Today's edition of quick hits:
* Five of the eight senators who crafted a bipartisan immigration-reform package hosted a Capitol Hill press conference today to formally unveil their plan. Expect to hear quite a bit more about this on tonight's show.
* One of the key ambiguities -- and one of the few differences between the bipartisan Senate version and the White House policy -- is the proposed Southwest Commission. Greg Sargent has a good piece on this, and why the policy is important.
* For his part, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised to bring an immigration bill "across the finish line." The House, however, remains a wildcard. More on this tomorrow morning.
* Preventing gun violence remains a front-burner issue: "Meeting with law enforcement officials hailing from communities affected by high-profile shootings, President Barack Obama on Monday stressed the importance of reaching consensus with Congress to advance his gun violence proposals."
* A terrible fire destroyed a nightclub in southern Brazil yesterday, killing 233 people and sending another 92 to local hospitals.
* Egyptian unrest: "Large protests in the Suez Canal city of Port Said and fresh clashes in Cairo on Monday marked a fifth day of widening unrest in Egypt, a day after President Mohamed Morsi declared a state of emergency and a curfew in three major cities as escalating violence in the streets threatened his government and Egypt's democracy."
* I still blame Congress for this fiasco: "The State Department on Monday reassigned Daniel Fried, the special envoy for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and will not replace him, according to an internal personnel announcement."
* For all of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) alleged moderation, it's worth noting that he vetoed a minimum-wage increase today.
* Dear George Will, you don't understand climate science and should stop writing columns on the subject that are routinely filled with errors of fact and judgment.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
I watch MSNBC (specifically the Rachel Maddow show) not because it is "better" than the Right-wing media but because she gives me more to digest.
With Rachel a 15 minute segment is not unusual and she sometimes goes halfway into that segment before getting to the gist of the story.
With the other network, a quick joke or jab is all you get and there is no substance to anything. They keep tossing things into the public hoping that something will stick outside of their base and it normally doesn't.
Indeed, if the Right side of the aisle gave me as much to think about as Rachel, I may consider checking both sides.
Of course as long as both side represent POLITICS...I can't go full support with either of them. I do give Rachel a 95/100 rating though...
not any more. one more thing... did you know that the criminal minds who worship the NRA love a magazine that intorduces, prepares amd conditions your children to kill people in America? i know a country they do that is training children to kill arabs.
Is it Global warming or "climate change" I get confused.I reckon it depends on what kinda weather you need to blame on what.
Illegal Aliens, well, congress and the president don't have to compete with them for jobs, its again the law to run fer office if you snuck in. Lastly, if they ever start voting against you, there will be "Great Wall of America" built faster than Tony Stewart's quickest lap.Jimmy Carter won't be banging on Habitat fer Humanity houses he'll be on the border swinging a hammer like Thor.
Although I am not really taking your posts seriously, I did want to take the opportunity to point out that climate change and global warming both describe a very big occurrence. Weather does not equal climate, and global, should be self explanatory. "The global temperature is on the rise" does not mean "it won't ever snow anywhere ever again" or even the temperature in Northeast US was colder this winter than last winter.
Glaciers melting DO affect weather patterns. Is it totally unfeasible to believe man can create a hole in ozone with the internal combustion engines and other things that we do pollute the planet?
Going by the God aspect of climate change deniers, the planet, earth was said to be left in the care of humans by God, right? So desecrating the earth should be seen as an affront to God, as I see it. As I see even the Creationists believe we are stewards of the earth.
http://www.icr.org/bible-mandate/
The rest of what you wrote, I think Jimmy Carter is little long in the tooth for either of those jobs. But I guess you were enjoying that little brainstorm of yours.
The earth's climate has always been in flux. Always will. Good stewards of the earth? Just who gets to say who's being good stewards and who isn't? How about Al Gore's "carbon footprint" or yours ? My footprints bad and yours good I guess. The planet will recycle itself and if we happen to be in the way, well, the earth is no respecter of politics.And how about all these corporations and individuals claiming to be oh so "green" Gimme a break. They are paying lip service to separate you from a dollar or they are afraid some "lawmaker" will come after them like a modern day Pharisee.
The green movement is a new form of legalistic hypocrisy.
Damn billy, you're start'in to make sense thar. Not do'in a damn bit of good, but mak'in some good points y'are.
I meant to hit reply, not UP.
I have solar panels on my roof, I do not drive unnecessarily. I will buy either a hybrid or a Volt for my next car.
I recycle like a fiend. I get people to see the up side to using a glass or reusable bottle at the filtered water on the fridge and not buy thousands of plastic bottles of water.
My carbon footprint is Much smaller than average. The utility company took not one minute after deregulating to separate me from my dollars, supply side manipulators, remember ENRON?
P.S. why did you change your moniker from billhillie? Are you a multiple personality?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised to bring an immigration bill "across the finish line."
Yeah, he promised filibuster reform, too. Don't anybody hold your breath over this latest "promise" from this weasel.
I wonder about starting a political party largely to splinter the Republican Party, but also to make both parties follow the Constitution. The name of the party would be "Lincoln Republican party", and would contest any politician in Congress who make unconstitutional laws that favor the .1% (mainly Republicans). We could have a more business-oriented focus than the Democratic party, but would allow We the People a real second Constitutional choice. I imagine after an election cycle or two, we could be replacing more and more Republicans (and draw from predominantly the Republi8can side). We could get strong support from moderate Republicans like Chuck Hagel and Colin Powell.
As Lincoln Republicans, we could field candidates that are not as repulsive to women, Hispanics, African American, Democratic candidates, environmentalists, and others as the "Tea Party Republicans", and soon drive the Tea Party Republicans made up of angry old white men into extinction.
OK, I gotta protest Rachel #Maddow's allegiance to the wind industry. Please, if you value free discourse, please examine the real environmental harms of those wind energy turbines you so freely endorse.....
Are you surprised that Won't doesn't understand climate science? Does he understand anything? There was a time when the WaPo intended to correct one of his many errors, but the caller on the line about it was told that Won't was down in the basement having a hissy fit about the correction.
As for his minions who lap up his errors like something out of Limbaugh (see comments above), it doesn't help their arguments that all they can do is pick at word definitions and make very poor, snarky jokes. Maybe if they ever found real data, it would help them, but they've looked and none has ever turned up. The best they can do is little deceits like pick starting points that make things look different.
b-o-r-i-n-g and worse.... unfulfilling. spinning wheels in snow. no dots connected! no dots connected!! no dots connected!!!
Why do I have to listen to several "tease" segments in order to hear the main topic? I used to listen to you for 2, and then 3 hours daily on radio. Now that you are on TV I am spending more time getting less information! I want what I had. I don't like what I have! Now, I have to add a minute to every recording of your show or I might miss what you have been TEASING about for an hour. This is not a picture of success! What are you going to do to address this? I'd rather listen to you on radio and get 3 hours of information than see you on television and get poop! that being said, I wish you nothing but the best. I just wish I could have what I used to have.
I find it a little disturbing how some people will grab a line and hold onto it no matter where it leads.
Birthers still exist even after the world looked at the Certificate online and moved on. Gun nuts keep running out for guns and ammo every time the NRA tells them the government is going to take the guns away. Climate deniers continue to use laughable information that was handed to them by big business even after the info has been ridiculed into hiding.
I appreciate the show and its effort to present the facts but as we witness here daily, facts are meaningless to childish trolls who are only concerned with showing us their stupidity!
Just did a little bio search on Steve Benen. I was astonished to find no science degrees in his past whatsoever. Steve , political science is a lazy degree that is only equal to Art history. So until you get a real degree please don't talk about science.