The Hollywood Liberal

Trump: I’ve Decided to Run
New York real estate developer Donald Trump says he has decided “in my mind” to run for president, yet won’t make an official announcement before the season finale of his reality television show later this month. “In my mind, I have already decided,” Trump, 64, said in a telephone interview Sunday. “I am going to announce. But I can’t do anything until the show ends.”

So, anything at all Cathartic happen last night?
So, can we start to think rationally now? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Anything at all?

Is there a long-form document that is going to be demanded in some manner?

One piece of information, per Josh Marshall, that hearkens back to the failed mission in Iran in 1980 — but this time worked out differently:

The entire operation took roughly 40 minutes. There was no advance notification to any Pakistani authorities. US forces used two helicopters in the operation. And one of the two apparently went down due to mechanical difficulties during the operation, though without casualties. The special operations forces destroyed the helicopter.

The key thing is that bin Laden was living in a very big, fortified compound. The compound had no phone connection and no Internet connection. And that apparently was one of the many facts that initially led US intelligence to think bin Laden really might be there.

You can literally follow the events as they happened from one twitterer in Abbottabad, Pakistan (home of that nation’s military academy, seriously there needs to be an explanation from Pakistan’s government on that one) who had no idea at the time.

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Iran to Execute Kurdish Activist for ‘Enmity With God’
A Kurdish man suspected of being a member of a socialist opposition party is awaiting imminent execution in Iran. Since the beginning of 2011, Iranian authorities have executed at least 135 people, 13 of whom were publicly hanged. Last year, the country conducted more executions than any other nation except China. —ARK The Guardian: Fears are growing for the fate of a political activist in Iran who is facing imminent execution after being convicted of acting against national security. Sherko Moarefi, a 31-year-old ethnic Kurd from Baneh in north-west Iran, was arrested in October 2008 on suspicion of being a member of a Kurdish opposition political party, Komala. The leftwing separatist group has been branded a terrorist organisation by Iran. Moarefi was sentenced to death after being convicted of “acting against the national security” and moharebeh (waging war against God) – vague charges that Iran has used against many political activists in recent years. … “Sherko is innocent. Enmity with God is a charge for those who have taken up arms against the regime but Moarefi has been a peaceful activist,” he [Khalil Bahramian, one of Moarefi’s lawyers] added. Read more

A Kurdish man suspected of being a member of a socialist opposition party is awaiting imminent execution in Iran.

Since the beginning of 2011, Iranian authorities have executed at least 135 people, 13 of whom were publicly hanged. Last year, the country conducted more executions than any other nation except China. —ARK

The Guardian:

Fears are growing for the fate of a political activist in Iran who is facing imminent execution after being convicted of acting against national security.

Sherko Moarefi, a 31-year-old ethnic Kurd from Baneh in north-west Iran, was arrested in October 2008 on suspicion of being a member of a Kurdish opposition political party, Komala. The leftwing separatist group has been branded a terrorist organisation by Iran.

Moarefi was sentenced to death after being convicted of “acting against the national security” and moharebeh (waging war against God) – vague charges that Iran has used against many political activists in recent years.

… “Sherko is innocent. Enmity with God is a charge for those who have taken up arms against the regime but Moarefi has been a peaceful activist,” he [Khalil Bahramian, one of Moarefi’s lawyers] added.

Read more

Related Entries

• May 1, 2011 Osama Bin Laden Is Dead (Updated)
• May 1, 2011 Red, White and Brew

Another Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Disappears
Prominent human rights lawyer Li Fangping went missing Friday as Chinese authorities released fellow attorney Teng Biao after a two-month detainment. Fangping is well known for his legal defense of Zhao Lianhai, who was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for “disturbing social order” after organizing support for parents of children poisoned by toxic milk. —ARK The Guardian: Campaigners have warned that Chinese human rights lawyers remain under intense pressure, following the disappearance of another high-profile legal figure. Li Fangping went missing on Friday after ringing his wife to say state security agents were waiting for him – just as lawyer Teng Biao returned home after a two-month disappearance. The US had singled out Teng’s treatment and that of other missing lawyers in human rights talks the previous day. “The Chinese authorities are resorting to an old trick, the revolving-door approach – one in, one out – to create the impression that things are improving,” said Renee Xia of the Chinese Human Rights’ Defenders network. … Li’s wife told the South China Morning Post: “I believe [it] is related to his work. He has offended many people while helping the disadvantaged. I am not sure if state security officers are really the ones who have taken him away, or whether some gangsters are behind it.” Read more

Prominent human rights lawyer Li Fangping went missing Friday as Chinese authorities released fellow attorney Teng Biao after a two-month detainment.

Fangping is well known for his legal defense of Zhao Lianhai, who was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for “disturbing social order” after organizing support for parents of children poisoned by toxic milk. —ARK

The Guardian:

Campaigners have warned that Chinese human rights lawyers remain under intense pressure, following the disappearance of another high-profile legal figure.

Li Fangping went missing on Friday after ringing his wife to say state security agents were waiting for him – just as lawyer Teng Biao returned home after a two-month disappearance. The US had singled out Teng’s treatment and that of other missing lawyers in human rights talks the previous day. “The Chinese authorities are resorting to an old trick, the revolving-door approach – one in, one out – to create the impression that things are improving,” said Renee Xia of the Chinese Human Rights’ Defenders network.

… Li’s wife told the South China Morning Post: “I believe [it] is related to his work. He has offended many people while helping the disadvantaged. I am not sure if state security officers are really the ones who have taken him away, or whether some gangsters are behind it.”

Read more

Related Entries

• May 1, 2011 Osama Bin Laden Is Dead (Updated)
• May 1, 2011 Red, White and Brew

Media Scrambles To Cover Bin Laden News
NEW YORK â?? White House reporters sharing a laugh with President Obama on Saturday night found themselves racing online and soberly appearing on camera 24…

WATCH: Obama’s Tells The Nation That Osama Bin Laden Is Dead
On Sunday night, President Barack Obama announced in a live address to the nation that Osama bin Laden is dead. Video and the transcript of…

A Post-Osama America: What Bin Laden’s Death Means For Obama, Our Country
Nearly a decade ago, President Bush stood atop the rubble of the World Trade Center and became the sheriff with the bullhorn who vowed to kill or capture Osama bin Laden. But it was left to his successor, known more for faith in diplomacy than force, to Get Our Man. “Justice has been done,” a relieved and proud President Obama said in the East Room late Sunday. We need to remember we are one country, the president said, with an unquenchable faith in each other and our future. It would be nice to think that he is right.

Kristen Breitweiser: Justice for My Husband
Ten years since the senseless, heartless murder of my husband and 3,000 innocent others, final justice has been meted out — though not swift it is certainly sweet.

Mitch Daniels’ Social ‘Truce’ Faces Test Over Planned Parenthood Vote
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels’ (R) “truce” on social issues is now facing its first real test. Indiana is set to become the first state to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood, unless Daniels vetoes the bill sent to him…

PA Gov Suggests Universities Tap Into Shale Deposits Under Campuses
Ah, college. All-nighters. Ultimate frisbee. Fraternities. Fracking. According to The Erie Times-News, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) is telling state universities that an answer to their financial troubles lies literally under their feet. Speaking at Edinboro University in Northwestern Pennsylvania…

23rd Richest Member Of Congress: I’m ‘Struggling Like Everyone Else’
Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), the 23rd richest member of Congress who owns millions of dollars in farm and ranch land, told an audience member at a town hall in Missoula yesterday that he and his wife “are struggling like everyone else” and that he’s “land rich and cash poor.”

Flashback Quote of the Day
“We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.”

— Barack Obama, during an October 2008 presidential debate with Sen. John McCain.

The Front Pages
Every newspaper leads this morning with the news that U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden yesterday.

Here’s a quick round up: New York Times, New York Post, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer.

Bin Laden’s Death: Triumph or Tumult Ahead?
The killing of Bin Laden will win Obama kudos at home, but will it further destabilize Pakistan?

High Alert Globally at US Military Installations
Military sources have told me that Osama bin Laden was killed about one week ago in a drone strike. This seems to be something some are raising doubts about — but both stories are out. (President Obama has just indicated…

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Paul Ryan Acknowledges Popular Uprising Over His Budget Plan

Today on ABC’s This Week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) acknowledged to host Christiane Amanpour that the latest round of congressional town hall meetings have revealed a building frustration among voters over the budget plan he engineered for the Republicans:

AMANPOUR: How are the crowds increasing in their levels of anxiety and frustration?

RYAN: It’s increasing, no two ways about it. […]

RYAN: The crowds are really getting bigger, and people are getting much more anxious about, just, where the country’s headed.

Watch it:

The frustration is understandable and merited. As ThinkProgress has reported, Ryan’s budget would strip huge amounts of funding from Medicare by transforming it from a guaranteed health benefits system into one that merely provides a fixed level of money — which does not keep up with rising health care costs — that seniors can use to purchase private plans. It also guts Medicaid by block-granting the funds to the states and strips funding from food stamps and other programs to support the middle- and lower-income classes. And it does all this while keeping taxes on the wealthy extraordinarily low.

Indeed, the perverse priorities revealed by the Republicans’ proposed budget has driven a wave of rising Main Street anger across the country over the last week:

Bachmann Backs Away From GOP Medicare Plan: ?I?m Concerned About Shifting The Cost Burden To Seniors?

Following rowdy town hall meetings this week in which constituents confronted their representatives for voting for the GOP plan to effectively end Medicare, Republican leaders are insisting that they are not having second thoughts about the scheme.

But even Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) — perhaps Congress’ most outspoken conservative and most sincere promoter of the anti-government Tea Party movement — seems to be backing away from the plan. Appearing on Fox News Sunday today with host Chris Wallace, Bachmann refused to back everything in the GOP budget, saying there should be an “asterisk” next to her vote for the plan because she is concerned about how it would shift healthcare costs to seniors:

WALLACE: What do you tell people nearing retirement who say I can’t afford to pay more of my own healthcare costs out of pocket? Which is what the Ryan and Republican Study Committee plans would do.

BACHMANN: And I understand that. I put an asterisks on my support, I put a blog posting up that said just as much. That is my area of concern, I support this bill with that proviso. … One position that I’m concerned about shifting the cost burden to senior citizens. Seniors are saying, look, I’m not in a positon to be able to handle that. I also share that real fear, that’s why I put that asterisks out there. […]

WALLACE: So you’re not wedded to the idea of a voucher program for Medicare?

BACHMANN: I’m wedded to the idea of efficiencies and cost cuttings and savings in healthcare, but how we get there is open to discussion.

Watch it:

Indeed, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that “[u]nder the proposal, most elderly people would pay more for their health care than they would pay under the current Medicare system.”

On Thursday, in an op-ed on Red State, Bachmann wrote that while she supports most of the GOP budget, “I’ve expressed caution about how we approach the issue of Medicare.” Considering that Bachmann has previously said we must “wean everybody” off Medicare and Social Security, her new hesitancy to do so belies the extremely unpopular nature of the GOP plan.

The 2012 race gets warmer (Sunday Talk Shows)
William B. PlowmanAPIn this photo released by NBC Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), is interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in Washington, Sunday, May 1, 2011.Meet the Press (NBC)

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Palin blasts government for ‘man-made drought’ in her return to Central California
LEMOORE, Calif. — Sarah Palin is back in Central California’s agricultural region, and she’s criticizing the federal government for limiting the amount of water the state’s farmers can get for their crops.

McCain not satisfied with U.S. role in Libya
Bob Schieffer spoke with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on the U.S. efforts in Libya, the ongoing violence in Syria, and Donald Trump’s chances in the 2012 presidential election. (May 30)

Huckabee tells NRA members that social issues are an economic issue; lambastes Obama
PITTSBURGH–Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) told thousands of members of the National Rifle Association Saturday night that social issues should not take a back seat to the economy in the national political debate, but he offered no hints about whether he might run for president and push such issues.