The Commentariat -- April 27, 2015

Internal links removed.

CW: I won't be doing much this week, & this weekend, probably nothing.

NEW. Tom Junod has a long piece re: drone warfare in Esquire titled "The Lethal Presidency of Barack Obama." CW: I take it Junod is horrified by the practice.

E. J. Dionne: "The world's democracies, perhaps especially our own, face a peculiar set of contradictions that are undermining faith in public endeavor and unraveling old loyalties.... This is a big problem for self-government, since aggregating sustainable majorities is the first task of politicians in democratic countries. They are not doing a very good job, and the unfolding 2016 campaign doesn't inspire much confidence that they'll do better." ...

... ** Paul Krugman: "... we live in an age of unacknowledged error.... Refusing to accept responsibility for past errors is a serious character flaw in one's private life. It rises to the level of real wrongdoing when policies that affect millions of lives are at stake." ...

... CW: I would like just one or two prominent ObamaCare opponents to stand up & say, "ObamaCare is working pretty well. And no wonder: it was a Republican idea."

Michael Cohen of the Boston Globe: "WikiLeaks has done far more damage to privacy than the NSA.... Wikileaks has been a huge supporter of [Edward] Snowden and various other leakers, on the grounds that we need to hold governments accountable. Yet Wikileaks' actions this week are in the direct service of those who originally hacked Sony -- the totalitarian rulers of North Korea."

The Price of Packer's Ennui. Corey Robin in Salon: George "Packer belongs to a special tribe of ideologically ambidextrous scribblers -- call them political romantics -- who are always on the lookout for a certain kind of experience in politics.... They want a feeling. A feeling of exaltation and elation, unmoored from any specific idea or principle save that of sacrifice, of giving oneself over to the nation and its cause." What they're really looking for is violence & war.

Presidential Race

Evan McMurry of Mediaite: "linton Cash author Peter Schweizer appeared on This Week and faced a very skeptical George Stephanopoulos, who argued that his accusations that Hillary Clinton exchanged favorable treatment from the U.S. State Department for multimillion dollar donations to the Clinton Foundation were unsubstantiated." ...

... Mistakes Were Made. Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The acting chief of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation acknowledged in a new statement that the global philanthropy launched 15 years ago by the former president has made missteps -- but defended the organization's charitable work and its commitment to transparency." ...

... Here's the statement, by Maura Pally, acting CEO of the foundation.

Margaret Hartmann of New York: "The 2016 campaign has barely begun and Jeb Bush has already uttered what's likely to be the most ironic statement of the whole cycle. 'I don't think you need to spend a billion dollars to be elected president of the United States in 2016,' Bush said on Sunday.... Bush made the remark at a press conference in Miami Beach, where he's just kicked off a two-day conference for 350 of his top campaign bundlers.... Bush told donors on Sunday night that he believes Right to Rise[, a Bush superPAC,] has raised more money in 100 days than any modern Republican campaign.... Presumably Bush won't need to raise a billion for his actual campaign fund if he simply lets super-PACs handle his advertising, data gathering, and get out the vote efforts." ...

... Jason Horowitz & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Former President George W. Bush offered rare, and broad-ranging, remarks Saturday night about current national security threats and the 2016 presidential campaign to a large audience of Jewish donors, suggesting that sanctions on Iran should not be lifted, that his last name was a burden to his brother, the likely presidential candidate Jeb Bush, and that Hillary Rodham Clinton, while 'formidable,' was beatable." ...

... Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "Former president George W. Bush plans to stay off the 2016 campaign trail as his younger brother prepares to mount a presidential bid, telling a group of Republican Jewish donors here that he does not want to fuel an anti-dynastic backlash."

Martin Hensch of the Hill: "... at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition summit in Waukee, Iowa..., [Ted] Cruz said same-sex marriage had produced rabid zealotry in Democratic ranks. This ideology, he argued, was excluding people of faith. 'Today's Democratic Party has become so radicalized for legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states that there is no longer any room for religious liberty.'" ...

... AND This Is Totally Believable. Michael Barbaro & Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Ian Reisner, one of the two gay hoteliers facing boycott calls for hosting an event for Senator Ted Cruz, who is adamantly opposed to gay marriage, apologized to the gay community.... Mr. Reisner put the apology on Facebook, where a page calling for a boycott of his properties, the gay-friendly OUT NYC hotel and his Fire Island Pines holdings, had gotten more than 8,200 'likes' by Sunday evening.... 'I've spent the past 24 hours reviewing videos of Cruz' statements on gay marriage and I am shocked and angry.'" CW: Sorry, Ian, nobody is as ignorant as you claim to be. Your apology will not to CYA.

Beyond the Beltway

Giving Gruesome New Meaning to "Beat the Press." Evan Serpick of the City Paper: "City Paper Photo Editor J.M. Giordano was tackled and beaten by Baltimore City police outside of Western District headquarters last night while covering protests over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. In a video shot by City Paper Managing Editor Baynard Woods you can see Giordano, wearing a green jacket, and a protester, both of whom had just been knocked to the ground by police, being beaten as Woods yells, 'He's a photographer! He's press!'" ...

... Kevin Rector of the Baltimore Sun: "A photographer for Reuters was detained and another for the Baltimore City Paper was thrown to the ground by Baltimore Police officers while covering protests over police brutality late Saturday, they said.... The City Paper is owned by the Baltimore Sun Media Group.... Police said there were 34 arrests citywide on Saturday and early Sunday in relation to the protests." CW: Sounds as if somebody should have arrested a few of the cops.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Police on Monday clashed with protesters who tossed rocks and bricks at officers, looted stores and damaged police cruisers, injuring several officers. Police said that seven officers have been hurt in incidents that began near the Mondawmin Mall in the Reisterstown Road area. Some officers suffered broken bones and one officer was unresponsive, police said in an afternoon press conference.... On Monday evening, Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and announced he had activated the Maryland National Guard. The Baltimore Orioles announced they had postponed a game set for Monday evening against the Chicago White Sox." ...

... Baltimore Sun: "In a funeral service Monday that was both personal and political, family, friends and strangers alike said farewell on Monday to Freddie Gray, the Baltimore man whose death from injuries sustained in police custody has sparked a national furor."

... Here's the Sun's liveblog.

New York Times: Climbers at Mount Everest describe the earthquake & avalanche.

New York Times: "Jayne Meadows, a glamorous redheaded actress who starred on Broadway, in the movies and on television, but who was probably best known for her 46-year role as Steve Allen's wife, business partner and frequent co-star, died on Sunday at her home in Encino, Calif. She was 95."

The Commentariat -- April 26, 2015

Internal links * defunct video removed.

President Obama speaks at the White House Correspondents dinner. The guy is a natural comedian; watch his timing:

... CW: Here's something I didn't know, & Michael Shear of the New York Times brings me up to speed: Keegan-Michael Key is "half of Comedy Central's irreverent 'Key and Peele' show" & last night he was "reprising his TV role as Luther, the president's Anger Translator." ...

... Cecily Strong followed President Obama, because it "feels right to have a woman follow President Obama." CW: I thought she did a swell job, but Strong is a professional comedian & IMO, her delivery wasn't as good as the President's:

Zach Carter of the Huffington Post: "Progressive Democrats have been hoping to see a showdown between Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton for years. Instead, they're getting a public feud between the senator from Massachusetts and President Barack Obama. Obama accused Warren and congressional Democrats on Friday of being 'dishonest' and spreading 'misinformation' about the Trans-Pacific Partnership... On Saturday, Warren and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) responded with a letter essentially telling Obama to put up or shut up. If the deal is so great, Warren and Brown wrote, the administration should make the full negotiation texts public before Congress votes on a "fast track" bill that would strip the legislative branch of its authority to amend it." Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link.

Michael Schmidt & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Some of President Obama's email correspondence was swept up by Russian hackers last year in a breach of the White House's unclassified computer system that was far more intrusive and worrisome than has been publicly acknowledged, according to senior American officials briefed on the investigation. The hackers, who also got deeply into the State Department's unclassified system, do not appear to have penetrated closely guarded servers that control the message traffic from Mr. Obama's BlackBerry, which he or an aide carries constantly.... On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter revealed for the first time that Russian hackers had attacked the Pentagon's unclassified systems, but said they had been identified and 'kicked off.'">

... CW: Digby sees this exactly as I do: "After all the sturm und drang over Clinton having her private and unclassified emails on a private server, this is a wee bit ironic.... It appears our vaunted security experts aren't that expert ... shocked, I am."

Disciples of Dick. Digby, in Salon: "... Republican senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham ... are losing their positions as the most hawkish members of the GOP.... Now it's time for Dick Cheney's disciples to take the reins and bring the party's warmongering spirit into the 21st century. Tom Cotton is prepared to lead the way."

Anna Palmer, et al., of Politico: House Transportation Committee chair Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) secretly fast-tracked an airlines-friendly bill through the House while he was dating Shelley Rubino, an airlines lobbyist. "The ties go beyond Shuster and Rubino: The wife of Shuster's chief of staff is a top executive for Airlines for America, which is known as A4A. And the congressman recently hired an A4A lobbyist to run the committee's aviation panel.... A4A was unsuccessful in getting the measure through the Senate, and it's now seeking Shuster's help again. The trade association is trying to wedge the legislation into a massive overhaul of the Federal Aviation Administration pending before the transportation panel. Shuster is crafting that bill, and Rubino's group has a major stake in it."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Matt Gertz & Joe Strupp of Media Matters: "Journalists have suggested that conservative author Peter Schweizer's forthcoming book attacking Hillary Clinton is more credible because he will follow it up with a similar book examining Jeb Bush. But according to his publisher, no such book is in the works: Schweizer's reporting on Bush will be published on the website of his non-profit organization.... Bloomberg Politics reported on April 23 that in contrast to the 'left-wing clamor that Schweizer is simply out to get Hillary Clinton,' 'Schweizer is working on a similar investigation of Jeb Bush's finances that he expects to publish this summer.'" ...

... CW: AND as a commenter (MAG???) pointed out here some time ago, won't we be surprised if Schweizer can't find a single irregularity in Bush's financial dealings? If, on the other hand, he does self-publish a Bush hit job, to me that means he's supporting a more confederate candidate.

God News

It's Not God's Country Anymore. For the first time in the history of our country, the government is attacking people, prosecuting people, calling for people to be rehabilitated.... We have the state establishing a new religion, a secular state religion.... We have now the secular church that is being imposed on this country and anybody that defects is subject to persecution and prosecution. -- Rick Santorum, this week on the radio

We are moving rapidly toward the criminalization of Christianity. -- Mike Huckabee, this week

Just this week, Michele Bachmann actually predicted that I would bring about the biblical end of days. Now, that's a legacy. That's big. I mean, Lincoln, Washington, they didn’t do that. -- President Obama, White House Correspondents dinner speech

William Eskridge in a New York Times op-ed: "... leaders in the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the official organizations of conservative and reform Judaism, and more than 1,900 theologians signed a brief urging the court to legalize same-sex marriage.... The faith traditions supporting marriage equality are telling the court that religions, like American families, are diverse. An increasing number of Bible-based faith communities have an inclusive attitude toward gay families and marriages.... The current Baptist view that God condemns 'homosexual behavior' and same-sex marriages comes from the same kind of broad and anachronistic scriptural readings as prior support for segregation.

Presidential Race

Michael Hirsh of Politico Magazine: "... it is highly unlikely that very much of what [Peter] Schweizer alleges will stick, if only because that classic Washington omelette made of equal parts policy and political reasons can never be unmade once it's cooked: Especially among the uber-cautious Clintons, you'll never find the smoking ingredient; no one will ever be caught saying, 'Let's make a policy decision for Bill's donors.'"

Trip Gabriel & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Nine declared or likely Republican candidates descended on a large church in Iowa on Saturday to court evangelical Christians, the voters who played the starring role in the state's two most recent caucuses. They included the winners of those two contests (Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee), newcomers whose biographies lend themselves to evangelical support (Ted Cruz and Scott Walker), and candidates who would like to win some support from the Christian right but are eyeing broad coalitions (Rand Paul and Marco Rubio). The nine-candidate lineup in the worship hall of Point of Grace Church in Waukee, a Des Moines suburb, was proof of evangelical power in Iowa, but also a warning that the script may be rewritten in 2016, with so many candidates competing for social conservatives that their votes splinter." ...

... James Hohmann of Politico: "Leading Republican presidential candidates came to Iowa Saturday to assure social conservatives that they still oppose gay marriage, despite shifting public attitudes and the recent backlash against religious liberty laws. Speaking to some 1,000 evangelicals at the Point of Grace Church in [a] suburb of Des Moines, a procession of presidential candidates expressed support for a constitutional amendment that would allow states to re-ban gay marriage if the Supreme Court recognizes a right to such unions."

Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Michigan governor Rick Snyder may be the newest GOP candidate for the White House. Snyder mingled with donors at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas on Friday and told at least one attendee that he was a candidate. On Saturday morning, the former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman told reporters: 'I met with Rick Snyder yesterday. He's running. He's running.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Sour Cakes. George Rede of the Oregonian: "The lesbian couple turned away by a Gresham bakery that refused to make them a wedding cake for religious reasons should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering, a state hearings officer says. Rachel Bowman-Cryer should collect $75,000 and her wife, Laurel Bowman-Cryer, $60,000 from the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, an administrative law judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries said in a proposed order released Friday, April 24."

If you were wondering why so many boat people are drowning as they seek refuge in Europe, Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker has the answer: "... when, in October of 2013, some three hundred people drowned in a wreck off Lampedusa, Italy was spurred to spend nine million euros a month -- and to deploy a good part of its Navy -- on a humanitarian search-and-rescue mission called Mare Nostrum (Our Sea). The results were immediate: after a year, a hundred and fifty thousand people had been rescued. Mare Nostrum had made crossing the Mediterranean safer -- and easier. For that reason, late last year, the European Union called for an end to the mission. Britain's Foreign Office minister, Joyce Anelay, explained that search and rescue creates 'an unintended "pull factor," encouraging more migrants.'... International maritime law and custom require that you save everyone you can...." CW: As good a reason as many to give Britain's conservative government a no-confidence vote.

News Ledes

New York Times: "A powerful earthquake shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu, killing more than 1,900 people, flattening sections of the city's historic center, and trapping dozens of sightseers in a 200-foot watchtower that came crashing down into a pile of bricks." ...

     ... Update: "By Monday afternoon, Nepalese authorities had sharply raised the death toll to more than 3,400, but the full extent of the devastation and death was still unclear."

New York Times: "A largely peaceful protest over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal cord injury in police custody, gave way to scattered scenes of chaos [in Baltimore] on Saturday night, as demonstrators smashed a downtown storefront window, threw rocks and bottles and damaged police cruisers, while officers in riot gear broke up skirmishes and made 12 arrests near Camden Yards. Shortly before 10 p.m., Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake convened a news conference at City Hall, where she appeared with several others -- including Mr. Gray's twin sister, Fredericka; a prominent pastor, Jamal Bryant; and City Councilman Brandon Scott -- to appeal for calm. By that time the disturbances had largely settled.

The Commentariat -- April 25, 2015

Internal links removed.

Greg Miller & Julie Tate of the Washington Post: President Obama's revelation that a U.S. drone had killed two Western hostages in January "has revived questions about why the White House has been unwilling to provide similar information on dozens of other strikes over the past decade where there is abundant evidence that civilians were killed." ...

... Dan Roberts & Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "On Thursday, the White House conceded it did not specifically know whom it had targeted in the 'al-Qaida compounds' where US drones killed Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, as well as American-born militants Adam Gadahn and Ahmed Farouq and two others. The admission suggests that 'signature strikes' -- lethal strikes launched without necessarily knowing who is in the crosshairs -- have continued despite the president's 2013 announcement that new rules would govern strikes. The order mandates that the CIA can authorize strikes only if it knows with 'near certainty that the terrorist target' is present." ...

... Steve Coll of the New Yorker: "... the President's mea culpa masks an important and timely question: How exactly did this mistake at the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorism Center happen, and who will be held accountable for it? By putting the President out front and withholding all but the broadest details about the failed operation, the Obama Administration apparently hopes to evade that question.... Obama must own up to the fact that the changes he ordered [in 2013] failed to prevent a tragic, consequential error. The best way for the President to accept responsibility would be for him to order greater transparency about what happened in January and why, and, more broadly, to accept that secret violence beyond public accountability, no matter its justification, cannot play such a central role in any democracy's 'long war' strategy." ...

... William Saleton of Slate: "But these two deaths, tragic as they are, don't change the fundamental truth: For civilians, drones are the safest form of war in modern history." ...

... W. J. Hennigan & Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times: "The White House is considering revamping its overseas hostage-rescue program after CIA drone strikes that mistakenly killed an American and an Italian held captive by terrorists in Pakistan.... A key proposal would create an interagency task force to better coordinate efforts by the FBI, the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies to find and free abduction victims...."

Dick Cavett remembers Vietnam, though he'd rather not. "Dick Cavett's Vietnam" will air on PBS Monday:

White House: "In this week's address, the President lays out why new, high-standards trade agreements are important for our economy, our businesses, our workers, and our values":

... Greg Sargent: "On a conference call with a small group of reporters, President Obama significantly intensified his criticism of Elizabeth Warren and other opponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, accusing them of being 'dishonest' about the secrecy around the TPP process, suggesting they were playing to their 'fundraising' lists, and arguing flatly that they were using 'misinformation that stirs up the base but doesn't serve them well.'.... 'I'm not adverse to continuing to engage with members of Congress or unions or anybody else in the progressive community about how we can make sure this is the strongest agreement possible,' Obama concluded. 'But what I am adverse to is a bunch of ad hominem attacks and misinformation that stirs up the base but ultimately doesn't serve them well. And I'm going to be pushing back very hard if I keep on hearing that.'"

Maybe Dana Milbank Missed the Call: Elizabeth "Warren is right: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an abomination -- not because of the deal itself, and not because free trade in general is a bad idea. The TPP is an abomination because [President] Obama had a chance to protect American workers from the harm that would inevitably come from such a pact, and he didn't take it, or at least he hasn't." ...

... Greg Nelson of the White House contrasts the TPP with NAFTA. Charts! According to the White House, the TPP does a lot to protect workers everywhere. ...

... Ellen Brown, in Common Dreams, asserts the TPP will cause "the death of the Republic: The TPP would destroy our republican form of government under the rule of law, by elevating the rights of investors -- also called the rights of 'capital' -- above the rights of the citizens. That means that TPP is blatantly unconstitutional.... Neo-liberalism and corporate contributions seem to have blinded the deal's proponents so much that they cannot see they are selling out the sovereignty of the United States to foreign and multinational corporations." CW: That doesn't seem good. ...

... Ryan Cooper of the Week says that U.S. negotiators added all those corporate goodies to the TPP in order to get Congress to pass it: "... corporate oligarchs ... have the money and lobbying muscle needed to get something through our jalopy legislature. So the administration slanted the deal heavily towards some key sectors, even allowing some corporate representatives access to the documents that were denied to members of Congress. And now the thing has built up so much momentum that Obama is invested in passing it if only so he doesn't look like he lost something big."

Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "During a farewell speech Friday at the Justice Department, where [Eric] Holder spent more than a quarter-century of his career, he highlighted the department's accomplishments over the past six years, saying he took particular pride in his efforts to empower the powerless and protect civil rights."

Cecilia Kang & Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "By the time [Comcast CEO Brian Roberts called FCC Chair Tom Wheeler on Monday], Wheeler and his staff at the FCC had already decided to block the $45 billion megadeal, one of the largest ever to come before Washington regulators.... On Wednesday, Comcast executives were summoned to a meeting in a nondescript conference room at the agency to hear the verdict: No amount of concessions would save the deal. Comcast and Time Warner would simply be too big and threatening to an array of competitors, particularly online video providers." ...

... Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The announcement Friday morning that Comcast was terminating its effort to take over Time Warner Cable, a plan that would have united the nation's top two cable operators, ultimately collapsed because of clear signals that federal regulators were preparing to block it. But the warning signs were already present from the muted reception it had received on Capitol Hill." ...

... CW: One never knows what might have been, but my guess is that under a different POTUS, Brian Roberts would be popping champagne bottles. Also, thanks, John Oliver! ...

... Sam Thielman of the Guardian: "The $45bn Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, which would have been the biggest deal in cable history, is officially dead as of Friday morning. That outcome is due in no small part to consumers who managed to make their voices heard to regulators above the lobbying dollars of Big Cable who -- in the last year alone -- spent a combined $32m making sure they were heard in Washington." ...

... Alison Griswold of Slate thinks Comcast's famously horrible customer "service" played a part. And she doesn't even mention the company's habit of changing dissatisfied customers' names to "Asshole Brown" or "SuperBitch," or just randomly adding "Whore" as the prefix to a customer's name. 

Daniel Slotnik of the New York Times: "Bruce Jenner, the Olympic gold medalist and member of the Kardashian family, ended months of speculation on Friday night in announcing during an ABC television special that he identifies as a woman."

Will Sommer of City Desk: "A U.S. Senate staffer allegedly dabbled in drug importation, according to law enforcement. Fred W. Pagan, a staffer for U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) allegedly told law enforcement agents that he imported drugs from China in a plan to exchange them for sexual favors, according to new documents filed in U.S. District Court.... Pagan works as Cochran's office manager." ...

... Arturo Garcia of the Raw Story: "The 49-year-old suspect, who is registered to vote as a Democrat, reportedly began working for Cochran when he was 16 years old. He is currently Cochran's office manager and personal assistant." CW: So, bipartisan meth-for-sex. Excellent.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "An NBC News internal investigation into Brian Williams has examined a half-dozen instances in which he is thought to have fabricated, misrepresented or embellished his accounts, two people with knowledge of the investigation said. The investigation includes at least one episode that was previously unreported, these people said, involving statements by Mr. Williams about events from Tahrir Square in Cairo during the Arab Spring."

Presidential Race

Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Thursday said 'deep-seated ... religious beliefs' have to be changed before the world's women will get full access to abortion. 'Far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth. All the laws we've passed don't count for much if they're not enforced,' Clinton said. 'Rights have to exist in practice -- not just on paper,' Clinton argued. 'Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will.'... Clinton's remarks came during the sixth annual Women in The World Summit in New York." ...

... Steve M. on how wingers are taking Clinton's remarks out of context. "... that's how the right does it." ...

... Paul Krugman slams his own paper (without mentioning it by name): "If you are old enough to remember the 1990s, you remember the endless parade of alleged scandals, Whitewater above all -- all of them fomented by right-wing operatives, all eagerly hyped by mainstream news outlets, none of which actually turned out to involve wrongdoing. The usual rules didn't seem to apply; instead it was Clinton rules, under which innuendo and guilt by association were considered perfectly OK, in which the initial suggestion of lawbreaking received front-page headlines and the subsequent discovery that there was nothing there was buried in the back pages if it was reported at all.... So, is this time different? First indications are not encouraging...."

Tim Egan: "We are in the 'invisible primary,' an apt term for the age of oligarchs and dark money. It's invisible, this suck-up campaign, because it's happening behind the closed doors of a wealthy few, as a half-dozen or so Republicans audition to win the blessing of billionaires. It should be called the Plutocrat Primary.... At some point, you would think that average Americans would be appalled by a few rich guys trying to buy the next presidential election. And -- hope alert! -- you did see a great pushback against the Koches in red-state Montana this month. There, Koch-funded surrogates tried to keep poor people from getting health care, through the Medicaid expansion option of Obamacare. Koch agents were booed at one hearing. And they were shamed at another, for the stark cruelty of two people worth a combined $80 billion dollars trying to deny a basic human decency to people who earn $11,000 a year. Health care is on the way in Montana."

David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Instead of a triumph, [Marco] Rubio's involvement with the immigration bill became a cautionary tale about a gifted freshman who had miscalculated his capability. Now, as he begins a run for president, Rubio is left trying to run away from the most prominent item on his political résumé." ...

... Gail Collins reviews The Life of Marco, or whatever Rubio calls his autobiography. It turns out that at an early age, Little Marco made all the family's important decisions, including which faith to follow. (CW: This seems particularly hilarious inasmuch as Marco now attends two churches whose creeds seldom overlap.) Anyway, "God figures a lot in this story, and although Rubio says he knows 'God didn't endorse candidates,"' he does make it pretty clear that he knows who would win if God had an absentee ballot." Also prominent: the Miami Dolphins.

Beyond the Beltway

Peter Hermann & Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "Top officials [in Baltimore] acknowledged Friday that Freddie Gray was not treated properly when he was arrested nearly two weeks ago but said they are still probing how he suffered the severe spinal injury that appears to have led to his death. Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said Gray was never seat-belted after being placed in a transport van, a violation of department policy. Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis said that Gray was not offered medical attention despite several requests and that officers should have called for an ambulance when they arrested him." ...

... Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "... police-involved killings [in Baltimore] are woven into Baltimore's psyche, part of what Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake calls the 'broken relationship' between residents of this majority black city and a police department with a history of aggressive, sometimes brutal behavior." ...

... Doug Donovan & Mark Puente of the Baltimore Sun: Freddie "Gray is not the first person to come out of a Baltimore police wagon with serious injuries.... For some, such injuries have been inflicted by what is known as a 'rough ride' -- an 'unsanctioned technique' in which police vans are driven to cause 'injury or pain' to unbuckled, handcuffed detainees, former city police officer Charles J. Key testified as an expert five years ago in a lawsuit over [Dondi] Johnson's subsequent death.

News Ledes

Saturday, April 25, 2015.

New York Times: "Pledging to shut down the city, thousands of demonstrators jammed the streets of Baltimore on Saturday to protest the death of a black man who sustained a fatal spinal cord injury while in police custody." ...

... Baltimore Sun: "A day of peaceful rallies into the death of Freddie Gray turned violent as dark fell over Baltimore with protesters smashing the windows on police cars, blocking traffic near the Inner Harbor and shouting, 'Killers!' at officers dressed in riot gear." ...

... The Sun also is loveblogging the demonstrations.

New York Times: "An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu. People in the capital described scenes of panic and collapsed buildings, and the United States Geological Survey predicted severe damage to villages near the quake's epicenter, about 50 miles from Katmandu." ...

... New Lede: "A powerful earthquake shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu, killing more than 1,300 people, flattening sections of the city's historic center and trapping dozens of sightseers in a 200-foot watchtower that came crashing down into a pile of bricks." ...

... At 9 pm ET, the Washington Post has the death toll at 1,500. By midnight, the Post was reporting 1,800 dead. ...

... The Guardian is liveblogging developments. ...

... NEW. Washington Post: "An Indian army mountaineering team found 18 bodies on Mount Everest on Saturday, an army spokesman said, after a massive earthquake in Nepal unleashed an avalanche on the world's tallest mountain at the start of the main climbing season." ...

Katmandu's historic Dharahara Tower, before & after the quake.... NEW. Washington Post: "The devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that violently shook Nepal on Saturday left more than human casualties in its wake. The country also saw a number of its iconic UNESCO World Heritage sites and most popular tourist attractions -- some dating more than 1,700 years -- reduced to piles of rubble."

AP: "The University of Florida suspended one of its fraternities on Friday after allegations that its members hurled drunken insults and spat at a group of disabled military veterans at a Panama City Beach resort."