Americans are wary of the way Benjamin Netanyahu and the GOP have handled U.S.-Israeli relations over the last several weeks, a development that could really hurt turnout for Bibi in Cuyahoga County. Republican staffers are doing their part to keep print media alive through Neo-Confederate publications. And two drunk Secret Service agents drove into a White House security barricade, disrupted a bomb investigation and, presumably, then stepped on a rake, slapping themselves with the handle. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, March 12th, 2015:
POLL: MORE AMERICANS DISAPPROVE OF GOP'S IRAN LETTER - For a country that can't stop communicating through inappropriate 5-second photos, we sure do retain some sense of decency about correspondences. Ariel Edwards-Levy: "Americans are more likely than not to say it was inappropriate for GOP senators to send an open letter to Iranian leaders, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds. Forty-seven Republican senators signed the letter spearheaded by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), which warned Iranian officials that they will consider any nuclear deal a nonbinding "executive agreement" that could be revoked by future presidents or modified by Congress. Democrats and the White House criticized the letter, saying it undermined the United States' foreign policy. Secretary of State John Kerry told members of Congress he was in 'utter disbelief' over the letter, which he called inaccurate and irresponsible.Nearly 60 percent of Americans have heard at least something about the open letter, and 42 percent say it was inappropriate, while 28 percent find it appropriate and the remainder aren't sure -- a divide similar to views on the invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress, which 47 percent of Americans said was inappropriate." [HuffPost]
Today in unfavorable Aaron Schock news.
NETANYAHU CAMPAIGNING OFF OF JOINT ADDRESS - That's funny, so are our politicians! Jessica Schulberg and Grim: "Already, however, Netanyahu is using his speech as a prop in a campaign commercial back in Israel, where the prime minister is shown basking in the applause of members of Congress who did not boycott his speech. With five days left until the Israeli elections, Netanyahu launched the 80-second campaign ad, featuring his controversial address along with footage of rockets being launched. Netanyahu's speech sparked controversy in Israel as well, where his political opponents filed a petition to the Israel Broadcasting Authority claiming that the speech to Congress violated election propaganda rules. Israeli Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran ruled that the speech would be broadcast domestically on a five-second delay to allow editors to take out propagandistic content. Current polls project Netanyahu's Likud Party to secure three fewer Parliament seats than the Zionist Union, led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni." [HuffPost]
HuffPost Haircuts: Ryan Grim, Dave Jamieson, Neil Irwin.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Aaron Davis reports on a D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute study finding that the rent is too damn high. "The report concludes that the nation's capital has almost no apartments left on the open market that rent for less than $800 a month. The number of such units nearly matches the city's stock of public and heavily subsidized housing, the institute found, meaning that, in effect, only those receiving public assistance are renting for less than $800 a month." [WashPost]
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EPIC SECRET SERVICE BLOOPER - Carol Leonnig and Peter Hermann: "Two Secret Service agents suspected of driving under the influence and striking a White House security barricade disrupted an active bomb investigation and may have driven over the suspicious package itself, according to current and former government officials familiar with the incident." [WashPost]
FLORIDA LOVES BANNING 'CLIMATE CHANGE' - Florida man engaging in climate misinformation campaign. Amanda Terkel: "Florida's ban on using the words 'climate change' and 'global warming' in official communications goes beyond just the state's Department of Environmental Protection to other government agencies under Gov. Rick Scott (R), according to a new report by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting....Until last year, Bill Taylor was a manager at the Florida Department of Transportation's office in Fort Lauderdale. He said that at a meeting in 2012 or 2013 -- Scott took office in 2011 -- 'it was mentioned very casually that in our future dealings with the public, we were not to use the terms 'climate change' or 'global warming.' But it was OK to talk about sea-level rise, because for some projects that had to be taken into consideration.' A former employee at the South Florida Water Management District had a similar story. 'It was widely known that you couldn't put those words into a report,' the former employee told FCIR. 'They just wouldn't make it through the editing process.'" [HuffPost]
SO WHICH REPUBLICAN ADVISERS AREN'T NEO-CONFEDERATE SYMPATHIZERS? - And here we thought the discussions at Smith Point mostly revolved around Duke alumni gossip and where best to service one's Lexus. BuzzFeed: "Richard Quinn has been quoted in the press as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's longtime political adviser and his consultant and pollster. But there's another title that Quinn once held: neo-Confederate magazine editor. From early 1980s until the early 2000s, Quinn's name stood on the masthead as the editor-in-chief of the Southern Partisan, formerly one of the country's leading neo-Confederate magazines (it still exists in a barebones online version). Quinn has tried to distance himself from the magazine in the past (he says he doesn't like the term neo-Confederate), and after being contacted by BuzzFeed News, repudiated his past views and those of the magazine. It was in his capacity as editor that Quinn wrote that Martin Luther King Jr.'s role in the Civil Rights movement was 'to lead his people into a perpetual dependence on the welfare state, a terrible bondage of body and soul'” He called Nelson Mandela a 'terrorist' and a 'bad egg.' He wrote positively of David Duke's election: 'What better way to reject politics as usual than to elect a maverick like David Duke?' In one column, he called Martin Luther King Day's purpose 'vitriolic and profane.'" [BuzzFeed]
HUGH HEWITT WILL BE AN AWESOME DEBATE MODERATOR - Hewitt's like if Ezra Klein and Sheppard Smith had a baby and that baby was raised at the CATO Institute. Michael Calderone: "When radio host Hugh Hewitt questions Republican candidates at CNN's first primary debate this fall, he says, viewers will be 'much more likely to hear about the Ohio-class submarine than contraceptives.' What, you ask at this point, is the Ohio-class submarine? 'The Ohio-class nuclear submarine is the biggest line item debate that will be held in the next 15 years,' Hewitt said in a Wednesday interview with The Huffington Post. 'Presidential candidates ought to know about it. They ought to be up to speed on it. That tells me seriousness.' Hewitt, 59, has carved out a niche in the conservative talk radio world as Mr. Serious, an unapologetic wonk in an industry full of bombast. And he's ridden that reputation to fairly prominent heights lately, becoming perhaps the most important conservative media figure of the still-early 2016 election cycle. Virtually all the prospective candidates have sat down for an interview with Hewitt. And Hewitt, in turn, has set intellectual bars that they must clear. Guests can expect to get into the nitty-gritty of foreign and domestic policy issues -- and they know to come prepared, lest they be embarrassed on air. Often, they leave with homework." [HuffPost]
The internet will not have bottle service: "The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday released the full text of its net neutrality rules, detailing how the agency plans to ensure the Internet remains free and open...The order released today will reclassify consumer broadband as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the FCC the authority to issue strong, 'bright line' rules against practices such as blocking lawful content and paid prioritization. The rules will also extend to mobile access." [HuffPost's Dana Liebelson]
RUDY GIULIANI AND DONALD TRUMP SHOULD START A PR FIRM - "Let No Such Thing Public Relations tell your story in an inflammatory a way as humanly possible." Daily News: "Just when you thought Rudy Giuliani couldn't get crazier, the former NYC mayor blamed Obama for the brutal beatdown at a Brooklyn McDonalds — and said the president should be more like Bill Cosby. Obama is ignoring 'enormous amounts of crime” committed by African-Americans, Giuliani said Thursday. And he said President Obama is to blame for the brawl inside a McDonald's in Brooklyn as well as the shooting of two cops in Ferguson because of the anti-police 'tone' coming from the White House. The former mayor, speaking on AM970 radio this morning, was asked what he thought about a number of disturbing issues in the news. Host John Gambling asked for Giuliani's take on the vicious McDonald's fight, the recent police shootings in Ferguson and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton getting booed Thursday at a City Council hearing by protesters." [Daily News]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's an otter buying snacks.
C'MON, FOX - Not that we'd expect anything else. Politico: "The Fox News morning program 'Fox & Friends' sought to link Attorney General Eric Holder to the recent shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, on Thursday -- a move that seemed to reinforce critics' worst suspicions about the network's biases. 'New #Ferguson violence comes just one week after AG Holder vowed to dismantle the city's PD. Is this what he meant?' read the Fox & Friends tweet, a reference to Holder's claim that he would consider dismantling the police department "if that's what's necessary" to ensure the elimination of 'racial bias.'" [Politico]
COMFORT FOOD
- Here are some cats training humans.
- Girl will take no nonsense from boys.
- Robert Downey Jr., sort of reprising his "Iron Man" role, presents a boy with a bionic arm.
TWITTERAMA
@elisefoley: Work truth: any time there’s a meeting and you aren’t invited, it’s because they’re discussing whether you should be fired.
@igorbobic: Someone should start a Twitter account for Hillary’s server that just tweets “delete your account!” at everybody. Nvm, i’ll del my account.
@Mobute: i won't care what drunk shit the secret service does until it's some Weekend at Bernie's shit. because that's illegal under the constitution
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