Tag: Margaret Hartmann

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been thinking of entering politics for some time now, but there’s another upside to running for a seat in Australia’s Senate. Assange tells website The Conversation that if he wins the election in September, he expects the Swedish, British, and United States governments will drop the potential criminal cases against him, as they won’t want to start a diplomatic dispute. There’s only problem with this strategy:  It’s still unclear if he can run for office in Australia while he’s stuck in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Some in Australia say that he isn’t legally qualified to run, but Assange counters that the law, “specifies only that candidates must in principle be qualified to become a voter.” He isn’t currently able to vote, but he’s applied to register as an overseas voter in Victoria, where he hopes to run. Winning the election would present other problems. He might have to take an oath in person (he speculates that this could be done “for the first time ever, by video link”) and he’d need to take his seat within two months. “In that case, the Senate could vote to evict me,” he says. “But that would trigger a big political row. Australians probably wouldn’t swallow it.” Though, it might be hard for him to gauge public opinion in Australia right now, as he’s on the other side of the world.

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Filed Under:
international man of mystery
,julian assange
,wikileaks

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/assange-senate-win-might-end-legal-troubles.html

Marco Rubio’s infamous water break completed its life cycle this weekend, going from ubiquitous .gif to Saturday Night Live sketch, but the senator may get the last laugh. According to ABC News, Reclaim America, Rubio’s PAC has sold more than 3,450 “RUBIO” water bottles in the past week, raising over $100,000. Last week the PAC announced that it would send a bottle to anyone who donated at least $25, saying, “Send the liberal detractors a message that not only does Marco Rubio inspire you … he hydrates you too.” The PAC also has tons of Rubio baseball caps sitting around, so expect the senator’s next gaffe to be headgear related.

Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann

Filed Under:
watergate
,marco rubio
,politics

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/gop-savior-marco-rubio-turns-water-to-gold.html

On Wednesday night Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner held what the Post calls a “shamed pol summit” — or rather, the pair didn’t awkwardly pretend not to see each other when they both happened to show up at David Burke Townhouse for business dinners. Instead, they met in the middle of the dining room, shared a hug, and went back to their respective tables. Elsewhere in New York, David Paterson ate alone and lamented the fact that his behavior, while shady, wasn’t sexy enough to warrant an invite.

Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann

Filed Under:
scandals
,anthony weiner
,eliot spitzer

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/weiner-and-spitzer-shared-a-much-needed-hug.html

In the past few weeks, senators have been so focused on squabbling over the nomination of Chuck Hagel as secretary of Defense that it seemed like John Brennan would have a relatively easy time being confirmed as director of the CIA. However, following NBC News’s release yesterday of a Justice Department white paper that outlines the administration’s legal justification for conducting drone strikes against Americans suspected of terrorism, Brennan’s nomination is quickly morphing into a showdown over the Obama administration’s drone policy. Now the New York Times has added more fuel to the controversy, revealing that the United States has a secret CIA drone base in Saudi Arabia that’s used to conduct strikes in neighboring Yemen.

The Saudi base, which was constructed two years ago, was first used to launch the drones that killed American-born Al Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki. Though much of the debate has focused on the targeting of U.S. citizens, only four Americans have been killed in U.S. airstrikes in Yemen since 2002. By comparison, at least 24 people have already been killed by U.S. drones in Yemen this year, and since the campaign started more than 3,000 militants and civilians have been killed in strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia.

As the the White House’s chief counterterrorism adviser, Brennan is the main coordinator of the terrorist “kill list” and oversees the drone strikes conducted by both the military and the CIA. Brennan was previously the CIA’s station chief in Saudi Arabia, and urged the Obama administration to take the threat from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist network’s Yemen affiliate, more seriously.

Interestingly, some journalists have known about the “secret” Saudi base for some time. The Washington Post says it didn’t disclose the location at the administration’s request, but it “learned Tuesday night that another news organization was planning to reveal the location of the base, effectively ending an informal arrangement among several news organizations that had been aware of the location for more than a year.” The Post reports that it’s just one of a “growing constellation of drone bases” operated by the U.S. overseas.

For years, critics of the drone campaign have been calling on Obama to make good on his pledge to have the “most transparent administration in history,” and with Brennan’s nomination, now they feel they finally have a bit of leverage. As Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Intelligence Committee, told the Post, “If the Congress doesn’t get answers to these questions now, it’s going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get them in the future.” It sounds like Brennan’s Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday is going to get ugly.

Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann

Filed Under:
drone wars
,john brennan
,cia
,politics

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/cia-secret-drone-base-saudi-arabia.html

Since President Obama unveiled his gun control proposals last month, much of the debate has focused on reinstating the assault weapons ban, and specifically, how it’s pretty unlikely that the bill introduced by Dianne Feinstein and other Democrats in Congress will pass. Now an aide to Majority Leader Harry Reid tells the Wall Street Journal that Democratic leaders in the Senate are planning to introduce a more realistic bill. The new legislation would limit magazine sizes, expand background checks to include all sales at gun shows and private transactions, do more to keep guns from the mentally ill, and cut down on sales in states with weaker gun laws to buyers in states with stricter laws. Most of President Obama’s proposals would be covered in the bill, with the exception of the controversial assault weapons ban.

The Reid aide said the lawmakers hope to get the bill to the Senate floor within the next month, and the legislation could be amended to add provisions such as a ban on certain assault weapons. However, if the goal is to pass those gun control measures that do have broad support, that would probably be counterproductive. Whatever the Senate passes would have to get past House Republicans, and even some Senate Democrats don’t support an assault weapons ban — including Reid. On Sunday’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Reid said “Everyone acknowledges we should do something with background checks,” but he was non-committal on other gun control measures. He added that he plans to “take a look” at the assault weapons ban introduced in Congress last month, but noted, “I didn’t vote for the assault weapons last time because it … didn’t make sense.”

Of course, even without the assault weapons ban, lawmakers still have plenty to argue about when it comes to gun control. The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold two more hearings on the issue, and the NRA has only grown more rigid since the last major gun control showdown. In a testament to just how complicated the issue has become, Fox News’s Chris Wallace criticized NRA head Wayne LaPierre on Sunday, while Reid came to his defense. “I’ve been supported by the NRA on occasion,” said Reid, alluding to his interesting history with the NRA. “I know Wayne LaPierre, he’s always been extremely pleasant to me. We have a good relationship. So I am not here to demean the organization.”

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Filed Under:
gun control
,guns
,senate
,politics

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/senate-has-gun-control-bill-that-might-pass.html

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Filed Under:
oh congress!
,filibuster
,politics
,congress

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/senate-nears-filibuster-deal-might-move-faster.html

Last month in an appearance on Meet the Press, New York Times columnist David Brooks said that Mayor Bloomberg might be “counterproductive” as a spokesman for gun control because the movement needs to win over “rural and red America.” As Frank Rich put it: “Translation: He’s an East Coast Jew.” Bloomberg shot back at Brooks in a Sunday interview with the Washington Post, saying, “Incidentally, just define David Brooks … As I remember, he’s got to be in the 1 percent — the amount of money he makes as a columnist. I don’t know where that came from.” He also provided more fodder for Brooks, saying of gun rights advocates who think the government is out to get them, “the general public that thinks this is meshugana.” But supposedly, Bloomberg is fine with others taking the lead on his pet issue. “And so we’re not going to be the star,” Bloomberg said. “My interest is in having this done. I don’t need to get credit for it.”

Of course, Bloomberg still wants to play a large role in the push for stricter gun laws, but he’s content to let his super-PAC do the talking. In the last election Bloomberg donated $10 million to five candidates who oppose the NRA and four won. “It seemed effective, and I’m certainly going to take a good, hard look at next time,” says Bloomberg. “You can organize people, I can write checks.”

That’s not to say that Bloomberg is following anyone else’s lead on the issue. While many fellow gun control advocates think they’ll need to vote out Republicans to get reforms passed, the mayor believes that if the GOP can have a change of heart on immigration, they can do the same on guns. “Somebody got them the way they are now,” he says. “Why can’t you change them?” It did take the loss of a presidential election for some Republicans to change their tune on immigration — and the shift has yet to result in any new legislation — but if anyone has the time and money to devote to a longshot effort like breaking up the GOP and the NRA, it’s Mayor Bloomberg.

Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann

Filed Under:
the third terminator
,gun control
,michael bloomberg

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/bloomberg-split-nra-gop.html

Since two “hippie types” were arrested two weeks ago for keeping a small arsenal of weapons and bomb-making supplies in their Greenwich Village apartment, we’ve heard conflicting opinions on how seriously we should take their interest in explosives. One source called the Dalton and Harvard grads, “well-to-do junkies, not terrorists,” and Aaron Greene told the Post that he’s just an “outdoorsman” who planned to go out into the country and set off some “experimental fireworks.” Former bouncer Max Fish countered that the case should be taken more seriously since Green did time for stabbing him with a butcher knife. After hearing the latest details in the case, we have to side with Fish. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne says Greene recently told acquaintances that he was “making bombs” to “blow up” Washington Arch. It also seems he was starting to move past the planning stage; he was spotted sprinkling a white powder on the sidewalk inside Washington Square Park and hitting it with a rock, setting off an explosion.

Investigators believe the powder was the highly explosive chemical HMTD, which was found in the apartment Greene shares with Morgan Gliedman, leading police to evacuate nearby buildings. Police sources also say they found letters believed to be written by Greene that suggest he wasn’t all about peace and love, or even innocently blowing things up in the woods. One letter repeats the word “kill” and the phrase “kill them all,” and is signed the lightning-bolt symbol associated with Hitler’s SS.

On Wednesday, police raided the Orangeburg, New York home of correction officer Daniel Whittaker based on Greene’s claim that he’d given some of his weapons to “a friend in law enforcement.” They found several legally owned rifles. “They searched my house for no reason. I was charged with no crime,” said Whittaker. “There was no person charged in this area. All (the authorities) did was come and destroy my stuff.” Police say Greene is the “the focus of the investigation,” and Gliedman, who gave birth to their daughter while in custody, has been released on bail into a drug treatment facility.

Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann

Filed Under:
crimes and misdemeanors

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When it was reported last month that Mayor Bloomberg called Hillary Clinton to urge her to run for mayor in 2013, Hizzoner was highly offended that people would believe a story the New York Times corroborated with only three anonymous sources. That’s probably why the paper was sure to include confirmation from several of the other high-profile figures courted by Bloomberg in its latest piece on the mayor’s search for the perfect successor. The Times reports that in addition to Clinton, who received Bloomberg’s most formal solicitation, “conversations have occurred over dinners and by telephone, in tones both serious and playful,” with Senator Chuck Schumer, billionaire Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, former Bloomberg deputy Edward Skyler, and former mayor of Philadelphia and governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell. While it’s long been presumed that Bloomberg planned to endorse City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, it seems he doesn’t feel she possesses wealth and fame required to hold such an incredibly important position. Rendell sums up Bloomberg’s predicament nicely:  “The mayor believes he is special,” he says. “He wanted somebody at a very high level to come in to do a job he has often said to me — and he’s not the only person who says it — is the second most difficult job in the country.”

Clinton, Schumer, and Skyler, who is now an executive at Citigroup, had no comment on the matter, so we may never know why they turned down an opportunity to spend their days squabbling with local lawmakers. While Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson denied the claims that Bloomberg encouraged Schumer or Zuckerman to run, the media mogul said otherwise. “A lot of people have talked to me about that possibility,” Zuckerman said. “He’s not the only person.” He added that he would love to be mayor, and joked, “If I could be appointed, I’d probably be serious about it.” The major stumbling block to Rendell’s candidacy is the fact that he lives in Pennsylvania and is only familiar with Manhattan, where he grew up. “I’m not sure how many times I’ve stepped foot in Brooklyn,” he said. “I have no understanding of Queens and no understanding of the Bronx.”

Bloomberg may be overlooking another potential candidate standing right next to him (not his sign language interpreter, though he’s asked nearly everyone else). While it seemed that after months of dancing around the idea Ray Kelly had decided not to run, the Times reports that the police commissioner’s allies “are again discussing the idea of his entering the race as a Republican.” There’s still hope that the real election will be more interesting than the race involving Bloomberg’s fantasy team.

Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann

Filed Under:
the third terminator
,michael bloomberg
,christine quinn
,2013 mayoral race

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/bloomberg-courted-many-high-profile-successors.html

Chuck Hagel, Obama’s nominee for secretary of Defense, has already been called a homophobe and a foe to Israel, and now some have found another fault with the president’s recent picks:  They’re all white men. With the recent nominations of John Kerry for secretary of State and John Brennan for director of the CIA, as well as a short list for Treasury secretary that doesn’t appear to include any women, the Washington Post notes that Obama may wind up with a group that’s less diverse than the Cabinet in his first term, or even George W. Bush’s Cabinet. When questioned about the increasingly homogenous national security team, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president “insists on diversity on the lists that he considers for the job” but “in the end he’ll make the choice that he believes is best for the United States.” Apparently he resisted the urge to point out that Obama’s attempt to nominate another woman to replace Hillary Clinton didn’t go over too well.

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Filed Under:
barack obama
,love and war
,comings and goings
,chuck hagel
,susan rice

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