Nick Baumann

News Editor

Nick is based in our DC bureau, where he covers national politics and civil liberties issues. Nick has also written for The Economist, The Atlantic, The Washington Monthly, and Commonweal. Email tips and insights to nbaumann [at] motherjones [dot] com. You can also follow him on Facebook.

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What's Happening With the Debt Ceiling Explained

—By the Mother Jones reporting staff

| Tue Aug. 2, 2011 5:45 PM PDT

President Barack Obama signs the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Welcome to our debt ceiling explainer. As of August 3, this explainer is no longer being updated on a daily basis. You can read on for the basics of Congress' debt ceiling fight and a blow-by-blow account of the action from late June to the day President Obama signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 into law, on August 2. In addition, you can read about the deep, painful cuts to public investment and safety exacted by the bill, Kevin Drum on why the bill sucks, David Corn on the White House's strategy and Nancy Pelosi's crucial role in sealing the deal, and why this fight was just one of many to come. Going forward, major developments will be noted on our main Political Mojo blog.

The Basics: On August 2 (or maybe a few weeks later), the US government will reach the point where it can no longer pay its bills. That's because, earlier this spring, the federal government reached the legal limit on how much money it can borrow—a.k.a., the "debt ceiling." It's currently set at $14.3 trillion. The government borrows money to pay for everything from tax refunds to wars and veterans' benefits, not to mention repaying our creditors, which include China, Japan, the United Kingdom, state and local governments, pension funds, and investors in America and around the world.

A debt ceiling has existed since 1917. Before that, Congress had to provide its stamp of approval each time the Treasury Department wanted to sell US debt to raise money. (Here's a wonky history of the debt ceiling [PDF], courtesy of the Congressional Research Service.) Putting a borrowing limit in place gave the federal government more flexibility to fill its coffers without going to Congress over and over. Lawmakers in Congress have raised the debt ceiling on many occasions, including eight times in the past decade, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said that failing to raise it and allowing the US default "would shake the basic foundation of the entire global financial system."

What Happens If Congress Doesn't Raise the Debt Limit? In a word: Catastrophe.

At least that's what Geithner told Congress in January. In an ominous letter, he wrote that a US default would wreak havoc on the domestic economy and essentially result in a hefty tax on all Americans.

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

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A 96-Year-Old's Mortgage Fraud Nightmare

Lillie Mae Washington may have been conned into an outrageous mortgage by a firm that had its license revoked. Ocwen Financial wants to evict her anyway.

—By Nick Baumann

| Mon Aug. 1, 2011 3:00 AM PDT

Lillie Mae Washington

There is a term of art that was often used during the mortgage boom: "I'll be gone, you'll be gone," or "IBGYBG." In the mortgage business, it meant that however bad or risky or outright fraudulent a mortgage was, the person who originated it didn't have to worry—he'd have sold it and moved on long before the borrower was the wiser. The people to whom broker sold the mortgage wouldn’t be held responsible, either—after all, they weren't responsible for the fraud.

Lillie Mae Washington, who is 96 and lives in West Los Angeles, knows all too much about IBGYBG. Since September 2008, when Washington first sued her mortgage servicer, lender, escrow agent, and others for mortgage fraud, she has been trapped in a legal hell. She has represented herself, been represented pro bono, and now pays a lawyer to handle her case. The suit has been handled by at least seven judges, and the docket runs 104 documents long in federal court alone.

In all that time, no one that Washington has sued has argued that her mortgage was entirely by-the-book. It’s just that no one cares that it probably wasn't.

[Read the full article]

Locked Up Abroad—for the FBI

Inside the feds' secret program to have American citizens detained and interrogated by foreign governments.

—By Nick Baumann

| September/October 2011 Issue

When Gulet Mohamed finally returned home on a chilly Virginia morning in January, the 19-year-old from Fairfax was wearing the same outfit he had on when he disappeared a month earlier in Kuwait. Clad in a fleece hat and a gray Real Madrid sweatshirt, the straggly-bearded, wide-eyed teenager stepped out of arrivals at Dulles Airport and into a phalanx of television cameras. He wore a bewildered smile—as if he was still unsure of what had happened to him but was just grateful it was over.

For more than a year, Mohamed had been living in Kuwait City with an uncle. On December 20, 2010, according to legal records (PDF), he went to the airport to renew his tourist visa for an additional three months. The process took longer than usual. From a waiting area, Mohamed emailed his brother to let him know he'd run into some red tape.

Soon afterward, two men in street clothes came in, blindfolded him, escorted him out of the airport, and led him into the back of a vehicle. They drove maybe 15 or 20 minutes. When the men removed his blindfold, he was in a cell with white walls.

Later, the men—members of Kuwait's security forces, Mohamed inferred—marched him to an interrogation room, where they shouted names at him in Arabic.

"Osama bin Laden! Do you know him?" "Anwar al-Awlaki?"

When he responded "no," his interrogators slapped him across the face. As the days passed, Mohamed claims, they beat him with sticks on the soles of his feet, asked him to choose between torture by electrocution or power drill, and threatened his family.

[Read the full article]

What Just Happened in Oslo, Norway? (UPDATES)

Friday's blast in Oslo hit Norway's government headquarters.

—By Asawin Suebsaeng, Tim McDonnell, and Nick Baumann

| Fri Jul. 22, 2011 10:25 AM PDT

Central Oslo following the bombing of government headquarters on Friday.

This explainer is being updated as more news emerges. Click here for photos from the scene and here for details about the man arrested in connection with the attacks. For the latest news updates, click here.

EDITORS' NOTE: As of late July 2011, this explainer is no longer being updated on a daily basis. You can read on for the basics of what happened during the twin attacks in Norway, the political response, and an account of the aftermath from July 23rd to July 29th. If you're interested in the very latest, we also have some recommendations for other sources you can monitor listed below. Going forward, major developments will be noted on our main Political Mojo blog.

The bomb: A massive explosion hit Norway's government hub in central Oslo on Friday, killing at least seven people and injuring at least 15 others. The six-story building that was most heavily damaged included the oil ministry and is next to the building that houses the office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. The PM was unharmed in the blast and is now operating out of an undisclosed location. Witness testimony and damage at the scene are consistent with reports of a car bombing. The New York Times reports:

Stunned office staff and civil servants working in the vicinity of the bombed building said two explosions could be heard in close succession. The sound of the blasts echoed across the city just before 3:30 p.m. local time. Giant clouds of light-colored smoke continued to rise hundreds of feet into the air over the city…

Photos and television footage showed windows blown out in the 17-story office building across the street from the oil ministry, and the street and plaza areas on each side were strewn with glass and debris.

The first person on the scene "described it as 'worse than a war zone,'" says Joe Sivilli, who's talking to Mother Jones' Tim McDonnell from on the ground in Oslo. Sivilli, who speaks Norwegian fluently, works at a home-brew beer shop about 2 kilometers away from the site of the bombing. He says he felt a "rumble, like a small earthquake," when the bomb went off, but assumed it was just "construction or something like that." He'll be monitoring the Norwegian-language media for us as this story develops.

The island attack: A gunman dressed as a policeman reportedly opened fire this afternoon at a Labour Party youth camp on the island of Utoya, about 15 miles outside of Oslo, killing more than 60 people (police officials previously reported at least 10 casualties but had expected that number to rise). Police have a suspect in custody. Prime Minister Stoltenberg was due to visit the camp tomorrow morning, according to NRK, Norway's national public television broadcaster. (Stoltenberg has attended gatherings at the camp almost every year in recent memory.) On Friday evening, police found undetonated explosives on the island.

Close to 700 teenagers had gathered on Utoya, and initial reports suggested that some tried to flee by swimming. CBS News reports that Kurt Lier, Oslo's assistant chief of police, "had little information about what had happened on the island, but said if people are leaving island swimming, it is a 'long swim.'" Hans-Inge Langø, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), says the "timing and targets [of the attacks are] too similar for this not to be connected." The AP reports that Norwegian police say the two events were definitely connected.

Here's early coverage of the attack on the Utoya gathering:

How is the Norwegian government responding? Norway's governing party is the center-left Labour Party. The government has advised citizens to stay away from central Oslo tonight, and to stay at home and refrain from gathering in large groups. Stoltenberg, the prime minister, gave an interview to NRK from an undisclosed location around 8:15 p.m. local time (11:15 a.m. EST), and said that Norwegians "must not let terrorism force us to change our society, but stand up to fear." He also delivered a speech stating that "we must show that our open society will pass this test...and that our answer to violence is even more democracy, more humanity, but not more naïveté." An excerpt of his speech is below:

According to CNN, President Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon both spoke with Prime Minister Stoltenberg, offering assistance and expressing condolences:

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Saturday that many world leaders had reached out to him after the tragedy. "The world is with Norway at the moment. That will not restore the lives lost, of course, but it gives support and they hope it will help in their grief," he said.

Together with Norway's king, queen and crown prince, Stoltenberg visited with victims' family members and survivors of the attacks at a hotel.

What about the US? President Barack Obama was briefed on the attack this morning by John Brennan, his top counterterrorism adviser. Here's Obama's statement on the attacks:

[Read the full article]

The Lobbyist File: Doug Johnson

The low-profile operator behind the GOP's reenergized anti-abortion push.

—By Nick Baumann

| July/August 2011 Issue

A.K.A.: "The most effective lobbyist in Washington" —National Review

"The indispensible man behind all of the greatest pro-life victories in Congress since Roe v. Wade" —Life Prizes

POSITION: Chief lobbyist for National Right to Life Committee, the nation's preeminent anti-abortion group. He's been there since 1981. Most recently the unseen force behind the House GOP's push to orchestrate the most audacious legislative assault on abortion rights in recent memory.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Wears thick glasses and off-the-rack suits. Lacks the brusque manner and speedy walk of most K Street types. Unflappable, doesn't schmooze politicians, speaks slowly enough for reporters to keep up. The rare lobbyist who's actually a fervent believer in his cause.

KNOWN ASSOCIATES: Richard Doerflinger, top lobbyist on pro-life issues for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops; Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), sponsor of HR 3 (see below).

[Read the full article]