. Per the NYTimes, “With High-Profile Help, Obama Plots Life After Presidency“:
The dinner in the private upstairs dining room of the White House went so late that Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn billionaire, finally suggested around midnight that President Obama might like to go to bed…
But Mr. Obama was just getting started. “I’ll kick you out when it’s time,” he replied. He then lingered with his wife, Michelle, and their 13 guests — among them the novelist Toni Morrison, the hedge fund manager Marc Lasry and the Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr — well past 2 a.m.
Mr. Obama “seemed incredibly relaxed,” said another guest, the writer Malcolm Gladwell. He recalled how the group, which also included the actress Eva Longoria and Vinod Khosla, a founder of Sun Microsystems, tossed out ideas about what Mr. Obama should do after he leaves the White House.
Publicly, Mr. Obama betrays little urgency about his future. Privately, he is preparing for his postpresidency with the same fierce discipline and fund-raising ambition that characterized the 2008 campaign that got him to the White House…
The long-running dinner this past February is part of a methodical effort taking place inside and outside the White House as the president, first lady and a cadre of top aides map out a postpresidential infrastructure and endowment they estimate could cost as much as $1 billion. The president’s aides did not ask any of the guests for library contributions after the dinner, but a number of those at the table could be donors in the future…
Shailagh Murray, a senior adviser, oversees an effort inside the White House to keep attention on Mr. Obama’s future and to ensure that his final 17 months in office, barring crises, serve as a glide path to his life as an ex-president. Mr. Obama’s recent visit to a federal prison indicates, advisers say, a likely emphasis on criminal justice reform after he leaves office. His eulogy for one of nine African-Americans killed at a church in Charleston, S.C., is a forerunner, they say, of a focus on race relations. Diplomacy with Iran and Cuba could serve as the foundation for foreign policy work.
“His focus is on finishing this job completely, thoroughly,” said Valerie Jarrett, one of Mr. Obama’s closest confidantes inside the White House. But officials in the West Wing said the president’s thinking about some of his signature issues — including health care, economic inequality and fighting climate change — also involves considering their incorporation into his life after January 2017…
***********
Apart from planning for the future, what’s on the agenda for the day?
raven
The second round of drywall is done, one more and the painters can start. The floor guy was here and it looks looks like re-purposed heart pine is going to be out of reach but that’s a minor issue. The siding dudes are a puzzle, they’ve had the jack scaffold in one place for two weeks. The work they have done looks great so we’ll just be patient on that too.
Baud
This is why I’ll never be president. I need my beauty sleep.
Amir Khalid
Barack Obama might be the next great ex-President after Jimmy Carter. He’ll leave office a few months shy of his 56th birthday, still young(ish) for a man in public life. He’ll have a lot of energy and a long agenda:
I’m not sure if it’s helpful to try to divine his agenda items from such clues as these; but I am sure that from time to time Obama will surprise us all.
Oatler.
I suggest our retired prez should only retire, not make million dollar speeches saying ” I should have listened to pot legalization advocates, I should have prosecuted bankers, I should have called out the NSA…” We know you should have, Mr Prez, we know.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Balloon Juice front pager!
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
(You mean Obama, right?) Best suggestion I’ve heard so far.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Yes, Obama.
Anne Laurie
@Amir Khalid: LOL. After his first few attempts, he’d call in a drone strike on FYWP…
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
But if you’ve changed your mind, that would be cool too.
Baud
@Anne Laurie:
As well he should.
Can’t wait until the first time you stomp one of his posts.
David Koch
@Baud: At least it would force him to post more photos of Bo and Sunny.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven:
Heh. How much dope do they smoke at lunch?
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: They haven’t gotten here before lunch! I’m sure they have more than one job and right now the exterior is down on my list, I want my kitchen back!
Betty Cracker
I’ve got a sick doggie on my hands again, and she’s driving me nuts. Our boxer with the hypothyroid issue had a medication change on Friday — a lower dose of the medication that seemed to be working to combat her sudden weight gain and lethargy — and now she’s panting and pacing and carrying on almost around the clock. We took her to the vet, and they told us to discontinue the meds and give her benadryl, so we did. But she’s anxious and jumpy as hell — almost like she’s snorting coke behind our backs. I hope the vet can figure out this shit soon.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Poor doggie.
low-tech cyclist
Finally back from Florida! Saturday’s east coast air traffic control snafu delayed our return, and messed with the travel plans of many thousands of others flying into and out of the Northeast Corridor on Saturday.
We had a productive week cleaning out my wife’s grandmother’s house in Plant City (still a lot of stuff to go through, but we feel like we’ve got a handle on it now), and a relaxing week on Anna Maria Island – then an unexpected additional couple of days back at grandma’s house (couldn’t go back to Anna Maria, our week was up at the house we rented) until we found a flight north.
It was very kind of Florida to stop the rain while we were there! Now that we’re back home, y’all are welcome to resume your monsoon season. (You’re welcome, Betty!)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
You’ve seen my picture, I obviously don’t have that requirement.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
You should run. You’d have my vote.
Ultraviolet Thunder
been up since 3:00 am in Toronto. Have to be in Hartford CT by 10:30 for an 8 hour workday.
Then MA, NH and back to Detroit Friday.
Some day i’ll be too old for this. Maybe soon.
And I’m BHO’s age.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Too many skeletons in my closet for that.
Another Holocene Human
When they tell the truth about the guy, he sounds like a fuckin’ super hero. And that’s got to piss certain people off.
Malcolm Gladwell, though? Fuck that guy.
BillinGlendaleCA
I’m putting together a panorama of some pics I took of my hometown in 1976 from a hill overlooking the place. It’s been a bit of a challenge.
WereBear
One of the things that very much impresses me about President Obama is that the people who he started with on his “path to power” are still with him. In the sense that his head has not been turned by the leap from law professor to state legislature to President.
He has the Geek sense of “this can be solved by thinking.” And mostly, it can.
Me? I’ve got post-shingles neuralgia. Fortunately, my doctor has a weird pill for it, bless him. Which works but doesn’t let me drive. And Mr WereBear is sick with something, on top of his chronic illness. So we make periodic forays to get food, but it’s not all that organized.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: HA! Yeah, they probably are working 2 jobs. Either that or they are closing the *East Side* bars down.
*in STL, a way back when, the bars closed at 1 am, then everybody headed over the river where most closed at 3 am and the strip clubs at 5 am. Things are a little different now, but many’s the morning I pounded on some dumb fvcks window in the parking lot of the job site to get his ass up for work.
A Humble Lurker
@Oatler.:
I needed the laugh that early in the morning, thanks.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: DTs are no fun.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: In that case, I’ll vote for you too.
EconWatcher
A guy who can invent a career track leading from community organizing in Chicago all the way to the White House is not lacking in creativity or grit. As Amir said, I think he’ll surprise us all–and in a good way.
Separately, I’ve been reading up on the Hillary email thing, and I think it’s a bigger deal than I had orginally. The law is incredibly strict on handling of classified information, and the bottom line is that she created an obvious high risk of violating it by using her personal email account. Maybe Colin Powell did too, and we’d be using it against him, too, if he ran for President.
The Benghazi thing was such obvious BS from the very beginning that I didn’t really pay attention to the email thing until now. But I think this may not end well. I find it significant that Robert Reich, while talking up her candidacy, wouldn’t defend her on this one: He said she hadn’t offered an adequate explanation, and did not at all spring for the notion that concerns could only be partisan.
Right now, the facts suggests that she created a situation allowing classified informaton to flow through non-secure channels. I’ll admit that I’m not a Hillary fan in any event, but I am a lawyer with criminal and litigation experience , and I don’t think this can be lightly dismissed the way the Benghazi nuttiness can.
I hope the FBI investigates this very quickly and aggressively, so that if there is a problem, it can be exposed fully in time for new candidates to enter the race.
Botsplainer
Post retirement? Secretary General of the UN, where he can fully realize his long running goal of taking guns from Real Americans using Black Panthers and Rainbow Flag gays and lesbians, followed by putting Rush and Hannity into re-educative detention as a pilot program run on Pay Per View cable.
Like duh, wasn’t that the most obvious thing ever?
low-tech cyclist
WereBear – hope the neuralgia eases off soon! Had a (fortunately mild) case of shingles back in January, but the neuralgia that preceded the rash by a few days needed some pretty serious drugs to make the pain go away. So I have an idea of what you’re going through. Good luck!
Botsplainer
@EconWatcher:
My recollection on this is that she is the classifying authority for the state department, so any practice she engages in with regard to secure information goes.
EconWatcher
@Botsplainer:
I’ve never heard her offer that defense, and it could not work for at least some of the information, because some of it (for example, the two emails known so far that reflect signals intelligence) come from intelligence agencies, which would have the classifying authority (not State).
EconWatcher
@Botsplainer:
I think he would make an absolutely fabulous President of the World Bank, and could really take a bite out of global poverty.
OzarkHillbilly
@EconWatcher: More info.
Myths And Facts On Hillary Clinton’s Email And Reports Of “Top Secret” Materials
More Myths And Facts On “Top Secret” Materials In Hillary Clinton’s Email
For what it’s worth.
David Koch
@Botsplainer:
Well, he already has some experience at the job
NotMax
@David Koch
Secretary General is never from any of the permanent member states of the Security Council.
EconWatcher
@NotMax: True, and World Bank President is by tradition always an American. The WB has not been doing that well lately, but it has a crucial mission, and BHO would be so perfect.
David Koch
It’s really disgusting watching people who have directly benefited from immigration (Piyush Jindah, Raphael Eduardo “Ted” Cruz, David Frum) applaud Trump’s deportation plan.
It just breaks all laws of logic.
WereBear
It breaks all laws of rational altruism. Since, Republicans have embraced 1984 as an instruction manual for fascism, it’s logical.
EconWatcher
@OzarkHillbilly:
Thanks. I’ve been looking for information that’s neither wingnut nor pro-Hillary biased, and you have to work hard to find it.
I think the Media Matters stuff is pro-Clinton biased. For example, they make a big deal about whether anything she sent or received was “labelled” as top secret or classified, but I think this is an extraordinarily weak defense that she’s been trying to push herself. If you work in a federal agency (as I have) they drill into you that you have to assume everything you send and receive is sensitive, regardless of how it’s labelled. (This was true even in my financial-related agency, where nothing involved national security and nothing rose to the level of top secret.)
Clinton set up a system where EVERYTHING she received electronically came through her personal email. Given her position, how could she possibly think that wouldn’t include some classified material (regardless of whether it was labelled as such)? Also, having her server scrubbed AFTER this controversy arose was just asking for trouble; why on earth did she do it?
I’m not saying she’s trying to hide some deep, dark secret; I’m pretty sure she’s not. But it looks like she tried to play it cute to avoid FOIA requests and such, and stumbled into an area where the law is extremely tight (on handling of classified information) and there just is no leeway for such cuteness. I think she may pay a big price for this, and if we’re not careful, the Democratic Party and America will too.
OzarkHillbilly
@David Koch:
Except for the law of IGMFY.
Mustang Bobby
If we’re going to revisit various parts of the Constitution, let’s talk about the Second Amendment, shall we?
danielx
Third day of (yet another) new diet for Zoey the Menace (seen here in the deplorable depths of a catnip binge), and boy is she pissed. Last night our man Eric, seen here with his late buddy CeeCee, was getting a late night snack (canned food, thankyewverymuch). Zoey looked at the quarter cup of diet kibble in her bowl and looked up at me with a look that said clear as anything: “Where’s my canned food? WTF is going on here?” She was still bitching at me as I headed for the stairs. Going to be a long haul, but got to get her down from (gulp) 22 lbs.
danielx
@David Koch:
Republican political stances and logic are on nodding terms at best.
beltane
@David Koch: They can support Trump’s position all they want, Real Americans will not be fooled: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/birtherism-gop-candidates-home-to-roost
WereBear
@danielx: It’s very possible you are using the wrong techniques to slim down your fat cat. Kibble is the problem, not the solution.
Fix the fat cat. Without stress.
OzarkHillbilly
@EconWatcher:
I know I know. It is all but impossible. I have no opinion on the legal ins and outs of this. But it does seem to be a self incurred wound and a wholly unnecessary one.
Question for a person who actually worked in gov’t: How in the hell is this situation even possible with out some kind of abetting by any and all who were around her (including career State employees), and willful ignorance by everyone who corresponded via email with her?
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m not sure with these guys but it could be. Just don’t think our contractor fools around with his subs.
danielx
@WereBear:
She’s getting Blue Buffalo weight loss formula along with a little canned food in the am, and seems to like it just fine. I thought she was losing, since she can now negotiate the kitty door without having to dig her claws into the throw rug in front of it for traction – was easy to tell her comings and goings because the rug would be all bunched up in front of the door. Last night she was just pissed.
Mustang Bobby
I had a friend in Colorado who tried to go all vegan with everything, including her pets. Try feeding a cat and a Labrador on that kind of diet; they’re natural carnivores and don’t really get along well on a diet without meat protein. I kept expecting to show up at her house and find her gnawed to death.
beltane
@Mustang Bobby: What would your friend do if the cat caught and ate a mouse?
WereBear
@Mustang Bobby: And she would have deserved it. I’ve come to believe vegans are members of a cult, not someone making rational dietary choices.
Humans need protein, and someone like me can’t get it from plant sources very well.
@danielx: Great! As long as it works. I just know so many people who drove themselves and their cats crazy with wrong approaches.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
It had never been an issue before, so it wasn’t an issue when Clinton wanted it.
Mustang Bobby
@beltane: I suspect the cat was scoring some illicit protein in the back alleys of Longmont…and made the dog her bitch.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: That was my take also. So why is it an issue now? Oh… wait a minute…. Silly me.
EconWatcher
@OzarkHillbilly:
I worked in government, and I would posit this: Hillary probably strictly limited the number of people in State who could email her directly, perhaps requiring it all to be sent first for vetting to her top aides (like Huma Abedin). This itself would be sensible, to limit the amount of email she received to manageable levels and conserve her time as SOS. But if that’s the case, she might never have been having direct email communications with career State people, or at least rarely. And it’s also possible that people might assume her personal email had somehow been adequately secured and that a lawyer had approved the whole arrangement, because surely the SOS wouldn’t be that dumb.
By the way, as a lawyer, I find it significant that Clinton has so far NOT tried to claim that State Department lawyers or any other lawyers were consulted or approved her arrangements. It’s another part of agency culture to run anything unconventional through legal. It’s also significant that when asked about this, Obama’s spox said that all of his officials were told to use official email. Obama is NOT going to say he approved this, or that it was consistent with his policies.
beltane
Carly Fiorina may have had her little bounce in the polls, but it’s all over now. The headlines are all abuzz with her insufficient hatred of Muslims. No VP spot for her.
danielx
@WereBear:
Also too, it transpired that Zoey has been getting table scrap handouts via a youthful co-conspirator.
Who has been duly admonished that no matter her importuning, Zoey is not to receive bacon any longer.
NotMax
Draconian new laws set into place in Egypt.
EconWatcher
@Baud:
It is not at all routine for anyone in a federal agency to use personal email for official business, and certainly not for any kind of sensitive information. I’ve seen people send “I’ll be in late” messages from their personal email if they couldn’t access their official email, but that’s it. Whatever the explanation for all of this, I can confidently say that no one in a federal agency would think use of personal email for work was business as usual.
Baud
@EconWatcher:
If this was a nonroutine request, the State IT department should have documentation showing what they had to do to accommodate Clinton.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I know from working in the private sector, the rules that apply to regular folk don’t always apply to the folk in the C-suites.
WereBear
That’s totally believable. And I can’t believe the paranoia and arrogance that is public officials using a personal email address.
I’m NOT vetted or bonded in my current job. My stuff does not require a confidentiality notice. Yet, my company has issued email addresses and we are all required to use them in a professional manner.
If this truly trips her up, it would be flabbergasting, because it’s so dead simple.
OzarkHillbilly
@EconWatcher: OK, thanx, but I don’t think
quite covers it because we know at least one person who was not in gov’t at all was e-mailing her directly (the old friend sending her articles). I also found it hard to believe that numerous Cabinet heads (Defense, CIA, DHS, etc) would have their emails vetted before going to her.
Anyway, a follow up: How is it that during all the Benghazi investigations, beginning within months (weeks?) of the attack it took almost 3 years for somebody not at state (how many congressional investigators were combing the mountains of correspondence?) to notice, “Oh gee… Look at Hillary’s address.”
The timing stinks worse than a lot of the press coverage of this mess.
As far as Obama not approving it, I’m not buying it. He may not admit it for political reasons, but Hillary was one of his top Cabinet officials. To think he never communicated with her directly via e-mail just defies all logic. Unless of course they took away his email privileges when they took away his Blackberry. In which case his Chief of Staff had to know and if he knew….
WereBear
@danielx: At least, not until she slims down :) I’m sure you have a sad youthful co-conspirator.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@EconWatcher: There’s a thread at Booman’s place on Biden that also went down the Clinton e-mail rabbit hole. It seems that it will never go away now because “people are talking about it”.
I blew up when the first story about it came out because it seemed to be a bone-headed move, but I’m blase’ about it now. She’s not a stupid woman. She had to know that when it came out that there would be people who tried to make it part of the Grand Clinton Conspiracy. So, why did she do it? She said it was for convenience (“not having multiple devices” or some such). Maybe so – maybe that’s the only reason. Maybe it was because of fear of FOIA requests (which seemingly wouldn’t be a good reason – “I want all of Clinton’s e-mails on XYZ” “Sorry, we don’t have any e-mails on XYZ” “WTF?!?! Why not?!”) Maybe the State e-mail system was so broken that farming it out to a “private server” was thought to be more secure. Maybe the IT people at State were swamped and knew it had been done for Powell and thought it was no big deal and made things easier for them (since stuff to and from her that went to State servers was automatically archived anyway). Maybe there were lots of reasons.
But the topic has morphed into Whitewater II now. Continuing to talk about it won’t bring clarity, it will only feed the “well, people are talking about it, so there must be something nefarious there” monster. People will have doubts about any explanations due to their own biases.
It happened. It will be very difficult for Kerry’s successor (or any other cabinet secretary) to do something similar with a private e-mail server in the future. That’s a good thing, and probably the only thing that critics and supporters of HRC will ever agree on.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jeffro
Post-presidency, my biggest hope is that Obama stays very, very visible and vocal on everything he’s already made happen during his presidency and then some. I want the next several Oval-Officeholders to have him in the back of their minds whenever they make decisions for our country. And I want the GOP to remember for an additional two, three decades how he withstood all of their nasty, disrespectful nonsense and still beat them like a rug – twice.
Totally serious.
gene108
Debating whether to replace my 2003 Corolla or hold on for a bit longer. Just crossed 193,000 miles. I’ve had parts replaced as mechanics have said they need replacing.
Otherwise the car is running without any problems.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@OzarkHillbilly:
Lots of e-mail clients substitute names or handles for e-mail addresses. So you see To: Lovey instead of To: [email protected]
Also, she might have a State e-mail address that just gets forwarded somewhere else. Lots of places will accept (via aliases) e-mail with various forms and dump them in a single account. Nothing would be in a [email protected] mailbox even if stuff got sent there and even if she eventually received it (because it got forwarded). Similarly, Reply-To addresses can be set up to have replies go to a different address than the sending address.
It doesn’t have to be anything nefarious. Obama seemingly tried to pick competent people to run Cabinet posts then let them do their jobs as they saw fit. He wouldn’t be as good a manager as he is if he had looked at minutia as small as how they configured their e-mail.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who still thinks she should have used a State e-mail account.)
Sherparick
First time in 10 years that Obama’s judgement has disappointed me. He apparently thinks Malcolm Gladwell is something other than a complete spinner of bullshit.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
That’s a universal rule.
EconWatcher
@WereBear:
I think your point is what makes this especially politically dangerous: The problem is within the range of experience of many ordinary people, and Hillary’s actions just don’t look smart. You wouldn’t send your social security number through your personal email, because you know it can be hacked and your identity stolen. Many people have work email and know they should use only the secured work email system for business. So why is the SOS setting up a system that will inevitably lead to classified national security info going to her personal email address?
As to why this only became an issue now: It first became a public issue in March, before Hillary even announced her candidacy. Hillary delayed and resisted production of evidence, and the inspector general only recently completed his investigation and released a report saying that classified information appeared to have gone to her personal email, and referred the matter to the FBI.
Sure, the wingnuts are all claiming this is to cover up Bengazhi, and they are morons. But Hillary can really only blame herself for this one. And we’re lucky it’s coming out now, instead of next year. The timing is not that bad, actually, as long as the investigation proceeds quickly.
Keith G
The first job of the (at that point, former) First Family will be to figure out what to do with the largest set of book advances in the history of publication – then the writing (after a significant vacation spent “on a beach somewhere drinking out of a coconut.”).
Bill Clinton collected the then record 15 million** and spent two and a half years writing. If BHO times it right, the book can come out at about the same time his “Library” is dedicated. The Clinton Presidential Center took 3 years to finish.
That means that about the time he is 58 years old (and about that time his youngest daughter will be turning 21), he can turn the corner away from the part of his life that was so absorbed by the presidency.
He won’t be accepting any formal governmental or NGO positions.
** $15,000,000 in 2001 would be inflated to $20,242,413 today. Will BHO get more than that or has the decline in publishing limited his take?
gene108
I want President Obama to run for elected office again, just to remind all the people, who hate him that he is not going away.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Yup, do whatever it takes to make whatever executive happy. Oh, and have it done yesterday.
OzarkHillbilly
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
In my experience, that only happens after I, me, myself, have entered the name or handle to the address. Until I personally do that, it is mywife@email dot com. Never seen otherwise.
BillinGlendaleCA
Damn-it, it looks like the two sets of 9 pics each are missing a connecting photo or two. Oh well, I’ve got one panorama of one part of the town and another of the other part of town. I’m calling it night(as the sun rises in the east).
gene108
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
If not for the e-mail issue, the media would have found something else to turn into Whitewater II, such as the “secretive operations” of the Clinton Foundation or baby Charlotte fighting against nap time.
The narrative on the Clintons has been set and the narrative must always be supported; facts be damned.
EconWatcher
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
No disrespect, but I don’t think this will continue as an issue only because people are talking about it. It will continue as an issue because the FBI under James Comey is investigating it. They will be tenacious. And if in the end they build a record that looks similar to Petraeus or other cases that led to prosecution, Comey will expect Justice to bring an indictment, or he will make a lot of noise. The guy is a Republican (although a reasonably fair one, as far as I can tell).
Belafon
@EconWatcher: The one thing you’re missing is that the law didn’t change until after she left. As was pointed out the other day, this is not about email-gate-ghazi, this is about scouring her emails to find other things to go after he on. They are still looking for Benghazi clues. They want to know if she’s had an affair.
EconWatcher
@gene108:
I would agree with you that the media would tear into the Clintons no matter what, but you still have to look at the facts and the law on this one. And they don’t look so good, at least as of now.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Seriously…LinkedIn produced a billionaire? The value of a tech industry product (or the money that can be made from said) is completely independent of the inherent benefits to humankind that said product produces. I mean, I have a LinkedIn account, like everyone who works, but haven’t actually logged in in years. Has anyone?
NonyNony
@EconWatcher:
The law didn’t change until she left office. According to the law at the time she did nothing wrong. That’s why nothing has happened with this so far – because there’s actually no illegality there at all just a failure to follow best practices that she inherited from her predecessor.
EconWatcher
@Belafon:
There was clear law at the time on sending classified info through non-secure channels. That law has been in place for a very long time. You may be referring to more explicit agency rules about use of personal email, but she could break the law–even be indicted–regardless of whether those newer rules were in place.
Omnes Omnibus
@EconWatcher: Current law or the law in place at the time she was SoS?
Belafon
Interesting: The candidate believed by Republicans to be most electable next year: Donald Trump, who leads with 22%, with Jeb at 16%. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/18/all-the-electable-republicans-are-losing.html.
NonyNony
@EconWatcher:
Except that nothing that she sent out was classified, and nothing she received was marked classified when it was sent (though retroactively some of it has apparently been classified after the fact).
Again – there’s almost nothing to this. Other than another example of our government being unable to follow best practices.
Gin & Tonic
@EconWatcher: I’ve been looking for information that’s neither wingnut nor pro-Hillary biased
And I’ve been looking for information written by someone who actually understands the IT aspects of this, and that’s equally hard to find. Everything is written by people who don’t even know what SMTP means.
Omnes Omnibus
@EconWatcher: Do you have any evidence that she sent any classified info through her account?
Emma
@OzarkHillbilly: Simple. There were no laws against it. But those of them (us) who want to put down the Clintons will continue ad nauseam. When any half-assed lie becomes an “own-goal” and ANY piece of information that denies the lies is labeled “pro-Clinton”, well, I stop talking. There’s no mind to be changed.
OzarkHillbilly
@EconWatcher:
She didn’t have to announce it for everyone to know she was running. The Repubs learned in 2012 that when something really bad happens before an election, it takes more than a couple months to turn it into a scandal worthy of defeating one’s rival. Their challenge now is to keep it going for the next year or more.
But yeah, self inflicted all the way down the line. After all these years, she should know how to deal with these a-holes better than this.
Jeffro
@gene108:
YES – and any office would do, too. The GOP would go nuts and probably blow at least a couple mil even if he were running for school board rep.
Kay
It is time to get precinct workers for the primary in Ohio and we are having trouble getting them. I know there is substantial support for Clinton in this county because I have heard from her supporters for months, but I hope they aren’t complacent. It will help a lot in the general if we have a higher turnout primary, because primary voters are the most reliable general election voters and it helps with general “buzz” and turnout among Democrats. I was a little worried about this with such a narrow field on the D side, but since so many of the Clinton supporters here were so great about putting the ’08 primary aside and working for Obama in 08 after she lost, I hoped they would be even more active with her as the probable nominee. It’s only one county and it’s an R county and it’s pre-labor Day so maybe it will get better.
EconWatcher
@NonyNony:
What law are you referring to, that didn’t change until after she left office? The statute that was used to prosecute Petraeus, and might be used against her, was certainly around. (18 USC 1924). To my knowledge, Hillary herself hasn’t tried to argue that there was no law preventing her from handling classified info through non-secure channels, and she wouldn’t be smart to say that. I think she may be left arguing that she didn’t really know that any of the info she was sending or receiving was classified, because it wasn’t marked as such. And that is a VERY weak argument, for reasons discussed above.
aimai
@EconWatcher: It wasn’t illegal when she was doing it. Your refusal to believe this seems odd to me as its an established fact.
boatboy_srq
Not “planning for the future” here so much as “cleaning up the past.” Windows 2003 is end-of-life, and killing outdated Win2K3 servers has been my working life for the last three months. Two more get their plugs pulled today.
@Jeffro: Ditto. My choices would be: 1) SCOTUS bench; 2) IL governor; 3) CHI mayor. But that’s just me.
rikyrah
Folks, the birthright citizenship thing is a smokescreen. The Republicans have been after the 14th Amendment ever since Brown v. Board. Please understand – every advancement that this society has made since then is couched in the 14th Amendment.
See the forest for the trees, people. .
LOLGOP
@LOLGOP
In a way, the 14th amendment, which Trump wants to gut, was written to establish that black lives actually matter.
Belafon
@EconWatcher: As a lawyer, if your client was charged for violating a law that was put in place after your client’s actions, I would hope you would be pissed.
As for the stuff on her machine, the State Department doesn’t think the items should be classified. As for aggregation, as someone who deals with that kind of thing, I wonder how many newspapers would be considered confidential because of articles being printed together.
MomSense
@Baud:
You mean Amir won’t be our next balloon-juice front pager??!!
I blame Obama.
EconWatcher
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, if you look up the inspector general’s report that came out recently, he identified four emails out of 40 randomly picked that included classified info, two of which likely included top secret signals intelligence.
http://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/judiciary/upload/Classified%20docs%2C%2008-11-15%2C%20ICIG%20CN%20-%20Update%20on%20Classified%20Materials%20on%20Personal%20thumb%20drive.%20Clinton%20server.pdf
rikyrah
And still, the estate is back in the black (pun intended), making money hand over fist.
………………………
Michael Jackson Kids Cost $4.3 Million: Court Documents Reveal Jackson’s Kids Living Expenses
Michael Jackson’s kids cost $4.3 million a year between housing and other living expenses according to court documents. AZCentral reports that Michael Jackson’s three kids, Prince, 18, Paris, 16, and 13-year-old Bigi (formerly known as Blanket), have quite the set-up, and don’t seem to need a thing based on the detailed documents.
Aside from $450,000 a year for a house in Calabasas, California, the kids also have their school paid for, as well as staff, workers, vacation expenses, and more.
“A total of $75,000 in fees for Buckley School was also spent for Prince and Paris, before the latter dropped out, with $30,000 also being spent on a separate school for ‘young performers.’ Other expenses included chartering a private plane for $140,000, $470,000 on staff at their properties as well as $47,000 on other workers, $935 on Bigi’s 11th birthday bash and $428,000 for a trip to Hawaii with Prince and Paris’ biological mother, Debbie Rowe.”
Michael Jackson’s kids’ $4.3 million a year in living expenses is shocking to some people who couldn’t imagine spending one million a year on their whole family (some people don’t even see that kind of money over a lifetime). The bottom line is that Michael Jackson made sure that his kids would be well taken care of in the event that something happened to him.
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/2345559/michael-jackson-kids-4-3-million/#sTOhxz2ZBXCEEJ6V.99
Keith G
@Belafon: About the “Beast’s” click-batey headline: “All the Electable Republicans Are Losing”
No one is losing because this is still the preseason. No games have been played, that is, no delegates have been awarded. Additionally, polling this far away from actual voting is notoriously inaccurate.
I guess I might want to save my time by not carping at the media. I know that driving traffic is the non-negotiable mandate.
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
How would you describe the mission of the World Bank? In practice, I mean, not in theory.
EconWatcher
@aimai:
Where are you getting the info that it was’t illegal? There is furious spin going on, on both sides of this. The FBI will investigate this thoroughly, and then we’ll know for sure, but there is not an easy or automatic out here. 18 USC 1924, at least, was around.
OzarkHillbilly
@aimai: You are talking about 2 different laws. EW is talking about the laws on classified materials, and you are talking about laws pertaining to State dept emails.
Eric U.
@EconWatcher: I don’t find it hard to believe that she wasn’t receiving classified info through her email. There are all sorts of reasons that things that are widely disseminated get classified. Even at my low level I saw evidence of that. So you can’t just say that it was classified in another document so it was illegal to send it through her email server. If it was derived from an unclassified source, it isn’t classified.
Tom
@Mustang Bobby: The big problem with feeding cats a vegan diet is that they need an amino acid that is only found in meat for the visual purple in their eyes. Without it, they can go blind.
EconWatcher
@Cervantes:
They describe it as ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity; in practice, it’s coming up with creative ways to help people and countries provide better standards of living. It’s a really difficult economic, political, and social problem–one of the world’s most challenging–and BHO would be great at it, probably the best ever.
OzarkHillbilly
@EconWatcher: That report has been debunked. Not surprising as Grassley is a pathological liar.
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
Do you have an opinion about what happened to those records from HRC’s time at the Rose Law Firm? How did they go missing? How were they finally located?
(Asking mostly because I’m curious to know if you see any similarities to the case at hand.)
Emma
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/08/feinstein-no-classified-info-hillary-clinton-emails
Of course, this is “pro-Clinton” and will be disregarded immediately.
rikyrah
They continue to want us to entertain them. Buy a ticket to a Beyoncé concert if you want to be entertained.
Folks have a PhD and think somebody should entertain them.
get da phuq outta here.
……………….
Black academics expected to ‘entertain’ when presenting, new study says
by Joan Brasher | Aug. 17, 2015, 2:21 PM
Black faculty members are expected to be “entertaining” when presenting academic research to mostly white peers, according to a new Vanderbilt study.
Thirty-three African American faculty members from institutions across the country were surveyed on their personal experiences, providing a unique perspective on “presenting while black.”
Ebony O. McGee, assistant professor of education, diversity and urban schooling at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development co-directed the study.
Interviews with the scholars revealed that an overwhelming majority were advised regularly by white peers to be “more entertaining” when making research presentations, as well as to “lighten up” and “tell more jokes
Black females additionally noted being subject to their colleagues’ preoccupation with their clothing choices and hairstyle, and reported being admonished to play down their “passion” and “smile more.” In addition, nearly all reported overt racist remarks in regards to their academic presentations.
http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2015/08/black-academics-expected-to-entertain-when-presenting-new-study-says/
EconWatcher
@OzarkHillbilly:
Sorry, but I don’t think that’s correct. It’s not Grassley’s report, it’s the Inspector General’s report–I just got it from Grassley’s website. I haven’t seen anything anywhere claiming that the Inspector General of the Intelligence Agencies is a Republican operative, and I don’t know what debunking of this report you’re referring to. It has been cited recently in the AP and all kinds of places.
As I’ve noted above, there is a load of disinformation and spin being put out on this by wingnuts in search of their grand Benghazi, but equally by Hillary’s people. This is not really the sexy scandal that wingnuts crave–in the end the only issue will probably be about statutes governing handling of classified info. But they are criminal statutes, they have been strictly applied in the past, and this issue can’t be dismissed out of hand.
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly:
The officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity work in intelligence and other agencies. They wouldn’t detail the contents of the emails because of ongoing questions about classification level. Clinton did not transmit the sensitive information herself, they said, and nothing in the emails she received makes clear reference to communications intercepts, confidential intelligence methods or any other form of sensitive sourcing.
The drone exchange, the officials said, begins with a copy of a news article that discusses the CIA drone program that targets terrorists in Pakistan and elsewhere. While a secret program, it is well-known and often reported on. The copy makes reference to classified information, and a Clinton adviser follows up by dancing around a top secret in a way that could possibly be inferred as confirmation, they said. Several officials, however, described this claim as tenuous.
But a second email reviewed by Charles McCullough, the intelligence community inspector general, appears more suspect. Nothing in the message is “lifted” from classified documents, the officials said, though they differed on where the information in it was sourced. Some said it improperly points back to highly classified material, while others countered that it was a classic case of what the government calls “parallel reporting” – different people knowing the same thing through different means.
[Associated Press, 8/14/15] via PBS
FWIW
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
You must be familiar with criticisms of the WB from the left. For example, enforcing neo-liberal demands is not necessarily a good thing. What do you make of these criticisms?
The current president of the Bank is a friend and former colleague. Recent presidents have been worthless as thinkers and as human beings. I mention this range as a way of asking how much control over the institution you understand the president to have. And I magining Obama in the position, do you see him having enough power to shape the Bank’s policies? Or perhaps you don’t think he’d want to re-shape them?
Just curious about your views.
OzarkHillbilly
@EconWatcher:
Who selectively quoted it? Sorry, I have an innate distrust to anything that comes from a person who denies simple scientific fact for political gain. I assume by now you have seen the AP report I quoted.
On this we can both agree.
Booger
@Amir Khalid: How does “Mr. Chief Justice BHO” sound to you? I kinda like the ring of it, just because it means he could continue to infuriate wingnuts ad infinitum.
EconWatcher
@OzarkHillbilly:
This is exactly the kind of thing that the FBI investigation will have to sort out. But with tens of thousands of emails having gone through that address, it is hard to believe that nothing classified went through it, unless Hillary gave strict instructions that nothing sensitive or classified should ever be sent to her email address. I haven’t heard her claim that as of now.
Belafon
@Keith G: Oh, I’m not talking about whether he is electable, but even Republicans play the “who is electable” versus “who I want” game. And there are quite a few people who will vote for the person who will win because they want to vote for the person who will win. I offer this as more evidence that Trump probably isn’t going anywhere for a while.
Baud
@Booger:
Sounds great, but I don’t think John Roberts will accommodate it by resigning.
Omnes Omnibus
@Booger: What do you plan to do with the current Chief Justice? Also, I don’t see why people are so eager to put Obama on the Supreme Court bench. If one wants him to do good in the world, there are other options that would afford him more scope for action. And there are lots of qualified judges and law professors who could do well on the bench; there are very few youngish AA ex-presidents.
Belafon
@EconWatcher: Isn’t the fight between the IG and State? State says they’re not classified, and the IG says they are? An event that has occurred AFTER she left?
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
And even if she did, that’s not much of a defense.
(I’m not taking a position on the facts here.)
EconWatcher
@Cervantes:
Don’t know much about the Rose Law Firm records, except that they did mysteriously appear after a long absence. The Republicans slung so much BS in that time period that moderates and Dems would not have believed them, or noticed, even if they had come up with a genuine transgression.
It’s possible they’ll overplay their hand that way this time, too. But as I’ve said, for the narrow claim that she may have handled classified info in violation of federal statutes, there is certainly enough to warrant an aggressive investigation here, and those who are reflexively dismissing that there could be a serious issue are making a mistake, at least based on what we now know.
Belafon
@rikyrah:
I’ve been told this when making presentations, so I’m not sure this is unique to blacks:
This on the other hand is blatant and needs to be fixed:
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I agree. Obama would be wasted on the court.
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
With “mistakes were made” on one end and “she’s a Chinese agent” on the other, in whose hands would you want to see that “aggressive investigation”?
EconWatcher
@Belafon:
There’s a dispute between State and IG about classification of several emails from a small sample the IG took, but there are tens of thousands that have to be reviewed for classified info, and the IG thought there was enough evidence to seek an FBI investigation. Unless she put strong mechanisms in place to present classified info from going to her private email account, it’s hard to believe that nothing at all will be found. That’s why the arrangement appears so dumb. It created such a high risk.
Belafon
@EconWatcher:
They could. At the same time, reflexively saying anything a Clinton does is a scandal is exactly what Republicans want you to do.
EconWatcher
@Cervantes:
FBI under Comey. That’s where it is, and that’s about as fair as we can hope for.
WereBear
@Belafon: And the fact that Powell did it, and was not, as far as I know, investigated or censured on it, should just put it to rest.
All I’m saying is, it showed poor judgement. If my child, in their work life, would do this, they would get a lecture.
Belafon
@EconWatcher: I’ll bet, considering all of the discussion we’ve had on this site about actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially with our particular blog host, that the IG could find security violations here because they were put together. Remember, this investigation is about classifying the emails after the fact, whether they can be released to the public.
And if you try to tell me it’s about the security of her server, tell me about the security of government servers.
EconWatcher
@Belafon:
I’ve tried to dig into this one pretty deeply. I’m not a Hillary fan, but I’m inherently suspicious of Republican accusations against the Clintons, because I was a sentient adult during the 90s. Benghazi was obviously total baloney. If you dig into this one, you’re forced to conclude there may be something there, and the investigation is certainly warranted.
Matt McIrvin
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
I log into LinkedIn whenever I’m looking for a job. It’s quite useful in that situation, basically as a professional Rolodex and resume broadcast medium. That’s it.
Everything it does, other social networks could do, except that it’s quite useful to have a separate one just for your professional persona. Of course everyone’s going to look you up on Facebook, but I think it still makes sense to have a separate job face.
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
Does Comey have a deadline?
Should he?
Chris
Well, my Facebook Wingnut Barometer has the latest Hillary Conspiracy argument;
Hillary clearly had incriminating information on her in her emails, since she scrubbed them clean.
Therefore, since that information was in her emails, the Russians and Chinese must have it too, through their hacking operations directed at the U.S.
Therefore, if elected president, Hillary can be blackmailed by the Russians and Chinese to do anything they want.
THEREFORE, vote for whoever the Republican is.
EconWatcher
@Belafon:
Sorry, but I think the security of federal IT systems is legally and politically irrelevant. I worked for years for a federal agency. If someone hacked into my federal account, that would have been the agency’s problem. If I had used my own account for official business, including sensitive information, that would have been my problem, in a big way. I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere trying to say, gee, why does it matter, it wouldn’t have been much safer in the agency system. If she tries to defend that way, good luck to her. I hope and expect she’ll have better defenses than that, but so far, as Robert Reich noted, her explanations have not been adequate.
Jeffro
@boatboy_srq:
I think O being on SCOTUS would restrain him from saying/doing enough, and IL gov would get him bogged down in so much petty state politics it would be tough to make a big impact. I’d almost like to see him serve as the next Dem president’s Secretary of State, but that would never happen – he’d obviously overshadow that prez and the media would parse his every word for the slightest hint of discord between him and POTUS.
As I mentioned earlier, I’d hope he can find some way to continue hammering on these issues he has done so well on. It might take a combination of “hats” he can wear (he’s certainly capable of that). Run the DNC so that the Dems stay/get even more effective at winning elections, join up with Gore & the high-tech sector on climate change, and run his own foundation to primarily deal with voting rights and criminal justice reform. You know, basically be Superman?
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
Legally irrelevant, I agree.
ThresherK
Hey, study question time, “Less is More” category: Which is the last R president whose greatest “Life after the Oval Office” accomplishment was more than “Stopped Presidenting, and the presidency got immediately better”?
Cervantes
@ThresherK:
Hoover.
Omnes Omnibus
@ThresherK: Taft.
EconWatcher
@WereBear:
If Powell had run for president, it probably would have been investigated. We would have insisted on it.
That’s what happens when you run for president. And Hillary, of all people, should know that. That’s what makes the judgments to use personal email, and then scrub the server after the controversy arose, all the more stupid.
It kind of reminds me of Bill with Monica: He damn well knew that he had enemies who were looking for anything to use against him, and he does that? He let all of us and the cause down.
Jeffro
@Omnes Omnibus: Whoops – you said it better and earlier than I did.
ThresherK
@Cervantes: He had a pretty good real-world life before the White House, actually. Real miner after getting an engineering degree from Stanford, went into the mines and everything, not just some white collar boss. Helmed the Famine Relief Effort in Europe after WWI. Headed up the FCC’s predecessor, the FRC. Just imagine what could have been had he never run for President.
I’m not familiar with his after-life, however.
@Omnes Omnibus: Good choice. I wouldn’t be at all disappointed if PBO followed that track.
Omnes Omnibus
@ThresherK:
I would.
EconWatcher
@Omnes Omnibus:
Count me with those who think the Supreme Court would be a waste of Obama’s talent. Honestly, any smart liberal lawyer will do for that post; there ain’t going to be much difference between them. I think Kagan is probably smarter than Breyer, but does it matter?
WereBear
President Obama is probably more qualified to be a Chief Justice than most, but it would require living in DC, and I don’t think he and his family would care much for that. Certainly not without the subsidized housing.
It’s a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there, either.
Cervantes
@ThresherK:
I agree.
@Omnes Omnibus:
I can see the argument in favor, sure.
Keith G
@Belafon: Yeah, that was clear. I was just using the headline to pivot.
shell
Aw Betty,
Hope the vet gets things straighted out with your pup. Its miserable having a sick doggie; the feeling of helplessness is awful. Keep us notified.
Jeffro
@WereBear:
Hey, hey…some of us suburbanites can’t wait to sell the house and get a slick new condo downtown (preferably right between the Black Cat and 9:30 Club). As long as you don’t get too wrapped up in its sports teams, DC’s great!
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker:
In case you have not seen it: the video you asked for.
Cervantes
@Jeffro:
And if you do, Justice Sotomayor would be practically a neighbor.
Chris
@EconWatcher:
I think Bill Clinton, who knew full well just how widespread marital infidelity was among the political classes and especially among those who were trying to hang him with that (how many wives has Newt Gingrich had now?) probably just never believed that something so bottom-of-the-barrel would be taken so ludicrously far. The Lewinsky affair is, in fact, what solidified the reality of just what the new rules were and just what lengths the Republican Party would go to to prevent a Democratic president from governing.
I can see Hillary Clinton believing something similar about the use of personal emails if the stories about her predecessors Powell and Rice doing the same thing are true, though it’s less forgivable in the 2010s given what we know about the opposition now.
Keith G
@WereBear: Not. Going. To. Happen.
No. No. No. To take a position on the Court is to remove one from the type of discourse (and I might add social life) that a couple as vibrant as the Obamas seem to enjoy. It is not a job, it is a calling and a total lifestyle in it’s own way as confining as the presidency without all the nicer perks. And of course a real limit on potential earnings.
So with all due respects to the “Obama on SCOTUS” crowd….It’s not that you are nuts, but maybe that you are getting a wee bit giddy.
edit…This is inspired by WereBear’s post, but not a response to it since that voiced a similar view.
WereBear
@Jeffro: I’m more of a NYC person… provided there’s enough do-re-mi, that is. But in terms of the Obama family, they might have had enough of the Political Town that is the level they would be unavoidably on.
I find DC’s downtown kind of baffling; all those identical sandstone buildings!
Paul in KY
@gene108: I’d say stay with it. This is the time where you make your money back on that car. Every month without a car payment is money you save.
Kay
Of 25 nail salons investigated, 23 were stealing wages.
This is why people need non-state entities for workers, like labor unions. So there is someone on the ground in each workplace- a “LOCAL”, quite literally. State regulation isn’t going to do it. People have to have a way to remedy this on an individual level.
I don’t care what you call it or how it’s structured, but there has to be something outside the state.
Paul in KY
@gene108: I want him on the Supreme Court! Take that Scalia!!!
Paul in KY
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I do the minimum with mine. No Facebook.
gvg
@OzarkHillbilly: @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Lots of e-mail clients substitute names or handles for e-mail addresses. So you see To: Lovey instead of To: [email protected]
In my experience, that only happens after I, me, myself, have entered the name or handle to the address. Until I personally do that, it is mywife@email dot com. Never seen otherwise.
I have to report otherwise. The last few work email upgrades have started showing the person names and not the email address itself. A problem this has caused me is the stupid software is picking old invalid addresses instead of the new one that I have in my address book. It will not let me clear old addresses either and the address book is not where its getting them. I don’t know why. It’s also started finding personal addresses and linking them too. To be really creepy may sister purchased some toys recently and toys r us emailed the receipt to me. We live in the same household but I’ve never given my email address that I know of and she did not she says even hit the key for an emailed receipt. the machines are actively trying to link things and are sometimes wrong. Going back to the email, my work machine started addressing emails to dad with an years out of date address even though my address book had the correct one.It was only displaying his name, not the address so I didn’t know what was wrong until a month later when he got a notice from his old service…
Jeffro
@Chris:
That’s a truly excellent way to put it.
I remember a few years ago when Mrs. Jeffro and I were out at dinner w/ two other couples, when it came up that one of the other gentlemen was just as interested in following national politics as I was/am. Everyone asked he & I, “When did this become a big interest for you?”, and we both said the same thing: “once Clinton was impeached.” Which was completely true…except we meant it from completely polar perspectives.
(We both let it go after a bit…but we never went out again with that couple, either)
I think Chris is right: that was the moment when the GOP collectively decided that anything – literally anything – was okay to do in the service of stopping Dems from governing. That’s when they went from being offensive to being nihilistic.
EconWatcher
@Kay:
Not disagreeing with you, but also too: Stealing employees’ lawful wages should be treated as criminal and prosecuted. Send a few of these guys to the pokey, and I’ll bet you’d see changes in behavior. Fines are just a cost of doing business and may be worth the gamble, especially if the funds for detection and enforcement are meager.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: He actually did name the youngest ‘Blanket’?! I thought that was some form of nickname.
Germy Shoemangler
@Chris:
I wonder if he believed the JFK “men being men” rules still applied. That everyone including the press and “the other side” would look the other way.
Jeffro
@Cervantes: That’s very cool, had no idea!
@WereBear:
Yes, definitely. I would never expect them to stay in DC for the laffs after spending 8 long years dealing with the nonsense they’ve had to put up with.
I hear you. Plenty to do, though, if you’ll just head up 14th Street a mile or two. =)
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: Sounds like they are getting bad advice, maybe malicious advice from some of their white contemporaries. I would be as dry as a desert, when giving an academic presentation.
Cervantes
@Germy Shoemangler:
It wasn’t that.
But if it had been — if that’s what a Democratic president believed about the opposition party and/or the media in 1992/93 or at any time thereafter — that would have been naïve.
Debbie
@rikyrah:
FFS. The GOP is a pestilence.
Paul in KY
@Omnes Omnibus: I think he could stay most politically helpful to us liberal/progressive/Democrats by being on SC (that is assuming he would not be a Senator).
Also, that would cause mass teeth gnashing with the RWNJs.
Kay
@EconWatcher:
I agree but I can tell you from extensive personal experience they don’t know they have any rights or legal protections at all. If they do know they have no way to access the system or enforce those rights. We cannot ask the most vulnerable workers to be workplace police, particularly on complex issues like the factors that define an “employee” versus an “Independent contractor”. They have ZERO leverage. They need to be able to take action themselves.
This is wages. It could easliy be safety, and then we’re talking about people getting hurt. If they’re ignoring wages, where there’s a paper record, they’re also ignoring safety. I’ve heard some stories about cell phone tower workers here that should scare the hell out of people, and that’s just one example of a kind of roving, unregulated workforce that no one gives a shit about. There are others.
EconWatcher
@Germy Shoemangler:
Allow me to retort (channeling Samuel L. Jackson):
Before the Lewinsky thing broke, the Republicans had desperately tried to make the Travel Office firings into a major deal, and Ken Starr had even floated trial balloons in public about whether they might constitute some gross abuse of official power–and that was truly a nothingburger for the ages. In addition, the Republicans went really hard on Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones. So I think Bill had fair warning before Lewinsky that his enemies would use anything at all against him. And for that reason, I still view his dalliance in the Oval Office with Lewinsky as reckless and a betrayal, even though his personal life shouldn’t have to be my business.
Iowa Old Lady
@Jeffro:Followed by a president who failed to win the popular vote. In both cases, it felt like they were trying to overturn an election.
That’s why when people say the Clintons will do anything to get elected, you can answer that republicans will do anything except get more votes.
Bobby Thomson
@OzarkHillbilly: concern trolls tend not to bother with facts v
Central Planning
School move in today for my oldest. He has a frighteningly small amount of stuff he is taking with him. I’m sure it helps that we live only 25 minutes from campus. I think we’ll be able to get everything to his room in one trip with the hand truck I stole from work. I’m on a new parent facebook group and I see people that are back with their 2nd carload of stuff. Yikes!
Paul in KY
@EconWatcher: Do agree that this should be prosecuted criminally. Stealing is stealing.
Iowa Old Lady
@Central Planning: Dorm rooms are startlingly small. Where are they putting everything?
Paul in KY
@Germy Shoemangler: He was fucking stupid, if he believed that.
Paul in KY
@Central Planning: Should be very exciting for him. I remember when I 1st moved into UK (Haggin Hall, torn down now). Wow, was I excited!
EconWatcher
@Bobby Thomson:
Since the reference seems to be directed at me, with all respect, I think I’ve cited to enough facts and included links to establish that I’m not a concern troll. I’ve also admitted my interest–I’ll vote D, but I hope it’s not Hillary–which sort of disqualifies me as a concern troll, since I don’t pretend to be on Hillary’s side. But have a nice day anyway.
Jeffro
@Iowa Old Lady:
And followed by, let’s see, what else…
– re-redistricting Congressional district in Texas even though traditionally it was only done once, after each Census
– enlisting thousands of churches in W’s re-election efforts
– using that stupid color-coded ‘terrorism danger level’ alert system, which always seemed to ramp up precipitously just before elections…
Chris
@Kay:
It isn’t even that they don’t know their rights (obviously that’s a thing too), but even if they do know them, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they can exercise them without fear.
Suppose you know you’re being robbed, and you do take legal action, and you win the case. Then what? You’re known everywhere within earshot as “that troublemaking employee who attacks his boss because he wants more money” (many, perhaps most of the other employers, will be sympathizing with the boss, not the employee: even those who agree that he shouldn’t have been stealing will have that whole contingent of “you didn’t go about it the right way, you should have talked to your boss, maybe issued an HR complaint, but it’s just not appropriate to bring the state into this” people). So you’re essentially unemployable, and even though no one’ll say that’s why they’re not hiring you, of course it’s why.
So you either protest and get marked for life as a troublemaker, or you shut up and take it. Obviously, plenty of people are going to take option B. Unions used to be the counterweight to this, but all the power is in the employers’ hands now.
Paul in KY
@Chris: You’re working in a crapping nail salon. You can get employed in other nail salons. It’s not like they are in academia or coaching.
They need to get that money. That money is very important to a poor person.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
For people like me (and the OP, Omnes) who enjoyed the now-viral “yes, the Civil War was about slavery” video, Col. Seidule has an AMA up at Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/3hc1xc/my_name_is_col_ty_seidule_i_recently_made_a_viral/
History geeks like me will be in seventh heaven because there are a lot of philosophical questions about history as a field.
Robert Sneddon
My long-shot prediction for Obama’s future in politics is the governorship of Hawaii. OK there would have to be an election but if he stood for the position it would be the surest thing ever.
Anyone aiming for the Supreme Court has to have decided on it as a life goal[1] back in law school and worked towards it throughout their career in law in order to be considered for the position. Obama went into politics and thanks to a series of clownish opponents on both sides of the political divide he got to be President faster than I suspect he had originally thought possible. This lack of judicial experience as a practicing lawyer and judge rules him out from being an effective SC justice even if he was nominated and was silly enough to accept.
As for the Clinton email server deal, it worries me not for the particular security implications but for the fact she and her coterie of political advisors didn’t think it would become a problem later. Someone who intends to be President (and one thing President “No Drama” Obama has made his signature, almost) has to be thinking “what happens next?” for any action taken, no matter how insignificant it seems when the decision is made, and SoS Clinton either didn’t consider her decision to route SoS business emails through a personally controlled email server to have any downsides, or ignored the possible consequences or worse still listened to people who told her it was an OK thing to do regardless (see Mark Penn, passim).
[1]IIRC Supreme Court Justices who retire are emeritus members of the court, just not serving and voting members.
Central Planning
@Iowa Old Lady:
I can’t even begin to imagine. My son has one suitcase full of clothes and one box full of accessories. Both are big, but that’s it. Maybe it’s a guy thing. And, he’s not too sentimental, so there isn’t much he wants to bring from home… pictures, posters, etc.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
And, yes, he has an answer for why he thinks people try to claim the Civil War wasn’t about slavery:
Bobby Thomson
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: no, it would be in the .gov email even if it was forwarded.
She set it up to avoid Congress getting up in her email. Just like Colin Powell and several other Bush people.
The wiping is different. She will take a hit for that, because she apparently had people go through and harvest some but not all of the email first. Still, without proof that she once had something on the server that shouldn’t have been there, things are as bad as they are going to get. Frankly, Benghazi has inoculated the herd.
Peale
@NotMax: Well then, we just have to rely on the Egyptian government to be always truthful about accounts of events. Since reporting otherwise is now very expensive.
Cervantes
@Robert Sneddon:
On the other hand there’s no formal requirement that a Supreme Court justice even be a lawyer — and Obama, as we know, is one.
I’m not saying I recommend former President Obama be nominated, but, given his particular experience, I think it’s a mistake to say that he could not be considered for the position by some future President and Senate.
Bobby Thomson
@Sherparick: he claims to read Friedman, too. How much is interest, flattery, and know-your-enemy is left as an exercise for the reader.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Bobby Thomson: Makes sense. Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yeah, I’ve seen it reported that Friedman and Brooks are among his favorite columnists. Let’s hope it’s… whatever the mirror-image of beat-sweetening in politics is called. Glad he doesn’t bother with MoDo or Fournierl.
EconWatcher
@Cervantes:
There is also precedent for politicos to be elevated to the Court. Taft went from the Presidency to the Court. Earl Warren was the former governor of California. William Rehnquist was Nixon’s campaign manager (if I recall). Just off the top of my head.
But it’s the wrong place for Obama. He can really move people. Stuffing his nose back into the lawbooks would be a colossal waste.
Steeplejack
@danielx:
A compromise: you could give her a tiny portion of the treat, whatever it is, so she sees that she’s not being excluded or discriminated against.
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
Certainly — except Rehnquist, who did work in Nixon’s Justice Department, had never managed any of his campaigns.
You may be thinking of Goldwater’s campaign in ’64 — Rehnquist was a legal advisor of sorts.
srv
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Liberals watching Prager University videos…
What will be next.
Bobby Thomson
@Baud: I think he doesn’t smoke that shit anymore.
Bobby Thomson
@EconWatcher: you’re not an honest broker.
Paul in KY
@Robert Sneddon: If he put out that he was interested, he’d be considered (by a Democratic President).
Paul in KY
@EconWatcher: That hasn’t happened in a while.
Cervantes
@EconWatcher:
When they say laughter is the best medicine, they must mean that it helps you, the laugher. It often does nothing for those who could really use some help, especially when they have no idea the joke is on them — but that, one must often concede, is their problem.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Keith G:
Still, it would be fun for Preznit Hills to nominate him and watch the Senate explode.
nellcote
@EconWatcher:
repeating the same thing over and over, 30+ times in a single thread certainly qualifies you as some kind of troll
Matt McIrvin
Just saw my first Facebook Republican meme complaining that Snowden is persecuted for leaking confidential data while Hillary goes free.