The Commentariat -- April 14, 2016

Afternoon Update:

**NEWS FLASH** Daniel Tepfer of The Stamford [CT] Advocate: "...Superior Court judge [Barabara Bellis] Thursday refused to toss out the lawsuit by the families of the Sandy Hook victims against the manufacturer of the gun used by Adam Lanza to kill the 26 school children and teachers in December 2012...[Bellis] ruled that the federal law protecting gun makers from lawsuits does not override the 'legal sufficiency' of the claims by the Sandy Hook families that the gun used by Lanza should never have been made available for sale to civilians ... the lawsuit will go on and all sides are to report to her courtroom on April 19 for a status conference." -- unwashed

Caitlin MacNeil of TPM: "Megyn Kelly on Wednesday night confirmed that she met with Donald Trump on Wednesday morning, and said that she was able to 'clear the air' with the Republican presidential frontrunner after he has repeatedly slammed the Fox News anchor." CW: Just thought you'd like to know.

Nick Gass of Politico: "Bernie Sanders on Thursday repudiated the remarks of a surrogate who used the phrase 'corporate Democratic whores' on Wednesday night during the Vermont senator's rally in Washington Square Park, after Hillary Clinton's campaign demanded an disavowal from the candidate." CW: Yeah, see, you really can't call the only female presidential candidate a whore.

Ian Austen of the New York Times: "The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation on Thursday to legalize physician-assisted suicide for Canadians with serious medical conditions." -- CW

Katie Zezima & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post on how Ted Cruz plans to win the nomination. -- CW

Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: Donald "Trump's national campaign is largely staffed by an insular circle with little experience in the complexities of presidential politics. The Colorado debacle has revealed another factor holding back the billionaire front-runner...: the inexperience of his supporters." -- CW

E.J. Dionne on the Great White "Moderate" Hope, John Kasich: "In his speech Tuesday, he proposed a balanced budget; a freeze on most federal regulations; tax cuts for individuals and businesses; sending 'welfare, education, Medicaid, highway infrastructure and job training' programs back to the states; a guest worker program; and fixes to Social Security that would certainly involve some cuts. In other words, he reprises the same agenda conservatives were offering in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It's an approach that even many in the GOP -- particularly working-class Trump supporters -- see as inadequate. It also happens to be a variation on Ryanism." -- CW

Wherein newlywed Ted buys 100 can of Campbell's chunky soup. We'll let Heidi tell it. -- CW

*****

Presidential Race

Bernie Sanders in Washington Square. New York Times photo.

... Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "... Senator Bernie Sanders took his plea for a political revolution to the heart of Greenwich Village on Wednesday and heaped particular scorn on Wall Street to the delight of several thousand jubilant supporters.... The large crowd, and the senator's promises to change politics, had much in common with the 2007 rally for Mr. Obama in the park." -- CW ...

... The New York Times liveblogged Bernie Sanders' speech in Manhattan's Washington Square Park. -- CW

Nick Gass of Politico: Verizon, General Electric CEOs find Bernie Sanders "contemptible." Says Sanders, "I welcome their contempt." -- CW ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "Bernie Sanders gave his shouting endorsement to a crowd of striking Verizon workers in Brooklyn on Wednesday. Early that morning, 40,000 Verizon employees across the East Coast launched the largest strike America has seen in four years, after ten months of negotiations with the company failed to produce an agreeable contract." -- CW :

CNN hosts a Sanders-Clinton debate tonight at 9:00 pm ET.

John Judis, formerly of the New Republic, in TPM: is voting for Bernie Sanders even though he is "not sure whether he is really ready for the job of president." -- CW

Dana Rubenstein of Politico: "Decrying the lead in Flint's water and the state of infrastructure in impoverished America, Hillary Clinton on Wednesday announced 'a new plan to fight for environmental justice across America.' She didn't get into the specifics of what that new plan entails, but she did make clear that New York City, headed by her surrogate, Mayor Bill de Blasio, is not exempt from her critique." CW ...

... Kevin Drum: "... it's nice to see a presidential candidate take lead seriously. We've been making progress on lead contamination for decades, but we've never truly made it a consistent priority. It's time to do that." -- CW

I know a lot about Pennsylvania, and it's great. -- Donald Trump, in Pittsburgh, yesterday. Read on.

Trump is going to make a super president. He'll go to Beijing & ask, "How's Hirohito doing?" -- Constant Weader

Eli Stokols & Ken Vogel of Politico: "Wounded GOP front-runner Donald Trump is quietly setting up a parallel campaign structure, hiring known Republican fixers to professionalize his operation and sidelining his original team. Under the guidance of his new strategist Paul Manafort, Trump on Wednesday brought aboard Rick Wiley, Scott Walker's former campaign manager and a former senior party official well versed in the rule-making process that might decide the GOP nomination in a contested convention." -- CW

Hadas Gold & Marc Caputo of Politico: "A Florida prosecutor has decided not to prosecute Donald Trump's campaign manager for battery after a March run-in with former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, sources with knowledge of the situation told Politico. The decision not to press charges against Corey Lewandowski is scheduled to be announced on Thursday afternoon by Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg." -- CW

Ryan Deto of the Pittsburgh City Paper: "[Monday], an open-carry support group posted a message on Reddit saying they would be armed and patrolling outside Trump's [Pittsburgh's] Oakland [neighborhood] appearance. The goal was to inhibit potential protesters. Trump is holding a town hall meeting with Fox News Sean Hannity [there]. A screenshot sent to City Paper ... details plans for a group of 50 people to patrol in loops armed with guns around Oakland blocks to stop potential protesters from starting roadblocks. The screenshot has since circulated on social media but appears to have been removed from Reddit." -- CW

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Colorado GOP Chair Steve House posted on his Facebook page that he has received over 3,000 calls to his home, some of which were death threats. Trump supporters evidently blame House, not Colorado law, for running a caucus instead of a primary and have posted House's personal information online." -- CW

Eric Levitz: "... it doesn't really matter whether [Donald] Trump has good reason to feel cheated -- what matters is that his supporters think he does. The more Trump can stoke the sense that he's been victimized by a corrupt Establishment, the more politically difficult it will be for the party to deny him the nomination on a first ballot." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. -- "The Trumpiest Editorial Ever Written." Jonathan Chait: "The New York Observer has endorsed Donald Trump for president, making it the only newspaper other than the National Enquirer to do so. The Observer is published by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, but it would be unfair to dismiss the editorial's merits merely on account of the familial connection.... The editorial..., in a kind of tribute to its subject, also apes his method of reasoning, or lack thereof. In some ways it resembles a Trump speech -- slogans, boasting, vacuous repetition -- but without the periodic interruptions to threaten protesters with beatings." Chait goes on to dissect the editors' "rationale": " its central theme that the existence of Trump voters proves Trump is right." -- CW ...

... Peter Sterne of Politico: "On Wednesday, one day after the New York Observer endorsed Donald Trump, the paper's national political reporter, Ross Barkan, announced that he would leave the paper.... Barkan told Politico said that a major factor in his decision to leave was the paper's relationship with Trump, who is the father-in-law of Observer owner Jared Kushner.... '[The endorsement] played a factor,' he said.... Barkan said that he was particularly troubled by Observer editor in chief Ken Kurson's decision to help Kushner write Trump's March 21 speech to AIPAC. '... Anyone knows that an editor in chief should not be reviewing the speech of a presidential candidate...' he said." -- CW

... Elsewhere in "Journalism": Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "One of the biggest feuds of the ribald political year may be heading toward a détente: Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump held a private meeting at Trump Tower on Wednesday to discuss their differences, which have provided a running subplot to this year's election coverage. The session, which lasted close to an hour, was held at Ms. Kelly's request...." -- CW

Tom LoBianco of CNN: "Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday accused Donald Trump supporters of 'acting like union boss thugs' in pursuit of the Republican Party nomination, saying during CNN's town hall that they are intimidating potential Republican National Convention delegates." CW: Doncha love the way Ted uses his criticism of Trump to get in a dig at unions?

David Corn of Mother Jones: "The Time Ted Cruz Defended a Ban on Dildos. His legal team argued there was no right 'to stimulate one's genitals.'" He lost the case at the appeals court level & decided not to take dildos & vibrators to Supreme Court. CW: Which is a shame. Because I would have enjoyed thinking of Clarence Thomas, Nino Scalia & Sam Alito squirming during, ah, oral arguments. And Scalia's remarks surely would have been a high mark in the history of jurisprudence. Well, not the prudence part, maybe. ...

... Eric Levitz of New York summarizes Ted's argument: "... Americans have no constitutional right to bear dildos, that the government has a legitimate interest in discouraging 'autonomous sex,' and that allowing the sale of sex toys is the first step on the road to legal incest." -- CW ...

... Bethania Markus of the Raw Story: Ted Cruz's former college roommate Craig Mazin tweeted, in response to Corn's story, "Ted Cruz thinks people don't have a right to 'stimulate their genitals.' I was his college roommate. This would be a new belief of his." -- CW ...

... John Cole of Balloon Juice: "I maintain that a Cruz Presidency would be worse for the nation than a Trump Presidency. Trump doesn't believe in anything. Cruz is the fucking American Taliban." -- CW

... CW: In fairness to Ted, he was the Texas state solicitor general, not the attorney general. The AG -- who was Greg Abbott, now the governor -- may not have given Ted any choice but to argue a case that was at odds with his alleged fondness for "autonomous sex." P.S. I hope you're happy we bring you all the important news here at Reality Chex. Ha!

The New York Daily News Editors endorse John Kasich for the Republican nomination.

Jonathan Chait: John Kasich schools Talmudic scholars on Old Testament. CW: Maybe Kasich should have studied up on Proverbs 26:12: "Do you see a person wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "Paul Ryan is still running for president." -- CW

Alexander Burns of the New York Times considers some Republican leaders who might yet save the Republican party from Donald & the Tailgunner. CW: Dream on, Alex.

Josh Rosenblat of Vox: "Cleveland and Philadelphia, which will host the [Republican & Democratic party conventions respectively], each received $50 million in federal money to cover the security costs associated with the conventions. Cleveland projects to spend $20 million of that on security equipment and supplies and $30 million on 'personnel-related expenditures.' Philadelphia has not yet announced how it will use the money." -- CW

Other News & Views

... Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "President Obama arrived at CIA headquarters Wednesday for the fourth and probably final visit of his presidency to an agency that regarded him with significant apprehension when he first came to Langley in 2009. The apprehension now is over who might be the next president to visit, particularly if it is Donald Trump.... The alarm about Trump goes beyond his apparent enthusiasm for the simulated drowning technique. 'There would definitely be concern about Trump being elected and not having a clear understanding of foreign policy and national security,' said Nada Bakos, a former CIA counterterrorism analyst." -- CW ...

Like the man said, if you want somebody waterboarded, bring your own damn bucket. -- Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, on Donald Trump, Feb. 22

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Senators on Wednesday reached a deal to act on a comprehensive energy bill as soon as this week, breaking a three-month partisan standoff over the tainted water scandal in Flint, Mich. The bill, sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee, and Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the panel's ranking Democrat, has broad bipartisan support and is expected to easily pass the Senate. It represents the first major energy bill to come to the Senate floor since the Bush administration. A similar measure has passed in the House, and President Obama has signaled his support for it." -- CW

Chris D'Angelo of the Huffington Post: "...a trove of public documents uncovered and released Wednesday by the Washington-based Center for International Environmental Law...show that oil executives were well aware of the serious climate risks associated with carbon dioxide emissions decades earlier than previously documented -- and they covered it up...the documents not only reveal that the industry...was 'clearly on notice' about the potential role of fossil fuels in CO2 emissions no later than 1957, but was 'shaping science to shape public opinion' even earlier, in the 1940s." -- unwashed. We know the Confederates swallowed it hook, line and sinker. I still say RICO (or something) should apply for willful long-term collusion to commit fraud against humanity. The Big Tobacco settlement action pales in comparison.

Bryce Covert of Think Progress: "Elizabeth Warren [along with seven cosponsors, including Bernie Sanders] wants to make tax filing season simpler and cheaper for most Americans....'The tax preparation industry relies on a complicated tax code to charge consumers high fees, and thus opposes simplification efforts -- particularly those that make it easier to file returns,' Warren's staff report notes." -- LT

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Republicans told the leaders of the capital's beleaguered subway system on Wednesday that they would not 'bail you out,' soundly rejecting pleas for more federal funds to support it." CW: Yeah, and their staffs won't be able to get to work when DC Metro officials shut 'em down. Too bad.

Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Federal health officials confirmed Wednesday that the Zika virus causes a rare birth defect and other severe fetal abnormalities, marking a turning point in an epidemic that has spread to nearly 40 countries and territories in the Americas and elsewhere." -- CW

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they expect a man who accused former U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert of sexual abuse to testify at his sentencing hearing later this month. Attorneys for Hastert said in a court document filed last week and unsealed Wednesday that he has 'no current recollection' of the man's allegations." -- CW

Linda Greenhouse looks around the country at some of the absurd anti-abortion laws Republican-run states have enacted. -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Monica Davey & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Racism has contributed to a long, systemic pattern of institutional failures by [Chicago]'s police department in which police officers have mistreated people, operated without sufficient oversight, and lost the trust of residents, a task force assigned by Mayor Rahm Emanuel has found. The report, issued on Wednesday, was blistering, blunt and backed up by devastating statistics. Coincidentally, it was released as city leaders were installing a new, permanent superintendent for the Chicago Police Department." The story includes the report. -- CW ...

... Zack Stafford & Ciara McCarthy of the Guardian: "Less than 24 hours after a 16-year-old boy was killed by Chicago police, hundreds of protesters gathered in the Homan Square neighborhood to protest about the latest police killing in the city. Protesters assembled on Tuesday evening near where Pierre Loury was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer. Police said Pierre was killed in an 'armed confrontation' with officers. During a vigil for the teenager, community members and activists mourned the latest black resident to be killed by the city's police." -- CW

Jon Swaine & Ciara McCarthy of the Guardian: "Dozens of killings by police in the US are being ruled justified without the public being notified, according to a Guardian study that sheds new light on the lack of official transparency surrounding the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers. Officers involved in one in every six deaths recorded during the first quarter of 2015 have a year later been cleared of wrongdoing and returned to work despite no announcements being made by authorities or local media reports appearing." -- CW

Stevie Borrello of ABC News: "Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards just signed an executive order that provides protection for the LGBT community in state jobs and contractors that deal with the state. The executive order also rescinds former Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal's controversial Marriage and Conscience Executive Order.... While the order helps protect the LGBT community, there is still no state law that protects them from employment discrimination in all areas of the private sector.... Louisiana did pass the Preservation of Religious Freedom Act in 2010, which Edwards supported. It is the strongest religious liberty protections in the country, but Edwards' executive order does not conflict with the law." -- CW

Cliff Sims of Yellowhammer News: "Multiple confidential sources inside of state government came forward to Yellowhammer this week with accusations that Alabama Governor Robert Bentley ordered a state helicopter to fly his wallet to him at the beach, after he accidentally left it behind in the wake of an argument with his then-wife. If true, the allegations call into question Gov. Bentley's assertion that he did not misuse state resources during his affair with his then-senior advisor Rebekah Mason." -- CW

Yanan Wang: School districts across the country are arming teachers. CW: What could possibly go wrong?

Way Beyond

Andrew Tilghman of the Military Times: "In one of the most aggressive actions in recent memory, Russian warplanes conducted 'simulated attacks' on the a U.S. Navy vessel in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, repeatedly flying within 30 feet of the ship, according to a defense official. Sailors aboard the destroyer Donald Cook said the aircraft flew low enough to create wake in the sea waters surrounding the ship, and the ship's commanding officer said the incident was 'unsafe and unprofessional,' the defense official said." -- CW

Anthony Faiola & William Booth of the Washington Post: "Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers who arrived in Europe last year had hoped to bring their families in legally -- and safely -- once they gained refugee status. But bringing in relatives is becoming harder and harder." -- CW

The Commentariat -- April 13, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Eric Levitz of New York: "... it doesn't really matter whether [Donald] Trump has good reason to feel cheated -- what matters is that his supporters think he does. The more Trump can stoke the sense that he's been victimized by a corrupt Establishment, the more politically difficult it will be for the party to deny him the nomination on a first ballot." -- CW

Jonathan Chait: John Kasich schools Talmudic scholars on Old Testament. CW: Maybe Kasich should have studied up on Proverbs 26:12: "Do you see a person wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him."

*****

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Under relentless criticism from his Democratic foes, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey [R] lingered with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland into the evening on Tuesday for a meeting that lasted more than an hour." CW: Toomey emerged from the meeting to make a series of stupid remarks, as was anticipated. ...

... David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, played host to Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, in the Senate dining room on Tuesday morning. Yogurt parfait was not the point. But what was [the point]?" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration said a compromise floated by the Supreme Court to resolve objections from religious organizations to providing their employees with contraceptives would work only if it was clear that the women would receive the coverage through other means, and if it ended the controversy. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. told the court ... a modification would be acceptable only if the court ruled that it would satisfy the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and if it halted lawsuits from groups that say providing contraceptive coverage would make them complicit in sin." -- CW

Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators said Wednesday that five of the country's largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, still don't have credible plans for winding down their operations without taxpayer help if they start to fail. These so-called 'living wills' are a critical requirement of the 2010 financial reform package, Dodd-Frank, aimed at a preventing a repeat of the taxpayer bailouts that took place during the financial crisis. The regulators found various problems with the plans submitted by Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, J.P. Morgan Chase, State Street, and Wells Fargo." -- CW ...

... The New York Times story, by Peter Eavis, is here. -- CW

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "Tens of thousands of Verizon workers on the East Coast walked off the job on Wednesday after the company and two labor unions failed to reach a new agreement by a 6 a.m. deadline set by the unions, more than eight months after their contracts expired. The Verizon strike, involving about 36,000 workers, is one of the largest in recent years. The workers, who are resisting proposed cuts to pension benefits and rule changes that would make it easier for the company to outsource work, are expected to picket hundreds of Verizon facilities from Virginia to Massachusetts." -- CW

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The FBI cracked a San Bernardino terrorist's phone with the help of professional hackers who discovered and brought to the bureau at least one previously unknown software flaw.... The researchers ... were paid a one-time flat fee for the solution." -- CW

Paul Waldman, in the Washington Post: "... no matter which Republican ends up being the presidential nominee, cutting taxes for the wealthy will be at the absolute top of the agenda. Even Donald Trump, who has been happy to buck Republican orthodoxy on a variety of issues, issued a tax plan the greatest benefits of which went to the wealthy -- just like every other candidate.... Meanwhile, media coverage continues to suggest that Paul Ryan represents some kind of sober alternative to the presidential candidates. But he has long advocated slashing the top rate from its current 39.6 percent down to 25 percent, which would represent an enormous giveaway to the wealthy.... In this election, just like in every other election, Democrats will charge that Republicans only want to help the rich. It’s an effective attack, mostly because it's true...." -- CW

"Free Trade" vs. Ordinary People. Daniel Gross, in Fortune: "Why bashing free trade is paying off from Trump and Sanders.... It's not trade itself that is the problem -- it's the indifference to the long-term impacts of trade and an unwillingness to share its benefits [with workers]." Via Paul Waldman. -- CW

Matt Richtel & Fernanda Santos of the New York Times: "Fires, once largely confined to a single season, have become a constant threat in some places, burning earlier and later in the year, in the United States and abroad.... A leading culprit is climate change. Drier winters mean less moisture on the land, and warmer springs are pulling the moisture into the air more quickly.... Decades of aggressive policies that called for fires to be put out as quickly as they started have also aggravated the problem. Today's forests are not just parched; they are overgrown." -- CW

Trudy Ring of Out: "The Vatican is replacing its controversial ambassador to the U.S., who arranged the meeting between Pope Francis and antigay Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis last fall. Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò will leave the position of apostolic nuncio, the equivalent of an ambassador, and will be replaced by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, a French-born clergyman who is currently the nuncio to Mexico, Catholic magazine America reports, citing Sandro Magister, a blogger who covers the Vatican." CW: Another of Francis's not-so-subtle, but diplomatically unspoken, messages. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton pulled out a tight victory over Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary in Missouri, officially sweeping the states that held primary contests on March 15, while Donald J. Trump was declared the winner in a close race with Senator Ted Cruz on the Republican side. Both candidates appeared to score narrow victories in Missouri, but under the state's elections laws, the vote totals were not official until now." -- CW

Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), in a New York Times op-ed: "... I have decided to become the first member of the Senate to support my colleague Bernie Sanders for president." -- CW

Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bernie Sanders and his boosters are intensifying their courtship of convention delegates who could determine the winner of the Democratic presidential nomination this year, prompting some party leaders and supporters of front-runner Hillary Clinton to claim harassment.... The Sanders campaign says it has no connection to the efforts of outside supporters to lean on superdelegates...." -- CW

The New York Daily News Editors endorse Hillary Clinton. -- CW

Tom Hayden of The Nation: Anti-war and civil rights activist and ex-Sanders supporter Tom Hayden thoroughly highlights the pros and cons of both candidates in his explanation for why he changed his support in the California Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. "I have a variety of concerns about both candidates' campaigns. But I intend to vote for Hillary Clinton... for one fundamental reason - race." -- LT

Hillary Clinton's Clever Math Trick. [Bernie Sanders] frequently says, 'We're a small, rural state, we have no gun laws.' Here's what I want you to know. Most of the guns that are used in crimes and violence and killings in New York come from out of state. And the state that has the highest per capita number of those guns that end up committing crimes in New York come from Vermont. -- Hillary Clinton, April 11

Vermont does provide the highest per capita number of guns tied to crimes in New York.... [But] the per capita calculation is skewed by Vermont's small population.... The number of crime guns in New York from Vermont is so small that it could even be attributed to one or two bad actors.... Clinton has carefully crafted her talking point to find the particular government data that support her point, which gives a wildly different view than how trafficking flows are tracked.... The difference between this point using per capita calculation and the raw number (1 percent of crime guns with source states identified in 2014 came from Vermont) is so stark that it creates a significantly misleading impression to the public. -- Michelle Yee of the Washington Post -- CW

CW: If, like me, you were waiting for Hillary Clinton to apologize or something for participating in the "colored people's time" skit, here's the or-something. Eliza Collins of Politico: "In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine published on Tuesday, Clinton was asked if the skit was 'inappropriate,' or whether critics were indeed 'missing the point,' as De Blasio had put it. 'Well, look, it was Mayor de Blasio's skit,' she responded. 'He has addressed it, and I will really defer to him because it is something that he's already talked about.'" ...

     ... Update. Brendan O'Connor of Gawker: Hillary Clinton wasted no time at all throwing Bill de Blasio under the bus for that 'C.P.T.' joke." -- CW

Elizabeth Hinton, Julilly Kohler-Hausmann & Vesla Weaver in a New York Times op-ed: "When confronted about her husband's pivotal support for the [1994 crime] bill, Hillary Clinton argued, even as she admitted the legislation's shortcomings, that the bill was a response to 'great demand, not just from America writ large, but from the black community, to get tougher on crime.' Yet the historical record reveals a different story.... Punitive crime policy is a result of a process of selectively hearing black voices.... It's not just that those demands were ignored completely. It's that some elements were elevated and others were diminished.... When blacks ask for better policing, legislators tend to hear more instead." -- CW

Jeremy Peters & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump and his allies are engaged in an aggressive effort to undermine the Republican nominating process by framing it as rigged and corrupt, hoping to compensate for organizational deficiencies that have left Mr. Trump with an increasingly precarious path to the nomination. Their message: The election is being stolen from him. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump berated the politicians he said were trying to stop his nomination and denounced the Republican Party, which he cast as complicit in the theft." -- CW

Bob Cusack of the Hill: "Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), claiming the party's system for selecting its presidential nominee is a 'scam' and a 'disgrace.' During an exclusive interview with The Hill at Trump Tower, Trump said, 'It's a disgrace for the party. And Reince Priebus should be ashamed of himself. He should be ashamed of himself because he knows what's going on.'" ...

... CW BTW: Trump's whining about the delegate process is all part of his teevee schtick. Because his staff is so incompetent, it is possible that Trump didn't know how the system worked until Priebus laid it out for him a couple of weeks ago. But, if he didn't know then, he knows now. And he's had ample opportunity & certainly the wherewithal to go out & hustle his own delegates. (He can make more "charitable contributions"/free golf outings -- this time to convention delegates.) Trump is shedding crocodile tears designed to rile his base of know-nothings. Yes, the game is "rigged," as Trump claims. It's supposed to be. Its very purpose is to avoid having a nominee like Trump. ...

AND There's This. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "When Nebraska started the process of picking delegates, Trump's campaign was nowhere to be found.... Party officials say they saw virtually no organization by the mogul's campaign last week when Republicans in all 93 Nebraska counties held local conventions.... Party officials say they saw virtually no organization by the mogul's campaign last week when Republicans in all 93 Nebraska counties held local conventions.... Because there was little resistance, many county conventions became Cruz pep rallies, according to interviews with party insiders and convention attendees." -- CW

Tony Cook of the Indy Star: "After expressing reservations about Donald Trump, some of Indiana's delegates to the Republican national convention say they've received threatening messages from a few of the GOP front-runner's supporters.... 'Wrong side Kyle,' said one email [to delegate Kyle Babcock, who said he didn't think Trump would be a good general-election candidate]. 'Hope the families well. Your name and info was sent to me on a list that is going public. Think before you take a step down the wrong path, the American people want to have faith in your but it looks like a future in hiding is more appealing.' The email was signed, 'The American.'" -- CW ...

... Steve M.: "... it's quite possible that there'll be little to no bloodshed [from Trump supporters]. I suspect the contempt is going to be expressed the modern, cowardly way -- doxxing, threats, maybe a swatting attack or two. Female Trump opponents will probably receive very specific threats of brutal sexual violence. But it'll all be done from the comfort of Mom's basement, or wherever else these people use their laptops and phones. A number of politically angry right-wingers have engaged in genuine violence in this century, but it's much more common for conservatives -- and white male louts in general -- to try to be risk-averse intimidators." -- CW

... BUT there was this. Kenneth Wagner & Meg Wagner of the New York Daily News: "A fiery Donald Trump supporter slapped a [CW: black] protester in the face during a rambunctious rally in Albany on Monday -- and the blowhard billionaire did nothing to stop the brawl, choosing instead to compare demonstrators at the event to ISIS.... After a tense standoff, [a man who self-identified as] Mike lunged at the protester and smacked him in the face twice. The protester was eventually removed from the rally... 'I have my personal rights and my personal space,' Mike told the Albany Times-Union after the rally. 'They're going to start yelling about some bulls[hi]t, I'll snatch your ass up.'" -- CW

Salvatore Colleluori of Media Matters: On Monday, "New York radio host Mark Simone and ... Donald Trump questioned whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is eligible to run for president because 'he was born in Canada.'... Simone brought up a hearing by the New Jersey secretary of state to determine Cruz's eligibility...." CW: It would be hilarious if Republicans went thru all these machinations to nominate Cruz, after which a court somewhere ruled that he was ineligible to be POTUS. ...

... Well, That Pipe Dream Didn't Last Long. Brent Johnson & Jonathan Salant of NJ.com: "... Ted Cruz is a 'natural-born citizen' under the U.S. Constitution and therefore can run in the June 7 New Jersey primary, a [New Jersey] state administrative law judge said Tuesday.... A group of New Jersey residents and a Catholic University of America law professor insisted that Cruz, born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father, did& not meet the constitutional requirements to be president." -- CW

Ben White of Politico: "On the campaign trail, [Ted Cruz] has railed against Wall Street 'crony capitalism,' ripped giant banks as 'too big to fail' and wrapped himself in populist garb.... But now he's desperate: Cruz, who has already received $12 million in support from the financial industry, needs Wall Street money more than ever.... So Cruz and his wife Heidi, currently on unpaid leave from her Goldman Sachs executive position, will gather with donors in New York next week to refill the coffers.... 'Anybody who is really politically aware knows that it's ultimately better to have Cruz go down in flames than for Trump to go down in flames. People are coming around to that. Cruz probably won't take down the House and Senate with him.'... said a senior banker...." -- CW

Karoli Kuns of Crooks and Liars: David Barton, dominionist and Ted Cruz Super PAC head, wants Christians to 'take control of government.' This is why Ted Cruz is, in many ways, more terrifying than Donald Trump. Trump is a secular fascist. Cruz is a religious zealot as well as a fascist who thinks the United States government should be a theocracy." -- LT

...Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones: Ted Cruz's dominionist minions, a preacher and two real estate entrepreneurs, offer a glimpse of how far the candidate could go in rolling back LGBT protections. -- LT

"Onerous rules" trip up more Trumps. Why is life so unfair to these people? -- CW

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "... Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the party's July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance.... The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? And if not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first?" -- CW

Priscilla Alvarez of the Atlantic: John Kasich keeps on keepin' on. -- CW

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "In an attempt to silence those who keep insisting he should be the next Republican nominee for president, Speaker Paul D. Ryan will hold an unusually formal news conference Tuesday afternoon to once again rule out his candidacy, an aide to Mr. Ryan said." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ... New Lede: "After a month of speculation and pleas ranging from the comic to the mildly desperate, Speaker Paul D. Ryan held an unusually formal news conference Tuesday afternoon to rule out once and for all, he said, his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. 'Let me be clear,' Mr. Ryan said. 'I do not want nor will I accept the nomination of our party.' He added that he had a message for convention delegates: 'If no candidate has the majority on the first ballot, I believe you should only turn to a person who has participated in the primary. Count me out.'" ...

... OR, as the headline writer at TPM put it, "Paul Ryan To GOP: I Know I'm Awesome, But I Can't Be Your President." -- CW

Manu Raju & Deirdre Walsh of CNN: "A number of high-profile Republicans, fearful of a potential melee in Cleveland this summer, are considering skipping the Republican National Convention and campaigning back home instead." -- CW ...

... Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times: "Jeb Bush will not attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, his spokeswoman said Tuesday." -- CW

Senate Race

Edward-Isaac Dovere & Kevin Robillard of Politico: "In an unprecedented and forceful move, President Barack Obama's administration is slamming a new gun control-themed ad from a super PAC backing Rep. Donna Edwards for Senate in Maryland, calling it 'misleading' and demanding it be pulled down.... Wednesday morning, Working for US PAC spokesman Joshua Henne followed up with a statement saying the group would delete Obama from the ad -- but not pull the ad itself." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Ha! Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Gov. Pat McCrory [R] of North Carolina, whose state has been the subject of withering criticism since its legislature passed a law limiting bathroom use by transgender people and eliminating anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people, on Tuesday retreated from his full-throated defense of the measure.... Mr. McCrory signed the bill immediately after it was passed. But on Tuesday, he signed an executive order altering the equal employment policy for state workers to cover discrimination claims related to sexual orientation and gender identity. He said he would urge lawmakers to reverse course and allow people to bring discrimination cases in state court.... Mr. McCrory ... is seeking re-election this fall.... The effects of Mr. McCrory's order are modest. The most disputed provision of the law, which limited bathroom access for transgender people, will stand." -- CW ...

... The Raleigh News & Observer story, by Craig Jarvis, is here. With video. -- CW ...

Bruce Schreiner & Adam Beam of the AP: "Kentucky's Democratic attorney general sued the state's Republican governor on Monday, arguing he overstepped his authority when he ordered budget cuts for state colleges and universities without the approval of the state legislature. Attorney General Andy Beshear, the son of a former governor, followed through on his threat to file a lawsuit challenging [Gov. Matt] Bevin's 'blatant violations' of law by unilaterally cutting 4.5 percent, or $41 million, from the state's colleges and universities in the last three months of the fiscal year." -- CW

David Montgomery of the New York Times: "A panel reviewing the Texas jail where a 28-year-old black woman, Sandra Bland, was found dead three days after being arrested last July has called for major changes in the treatment and medical screening of inmates." -- CW

Joe Heim of the Washington Post: Meet Matthew Heimbach, a 25-year-old white nationalist & Trump supporter who was the main guy pushing Kashiya Nwanguma, 21, a black student, out of a Trump rally in March. "Heimbach's supporters cheered his actions, praising him for standing up to the protesters. But for those who have been tracking his rise, the video raised new worries about Heimbach. Some compare him to David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and the country's best known white nationalist.... Heimbach foresees the United States being divided into autonomous racial states with white Christians free to live apart and outside the control of any federal authority." -- CW

Way Beyond

AP: "Organized crime prosecutors raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm Tuesday looking for evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism following a leak of documents about tax havens it set up for wealthy international clients." -- CW

Megan Messerly & Daniel Rothberg of the Las Vegas Sun: "Electric car company Faraday Future is scheduled to break ground this afternoon on its Southern Nevada [3.4 million-square-foot] production plant...Faraday Future executives, Gov. Brian Sandoval, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee and Clark County commissioners Steve Sisolak and Marilyn Kirkpatrick are expected to attend... the state's economic development board approved $215.9 million in tax incentives for the company [that includes] a series of protective measures for the state in case Faraday should go belly up." -- unwashed. The facility will be located about 60 miles from the notorious Bundy Ranch.

News Lede

ABC News: "The Texas teenager who was at the center of an international manhunt was ordered to stay in jail for nearly two years after his first appearance in adult court today. Ethan Couch, who allegedly violated the terms of his probation from a deadly 2013 drunken-driving case by missing a court-mandated check-in, was sentenced to 180 days in jail for each of the four charges he faces. The jail time is set to be served consecutively, meaning he will be in jail for 720 days."

The Commentariat -- April 12, 2016

Afternoon Update:

I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected. -- William T. Sherman, 1884

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "In an attempt to silence those who keep insisting he should be the next Republican nominee for president, Speaker Paul D. Ryan will hold an unusually formal news conference Tuesday afternoon to once again rule out his candidacy...." -- CW

     ... New Lede: "After a month of speculation and pleas ranging from the comic to the mildly desperate, Speaker Paul D. Ryan held an unusually formal news conference Tuesday afternoon to rule out once and for all, he said, his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. 'Let me be clear,' Mr. Ryan said. 'I do not want nor will I accept the nomination of our party.' He added that he had a message for convention delegates: 'If no candidate has the majority on the first ballot, I believe you should only turn to a person who has participated in the primary. Count me out.'"

David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, played host to Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, in the Senate dining room on Tuesday morning. Yogurt parfait was not the point. But what was [the point]?"

Trudy Ring of Out: "The Vatican is replacing its controversial ambassador to the U.S., who arranged the meeting between Pope Francis and antigay Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis last fall. Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò will leave the position of apostolic nuncio, the equivalent of an ambassador, and will be replaced by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, a French-born clergyman who is currently the nuncio to Mexico, Catholic magazine America reports, citing Sandro Magister, a blogger who covers the Vatican." CW: Another of Francis's not-so-subtle, but diplomatically unspoken, messages.

*****

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Nathaniel Popper of the New York Times: "Goldman Sachs has completed a $5.1 billion settlement with state and federal officials over the bank's role in the subprime mortgage crisis. Goldman is the last of the big American banks to reach a settlement with the national working group that was set up in 2012 to investigate how Wall Street exacerbated the mortgage bubble and ensuing financial crisis. Goldman said in January that it had put aside money to cover a $5 billion settlement." -- CW ...

Why is this man smiling?Capitalism Is More Awesomer. Tax Breaks for the Rich & Infamous. Nathaniel Popper: "State and federal officials said on Monday that Goldman Sachs would pay $5.1 billion to settle accusations of wrongdoing before the financial crisis. But that is just on paper. Buried in the fine print are provisions that allow Goldman to pay hundreds of millions of dollars less -- perhaps as much as $1 billion less -- than that headline figure. And that is before the tax benefits of the deal are included. The bank will be able to reduce its bill substantially through a combination of government incentives and tax credits." ...

... CW: Tax incentives???? Is that like time off for bad behavior? What's my tax incentive for paying off my traffic ticket? Oh, nothing. But Goldman structures a billion bucks in breaks into its fine. Unbelievable. I'd say Goldman's CEO is really Lloyd BlankFine. Hell, maybe the DOJ really believed Lloyd was doing God's work when he scammed investors, put people out of th streets & upended the world's economy. Drumpf of the Good Brain could learn a thing from Lloyd. And let's not forget Lloyd is Too Big to Jail. ...

... Alan Pyke of Think Progress: Goldman "will be able to write off $1.8 billion worth of consumer relief actions that Goldman must take under the settlement.... The same goes for $875 million in payments to settle related cases brought by [state attorneys general].... Less than half of the total sticker price -- $2.385 billion -- is structured as a civil penalty, which is generally not deductible. The settlement papers do prohibit Goldman from seeking FDIC reimbursement for any of the deal's costs, but that language does not rule out simple deductions." -- CW

Brian Rosenthal of the Houston Chronicle: "Federal regulators on Monday sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for allegedly committing securities fraud, the same charge he is fighting in a state criminal court. The civil lawsuit, filed Monday in an East Texas federal court by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, alleges that Paxton raised nearly $1 million for a Collin County technology startup without disclosing to the investors that he was being compensated to promote the company.... A Paxton lawyer indicated the attorney general would not be settling." -- CW

Mary Troyan of the Tennessean: "The U.S. Senate voted Monday to confirm Nashville attorney Waverly Crenshaw Jr. to a U.S. district court judgeship in Tennessee's Middle District. The 92-0 vote followed a smooth but slow confirmation process for Crenshaw, who becomes the second African-American federal judge on active status in Tennessee. President Obama nominated Crenshaw 14 months ago...." -- CW

Gregory Korte of USA Today: "Public health officials used their strongest language to date in warning about a Zika outbreak in the United States, as the Obama administration lobbied Congress for $1.9 billion to combat the mosquito-borne virus. 'Most of what we've learned is not reassuring,' said Dr. Anne Schuchat ... of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought.'" -- CW

...Natalie Morin of Healthgrove: 50 American Cities Most at Risk of Zika Virus - top three: Miami, Orlando, Tampa -- LT

Peter Overby of NPR: "Police needed most of Monday afternoon to arrest all of the sit-down protesters outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington at a demonstration in favor of changing the rules on political money voting rights and redistricting. More than 600 turned out for the protest, and more than 400 were arrested in the sit-in at the Capitol steps, U.S. Capitol Police reported. The nonviolent protest was led by Democracy Spring, a coalition of more than 100 progressive groups. The protest was cheery and peaceful." -- CW

Black & White & Shades of Gray. Jamelle Bouie takes a nuanced look at the anti-crime law that caused Bill Clinton to wrangle with protesters last week. "... in the 1994 crime bill we have a complicated story of fear, racism, good intentions, and cynical political maneuvering." -- CW

Aaron Schock's Capitol Hill office.Jake Sherman & Anna Palmer of Politico: "Four House financial staffers were subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury in the central district of Illinois, the same court where former Rep. Aaron Schock is the subject of a closed-door probe.... [The House has not acknowledged that the staffers] were subpoenaed to testify about Schock, but the former Illinois congressman has long been the subject of grand jury hearings in the central district of Illinois in Springfield." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Charles Pierce: "Andrew Sullivan has ... resurrected himself because Democracy Demands It. Anyway, he was on with Chris Matthews the other night and, prior to calling Ta-Nehisi Coates a Marxist, he was trembling in his boots over the campaign of He, Trump and he cited Ted Cruz as a marginally acceptable alternative because the Tailgunner is 'a man of the Constitution.' So much so that, had the Tailgunner had his way with the document, Andrew couldn't get married and any hotel owner in America could refuse him service because Jesus, that's why. Please, God, save the old charter from its friends." ...

     ... CW Note: Sullivan is coming to (or is already there; I don't know) New York magazine, so there will be one part of the magazine's online edition which I can skip.

Juan Cole in his blog, Informed Comment: "Congress passed the Hate Crime Statistics Act in 1990 (...) I thought it might be useful to compare the year 2000, Bill Clinton's last in office, with 2013 and with 2014, the last two for which statistics are available, to see how the nation has changed. Unsurprisingly, there has been an eight-fold increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes during these 14 years." --safari

Presidential Race

Nick Gass & Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Hillary Clinton on Monday hit Bernie Sanders on immigration, she hit him on guns, and she claimed that there's a 'growing level of anxiety' in the Vermont senator's not-quite-so-longshot campaign for the White House. Sanders' ... chief aide doubled down on attacks on Clinton's fitness to be president, saying she's experienced 'on paper' but suggesting that might not be enough. And Sanders himself went after Clinton's environmental record, an especially sore point for her. The Democratic race has taken a turn for the nasty as Clinton and Sanders explore their newfound aggressiveness, each suddenly willing to get personal...." -- CW ...

... Glenn Blain, et al., of the New York Daily News: "Goldman Sachs just handed Bernie Sanders $5 billion reasons to keep pushing rival Hillary Clinton for transcripts of her paid Wall Street speeches. The Vermont senator -- accusing Goldman Sachs of 'fraud' -- jumped on Monday's announcement that the banking giant will pay out $5 billion in a massive settlement of its deceptive mortgage practices. Sanders, speaking at an Albany rally..., noted that Clinton gave three speeches to Goldman Sachs in recent years. But she won't share with the public what she said at the private gatherings, Sanders stressed." -- CW

New York Daily News: "While speaking with the New York Daily News editorial board, Hillary Clinton checked off several areas in which she agreed with and applauded President Obama. However at the end of the interview she made a point of raising a topic that had not been asked about. She stated her view that the Obama administration should grant the $90 million in anti-terror funding for New York that various politicians in the state have been asking for." A transcript of the full interview, which took place April 9, is here. -- CW ...

     ... CW: Yes, Hillary, because what New Yorkers need is NYPD officers parading around in riot gear & policing "Muslim neighborhoods" to check for terroristy-looking people. 

What Were They Thinking? Ashley Feinberg of Gawker: "Coming off her husband's hard to watch exchange with Black Lives Matters protestors last week, you'd think Hillary Clinton would be extra sensitive to anything that could even potentially paint her as racist right now. Which makes her and Bill de Blasio's ill-advised joke about 'C.P. time' or 'colored people time' at a dinner this week all the more bizarre." -- CW ...

... Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "... a comedy routine between Hillary Clinton and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York managed to cause a storm of controversy over a racially charged joke":

Greg Sargent: "Hillary Clinton’s secret weapon against Bernie Sanders: Democratic voters." New York state & a number of other states will hold "closed primaries"; that is, where party crossovers or independents are not permitted to vote. Since many of Sanders' voters have been independents, while more of Clinton's core supporters are registered Democrats, Clinton has an advantage in these states which Sanders may not be able to overcome. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dana Milbank: "This could be the first time in 160 years when a major American political party splits, and [Reince] Priebus, the young technocrat from Wisconsin brought in to improve the Republicans' infrastructure, is in over his head.... There is no good option for Priebus now, except perhaps to resign if [Donald] Trump secures the party nomination.... History is unlikely to remember kindly a Republican chairman who turned the party of Lincoln over to a populist demagogue or to an ideologue loathed even by Republican colleagues." -- CW

Matea Gold & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The already freewheeling Republican presidential contest is fast turning into a personal persuasion game as the candidates pursue no-holds-barred ­efforts to lock up delegates -- and there are relatively few limits on how far they can go.... State and federal anti-bribery laws would probably forbid delegates to sell their votes outright, although it is unclear how those statutes apply to those who are private citizens rather than elected officials." -- CW

Ari Melber of NBC News: "Donald Trump blasted the GOP's delegate rules Sunday, saying a 'corrupt' system is denying him delegates in states he won. According to a new NBC analysis, however, Trump has benefited far more than Ted Cruz under the party's arcane rules for allocating delegates. Trump now leads the Republican field with 756 delegates -- or 45 percent of all delegates awarded to date. Yet he has won about 37 percent of all votes in the primaries, according to the NBC analysis, meaning Trump's delegate support is greater than his actual support from voters." -- CW

More Trumpertantrumps. John Santucci & Candace Smith of ABC News: “Speaking to a crowd of thousands, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump slammed the presidential primary process.... He invoked the Louisiana GOP primary, in which Trump won the popular vote but tied with rival Sen. Ted Cruz for delegates. 'I end up winning Louisiana and then when everything is done I find out I get less delegates than this guy that got his a[ss] kicked, OK? Give me a break. Really disgust[s] me. So it's a very sick system,' he said. Trump got 41.4 percent of the popular vote, while Cruz garnered 37.8 percent.... Trump continued his tirade by invoking another state in which he lost a delegate battle; Colorado. Cruz got all 34 delegates in that state without a popular vote, although delegates themselves were voted on.... 'If I go to the voters of Colorado, we win Colorado so it's a crooked, crooked system,' he said." -- CW

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Angry Donald Trump supporters have been giving an earful to Colorado Republican party chair Steve House after Ted Cruz shut out Trump in last week's delegate selection convention. -- CW

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Republican Sen. Cory Gardner [Colo.] says Donald Trump has a 'diminishing future' after his loss to Ted Cruz in Wisconsin's primary last week.... Gardner said Trump's recent losses were not the result of some conspiracy, but rather voters were turning against him." -- CW

Trump's Kids Won't Be Voting for Him. Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "... Ivanka Trump missed the deadline to register to vote for her dad in New York. Ivanka's failure to follow New York's non-complicated voter registration rules to change her affiliation from independent to Republican (to vote in the closed primary) is remarkable, given that she's been the public face of her father's get-out-the-vote efforts. She made nearly half a dozen campaign videos on the importance of registering to vote... Her brother Eric also forgot to register." CW: So I guess Donald didn't force the heirs to take that Hitler-y pledge. Oops, I see Akhilleus covered this yesterday.

Donald Trump goes on Fox "News" teevee show. Finds host more racist than he is. Well, It's Bill O'Reilly. What did you expect? -- CW ...

But how are you going to get jobs for them? Many of them are ill-educated and have tattoos on their foreheads. -- Bill O'Reilly, on black job-seekers

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Meet the Trump bros: White, affluent frat guys who think they're a persecuted minority." -- CW

Nick Gass of Politico: "Larry Flynt, whose Hustler studio in 2008 brought the world the political pornographic satire 'Who's Nailin' Paylin,' announced Monday that Donald Trump will be the subject of his latest porn parody video, titled simply 'The Donald.'... All Republican members of Congress will receive a free copy, Flynt said in the press release, and it goes on sale to the public on Tuesday." -- CW

Alvin Chang of Vox: "We expect conservative presidential candidates to propose tax cuts, which in turn means less spending.... Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have plans that give massive tax cuts, but if you do the math, you realize their plans are quite irresponsible." A creative illustration of their unrealistic ideas. -- LT

Jonathan Chait: "Paul Ryan's shadow campaign for the presidency is well under way, and the visible portion peeking above the surface... Ryan has gone to enormous lengths to demonstrate to the national media that he truly and deeply loves poor people.... But however Ryan feels about poor people in his heart, the boundaries of his policy commitments lead inescapably to the result that he is going to massively reduce the amount of money the government spends on helping poor people. If Ryan didn't share these priorities, he wouldn't be the leader of the Republican Party, and insiders would be casting their eyes somewhere else for an alternative to Trump and Cruz." ...

... BUT: Steve M. is beginning to think Ryan isn't running for president: "The Ryan pseudo-campaign really might be the GOP establishment's way of running a third-party campaign without actually putting another presidential candidate on the ballot.... The marketing of Ryan is an upward stretch for the Republican brand, an attempt to regain sophisticated customers. Ryan is the ideal embodiment of this campaign, because the non-right-wing press loves him and will happily sell him to middle-of-the-road voters." -- CW ...

... Paul Waldman agrees with Steve. Ryan is running for the 2020 nomination: "... the best outcome for Ryan is as follows. He turns away all the entreaties, remaining noble and above the fray. Then the party, led by Trump or Cruz (or maybe even someone else) goes down to a crushing defeat in the fall. Even if that happens, Republicans will probably hold on to the House, making Ryan the most important Republican in the country for the next four years, leading the charge against yet another President Clinton." -- CW ...

... "Why Ryan Won't Run." Jake Sherman of Politico: "The backdrop of all his denials is the political reality that Ryan would likely lose. Most public polling has him faring relatively poorly in a potential matchup with Clinton. Of course, polls shift, but Ryan would be forced to launch and run a presidential campaign in three months. His experience from 2012 would help, but even the most talented campaigner would be at a disadvantage on such a compressed timetable." -- CW

AND Ben Carson Is Still Ben Carson. Andrew Kaczynski: "Ben Carson said in a radio interview last week that his support for Donald Trump is purely pragmatic, adding that he wouldn't support Trump if the stakes in the election were not so high." ...

... CW: Carson, who endorsed Trump, is supposedly a Trump campaign surrogate. I'm thinking Carson found out Trump isn't going to name him veep.

Beyond the Beltway

I'm not an extreme liberal.... But on this issue, I can't wrap my brain around it.... I hate guns.... It was a large caliber gun. A .45, [that killed Smith]. It was designed back during World War I.... It will kill someone within four or five seconds after they are struck. You bleed out.... We could go online and get 10 of them, and have them shipped to our house tomorrow. I don't believe that was the intention when they allowed for the right for citizens to bear arms. -- Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints coach, reacting to the killing of former Saints player Will Smith ...

... Jarrett Bell of USA Today: "In the aftermath of the senseless shooting on Saturday night that left former defensive end Will Smith dead -- and Smith's wife Racquel wounded -- amid a beef linked to a traffic accident, [Sean Payton] the New Orleans Saints coach is pleading for more gun control." -- CW

David Moye of the Huffington Post: Because of North Carolina's anti-LGBT law, "a popular porn website is banning all computers from 'The Tar Heel State.' XHamster.com has been refusing to serve anyone from North Carolina since 12:30 p.m. EDT, Monday.... The extreme measures will stay in place until North Carolina repeals House Bill 2, a law passed on March 23 that effectively prevents cities and counties in the state from passing rules that protect LGBT rights." -- CW

Marcel Harmon, in Salon, explains Gov. Brownback's latest attempts at privatizing education in Kansas with a big assist from ALEC. --safari

Casey Williams of The Huffington Post: "Major fossil fuel companies and trade groups shell out nearly $115 million a year to oppose efforts to reduce carbon emissions, according to a new report from the British research organization Influence Map...These figures dwarf the amount spent by supporters of climate change legislation, which is estimated at about $5 million annually...They're also bigger than sums spent by other major advocacy groups, like the pro-gun lobby, which reportedly spent nearly $10 million to 'influence' Congress in 2014." -- unwashed. Do I smell a waft of RICO in the air?

Sarah Nir of the New York Times: Over the weekend, thieves carved a hole in the roof of a Brooklyn branch of HSBC, tunneled into the vault & stole $280,000 or more. CW: This is so low-class. It would have been wiser & more lucrative for the perps to just get jobs with the bank & do their thievery the usual way.

Way Beyond

Steven Erlanger & Sewell Chan of the New York Times: "Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain clashed with the opposition Labour Party in Parliament on Monday over tax havens and his inherited wealth, and, in a spirited debate over economic fairness set off by the disclosures in the Panama Papers, defended the right of Britons to 'make money lawfully' as long as they paid their taxes." -- CW

Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "... when faced with an unparalleled influx of migrants and refugees, [Denmark] has taken a nasty turn. In that respect, Denmark has company: Across Europe, a once-tender embrace of those fleeing conflicts on the continent's doorstep has evolved into an uncompromising rejection.... But as Europe walls itself off, the continent is left to reckon with what's become of its long-cherished humanitarian beliefs. And to many in Denmark, the chasm between reputation and reality looks particularly gaping." -- CW

Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "Even after Russian President Vladimir Putin's sudden March 14 announcement that cut short Russia's Syrian deployment, officials said they would maintain a muscular presence on twin air and naval bases in coastal Syria. But the current level of activity would suggest that the pullout has been minor at best, despite last month's fanfare and Russian officials' insistence that they have withdrawn from Syria. Returning aviators were greeted with bouquets and brass bands, while military officials declared victory." -- CW

Jasmine Lee of the New York Times provides some explanation of Why the Russian Economy Is Tumbling: "[Putin's]...pulling troops from Syria, reducing a military intervention that has cost Russia $482 million so far...Increased defense spending -- at the expense of education, health care and infrastructure -- has been a part of Russia's return to the world stage...Now, the expansion has ceased. Russia recently announced plans to decrease its defense budget by 5 percent this year." -- unwashed