“At present it looks as if the entire Republican Party needs to go to counseling,” Jindal writes of the GOP’s post-election self-examination. “It’s really getting embarrassing, all these public professions of feelings of inadequacy.”

“How about we take all of this energy being spent on autopsies and focus it on painting a picture for the American public, particularly for young people, of what a free and prosperous American future will look like with smart conservative policies,” he continues.

“No more self-analysis; we’ve had our catharsis,” Jindal adds. “The season for navel gazing has passed.”

Of course, Jindal is a rather odd person to deliver this message, considering that he spent weeks after the 2012 election warning that Republicans must “stop being the stupid party.” Apparently, the second-term governor has now come around to Donald Trump’s point of view on the matter.

Jindal’s op-ed makes it clear that he has personally moved on from the post-election retrospection. In November, the governor insisted that “bizarre comments” have damaged the GOP brand. In June, he tries to explain the Democratic Party’s coming failure with this rant, for which “bizarre” would be a most charitable description:

Because the left wants: The government to explode; to pay everyone; to hire everyone; they believe that money grows on trees; the earth is flat; the industrial age, factory-style government is a cool new thing; debts don’t have to be repaid; people of faith are ignorant and uneducated; unborn babies don’t matter; pornography is fine; traditional marriage is discriminatory; 32 oz. sodas are evil; red meat should be rationed; rich people are evil unless they are from Hollywood or are liberal Democrats; the Israelis are unreasonable; trans-fat must be stopped; kids trapped in failing schools should be patient; wild weather is a new thing; moral standards are passé; government run health care is high quality; the IRS should violate our constitutional rights; reporters should be spied on; Benghazi was handled well; the Second Amendment is outdated; and the First one has some problems too.

Their philosophy does not work and it got our nation into the mess it’s in.

Yes, Governor Jindal — who used taxpayer money to fund schools teaching that the Loch Ness Monster is real, and who once claimed to have cured a friend’s cancer with an exorcism — is attacking Democrats’ credibility on science (without mentioning which Democrats, exactly, believe that “the earth is flat”). And that’s not even touching the notion that the left’s apparent comfort with pornography “got our nation into the mess it’s in” — or the fact that his native Louisiana watches more porn than just about any blue state.

Jindal goes on to suggest that Republicans make their new message, “We are the conservative party in America — deal with it.” Over the past several years, Jindal has tried that strategy in Louisiana: He proposed eliminating state income taxes while raising sales taxes — cutting taxes for the top 1 percent of Louisianans while raising them for bottom 80 percent — privatizing state-run hospitals, and running an unconstitutional school voucher program, among other right-wing policies. The result? Jindal’s popularity imploded, leaving the one-time presidential hopeful as one of the least-popular governors in America.

With Jindal less popular in the deep red Pelican state than even President Barack Obama, Republicans should have only response to Jindal’s hyperbolic op-ed: Why in the world would we take political advice from this guy?

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) used her remarks at the 2013 American Constitution Society for Law and Policy National Convention to warn that the Supreme Court is being captured by America’s largest business interests:

Take a look at the win rate of the Chamber of Commerce. According to the Constitution Accountability Center, the Chamber moved from a 43 percent win rate during the very conservative Berger Court to a 56 percent win rate under the very conservative Rehnquist court. And now they are at a 70 percent win rate under the Roberts Court. Follow this pro-business trend to its obvious conclusion and you will end up with a Supreme Court that’s a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber of Commerce is the nation’s largest business lobby. In 2012, it spent over $100 million on lobbying, according to OpenSecret.com. Aligned with the dark money “social welfare” non-profits of the Koch brothers and Karl Rove, the Chamber helped raise and spend about one billion dollars to influence the 2012 elections.

But elections are far less reliable an investment than focusing on the courts.

“All told, the Chamber of Commerce has filed a whopping 18 amicus briefs this Term – just below its record number of 21 in October Term 2010,” according to Doug Kendall and Tom Donnelly of the Constitution Accountability Center. “Overall, the Court will likely decide 76 cases this Term, meaning that the Chamber will have participated in roughly 24 percent of the Court’s decided cases.”

Conservative Justices side with the Chamber 82 percent of the time.

The cases that matter to the Chamber aren’t generally the high-profile cases about civil rights, but rather quiet victories that swing justice in favor of corporations. They seek to defeat clean energy requirements and make it more difficult for consumers to file class action lawsuits — and they usually win.

Warren says that fighting back against the corporate takeover of the highest court in the land will not be easy.

“We are up against a conservative movement that for 30 years, since President Reagan, has dedicated itself to packing the courts with pro-business, anti-regulation conservative allies,” she said. “They are tough and they prepared.”

The fight begins, she said, with speaking out about what’s going on in the courts.  The future of the Affordable Care Act, the Voting Rights Act and the country depend on it.

The poll finds that 43 percent of Florida voters approve of Scott’s performance as governor, while 44 percent disapprove. Although these numbers are hardly a ringing endorsement, they represent the Tea Party-backed governor’s best ratings since entering office in 2010. They are also a major improvement from Quinnipiac’s previous poll in March, when voters disapproved of Scott by a 49 to 36 percent margin.

Similarly, 40 percent of voters now view Scott favorably, compared to 42 percent who view him unfavorably; this is significantly up from his dismal 32 to 46 favorability rating in March, and also represents a personal best.

Scott’s slowly rising popularity has slightly narrowed the gap in his anticipated re-election matchup with former governor Charlie Crist. Crist now leads Scott by a 47 to 37 percent margin– still a discouraging deficit for Scott, but better than the 16 points by which he trailed Crist in March.

“It is an indication of how far down Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s numbers have been that he can take some solace from a poll that finds him losing by 10 points to his predecessor in the governor’s office,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

He added, “Now that doesn’t mean that happy days are here again for the governor, but if he is going to make a comeback these are the kind of steps that would be required. Whether it is the start of something larger, we’ll see in the coming months.”

Crist, who served one gubernatorial term as a Republican before unsuccessfully running for Senate as an independent (after losing the Republican primary to current senator Marco Rubio) and eventually registering as a Democrat, holds a solid 48 to 31 percent favorability rating.

The poll, which surveyed 1,176 registered voters from June 11-16, has a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points. The full results can be seen here.

Photo: “MrX” via Wikimedia Commons

Speaking from the White House, Biden reported that the administration has made significant progress on gun reform. Specifically, he noted that 21 of the 23 executive orders aimed at reducing gun violence that President Obama signed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting “have been completed, or there has been major progress made towards their total completion.” The vice president singled out executive orders strengthening the existing background check system, providing schools with updated emergency management plans, and easing restrictions on the Centers for Disease Control’s research as major steps forward.

“The president and I are a team, we have not given up,” Biden insisted. “Our friends in the House and Senate, they have not given up.”

Still, Biden acknowledged that these unilateral actions won’t be enough.

“We need Congress to act. The American people are demanding it,” Biden said. “We need to make sure that the voices of the ones we lost are the loudest ones we hear in this fight.”

After slamming the “perverted filibuster rule requiring 60 votes in the Senate” for killing the background check bill, Biden predicted that some senators would reconsider their positions in the face of public pressure. Without directly naming them, Biden pointed to senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Mark Begich (D-AK), and others whose approval ratings have plunged since voting to oppose background checks.

“I know for a fact some of them wonder now if that was a prudent vote,” Biden said.

“The country has changed,” the vice president added. “You will pay a price, a political price, for not getting engaged and dealing with gun safety.”

Biden has often served as the face of the Obama administration’s gun reform push; the vice president led the task force that recommended the executive orders to President Obama, and has given several high-profile speeches attempting to move the issue forward.

Vice President Biden’s full speech can be seen here.

The name of Tuesday’s hearing of the House Select Committee on Intelligence sounded more like the subtitle to a Stanley Kubrick film: “How Disclosed NSA Programs Protect Americans, and Why Disclosure Aids Our Adversaries.”

Chairman Mike Rogers’ (R-MI) clear goal was to give the members of the intelligence committee a chance to trumpet the value of the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program and chastise Edward Snowden, the former defense contractor who fled to Hong Kong with the intent of leaking secret documents.

“In recent years, these programs, together with other intelligence, have protected the U.S and our allies from terrorist threats across the globe to include helping prevent potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/11,” said NSA director General Keith Alexander. He named specific attacks that had been prevented by tracking telephone communication and Internet metadata, including one against the New York Stock Exchange.

Snowden has asserted that as a low-level analyst he had unfettered access to Americans’ private communication through connections with top technology companies established by the so-called PRISM program.

“If I target for example an email address, for example under FAA 702, and that email address sent something to you, Joe America, the analyst gets it,” Snowden wrote. “All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time – and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants.”

He’s referring to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which according to the government “targeted acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning foreign targets located outside the United States under court oversight.” Snowden argues that where such actual oversight exists, it can be easily gamed.

Alexander flatly denied that such access exists.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole added that there is a second document that goes along with the court order leaked by Snowden that gives the NSA access to the metadata of all Verizon phones. This document clearly outlines how data may be used, Cole said, adding that American citizens and residents are not subject to such orders.

“So if you have a U.S. permanent resident who’s in Madrid, we can’t target them under 702,” Cole said. “If you have a non-U.S. person who’s in Cleveland, Ohio we cannot target them under 702.”

Snowden said Monday that he objected to this distinction, even though it complies with American law. “Suspicionless [sic] surveillance does not become okay simply because it’s only victimizing 95% of the world instead of 100%,” he wrote.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) took on Snowden directly, echoing Dick Cheney by calling him a “traitor.”

“It seems to me that the problem here,” Bachmann said, “is of an individual who worked within the system, who broke laws, and who chose to declassify highly sensitive, classified information.”

Chairman Rogers echoed Bachmann. “It is at times like these where our enemies within become almost as damaging as our enemies on the outside,” he said.

Kabel Deutschland confirmed Liberty Global PLC’s approach Tuesday, only days after British rival Vodafone PLC said it was also in early takeover talks with the company.

London-listed Liberty Global — a cable TV and Internet provider controlled by media mogul John Malone — is already Germany’s second biggest cable operator through local subsidiary Unitymedia Kabel BW.

Kabel Deutschland Holding AG has over 8 million customers compared with Unitymedia Kabel’s 7.1 million.

Kabel Deutschland shares rose by 3.6 percent to 85.64 euros early afternoon Tuesday.

In an interview with Charlie Rose on PBS, President Barack Obama discussed his views on China, the elections in Iran, the Syrian civil conflict, and the recent exposure of surveillance programs expanded under his administration.

The president explained his reluctance to heavily arm Syrian rebels by warning, “It’s very easy to slip-side your way into deeper commitments.” That position has upset some American allies, including France and Germany.

“Unless you’ve been involved in those conversations [on intervening in Syria], then it’s kind of hard for you to understand that the complexity of the situation and how we have to not rush into one more war with in the Middle East,” Obama said.

The interview revolved mainly around the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, which allows the federal government to collect a broad range of information from technology and phone companies. The programs have dominated the news since they were leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Since the leak, politicians and citizens have engaged in an ongoing debate on forfeiting privacy in exchange for greater security.

Addressing the conflict that many Americans face between their privacy values and desire for national security, the president compared the “tradeoffs” of surveillance programs to airport security and checkpoints for drunk drivers.

“To say there’s a tradeoff doesn’t mean somehow that we’ve abandoned freedom,” Obama firmly declared.

Defending his stance on surveillance, the president emphasized that there is a “federal court with independent federal judges overseeing the entire program,” and there is also “Congress overseeing the program, not just the intelligence committee and not just the judiciary committee.”

“It is transparent,” he told Rose, again referencing how Congress and federal courts were aware of the programs before the leaks.

He also stressed that the surveillance programs solely collect metadata, and that the content of phone calls is never revealed. “What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls, and the NSA cannot target your emails,” he stated emphatically.

The president made it clear that even before his presidency, he was never against “intelligence gathering to prevent terrorism,” but was concerned with “setting up a system of checks and balances” to do so.

While acknowledging that since the leak he has faced much criticism from those who once viewed him as a symbol of hope, change, and transparency, he pushed back against the view that his policies are merely a redux of the Bush administration. “Some people say, ‘Well, you know, Obama was this raving liberal before. Now he’s, you know, Dick Cheney,’” he said.

Obama insisted that his views have not changed on intelligence gathering and he has not flip-flopped. Rather, the debate concerning such programs has “gotten cloudy.”

Should he zero in on Illinois’ deep pool of political corruption with the resolve of his predecessor, who sent two governors to prison? Or should he devote even more resources to the gang- and drug-related violence that has claimed hundreds of lives, including in neighborhoods near President Barack Obama’s own house?

The urgency of the question was highlighted by a weekend of violence that left seven people dead and more than three dozen wounded. But it’s unclear what, if anything, U.S. attorneys can do to stem the bloodshed that has not already been tried.

The same question has arisen in other big cities, including New York and Los Angeles.

“Some think federal prosecutors can ride in on a white horse and end street crime. They can’t,” said Laurie Levenson, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. “The question is — how do you coordinate efforts of local and federal authorities? There’s a role for both.”

Other federal prosecutors have used the power of their office to attack urban crime. Rudy Giuliani became New York City mayor after first gaining prominence in the 1980s as a crime-busting U.S. attorney in Manhattan. And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie built his political career on his reputation as a U.S. attorney who convicted public officials.

The pressure on Zachary Fardon has been especially intense.

After the White House recently named him to replace Patrick Fitzgerald, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin — the Senate’s second-most powerful member — and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk called on Fardon to target guns, gangs and drugs. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has also urged Fardon to make city violence a top priority.

The city’s murder tally topped 500 in 2012, the first time since 2008 it hit that mark. Though the murder rate has declined in 2013, the killing early this year of 15-year-old honor student Hadiya Pendleton a mile from Obama’s home put the issue back in the national news.

Kirk called on Fardon to use racketeering statutes to jail what he said were up to 18,000 Gangster Disciple members in the Chicago area, saying it would be “payback” for Hadiya’s killing. Rep. Bobby Rush, a Chicago Democrat, dismissed the notion as a simplistic “white boy” solution to a complex problem.

But it’s not as if the federal prosecutors didn’t pursue violent crime during Fitzgerald’s 11-year tenure.

Already, a third of the roughly 130 criminal prosecutors at the Chicago office are assigned to its gangs-and-drugs division, according to figures from office spokesman Randall Samborn. There are around 10 prosecutors in the public corruption and organized-crime division, though prosecutors often work together across divisions.

Despite the splash they make in the news, political corruption cases are relatively rare. Even at the height of the investigation surrounding disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, there were never more than a half a dozen politicians indicted a year.

Drug cases account for around a third of total prosecutions, according to data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for the year ending in September 2012. That number is mirrored in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago have already used racketeering statutes to go after street gangs. Fitzgerald used them to send Latin Kings leader Augustin Zambrano to prison for 60 years last year. Nearly 30 gang members were convicted in the same investigation.

But drawing on federal drug or gun laws to go after gang members is more common because those laws can carry stiffer sentences and are often less labor-intensive than racketeering, or RICO, laws.

“RICO is often designed for the big hit, to take out the leadership of a gang and to send a larger message,” Levenson said. “But RICO cases take a huge amount of resources and are far more complicated.”

Observers have noted that Fitzgerald’s success taking down heads of big street gangs had the unintended consequence of splintering gangs into dozens of factions, leading to fighting that has fueled some of the recent killing.

No matter what federal prosecutors do, city police and state prosecutors remain on the front lines of battle to reduce violence.

Just last week, local authorities took advantage of a new state racketeering law to arrest dozens of reputed leaders of the Black Souls street gang who allegedly engaged in beatings, kidnappings and killings to maintain their multimillion dollar narcotics operation. It’s one of the first prosecutions using the new legal tool.

Fardon himself has been mum in public since his nomination last month. He has declined media interviews while awaiting a Senate confirmation vote, which hasn’t been scheduled but should happen within a few months.

Tackling violent crime isn’t what Fardon is best known for, at least up to now.

As an assistant U.S. attorney, he was a member of Fitzgerald’s trial team that convicted former Republican Gov. George Ryan of corruption. And as a private defense attorney in Chicago in recent years, he focused in part on white-collar crime.

Fardon will also be under pressure not to scale back on the commitment to fighting corruption.

“The U.S. attorney’s office, for all practical purposes, has been the sole check on corruption in Illinois,” said Dick Simpson, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “And there is no indication corruption is on the decline.”

But it could be difficult to shift more resources into violent crime without adjusting other obligations. That’s especially true because congressional budget constraints have frozen staff at current levels. As a result, the annual office budget of around $35 million is unlikely to increase anytime soon.

The federal prosecutor’s office in Chicago is one of the nation’s busiest, with a staff already stretched thin handling more than 1,500 pending cases a year, according to the prosecutor’s office.

And any hope of a dramatic reduction in violent crime would require the office to assign more prosecutors to smaller drug and gun cases.

“In a perfect world, you would grow the size of the office and hire more prosecutors and assign more to violent crimes units,” said Julian Solotorovsky, a former assistant attorney in Chicago. “But the Department of Justice isn’t in the hiring mood right now. … That will complicate things for Fardon.”

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Lt. Craig Valenzuela says Bieber’s car collided with someone — possibly a photographer — at 11:45 p.m. Monday in the 8800 block of Sunset Boulevard.

Valenzuela says nobody was cited or arrested and officers determined no crime was committed. He says investigators are trying to determine whether the pedestrian was in the roadway.

A video posted by TMZ.com shows Bieber getting into a white Ferrari. He is surrounded by paparazzi and as the car drives off, one falls to the ground and grips his knee.

A request for comment from Bieber’s publicist, Melissa Victor, wasn’t immediately returned.

In a joint statement at the conclusion of a two-day summit, leaders of eight of the world’s wealthiest countries say tax authorities should automatically share information “to fight the scourge of tax evasion” and make it harder for companies to “shift their profits across borders to avoid taxes.”

As part of the G-8′s plans, which will be developed at a G-20 summit later this year, multinationals would be obliged to declare how much tax they pay in each country where they operate.

The G-8 initiative announced Tuesday reflects widespread anger over the ability of foreign companies to funnel profits to tax-friendly countries.