The Commentariat -- June 4, 2013

A meritocracy is a system in which the people who are the luckiest in their health and genetic endowment; luckiest in terms of family support, encouragement, and, probably, income; luckiest in their educational and career opportunities; and luckiest in so many other ways difficult to enumerate--these are the folks who reap the largest rewards. The only way for even a putative meritocracy to hope to pass ethical muster, to be considered fair, is if those who are the luckiest in all of those respects also have the greatest responsibility to work hard, to contribute to the betterment of the world, and to share their luck with others. As the Gospel of Luke says (and I am sure my rabbi will forgive me for quoting the New Testament in a good cause): 'From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.' -- Ben Bernanke ...

... The full text of Bernanke's Princeton commencement address is here. ...

... ** Paul Krugman on Ben Bernanke's view of meritocracy (and why he favors a top tax rate of [at least] 73 percent). CW: A must-read, which raises the question: is Ben Bernanke the only Republican socialist?...

... Oh. Kevin Drum thinks maybe Bernanke is no longer a Republican.

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama will nominate two female lawyers and an African-American federal judge to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Tuesday, according to a White House official, in an effort to help reshape the federal judiciary before leaving office. The president will nominate veteran appelate lawyer Patricia A. Millett; Georgetown University Law Center professor Cornelia T. L. Pillard; and Robert L. Wilkins, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to the official.... Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, made it clear Monday Obama's nominees will face serious resistance." The New York Times story, by Michael Shear, is here. ...

     ... CW Update: in his nominating remarks, President Obama thoroughly smacked down Senate Republicans for obstructing his nominees & falsely accusing him of court-packing.

... ** Steve Benen: "... let's emphasize how uncontroversial this is -- there are vacancies on an important federal bench, so the president is sending qualified nominees to the Senate for consideration. Republicans are characterizing this as a scandalous power-grab, while many political reporters are describing this as Obama thumbing his nose at his political rivals. In reality, it's neither -- presidents filling judicial vacancies is basic American governance. It's Civics 101. That today's announcement is seen as somehow remarkable is evidence of just how broken the process has become." Read the whole post.

Natsha Lennard of Salon on the Bradley Manning trial.

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "The nation's military chiefs have told Congress in writing that they oppose or have strong reservations about a controversial bill that would reshape military law by taking sexual-assault cases out of the hands of commanders, setting up a likely clash with lawmakers who are pushing the idea. In a rare joint appearance, the uniformed leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to testify Tuesday before a Senate panel about what the Pentagon has described as an 'epidemic' of sex crimes in the ranks.... In an interview Monday, [Sen. Kirsten] Gillibrand [D-N.Y.] said the service chiefs' reluctance to weaken commanders' legal authority is inconsistent with their acknowledgment that most victims of sexual assault in the military do not trust their superiors to protect them or take their cases seriously."

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The death of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey poses new complications for the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill as they try to push their agenda through a Senate where even a single vote can derail legislation. So crucial was Mr. Lautenberg's reliably liberal vote in a Senate where his party held a 55-45 majority that Democratic leaders twice asked him in recent weeks to return to Washington to vote despite his failing health." ...

... David Halbfinger of the New York Times: "The death of Frank R. Lautenberg on Monday has left Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey with [an] opportunity ... fraught with pitfalls, none bigger than having to choose between improving his party's fortunes in Washington and furthering his own political ambitions at home." ...

... Rachel Maddow on yesterday's news, Doonesbury, Frank Lautenberg, & Chris Christie's choice:

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Police may take D.N.A. samples from people arrested for serious crimes, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision. 'When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and they bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody,' Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority, 'taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee's D.N.A. is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.' Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas, Stephen G. Breyer and Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined the majority opinion." ...

... The Supremes. New York Times Editors side with Nino & his backup group. CW: yes, a sexist remark, but this is an OTO (One Time Only): Scalia writes an opinion in which only Ginsberg, Sotomayor & Kagan concur.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post on the House GOP -- hey, it's in disarray, broken into warring factions! Ya gotta love sentences like this: "The cabal quickly fell apart when several Republicans, after a night of prayer, said God told them to spare the speaker." Can they govern? No, they can't. ...

... OR, as Barbara Morrill of Daily Kos puts it: "John Boehner can thank God for his job. Literally." ...

... ** Dana Milbank: "A third House committee joined the stampede to examine the IRS on Monday, and its chairman did exactly what you would expect somebody to do before launching a fair and impartial investigation: He went on Fox News Channel and implicated the White House.... [The] approach by House Republicans ... seems to follow the Lewis Carroll school of jurisprudence. Not only are they placing the sentence before the verdict, they're putting the verdict before the trial." ...

... Lauren French of Politico: "Daniel Werfel..., the man President Barack Obama tapped to fix the scandal-scarred IRS, is moving aggressively to restore some measure of credibility there." ....

... MEANWHILE, Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Some powerful House Republicans, e.g., Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, think they can gin up such public anger at the IRS that they can translate it into significant public support for a tax code overhaul that "would mean sacrificing or curtailing some politically popular tax breaks, like education tax credits and the mortgage interest deduction." So, anger at this ...

     ... will cause taxpayers to think that raising their personal tax obligations (by losing popular deductions & taking advantage of other tax breaks) is a great idea. It could work!

Jay Carney's non-response response to Darrell Issa's calling him a "paid liar":

... Sabrina Siddiqui of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Monday became the latest Republican to reject Darrell Issa's comments that White House press secretary Jay Carney is a 'paid liar' in relation to the IRS controversy. But Graham went further than his Republican colleagues, saying there's no evidence that the White House ordered the tax agency to target conservative groups.... Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also pushed back on Issa's 'liar' charge during a TV appearance Monday morning." ...

... MEANWHILE, Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday accused the Justice Department (DOJ) of targeting reporters who are critical of the Obama administration. 'We have seen a consistent pattern in this administration, and the pattern is a willingness to use the machinery of government to target those they perceive as their political enemies,' Cruz said on Fox News." ...

... Not that Tailgunner Ted doesn't have a teensy credibility problem:

The Obama Justice Department has decreased the prosecution of violent gun crimes by 30 percent. -- Sen. Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas)

Cruz is comparing Obama's performance against a high that even the Bush administration achieved only once. Moreover..., the numbers depend in part on decisions by non-federal prosecutors. In cases when federal prosecutors have decided whether to act on a referral, the data show that Obama's record actually is better than Bush's. -- Glenn Kessler

Jordy Yager of the Hill: "The Justice Department on Monday said Attorney General Eric Holder did not lie to Congress in his testimony about a national security investigation involving Fox News reporter James Rosen. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said DOJ never intended to prosecute Rosen, but was merely investigating him as part of a broader probe against a State Department employee believed to have leaked information to the reporter."

Andrew Rosenthal reviews the newest 2012 GOP post-mortem on "why young people don't vote Republican": when young people "were asked what words came to mind when they heard 'Republican Party,' the results 'were brutal -- closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.'"

Ezra Klein debunks conservative Forbes columnist Avik Roy's pretend comparison-shopping for health insurance. CW: are conservatives "paid liars" or are they just pathetic ignoramuses? ...

... Okay, at the state level, legislators are just pathetic ignoramuses -- and vindictive ideologues. Klein again: A "study by the Rand corporation looks at the 14 states that have said they will opt out of the new Medicaid funds. It finds that the result will be they get $8.4 billion less in federal funding, have to spend an extra $1 billion in uncompensated care, and end up with about 3.6 million fewer insured residents. So then, the math works out like this: States rejecting the expansion will spend much more, get much, much less, and leave millions of their residents uninsured. That's a lot of self-inflicted pain to make a political point."

Frederic Frommer of the AP: " A Tampa, Fla., socialite and her husband claimed in a lawsuit Monday that the government willfully leaked false and defamatory information about them in the scandal that led to the resignation of Gen. David Petraeus as CIA director. Jill Kelley and Scott Kelley filed the lawsuit in federal court against the FBI, Pentagon and unidentified officials in the government, claiming the couple's privacy was violated."

The largest tornado ever recorded in the U.S.:

News Ledes

Russian Guards Nab Feline Smuggler! Raw Story: "The Russian prison service said Monday it had caught a cat being used as a courier to smuggle banned cell phones and chargers into a prison camp in the country's remote far north."

NBC News: "An American woman was gang-raped after accepting a ride in India, where previous sex attacks have sparked angry protests and scared off female tourists. Police said three men were being questioned Tuesday about the attack in a resort town in the foothills of the Himalayas, which is certain to focus new attention on the plight of women in India."

Reuters: "The court-martial of a soldier charged with using the WikiLeaks website for the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history heads into a second day on Tuesday, with a cyber crime investigator the day's lead-off witness. At the start of the trial on Monday, military prosecutors said Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, had been driven by arrogance to leak more than 700,000 documents, combat videos and other data to the anti-secrecy website, hurting U.S. interests."

New York Times: "Reporting 'new levels of brutality' in Syria's more than two-year-old conflict, United Nations investigators said on Tuesday they believed chemical weapons and thermobaric bombs were used in recent weeks and urged the international community to cut off supplies of weapons that could only result in more civilian casualties." ...

     ... NBC News Update: "Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday defended a scheduled arms sale to Syria after the United Nations released a scathing report citing 'new levels of cruelty and brutality' by the regime of President Bashar Assad and calling for a halt to all arms transfers to the embattled country. Putin said any attempt to intervene militarily in Syria would be 'doomed to fail' and echoed the UN call for restricting arms sales -- but only to rebel forces trying to overthrow Assad."

Reuters: "China and Russia are expected to join four Western powers in voicing deep concern about Iran's atomic activities this week and pressing it to cooperate with a stalled inquiry by the U.N. nuclear agency, diplomats said on Tuesday."

AP: " A 22-year-old man died during an anti-government protest in a [Turkish] city near the border with Syria and officials gave conflicting reports on what caused his death, as hundreds of riot police backed by water cannons deployed around the prime minister's office in the capital Tuesday."

The Commentariat -- June 3, 2013

Adam Clymer of the New York Times: "Frank R. Lautenberg, who fought the alcohol and tobacco industries and promoted Amtrak as a five-term United States senator from New Jersey, died Monday morning in Manhattan. He was 89." CW: in mid-April, the ailing Lautenberg returned to Washington to vote for gun control legislation. He also returned May 16, according to the Bergen Record, and "said he was feeling better and hoped to be in Washington more regularly." A brave man, right to the end. ...

... The Star-Ledger obituary is here.

... CW: worth noting: Gov. Chris Christie (R) will name his replacement. Not sure how New Jersey law works re: Senate vacancies, but we'll find out soon. Update: according to the Bergen Record, which was the first to report Lautenberg's death, Christie's "appointee would serve until a new senator is elected to a full six-year term in 2014." ...

     ... Update 2. Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Christie also will have broad authority to set a special election for the seat. Because of the high costs associated with holding an election, setting it for Nov. 5, 2013 seems like the natural choice. New Jersey is already holding its off-year state elections at that time.... But New Jersey special election law is a somewhat murky, with two provisions that are difficult to square up."

Jim Newell of Salon has a very good summary of the Sunday show folderol. Isn't it delightful that Stephanopoulos summoned Valerie Plame leaker Karl Rove to opine on the horrors of squelching leakers? CW: Newell is not as witty as Charles Pierce, but a reporter need only report what the gobshites are saying to get laughs. ...

... Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) claimed on Sunday that political officials in the Obama administration directed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents in Cincinnati to target conservative groups applying for 501 (c)(4) status, but his charge fell apart when probed by CNN host Candy Crowley":

     ... Notice how, as Byron Tau of Politico points out, Issa "blasted White House press secretary Jay Carney on Sunday, calling him a 'paid liar' .... 'Their paid liar, their spokesperson, the picture behind, he's still making up things about what happened and calling this a local rogue,' Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said..., gesturing to a graphic of Carney on the set." ...

... Alan Fram of the AP writes a report for the local papers, the gist of which is that Issa is blowing smoke &/or flat-out lying: "A government watchdog has found that the Internal Revenue Service spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012, a House committee said Sunday. The chairman of that committee, Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, also released excerpts of congressional investigators' interviews with employees of the IRS office in Cincinnati. Issa said the interviews indicated the employees were directed by Washington to subject Tea Party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to tough scrutiny. The excerpts provided no direct evidence that Washington had ordered that screening. The top Democrat on that panel, Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said none of the employees interviewed have so far identified any IRS officials in Washington as ordering that targeting." Fram also goes into Issa's calling Carney a "paid liar," noting that Carney didn't say what Issa claimed he said. Too bad he doesn't mention that all that IRS line-dancing was going on under a Bush-appointed IRS commissioner. ...

... Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) continues her anti-woman campaign, arguing yesterday on "Press the Meat" that "federal legislation on workplace equity is condescending to women." Contributor MAG suggested in yesterday's Comments "that the congresswoman's annual pay is immediately reduced to $140,766 since she is fine with women earning 80.9% of what men earn!" ...

... Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "The Senate's third-ranking Democrat predicted Sunday that a bipartisan immigration reform package will pass the full Senate with broad support by the Independence Day holiday. 'We're going to put immigration on the floor starting on June 10. I predict it will pass the Senate by July 4,' Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on NBC's 'Meet The Press.' 'We're hoping to get 70 votes -- up to 70 votes, which means a lot of Republicans.'"

** Steve Coll of the New Yorker: "It seems likely that Holder or his deputies have authorized other press subpoenas and surveillance regimes that have not yet been disclosed.... More than a million people now hold top-secret clearances." ...

... Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "... the strength of the government's case against Stephen Jin-Woo] Kim, which is clear in this newly disclosed search warrant, makes one wonder again why Attorney General Eric Holder allowed his prosecutors to take the unprecedented step of naming [James] Rosen as an 'aider, abettor, and/or co-conspirator' to the alleged crime in order to search Rosen's e-mails." Post includes a facsimile of the Kim warrant. ...

... Bill Keller: "Even an imperfect shield law would restore a little balance in the perpetual struggle between necessary secrets and democratic accountability."

David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "... one cockeyed farm-aid program that was supposed to end in 2003 ... is one of Washington's walking dead -- 'temporary' giveaway programs that have staggered on years beyond their intended expiration dates. Letting them live is an old and expensive congressional habit, still unbroken in this age of austerity. Now, both the House and Senate are trying to kill off this budget leftover, 10 years late.... In all, the program has cost at least $46 billion more than it was supposed to."

"The Geezers Are All Right." Paul Krugman: "... the long-term outlook for Social Security and Medicare, while not great, actually isn't all that bad. It's time to stop obsessing about how we'll pay benefits to retirees in 2035 and focus instead on how we're going to provide jobs to unemployed Americans in the here and now."

Krugman on "the spat" with Rogoff & Reinhart:

Katie Glueck of Politico: "The College Republican National Committee on Monday will make public a detailed report -- the result of extensive polling and focus groups -- dissecting what went wrong for Republicans with young voters in the 2012 elections and how the party can improve its showing with that key demographic in the future. It's not a pretty picture. In fact, it's a 'dismal present situation,' the report says." ...

... Maybe the Romney campaign, et al., should have invested more in listening to the kids instead of in counting their chickens ...

... Why Are They Doing This? Zeke Miller of Time: "On May 29, the Romney Readiness Project, the Republican candidate's transition organization known as R2P, published a 138-page report detailing how it prepared for a potential Romney victory. It is the product of a team of nearly 500, who labored in Washington and around the country to be ready to help Romney assume the reins of power on January 20th, 2013...."

... Erik Loomis of Lawyers, Guns & Money has one take on the Romney Readiness Project (which I can't publish because it's too short to excerpt). ...

... Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog hypothesizes, "I think it's meant to impress us, not make us laugh (even though we already knew about the alleged brilliance this project after word of it was spoon-fed to the press shortly after the election)." ...

... CW: it's still creepy. What do the ghost Romney presidency & Al-Qaeda have in common? Corporate style! ...

... Adam Martin of New York: "Not only does Al Qaeda have its share of HR headaches to deal with while trying to take over the world, it has a complaints department in case people have issues with its brand of militancy." CW: the fact that a complainant has to go to "an Islamic state HQ" to file his grievance probably cuts down a tad on complaints. ...

... ALSO CREEPY. McKay Coppins of BuzzFeed has a long piece on Strategy Group for Media, a conservative, Christian, right-wing, Republican consulting firm. Fairly fascinating, in a sickening way.

Cashing In -- Secretly. Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Maureen McDonnell, the wife of Virginia's governor, was paid $36,000 last year to attend a handful of meetings as a consultant to the philanthropic arm of one of the state's major coal companies, a top coal company official said. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) indicated on his annual financial disclosure forms for 2011 and 2012 that his wife served as a paid trustee of a family charity, the Frances G. and James W. McGlothlin Foundation. But in an interview, James McGlothlin said the $21 million family foundation never named McDonnell to its board. Instead, McGlothlin said, the family asked Maureen McDonnell to become an adviser to the charitable efforts of both the family foundation and the United Co., a natural resources and real estate company in Bristol, Va., that has made the McGlothlins one of the wealthiest families in the state.... By reporting that his wife was on the board, the governor never had to say on his financial disclosure form how much she was paid." ...

Gubernatorial Race

Zeke Miller & Alex Rogers of Time recount a few of the lowlights of "The Dirtiest Low-Down Campaign in America: Cuccinelli vs. McAuliffe." ...

Errin Whack of the Washington Post: "E.W. Jackson, the Republicans' choice for lieutenant governor [of Virginia], said Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II ... in 2010 ... suggested that he consider a run for lieutenant governor." Cuccinelli's campaign said Jackson "misconstrued" Cuccinelli's comments during the conversation.... Jackson has called homosexuality 'perverse,' compared Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan, and sharply criticized Obama over same-sex marriage and foreign policy. But the former Marine said that his remarks were not meant to be offensive and that as lieutenant governor he would strive to represent all Virginians, including homosexuals."

News Ledes

Reuters: "The manufacturing sector contracted in May, driving activity to the lowest level in nearly four years, in the latest sign the economy is encountering a soft patch. Still, growth is not expected to pull back sharply, and separate data on Monday showed construction spending rose slightly in April though it trailed expectations."

Boston Globe: "Boston Fire Chief Steve E. Abraira resigned today after less than two years on the job, following a clash with his command staff over his management style and handling of the Boston Marathon bombings, officials said."

AP: "The Army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage will represent himself at his upcoming murder trial, meaning he will question the more than two dozen soldiers he's accused of wounding, a military judge ruled Monday. Maj. Nidal Hasan's attorneys will remain on the case but only if he asks for their help, the judge said. Hasan, 42, faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole...."

Reuters: " The American soldier accused of providing more than 700,000 secret documents to the WikiLeaks website goes on trial in Maryland on Monday charged with the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history. Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, faces a possible life sentence without parole if convicted for the 2010 leak that outraged the U.S. government." ...

     ... New York Times Update here.

AP: " Violence has flared in Istanbul [for a 4th day] between a group of demonstrators and police on the fourth day of protests set off by a brutal police crackdown of a peaceful environmental protest." ...

     ... Update: "Secretary of State John Kerry..., who has traveled to Turkey three times since becoming America's top diplomat, said [Monday] the U.S. is following the situation closely and is troubled by reports of excessive force by the police. He also said Washington is 'deeply concerned' by the large number of people who have been injured. He called for an investigation into the violence and said respect for freedom of expression is critical to democracy."

The Commentariat -- June 2, 2013

Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "While the White House publicly backed [U.S. Attorney General Eric] Holder as he tried to smooth over the latest uproar amid new speculation about his future, some in the West Wing privately tell associates they wish he would step down, viewing him as politically maladroit. But the latest attacks may stiffen the administration's resistance in the near term to a change for fear of emboldening critics." ...

     ... CW: while the thrust of this long piece is a sort of post-modern "story about nothing," I'm struck by the assertions from friends or associates of Holder's that he is staying in the job for personal reasons. Cabinet members are supposed to serve the president. Instead, Holder wants to stay on to burnish his record, doesn't like private practice (which made him a multi-millionaire), wants to be AG when he attends an important commemoration, etc.

Cashing In. Juliet Eilperin & Tom Hamburger: "Keystone XL is just one of several upcoming administration decisions providing lucrative work for former Obama advisers on issues ranging from gun control to mining to legalized gambling. Just this week, three of Obama's top former political advisers -- Robert Gibbs, Jim Messina and David Plouffe -- were given five-figure checks to deliver remarks at a forum in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, which is in the midst of a campaign to burnish its image in Washington."

Immigrants, Keep Out! (My Friends Excepted.) Josh Israel of Think Progress: "Some members of Congress are taking advantage of a loophole that allows them to keep a select few in the US, even as they oppose broader efforts to reform immigration.... Any U.S. Senator or Representative may file a 'private bill,' proposing relief for a person who has been denied asylum, but still wants to live in the United States.... [For instance,] Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA), [who] has proposed eliminating the constitutional guarantee that all humans born in the United States will be citizens and vocally opposed deferred action for DREAM Act-eligible young people whose parents brought them to the U.S. illegally," has filed a private bill for a Colombian family that was denied asylum.

Nice to see local papers putting Republican scandalmania in context. Paul Barton of the Tennessean: "Although they denounced the Obama Administration's recent seizure of reporters' records, some Tennessee members of Congress have supported even more powerful tools for snooping on the news media and other Americans, privacy advocates contend.... Among current members of the Tennessee congressional delegation, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander joined Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, and Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, in voting for the 2006 reauthorization of the Patriot Act, including its NSL provisions, ['National Security Letters,' [which] ... allow the FBI to order third parties to release information on their customers]." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

** Elisabeth Rosenthal in the New York Times: "While the United States medical system is famous for drugs costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and heroic care at the end of life, it turns out that a more significant factor in the nation's $2.7 trillion annual health care bill may not be the use of extraordinary services, but the high price tag of ordinary ones."

Richard Thaler, in the New York Times: "... an interesting new paper by Marianne Bertrand, Emir Kamenica and Jessica Pan, three economists who are colleagues of mine at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business..., found that traditional views of gender identity, particularly the view that the right and proper role of the husband is to make more money than the wife, are affecting choices of whom to marry, how much to work, and even whether to stay married." ...

... Stephanie Coontz, in the New York Times: "At all income levels, stay-at-home mothers report more sadness, anger, and episodes of diagnosed depression than their employed counterparts.... Back in the 1960s and '70s, a wife taking a job raised the risk of divorce. Today, however, a wife's employment lowers the couple's risk of divorce.... The United States... [has] fallen to last place among developed nations in supports for working families.... Shouldn't we stop debating whether we want mothers to work and start implementing the social policies and working conditions that will allow families to take full advantage of the benefits of women's employment and to minimize its stresses?"

A Catered Affair. CW: I missed Gail Collins yesterday, but she does a pretty nice job on Virginia's Gov. Bob McDonnell & its recidivist attorney general Ken Cuccinelli.

Patricia Mazzei of the Miami Herald: "Congressman Joe Garcia's chief of staff abruptly resigned Friday after being implicated in a sophisticated scheme to manipulate last year's primary elections by submitting hundreds of fraudulent absentee-ballot requests. Friday afternoon, Garcia said he had asked Jeffrey Garcia, no relation, for his resignation after the chief of staff -- also the congressman's top political strategist -- took responsibility for the plot." The Congressman is a Democrat.

Congressional Race

Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog has a good post on why prognosticator Charlie Cook was indulging in wishful thinking when he moved the Massachusetts Senatorial race from "leans Democratic" to "toss-up."

Nuns on the Bus. Rebecca Leber of Think Progress: "The same group of Catholic nuns that traveled across the country to protest Republican budget cuts has now turned their attention to immigration reform. Led by Sister Simone Campbell, Nuns on the Bus kicks off their 15-state tour this week at Ellis Island. 'Immigration is at the heart of our Catholic faith,' Campbell said. 'It's about community. We need to welcome the stranger, and treat the stranger as yourself.'"

Huffington Post: "Rev. Dr. Guy Erwin was elected Bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Church in America (ELCA), [Lutheran] on May 31st, 2013 during the synod's assembly in Woodland Hills, California. He is the first openly gay clergy person elected to serve as one of the 65 synodical bishops in the denomination." Via Steve Benen.

James P. Marsh, Jr., a minister, explains in a Washington Post op-ed why he sits out the singing of "God Bless America" at ball games.

... This, also via Benen, is pretty good. Jane Lynch & Jordan Peele perform:

Is religion the kind of right can only be exercised by a natural person? Well, the question nearly answers itself. ... It's not a purely personal right. -- Kyle Duncan, attorney for Hobby Lobby, which is suing "for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill ...

... If "corporations are people, my friend," then surely corporations can have religious preferences, too! Kristen Wyatt of the AP reports.

Calvin Trillin has been trying -- unsuccessfully -- for years to popularize the phrase "Sabbath gasbags" to describe Sunday morning talking heads. I see two problems with his ambition: (1) as he mentions, it is judgmental, so no self-respecting gasbag will so describe himself, & (2) the Sabbath is, um, Saturday (e.g., Italian sabato = sabbath = Saturday). Thanks to James S. for the link.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Three men who made careers on television as 'storm chasers,' videotaping the path of severe tornadoes, were among the nine people killed in Friday's storms and flash floods in Oklahoma. Tim Samaras, 55, who had founded the organization Twistex to track severe storms and record their effects, along with his partner Carl Young, 45, and Mr. Samaras's son Paul, 24, were all reported as victims of the tornado that struck El Reno, Okla., on Friday."

AP: "Firefighting teams in California and New Mexico are battling early season wildfires that have blackened thousands of acres and threatened homes and building, spurring numerous evacuations. Residents of more than 1,000 homes were ordered to leave as erratic winds pushed a wildfire closer to two foothill communities, where officials said five structures, possibly homes, were destroyed Saturday."

AP: "A violent weather system that claimed 12 lives in Oklahoma and Arkansas amid tornadoes and flash floods gave way to clearing skies as the storms trekked toward the East Coast on Sunday. A tornado killed nine people as it charged down Interstate 40 in Oklahoma City's western suburbs on Friday night, twisting billboards and scattering cars and tractor-trailers along a roadway clogged with rush-hour motorists leaving work or fleeing the storm's path. Flash floods in Arkansas killed three early Friday, including a sheriff attempting a water rescue."

AP: "Egypt's highest court ruled on Sunday that the nation's Islamist-dominated legislature and constitutional panel were illegally elected, dealing a serious blow to the legal basis of the Islamists' hold on power."

Reuters: "Shopkeepers and municipal workers began cleaning the streets of Istanbul and Ankara on Sunday after the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years. Pockets of die-hard demonstrators lit bonfires and scuffled with police overnight but the streets were much quieter after two days of clashes in which almost a thousand people were arrested and hundreds were injured."

The Commentariat -- June 1, 2013

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here.

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The financial outlook for Medicare has improved because of a stronger economy and slower growth in health spending, and the financial condition of Social Security has not worsened, but is still unsustainable, the Obama administration said Friday."

** Sorry, Wingers. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman was not making weekly visits to the President's residence to powwow with Obama on which of you to audit. Garance Franke-Ruta of the Atlantic digs into the White House records & discovers that Shulman made about ELEVEN, not 157, visits to the White House, & most of those meetings were with HUD deputies re: the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. If the records are correct, Shulman & Obama attended only THREE events together, one for a daily briefing, one for a bill signing (both of these were group events), & one for a departure photo op. Shuman was cleared to attend 157 meetings or so, but in most cases, his deputies went instead. CW: If you want to know the difference between journalism & the Daily Caller, here it is. ...

... OR, as Kevin Drum puts it, in which he describes as a "technically correct sense," "That Story You Knew Was Bullshit? Yeah, It Was Bullshit." ...

... Kim Dixon of Reuters: "The Treasury Department's inspector general will issue a new report in the coming weeks that could heap more bad news on the Internal Revenue Service, showing results of an audit of the IRS use of taxpayer-funded conferences, a Republican critic of the agency said on Friday.... [A] congressional aide said the hearing would be about 'an upcoming audit uncovering information about excessive spending at IRS conferences.'"

Dana Milbank: "Eric Holder is in a mess of his own making."

Justin Sink of the Hill: "President Obama called on Congress to pass legislation to prevent an increase in student loan rates, picking a fight with Republicans on what has previously been a winning issue for the White House. Speaking from the Rose Garden, Obama warned that higher student loan interest rates will restrict access to higher education and argued legislation passed by the Republican House could leave students paying more." Here's the video:

... Greg Sargent on Congressional Republicans will use the "scandals" to avoid actual policy discussions -- by claiming, for instance, that Obama had only one reason to highlight what they call "insignificant" differences between his & the House's proposals to extend low student-loan rates: to create a "distraction" from the scandals.

Pemy Levy, in the International Business Times, on why Sen. Chuck Grassley's (RDopey-Iowa) bill to reduce the number of judges in the D.C. Circuit Court is bullshit (in a technically correct sense). Via Jonathan Bernstein. ...

... New York Times Editors: "Senator Grassley insists that the District of Columbia court 'is the least busy circuit in the country.' But that is simply not true,* if measured by the number of pending appeals divided by the number of active judges. By that count, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, encompassing seven states in the Midwest, including Iowa, has the lowest workload of any circuit. That was apparently of no concern to the senator when he recently helped speed through the confirmation of Jane Kelly to the court. Arguing about the caseload, however, misses the point. As Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. explained in a 2005 lecture -- 'What Makes the D.C. Circuit Different?' -- the court has a 'special responsibility to review legal challenges to the conduct of the national government.'"

* Another phrase for "bullshit."

... Paul Waldman of the American Prospect on President Obama's judicial appointments.

Matthew Duss in the American Prospect: "The 'war on terror' was pretty good for conservatives. They won't give it up without a fight.... It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the sharp reaction to Obama's shift away from a 'global war' framing has more to do with fear of the loss of advantageous rhetorical ground than it does with any genuine, substantive difference in threat analysis."

** Joe Nocera on the force-feeding of Guantanamo prisoners. Not an easy read.

Peter Finn & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post have the latest version of the shooting death of Ibragim Todashev. CW: The weapon Todashev reputedly used to attack the FBI agent has gone from being a knife to a metal pole to a broomstick to "part of a broomstick." My guess it that it will whittle down to the pencil the agent gave Todashev to write his confession.

Dan Morse & Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three of the school's football players sexually assaulted a female midshipman at a party last year -- an explosive allegation that surfaced Friday as the military faces increased scrutiny over whether it pursues such cases aggressively enough."

Working mom & Fox "News" anchor Megyn Kelly calls out Erick Erickson & Lou Dobbs for their misogynistic worldview. (See yesterday's Commentariat for context.) Really worth watching:

     ... James Poniewozik, Time's media critic, writes a related -- & fairly funny -- piece.

Right Wing World

Guess I'll Buy Me a Family-Sized Box o' Cheerios. Cord Jefferson of Gawker: "A nice Cheerios advertisement whose only discernible difference from other Cheerios commercials is that it depicts an interracial family was forced to disable its YouTube comments section [Thursday] after it became inundated with virulent racism."

For those of you already missing Michele Bachmann, never fear. There are more where she comes from....

... David Roberts of Raw Story: "In a video posted by the Far North Dallas Tea Party on Thursday, Texas Eagle Forum President and former Chairman of the Texas Republican Party Cathie Adams presented evidence that [anti-tax lobbyist Grover] Norquist was part of a 'stealth jihad' in the United States. Adams said that Norquist, who is married to a Muslim woman, was 'trouble with a capital "T" because 'he's showing signs of converting to Islam himself. As you see, he has a beard,' she pointed out.... Adams went on to suggest that CIA Director John Brennan could also be a secret Muslim. 'Where is the outcry?' she asked. 'Thank God that Ted Cruz is now in the United States Senate!'" CW: I guess Tailgunner Ted has in his hand a list of 205 names of Muslims who have infiltrated the government. ... AND, of course ...

The Louis Gohmert Weekly Reader

McCain Complicit in Benghazi Attack

... if it had not been for Sen. McCain and President Obama being for what we knew at the time included al-Qaeda in the rebel forces then we would still have a U.S. ambassador and three others alive today because Benghazi would not have happened. -- Louis Gohmert

Congressional Races

A Fundraising Letter that Might Be a Mistake. Emily Schultheis of Politico: Mitch McConnell sent out a fundraising letter for Gabriel Gomez, the GOP candidate for Senate in a Massachusetts special election, reminding potential contributors that a Gomez win was crucial to, well, making McConnell the majority leader. "The solicitation from a top Washington Republican -- and symbol, at least among the left, of congressional dysfunction -- is somewhat surprising given Gomez's mandate to win in a predominantly Democratic state."

Eric Black of MinnPost: Democrat Jim Graves, who came close to beating Michele Bachmann in 2012 & was planning to run her again (where polls showed him ahead), has dropped his candidacy now that Bachmann has said she won't run again. CW: this is a heavily-Republican district, so more than likely Republicans will retain the seat.

When Politico does a better analysis than the New York Times. (No, hell has not frozen over.):

     ... Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Republicans are weighing whether to attack President Obama in 2014, a decision made more difficult by the fact that he has a 79% likeability rating. ...

     ... Oh, & there's this, Jeremy. Ben White of Politico: "The 2014 midterm election is shaping up as something the United States has not seen in nearly a decade: a campaign run in a strengthening economy with deficits on the decline.... The altered terrain, if it holds, could benefit Democrats and challenge Republicans...."

Local News

Peter Applebome & Elizabeth Maker of the New York Times on the police shooting last week in Ridgefield, Connecticut, of businessman & philanthropist John Valluzzo.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The United States and China have agreed to hold regular, high-level talks on how to set standards of behavior for cybersecurity and commercial espionage, the first diplomatic effort to defuse the tensions over what the United States says is a daily barrage of computer break-ins and theft of corporate and government secrets."

New York Times: "Jean Stapleton, the character actress whose portrayal of a slow-witted, big-hearted and submissive -- up to a point -- housewife on the groundbreaking series 'All in the Family' made her, along with Mary Tyler Moore and Bea Arthur, not only one of the foremost women in television comedy in the 1970s but a symbol of emergent feminism in American popular culture, died on Friday at her home in New York City. She was 90."

AP: "Emergency officials were preparing to survey tornado damage Saturday morning following the second major fatal storm to strike the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in several days.... Five people were reported killed, including a mother and baby found in a vehicle."

AP: Speaking at a security conference in Singapore, "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a two-pronged message to Beijing -- holding out hope for a slowly improving military relationship with the Asian giant while issuing a stern warning on cyberattacks coming from that country. But he was met with immediate skepticism from the Chinese delegation in the audience, who questioned America's role in the Pacific." Washington Post story here.

AP: "Turkey's government on Saturday appeared to be trying to placate demonstrators on the second day of anti-government demonstrations, even as police let off more tear gas and pressurized water against protesters trying to reach a main square in Istanbul or the Parliament building in the capital, Ankara."

AP: "The United Nations mission to Iraq says more than 1,000 people were killed in violence in the country last month -- the highest monthly death toll in years. The figures released Saturday showed 1,045 civilians and security personnel killed in May. That surpassed the 712 killed in April, the deadliest month recorded since June 2008. More than half of those killed were in the capital district of Baghdad."