May 29, 2014

Fact Checker: McConnell's New Obamacare Claim 'Not Credible'

DANIEL STRAUSS – MAY 29, 2014, 10:26 AM EDT

The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler, who writes the paper's Fact Checker blog, is calling out Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for his puzzling argument that Obamacare should be repealed while Kentucky's state-based Obamacare exchange, Kynect, should remain intact.

Since McConnell made the claim he's been inundated with criticism from Democrats as well as one of Kentucky's largest newspapers. Kessler followed up to earlier statements released by the McConnell campaign about his comments with McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton.

"Medicaid existed before Obamacare and will continue to exist after repeal. Kynect is not Medicaid," Benton said in one of the emails he exchanged with Kessler. "It is a state administered exchange that provides a marketplace for private insurance plans. While some 300,000 Kentuckians discovered they were eligible for Medicaid through Kynect, they do not purchase private insurance through the exchange; they are enrolled in the state-administered program."

Benton's explanations don't add up, writes Kessler. The Medicaid expansion in Kentucky and other states is funded through the federal government as prescribed by Obamacare. In the conclusion to his post, Kessler wrote that " is not credible for McConnell to suggest that the state exchange would survive without the broad health-care system constructed by the Affordable Care Act, such as an individual mandate and subsidies to buy insurance."

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/washington-post-mitch-mcconnell-kynect-obamacare

May 29, 2014

NRA finally meets its match: Why Richard Martinez should have them shaking

NRA's trick is to silence critics by claiming politics disrespects victims. But Richard Martinez can't be silenced

KATIE MCDONOUGH

Richard Martinez’s son Christopher was among the six college students murdered this weekend in Isla Vista, California. It’s impossible to fathom the grief that Martinez must be experiencing right now, and the simple fact that he is upright and mobile is an act of tremendous courage. Which is precisely what makes everything else that he has done in the days since he lost his son all the more astounding.

From his first public statement — a blistering and emotional indictment of “craven” politicians who refuse to act on even moderate gun reform — to the tribute to Christopher he delivered Tuesday before a crowd of thousands, Martinez has been willing to show his raw and devastating grief to the world. He has made himself the gnarled and anguished face of our broken system — the lives that it takes and the lives that it ruins. His vulnerability and righteous, focused anger is unlike anything we’ve seen in response to a mass shooting.

And it should scare the shit out of the National Rifle Association, the gun lobby and the cowardly politicians who use these deadly weapons as literal and figurative political props.

It isn’t just the force of Martinez’s emotions or political conviction that make him powerful. He is currently shouldering the unimaginable grief of being yet another parent who has lost yet another child in yet another mass shooting. He has seen this happen before, he knows the political script that’s already playing out. He has listened as gun apologists — time and again — urge the nation not to “politicize” a national tragedy out of respect for the families, and then watched them turn on these same families in order to protect our deadly — and immensely profitable — culture of guns. And he’s using it. All of it.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/29/nra_finally_meets_its_match_why_richard_martinez_should_have_them_shaking/

May 29, 2014

“Muslim gospel” excites “Da Vinci Code” conspiracists

A mysterious manuscript confiscated by Turkish police suggests it was Judas, not Jesus, who suffered crucifixion

ANNETTE YOSHIKO REED, RELIGION DISPATCHES

In Amsterdam in 1709, philosopher John Toland set his eyes upon a remarkable manuscript—what he described in Nazarenus as ”a Mahometan (i.e., Muslim) Gospel, never before publicly made known among Christians.”

Associated with the apostle Barnabas, the text essentially retold the life of Jesus in terms familiar from the New Testament, but with some major departures. It contended that Jesus denied his divine status; that he had predicted the coming of the prophet Muhammad; and that Judas died in his place on the cross. Combing Christian canon lists and literature, Toland found references to an otherwise unknown ”gospel under the name of Barnabas,” and he concluded that this “Gospel of the Mahometans… very probably is in great part that same book.”

For Toland, this was not just another apocryphon. From this “Turkish Gospel being fathr’d upon Barnabas,” he claimed to have been led to recover ”the original plan of Christianity” as centered on Jewish-Christian beliefs that “Jesus did not take away or cancel the Jewish Law in any sense whatsoever.”

This, Toland argued, was the very oldest form of Christianity, only it was lost to history when ”converts from the Gentiles… did almost wholly subvert” it. On the basis of the Gospel of Barnabas, Toland characterized the most ancient Christianity as harmonious with Islam as well: its account of Jesus, after all, was...

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/29/muslim_gospel_excites_da_vinci_code_conspiracists_partner/

May 29, 2014

Measles cases hit record in U.S.

Source: Washington Post

The ongoing measles outbreak in the United States has reached a record for any year since the disease was considered eliminated nearly 15 years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday, with 288 cases of the potentially deadly infection in 18 states.

The largest measles clusters are in Ohio (138 confirmed cases), California (60) and New York (26), according to the CDC.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/05/29/u-s-measles-outbreak-sets-record-for-post-elimination-era/

May 29, 2014

Elliot Rodger’s half-white male privilege - by Joan Walsh

The killer’s Asian heritage matters. So does his ugly class entitlement. Misogyny crosses lines of race and culture

JOAN WALSH

The widespread recognition that Elliot Rodger’s killing spree was the tragic result of misogyny and male entitlement has been a little bit surprising, and encouraging. Why, then, has it been so hard to get his race right?

From the left, headlines (including on Salon) have labeled him “white,” though most stories at least nodded to his Asian heritage (his mother was ethnic Chinese Malaysian). Chauncey DeVega’s fascinating piece on Rodger’s crime as evidence of “aggrieved white male entitlement syndrome,” a malady that includes other white male mass killers from Columbine’s Eric Klebold to Newtown’s Adam Lanza, didn’t mention his status as half-Asian.

When commentators noted the omission, DeVega (whose work I admire) doubled down in a follow up piece,“Yes, Elliot Rodger is white!” He argued that Rodger “constructed an identity for himself as ‘Eurasian’ and proceeded to internalize American society’s cues and lessons about power, privilege, race, and gender. He then lived out his own particular understanding of what it means to be white and male in the United States.”

Not that I have a lot of sympathy for Rodger, but it twists his already twisted story to label him simply white.

Predictably, the right is having a lot of fun with progressives’ calling Rodger white, because denying Rodger whiteness gives them another reason to deny white male privilege entirely. Meanwhile, the wingnut white supremacists over at the New Observer are calling the Isla Vista killings an anti-white “hate crime,” ignoring that its first three victims were Rodgers’ three male roommates, who were of Asian descent. It won’t be long until Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity join that party.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/29/elliot_rodgers_half_white_male_privilege/

May 29, 2014

Obama admin to announce initiative on LGBT history at Stonewall Inn

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will announce plans Friday at the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City for a new, groundbreaking study on LGBT history, according to three sources familiar with the event.

Peggy Phalan, general manager of the Stonewall Inn, was among those who said the event will take place at Stonewall Inn on Friday, but she had limited information on the planned study that will be announced.

“They do field studies for different groups, and they’re starting one for the LGBT community,” Phalan said.

Although the nature of the study wasn’t immediately clear, sources described the initiative as “historic” in nature. An Interior Department official said the initiative would be headed by the National Park Service and ensure the agency is telling a complete story of America’s heritage and history.

- See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/05/27/doi-announce-lgbt-study-stonewall-inn/?

May 29, 2014

Fox Host: Kerry Should ‘Look in the Mirror’ When He Calls Snowden a Traitor

During appearances on multiple morning shows Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry publicly disputed comments made by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in a new interview with NBC News’ Brian Williams. This afternoon, Fox News’ Jesse Watters, filling in for Greg Gutfeld on The Five, said that if Kerry wants to call Snowden a “traitor,” he should “look in the mirror” first.

“It is funny to hear John Kerry trying to sound like George Bush,” Watters began. “Kind of an aristocratic guy telling him ‘man up,’ calling him ‘dumb,’ it doesn’t make a lot of sense. And if anybody’s going to call someone a traitor, I don’t know if John Kerry needs to look in the mirror.”

Watters said he thinks it was “in the ’60s” when returning soldier Kerry testified at hearings on the Vietnam War (it was 1971), “accusing Vietnam soldiers of war crimes, cutting off fingers and stuff like that, he might need to look in the mirror.”

Beckel’s silent reaction while Watters was talking really said it all:

-snip- ( a two second vid)

Once Watters was finished, Beckel had his turn, saying, “suggesting that Kerry is close to a traitor, this is a war hero in the Vietnam War, which itself was a disastrous, disgraceful, treacherous war.” When Watters tried to defend his comment, Beckel shot back, “You’re reaching very far out here, brother. Jesse, I don’t know what you took this morning but it wasn’t very good.”

more
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-host-kerry-should-look-in-the-mirror-when-he-calls-snowden-a-traitor/

May 29, 2014

Congressman Peter King Leads the Rage Against NBC's Snowden Interview

ABBY OHLHEISER

At this point, it seems as if journalists reach out to Rep. Peter King for comment anytime NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden does anything of note on Earth. So when NBC aired an hour-long interview with Snowden on Wednesday night, King was there on Thursday morning to be angry about it.

On MSNBC's Morning Joe, King said that the interview was an "infomercial" for Snowden. The New York Republican added that Snowden was a "fraud" and said that the anchor's questions were negligent: "Brian Williams did not ask Edward Snowden one question," he said, "give the name of one American whose rights have been violated, give one instance where the NSA has violated the statute, has violated the court." King is so mad, he added, that he agrees with Secretary of State John Kerry on the Snowden issue. That, it seems, also makes King angry. "“I agree with John Kerry, for once I agree with John Kerry, that Edward Snowden is a traitor. He’s put American lives at risk."

Kerry, of course, was uncharacteristically angry on the morning shows on Wednesday, based on a snippet of last night's interview teased by the network. The secretary of state was angered by Snowden's assertion that he is a "patriot." Kerry said that Snowden "should man up and come back to the United States" to face charges for giving information on the NSA's covert spying programs to the press.

Meanwhile, those remarks triggered a meta reaction from Fox News host Jesse Waters, who said the following: "kind of an aristocratic guy telling him ‘man up,’ calling him ‘dumb,’ it doesn’t make a lot of sense. And if anybody’s going to call someone a traitor, I don’t know if John Kerry needs to look in the mirror." The remark prompted a physically and verbally negative on-air reaction from Fox News analyst Bob Beckell.

more
http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/05/congressman-peter-king-leads-the-rage-against-nbcs-snowden-interview/371810/

May 29, 2014

The Many Cases That Have Tested the Limits of 'Stand Your Ground' Since Trayvon Martin

ADAM CHANDLER

Wayne Burgarello, who reportedly shot and killed an unarmed man in Nevada, is the latest of many defendants since the Trayvon Martin case to invoke a "Stand Your Ground" law. The Associated Press reports that Burgarello acknowledges the February 13 shooting on his property in Sparks, Nevada, but says it was self-defense when he "killed a man and wounded a woman who had done meth and entered his vacant duplex."

Burgarello was arrested and charged with murder on Thursday and is being held without bail. Since the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the infamous Trayvon Martin case last summer, we've seen continued reports of "Stand Your Ground" cases, and no successful efforts to alter the laws, which exist in more than 20 states.

The discourse over whether "Stand Your Ground" laws beget more violence or are an effective check on crime (unsurprisingly) hasn't yielded a consensus, with some studies submitting that the laws cause more homicides and state task forces dedicated to reviewing the laws concluding that they're necessary. However, by sheer dint of statistics, justifiable homicides have nearly doubled from 2000 to 2010. Meanwhile, in recent months, some of the cases involving "Stand Your Ground" laws seem extreme.

In February, Cyle Wayne Quadlin and Kriston Charles Belinte Chee got into a fight in the middle of a Walmart in Chandler, Arizona. After sensing that he was losing the fight, Quadlin pulled out his gun and shot and killed Chee, who was unarmed. After declaring he had feared for his life, Quadlin was not arrested.

Earlier this year, ThinkProgress broke down 26 children and teens in Florida alone who had been killed in "Stand Your Ground" cases. They included a mix of instances in which the shooters were ultimately convicted, found innocent, or let go with charges. That list includes the death of Jordan Davis, known as the "loud music trial" and the most high-profile "Stand Your Ground" case since the Martin case. In the case, Michael Dunn, the shooter, was acquitted of first-degree murder, but was convicted on lesser charges, after firing into a car with four teens following an argument over the loudness of the music in the car.

more
http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/05/the-many-cases-that-have-tested-the-limits-of-stand-your-ground-since-trayvon-martin/371770/

May 29, 2014

Fox News's Old Viewership Is Getting Even Older

ABBY OHLHEISER

Fox News's ratings among 25- to 54-year-olds is the lowest it's been in 12 years, even as the cable channel remains the highest-watched of all its competitors.

In May, Fox News attracted an average of 264,000 primetime viewers in that key demographic. The last time their 25-54 ratings were so low for a single month was August of 2001, or just before the September 11th attacks. Although Fox News's individual shows continue to win out over their competitors, May produced decade-low numbers for their primetime and morning hosts, particularly in the 25-54 demographic used by advertisers. And that's why those figures matter so much: Fox News's audience is still relatively huge, but it's taking in smaller numbers of the only viewers ad buyers pay attention to.

The New York Times took a look at the results for Bill O'Reilly's show, which remains popular with overall audience of 2.1 million viewers. But in the key demographic, he averaged just 313,000 viewers, a small percentage of his overall pull. His show's median viewer age is now 72.1, which is a high. That's part of a trend. Fox News's viewership is aging out of that key demographic, even as the overall median age of cable news viewers remains high: the median ages for the three cable networks in May were 62.5 (MSNBC), 62.8 (CNN), and 68.8 (Fox News).

But at least Fox News can say it's remaining steady as the most-watched cable news network, even with its shrinking and aging audience. Now that CNN has exhausted every possible angle into the missing plane story, the network's ratings — which were, as usual, well below Fox News's — plunged from a pretty good April. MSNBC beat CNN's numbers overall and in the 25-54 demographic. As the Times notes, both networks experienced some notable lows in May: CNN's had the worst-rated 9 p.m. primetime slot in its history, and MSNBC's primetime numbers were its worst since 2006.

###

http://www.thewire.com/business/2014/05/fox-newss-old-viewership-is-getting-even-older/371792/