Today's edition of quick hits:
* Not good: "Manufacturing grew in June at its slowest pace in 11 months and hiring in the sector slowed as overseas demand for U.S. products waned, an industry survey showed on Thursday."
* On the other hand: "A backward baby step in home sales last month is little more than a momentary bobble amid what appears to be an otherwise mending U.S. housing market."
* The Supreme Court ruled this morning that the FCC "failed to give two television networks, FOX and ABC, advance notice of standards before to punishing them for broadcasts in which outbursts of expletives and brief nudity were aired."
* A looming deadline: "President Obama on Thursday again called on Congress to pass legislation avoiding a hefty increase in student loan interest rates that takes effect in 10 days, but Republicans said the president had refused to work with them to find a compromise."
* Commerce Secretary John Bryson stepped down today, "following an episode in which he had a seizure and was involved in a sequence of automobile accidents."
* The Senate passed the Farm Bill today. In a rare display of non-drama, the final vote was 64-35.
* Remember when "Fox & Friends" aired its own anti-Obama attack ad in late May? It led White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to make "an angry phone call" to the network's executive vice president for news, Michael Clemente.
* Now that he's retiring, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) is free to speak his mind when reflecting on what's become of American politics: "Society has changed. The public is to blame as well. I think the people have gotten dumber. I don't know that I would've said that out loud pre-my announcement that I was going to be leaving. But I think that's true."
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
About Eric Holder.
DoJ stopped congressional disclosures because federal law is not being enforced for republican staffers.
Press leaks allow criminals to halt investigations by murdering law enforcement officials after determining their identity. The same strategy could be used by Iranians to kill NSA agents responsible for the virus that shut down the enrichment program. The only way to halt potential murders is to halt critical government programs and reassign personnel before the murders take place.
The press leaks are an act of treason that "give aid and comfort to the enemy".
US Code 18 Chapter 119 Section 2510 is as follows.
Holder is obligated to halt further disclosures until there is some assurance that the information given to congress won't allow criminals to hunt and kill law enforcement agents.
Congressional leaks to the press has actually halted the War on Drugs.
Security obligations that eliminate disclosure requirements were established in 2002 under President Bush when the Freedom of Information Act was gutted.
Transcripts, wiretaps, and federal employee identity are prohibited from public disclosure by federal law, and it is illegal to obey the republican request for that reason.
Congress must first grant immunity from prosecution AND must guarantee secrecy before the requested documents can be authorized for release by a court. That has not happened because congress is attempting to get Holder to violate the law.
Documents that include the name of a program do not reveal the nature of a program.
That is called "compartmentalization". That is how the US government keeps secrets while having a government that is open and democratic.
Compartmentalization was established in the National Security Act of 1947.
These rules were established as a results of mistakes, many of which were fatal.
DoJ, DoD, CIA, and NSA programs require:
The charter eliminates the obligation to obey certain legal and treaty obligations.
Security information is classified and compartmentalized on a need to know basis.
The name of the program goes with a line item that goes right up through the chain of command to congress, so congress knew the same about of information as Holder knew by having access to the name of the program.
That is how the funding for Fast and Furious got approved by the same people that now want to incarcerate the Holder after Holder did what congress told him to do.
The charter, mission statement, and rules of engagement are available only to managers within the division assigned to the task. Field agents receive specific assignments from managers that have access to the charter, MS, and ROE.
Nobody has proven that Holder had access to those three documents. Top level managers usually don't have that kind of access so that the identity and assignments of the enforcement agents can be kept secret.
Federal employees are not required to obey federal, state, and local laws if they have access to these three things. That is why congress can't tell the president what to do.
That is the nature of Executive Privilege.
"A looming deadline..." President Obama really is in a pickle. When Bill Clinton was in a similar situation, facing a right wing ultimatum, he threw America's poor off the cliff as a sacrifice to appease Republicans. Obama is now in a similar situation, with the right wing drooling over Social Security. But Obama is no Clinton, thank goodness. I think he has too much integrity and human decency to offer up the elderly and disabled as a sacrifice. Since Reagan, trillions of dollars have been drained out of the budget, put into the bank accounts of the few, and there isn't a whole lot left to sacrifice. Everything from schools to conservation to emergency services have been slashed, but the right wing gods demand more, always more. And if they don't get what they want, they'll blow up the country! What would you do?
Elect a majority of Democrats in BOTH the House and the Senate and raise the income cap on Social Security up to $250K, which President Obama, newly re-elected will sign immediately into law at the beginning of his second term.
Or whip out another executive order.
"I think the people have gotten dumber." What a juicy statement. Where to begin ....
But I think I'll refrain and instead offer an excerpt of this brilliant author's speech to those who sense they are actually on this planet for a reason, i.e., a "contract", even a "sacred contract", (and everyone is, Caroline Myss argues) and what that could mean in these here bizarre times.
For more: How Times of Change Influence Your Sacred Contracts - Phoenix 2010
Good call, although I love to complain (on more than one occasion!) I do realize that I am not in control of anything and generally must let the universe do it's thing as it has been doing long before I started reading Steve Benen's posts. I like the "exit interview" article although I start getting snarky rather quicky myself, it's a shame that principle and humanity do not dictate more in federal policy-making.. This will probably not end well but end it may. So the Supremes are pro-boob?
Hmmm, I'm reading SCOTUS opinion in Knox v SEIU and reflecting about inadequate Hudson notices. The American Prospect has a good article about this decision - the Supreme Court's Scott Walker Moment. I hope that Rachel will have Dahlia from Slate on to talk about this.