Court throws out Viacom's copyright suit against YouTube

We'll have to wait for the copyright experts to weigh in, but I suspect that this is good news for YouTube fans.

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has just granted YouTube’s motion for summary judgment against Viacom, meaning that the site is off the hook in Viacom’s billion-dollar copyright infringement case.

Both sides had filed motions for summary judgment in March, which is essentially a way to expedite the court case without going to a jury. YouTube had once again invoked protection under the DMCA’s Safe Harbor provisions in its filing, and the court apparently agreed.

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So it's Petraeus

From ThinkProgress:

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden this afternoon, President Obama announced that he has accepted Gen. Stanley McChrystal resignation as head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, following the four-star general’s unprofessional remarks in a Rolling Stone interview. Obama said McChrystal’s remarks did not “meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general” and eroded trust among his national security team. McChrystal had reportedly acknowledged, “I’ve compromised the mission.”

Obama emphasized that McChrystal had served “faithfully,” that he was “grateful” for his service, and that the replacement is not a “personal insult.” In McChrystal’s place, Obama has nominated CentCom Commander David Petraeus, the general who oversaw the Iraq surge, to take charge of the upcoming Afghanistan surge.

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Oil rain in Louisiana

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Obama's problem with Embeds (McChrystal edition)

Much was written during the late days of the Bush administration about the burrowing of "loyal Bushies" and Movement Conservatives into non-political positions in the Executive branch. But the issue is broader than just late-inning appointments — the executive branch is riddled with Bush-and-Cheney–esque embeds, most of whom are still working their magic.

Problems with the Justice Department and Interior Department's MMS are just the tip of the embed iceberg, and it appears Obama has not at all dealt with these left-overs — other than to keep them on. In that sense, it's not really his administration.

Now comes General McChrystal, part of the Bush team for prosecuting the Afghan war. I'll let Rachel Maddow and her guest, retired Col. Douglas MacGregor, tell the rest of the story:

And there you have it. Team Change is once more hitting with Team Bush's bat on Team Bush's astroturf — a mine field if ever there was one.

This is large, friends. The Bush Embeds story is one of the connecting diseases that runs through every vein of the current administration. The McChrystal tale is just the pimple that showed up on Prom Night.

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Joe Barton un-un-apologizes for unapologizing for apologizing to BP

Whew. Okay, in a nutshell. GOP Cong. Joe Barton apologized to BP for the hard time the government has been giving them for nearly destroying the Gulf of Mexico. Under intense criticism, Barton apologized for the apology. But then, he took the apology back (the one he made to make up for the apology to BP), so he was back to square one - apologizing to BP. But then, like magic, Barton has again taken back his second unapology, putting him back at apologizing for apologizing to BP.

I suspect that Saint Limbaugh's criticism of his initial retraction of his apology to BP might be causing some of Barton's confusion. Republicans don't like to cross their leader. Read the rest of this post...

Vitter's knife-wielding staffer resigns, but you really need to read the police report - how could Vitter know this guy's past and keep him on staff?

We wrote earlier today about GOP family values Senator David Vitter knowingly hiring a staffer with a record of alleged violence against women. I've now read the police report on the guy. Holy cow.


(click photo to read large copy - and you can see the entire affidavit over at ABC)

What on earth could have made Vitter keep this guy on staff after he knew the details of what this guy did? Read the policy report of what he did to his girlfriend. Then imagine a US Senator knowing this, but keeping the guy on staff - and giving him the women's issues portfolio to boot!

We now hear that the staffer resigned. And he should. But why was he on staff at all if Vitter knew about this? Obviously Vitter didn't have a problem with the guy's history, or perhaps the guy had something on Vitter, or was offering some indispensable service that Vitter simply couldn't do without.

I worked in the Senate. No US Senator would keep someone like this on staff. But Vitter did keep him on staff, and had no problem with it. From ABC:

Vitter spokesman Joel DiGrado told AP that Vitter's office was aware of Furer's arrest for attacking his ex-girlfriend two years ago, but said Vitter was unaware of any other legal issues until the ABC News report. "Senator Vitter accepted the employee's resignation today after learning of the other incidents," spokesman Joel DiGrado said.

And why even have the guy resign, if you have no problem with him allegedly knifing women?

So now we know three things that family values Senator David Vitter has no problem with: hookers; adultery; and stabbing women.

There are more unanswered questions that Vitter really needs to come clean on. Why did he keep this guy on staff? What did this guy do for Vitter? What did this guy have on Vitter, if anything? Read the rest of this post...

Oil gushing into Gulf again after cap is removed

More of a mess.

BP suffered a setback in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, when a discharge of liquid and gases forced the company to remove the containment cap that for three weeks had been able to capture a large portion of the oil gushing from the damaged well.

Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard announced this development in a mid-day briefing from Washington, explaining that a remote controlled submersible operating a mile beneath the surface likely bumped a vent and compromised the system. Live video from the seafloor showed the oil and gas storming out of the well unrestricted.

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McChrystal removed from command, talk of Petraeus replacing him. Which is funny, considering Petraeus' past...

ABC reports that General McChrystal has been relieved of his command, and that among the possible successors is General Petraeus. You'll remember Petraeus as one of the Iraq war's biggest defenders. Which is interesting, since the Senate Democrats just a few years ago produced a lengthy analysis of how flawed Petraeus' Iraq testimony really was. Read the rest of this post...

Rand Paul flip flops on donation pledge

UPDATE: Apparently Dave Weigel noticed this a good week ago.

Not even elected yet, and already the same old same old:

Kentucky Republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul is seeking fundraising help from GOP lawmakers who voted for the massive 2008 financial bailout, flip-flopping on a campaign promise to shun those lawmakers.

The libertarian-leaning Paul, who condemns taxpayer-backed bailouts of the private sector, will benefit from a Thursday night fundraiser at the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington, D.C. Nine of 12 GOP senators listed on the invitation voted for the $700 billion bank bailout in 2008. Tickets to the event went for $1,000 per person, with sponsorships up to $5,000 per group.

During the primary, Paul pledged not to accept contributions from any senator who had voted for the financial bailout. That promise was included on his campaign website at the time but has since been removed.

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US defeats Algeria: 1 - 0

A goal in the final minutes by Landon Donovan means the U.S. will move to the next round in the World Cup. It was intense.

And, yes, this is a sports-related post on AMERICAblog. Read the rest of this post...

ABC: 'Meet Senator Vitter's Trusted Aide -- Drove Drunk, Attacked Girlfriend, Still On the Job'

That's ABC's headline:

A longtime aide to Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who has been assigned by the senator to oversee women's issues, pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges stemming from a knife-wielding altercation with an ex-girlfriend.

What is Vitter, who got caught paying hookers a few years back (while married), still doing in office? More proof that the religious right no longer has any serious clout in the GOP.

More from ABC:

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said it concerns her that the senator has talked so forcefully as an advocate for women and an opponent of drunk driving, and yet would keep someone with Furer's background on his staff.

"It says something terrible about Senator Vitter's judgment that this is the kind of guy he wants to keep in his office," said Sloan, who first alerted ABC News to the assault case. "The people of Louisiana should be asking, 'What does this guy do for Senator Vitter to keep him around?'"

A Vitter spokesman acknowledged the senator had concerns about the 2008 arrest, in which Furer was accused of holding his ex-girlfriend against her will for 90 minutes, threatening to kill her, placing his hand over her mouth, and cutting her in the hand and neck.

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Even the worst-case scenarios have underestimated the BP oil spill

No matter how much BP is spending on lobbying and public relations (and it's a lot), the actual story of what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico just never seems to get better. It gets worse. And, even the worst-case scenarios aren't worst-case enough. Joel Achenbach captures that reality:

An enduring feature of the gulf oil spill is that, even when you think you've heard the worst-case scenario, there's always another that's even more dire.

The base-line measures of the crisis have steadily worsened. The estimated flow rate keeps rising. The well is like something deranged, stronger than anyone anticipated. BP executives last month said they had a 60 to 70 percent chance of killing it with mud, but the well spit the mud out and kept blowing.

The net effect is that nothing about this well seems crazy anymore. Week by week, the truth of this disaster has drifted toward the stamping ground of the alarmists.

And, let's be clear. Many of the "alarmists" were warning of this type of catastrophe for years. But, their concerns were dismissed by many in power, including the President.

This thing is so far from over. Read the rest of this post...

McChrystal is one big part of a much larger problem with Afghanistan. He's got to go.

As I mentioned in the open thread, the President is convening his national security team on Afghanistan today. It doesn't take a foreign policy expert to figure out that the Afghanistan strategy isn't working. It really isn't working. But, instead of focusing on the war, Obama has to focus on the personalities. Of course, hanging over everything is Obama's decision on whether or not to fire McChrystal. But, that's just one part of the problem:

Whether or not General McChrystal remains at the helm of the Afghan war effort, Mr. Obama will try to use Wednesday’s meeting to urge his fractious Afghanistan staff to pull together, said his press secretary, Robert Gibbs. The president, Mr. Gibbs said, will say that “it is time for everyone involved to put away their petty disagreements, put aside egos and get to the job at hand.”

But that may be easier said than done. At a time when violence in Afghanistan is sharply rising and several central planks of the president’s strategy to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” the Taliban and Al Qaeda have stalled, many of the president’s top advisers have continued to criticize one another to reporters and international allies alike, usually in private conversations, and almost always off the record.

“Yes, we do hear them disparage each other,” said a senior European diplomat who works closely with the United States on Afghanistan strategy. “It’s never good to hear that.”

Bruce O. Riedel, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution who helped the administration formulate its initial Afghan policy, added, “This flap shows once again that his team is not pulling together, but is engaging in backbiting.”

Backbiting? How old are these people? They're supposed to be managing a war, not acting like they're starring in "Mean Girls." Lives are at stake for Christ sakes.

Every team needs a good leader. And, the leader needs to fire McChrystal today to start getting his team back on track.

Based on those comments of Robert Gibbs, it sounds like they're going to get a pep talk. What they need is an ass whipping. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Let's be realistic. There's one dominant news story today. And, it's whether Obama fires McChrystal or not. The President is meeting with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan this morning. That group includes, among others, Sec. Gates, Sec. Clinton, Admiral Mullen, CIA Director Panetta -- and McChrystal. There's nothing on the schedule indicating when Obama will meet with the wayward General. But, here's a bit of advice for the Commander-in-Chief: Fire McChrystal.

Why is Chuck Schumer trying to weaken the compromise on swipe fees? Chris Bowers posted the details yesterday:

There is still talk of a Republican introduced, Schumer-backed amendment to gut the regulation tomorrow, however.

Seriously, Schumer? Good lord, can these Senate Democrats ever look out for their constituents.

And, the President did host an LGBT cocktail party. Here's part of what he said:

I have called for Congress to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. (Applause.) We are pushing hard to pass an inclusive employee non-discrimination bill. (Applause.) No one in America should be fired because they’re gay. It’s not right, it’s not who we are as Americans, and we are going to put a stop to it.

I'd be really interested to know if Obama ever called anyone in Congress about DOMA or ENDA or DADT.

Thread the news.... Read the rest of this post...

That oil is ours, not theirs

By which I mean to say — that oil is ours, not theirs. (Some things need saying twice.)

If they've thrown it away — not our problem. They should be paying royalties on everything they spill, as well as everything they succeed in capturing.

Just like at the gas station. Their cost starts at the pump, whether they pump it onto the ground or into their (cash-producing) engine.

(My thanks to the comments on this post for the discussion that prompted this. Nice going, guys 'n gals.)

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McChrystal & Truman

Quick hit: This is a Truman moment.

But I mean that differently than most. If Obama fails to fire McChrystal, he'll be forever judged as weaker than Harry S. Truman (pun intended). With Truman as tough-guy icon, that's harsh. And it will stick a very long time.

Team Change, take note.

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