Shots in the Dark

Are you ever going to open your Twitter account again?

Never. No. I went to Jimmy Gandolfini’s funeral, and when I was there I realized Jimmy Gandolfini didn’t have Twitter. Jimmy Gandolfini was so beloved as a person, and he was so admired as an actor, and he didn’t give a fuck about social media.

I really learned a lesson at the funeral. I said to myself, This is all a waste of time. Meaning it’s fun sometimes, but less and less, and less.

Alec Baldwin, interviewed by Vanity Fair.

Because City University of New York is paying disgraced general David Petraeus $150, 000 to teach one class.

Most CUNY adjunct professors earn less than $3, 000 per course.

Petraeus, by the way, is also a fellow at the Kennedy School…

Is every phone call in the United States being recorded, a possibility recently pondered by Harry Lewis? (Don’t stop blogging, Harry!)

We don’t know yet—but it looks increasingly likely. The NYT reports that every single piece of mail that flows through the United States Postal Service is being recorded in case anyone decides, after the fact, that it’s worth looking into…

“It’s a treasure trove of information,” said James J. Wedick, a former F.B.I. agent who spent 34 years at the agency and who said he used mail covers in a number of investigations, including one that led to the prosecution of several elected officials in California on corruption charges. “Looking at just the outside of letters and other mail, I can see who you bank with, who you communicate with — all kinds of useful information that gives investigators leads that they can then follow up on with a subpoena.”

Investigators don’t have to go through a judge to get access to USPS records; they just have to fill out a form….

Naturally this secret power is already being abused; Arizona “sheriff” Joe Arpaio used it to spy on and harass a political opponent.

Now you know why the government will never stop funding the post office…

Funnily enough, given their track record as adversaries, Larry Summers and the Winklevoss twins have something significant in common: They’re both investing in dubious startups. At Silicon Valley VC firm Andreesen Horowitz , “special advisor” Larry Summers (and you thought he was just an economist) has been backing mobile payment schemes. Felix Salmon thinks that most of them will go bust. And the Winklevosses, as you probably know by now, have started a bitcoin ETF, which, if the SEC ever approves it, investors should run from like moviegoers from the Lone Ranger but which will probably make money before it helps spark another worldwide financial crisis.

In Texas, they’re pushing a bill that would make it virtually impossible to get an abortion within that state. In Ohio, Governor John Kasich signed similar legislation into law.

The provisions in Ohio will make it more difficult for family planning groups to receive funding for preventive care; require ultrasounds for anyone seeking an abortion; and limit abortion providers’ ability to get transfer agreements with public hospitals.

The GOP-controlled North Carolina senate just passed similar legislation, tacked onto another odious bill that discriminates against Muslims.

Under the bill, which was tacked onto another measure dealing with Islamic law, abortion clinics would have to meet license standards similar to those of ambulatory surgical centers. According to legislative staff, only one clinic in the state currently meets that standard. The state’s four Planned Parenthood clinics don’t meet it. The bill would also require doctors to be present when women take drugs that induce abortions.

Doctors have to be present when women are taking RU486? Are you kidding me?

In the U.S. Senate, Florida phony senator Marco Rubio just announced plans to introduce a bill banning abortions in every state after 20 weeks.

I am always confounded when I see a political party doing things that limit its own electoral success, and these moves will clearly do that; the GOP will lose both male and female voters, who generally feel that the abortion issue should be left alone. (The Clintons were brilliant on abortion—remember the rhetoric about making them “safe, legal and rare“?)

There’s no grass roots effort behind this anti-abortion movement that I can tell—at least, none beyond the usual. So what’s behind it? It can’t be the idea that this plays well nationally; it doesn’t. I suppose there’s always the possibility that Republican men actually believe this stuff—they’re the ones pushing it—but even that doesn’t feel right. It seems more insidious to me: an attempt to regain control of women’s bodies at a time when women are making unprecedented economic strides. You can feel that tension in the Rick Perry rhetoric about Wendy Davis; there’s a ugly paternalism rearing its head.

Politics aside, this trend of GOP actions against abortion is a terrible thing. I happen to disagree on the issue of abortion rights, but there’s far more getting caught up in this: preventive medicine, women’s health care, individual rights (a doctor has to be present when you take a legal, over-the-counter pill?), access to health care, sex education, family planning….

I think that what we’re seeing is a desperate frenzy from white men who feel threatened by the changes in this country. Women are getting more powerful? Take away their ability to control their own bodies. Latinos are settling in just fine? Kill the immigration bill. Gays making progress? Not in Chris Christie’s state—or anywhere else there’s a GOP governor.

In the long run, you can’t stop the march of expanding rights. But in the short run, people are getting hurt by these Republican maneuvers. It makes me worry about the health of the country.

Back from Mexico….