Different Rules

CW: I did respond to MoDo's column, but the Times didn't publish it for 12-14 hours after her column went up, so my comment is difficult to find. Here it is:

Yeah, you're right. But there are four quasi-viable candidates left in the presidential nominating races, and not a one of them says "I'm sorry" for even outrageous distortions, outright lies or flagrant lapses of judgment. The rules of decorum for presidential candidates are different from the rules for the rest of us.

All of these top candidates believe the words, "I'm sorry" are a sign of weakness. And their success suggests they're right.

Most women are good at saying "I'm sorry," to a fault. We say it even when we have nothing to be sorry about. It's a nearly automatic response to the most minor exchange. "I'm sorry the elevator is slow." "I'm sorry the grocery store was out of your brand of cornflakes." Apologies are expected of us. They demonstrate that we are polite, deferential, caring, non-assertive -- and feminine.

That is precisely why Hillary can't say "I'm sorry." When and if she does, her opponents will accuse her of being a weak girly-girl, not up to the tough job of president.

Any feminist gets that. Maureen Dowd should, too. If being a presidential candidate means never having to say you're sorry, it applies to all candidates, not just the ones who are boys.

The Commentariat -- April 17, 2016

Presidential Race

Kurtis Lee & Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: Hillary Clinton interrupted her campaign in New York "to join George Clooney in toasting some of California's most well-heeled Democratic donors -- and collect copious amounts of their cash -- as well as to stir up voter enthusiasm with a Los Angeles rally. The amount of money Clinton stands to rake in on the visit is well into the millions of dollars. A pair of seats at her table with Clooney cost donors more than $353,000 Friday night in San Francisco, the most expensive tickets at an event attended by 70 people and hosted by venture capitalist and early Uber investor Shervin Pishevar. Another event was to be held at Clooney's home in Los Angeles, where the priciest tickets cost $100,000 per couple." -- CW

Anita Kumar, et al., of McClatchy News: "Hillary Clinton recently blasted the hidden financial dealings exposed in the Panama Papers, but she and her husband have multiple connections with people who have used the besieged law firm Mossack Fonseca to establish offshore entities. Among them are Gabrielle Fialkoff, finance director for Hillary Clinton's first campaign for the U.S. Senate; Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate who has traveled the globe with Bill Clinton; the Chagoury family, which pledged $1 billion in projects to the Clinton Global Initiative; and Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who was at the center of a Democratic fund-raising scandal when Bill Clinton was president. Also using the Panamanian law firm was the company founded by the late billionaire investor Marc Rich, an international fugitive when Bill Clinton pardoned him in the final hours of his presidency." -- CW

Perry Bacon of NBC News: "... even as she remains a strong favorite to win the Democratic nomination, the 2016 campaign is forcing [Hillary Clinton] ... to distance herself from her husband's record.... Sen. Bernie Sanders is waging in effect a political war on 90s-era policies -- a tactic aimed at hitting Hillary Clinton where it hurts: her husband's presidential legacy." -- CW

Maureen Dowd: Hillary Clinton never says she's sorry. -- CW

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in a Washington Post op-ed, endorses Hillary Clinton because she "possesses that rare but crucial combination of idealism and pragmatism." Thanks to contributor Patrick for the link.

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Fresh off his trip to the Vatican, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders staged an event Saturday in a Brooklyn church to highlight what he characterized as the moral underpinnings of his policy positions, including steps to address income inequality." -- CW

CW: Not certain who produced this video, but it is clearly pro-Bernie. Thanks to LT for calling it to my attention:

Patrick Healy of the New York Times: Bernie "Sanders has long presented himself as an issues-oriented, plain-speaking politician from rural New England, now seeking the presidency with promise of a political revolution. But his combative side has now emerged as the Democratic race has tightened and Hillary Clinton has sharpened her own rhetoric.... More than anything, the recent Sanders broadsides reflect a political strategy he has carried out in previous campaigns: the use of blunt criticisms, sarcastic asides and a thundering style against his opponents." -- CW

Dan Berman of CNN: "It's a Ted Cruz sweep in Wyoming. Cruz won 14 of 14 Republican National Convention delegates up for grabs at the Wyoming state convention here Saturday.The crowd here was clearly in Cruz's corner, as the Texas senator was the only candidate to make the trip to Casper -- ahead of a major snowstorm -- and Sarah Palin, scheduled to speak for Trump, previously canceled." -- CW

Jim Galloway & Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "On March 1, Donald Trump finished first in Georgia's Republican presidential primary with 39 percent of the vote. On Saturday, at gatherings of Republican activists meeting by congressional district, the billionaire may have lost most of the delegates that were supposed to come with that March 7 victory." -- CW

McKay Coppins & Christopher Massie of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump is a fiercely loyal boss right up until he fires you." -- CW

Other News & Views

Matt Spetalnick of Reuters: "The United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni men to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, including an inmate who had been on a hunger strike since 2007, under a long-sought diplomatic deal between Washington and Riyadh, U.S. officials said. The transfer, which took place just days before President Barack Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia for a summit of Gulf Arab allies, marked the latest step in his final push to close the controversial detention center at the U.S. naval base in Cuba before he leaves office in January 2017." -- CW

Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill's passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon." -- CW

Kristina Wong of the Hill: "The State Department is hoping to bring an average of nearly 1,500 Syrian refugees to the United States per month in order to meet President Obama's target of settling 10,000 refugees in the country by September. About 1,300 refugees have already been placed in the United States since Obama first made the commitment in September." -- CW

German Lopez of VOX: On Friday, [Washington] DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called for a citywide vote to turn at least some of the federal district into the 51st state in America. Six good questions to ponder. -- LT

Beyond the Beltway

Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times: "California's irresponsible coastal commission is as dangerous to the coast as Mother Nature. -- CW

Sarah Parvini & Ruben Vives of the Los Angeles Times: "The University of California's student association late Friday called on UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign amid revelations that the university paid to remove Internet references to a 2011 incident in which police pepper-sprayed students. The group is the latest to join a growing call for Katehi to step down." -- CW

Ken Ritter of the AP: "Two sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and three other men refused to enter pleas in federal court in Las Vegas to charges in an armed confrontation with government agents two years ago. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. entered not guilty pleas on behalf of each man during a sometimes contentious arraignment that featured cat-calls and cheers from about 30 Bundy backers and defendants' family members, under watchful eyes of about a dozen U.S. marshals." -- CW

Way Beyond

Jim Yardley of the New York Times: "Pope Francis made an emotional visit into the heart of Europe's migrant crisis on Saturday and took 12 Muslim refugees from Syria, including six children, with him back to Rome aboard the papal plane." -- CW

AP: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his country will never withdraw from the Golan Heights and the strategic plateau bordering Syria will forever stay in Israeli hands."-- CW

Jennifer Oulette of Gizmodo: "... during a press briefing at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario..., a journalist in the audience jokingly said [to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau], "I was going to ask you to explain quantum computing, but.... haha..." Here's Trudeau's response:

... CW: Now imagine Donald Trump's answer.

News Ledes

AP: "The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast, sending the Andean nation into a state of emergency. As rescue workers rushed in, officials said Sunday at least 77 people were killed, over 588 injured and the damage stretched for hundreds of miles to the capital and other major cities." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The strongest earthquake to strike Ecuador in decades left the Andean nation traumatized on Sunday, with collapsed buildings in a swath of destruction stretching hundreds of miles. More than 200 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded."

The Commentariat -- April 16, 2016

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday announced his support for opening the market for cable set-top boxes, singling out the devices in millions of homes as a clunky and outdated symbol of corporate power over consumers as he introduced a broad federal effort to increase competition.... The president, in an interview with Yahoo Finance, said it was one example of the kinds of actions government agencies should take in response to an executive order he signed on Friday calling for administrative action to promote competition and better protect consumers." (This story is an update of one linked yesterday.) -- CW ...

... A report & the interview, both by Nicole Sinclair of Yahoo! News, are here. Includes video of the interview.

MEANWHILE. Mario Trujillo of the Hill: "The House on Friday passed a bill to ban the Federal Communications Commission from setting or reviewing the rates that companies charge for internet service. The largely party-line vote is a win for Republicans, who have pushed for the past year to nibble away at the FCC's internet regulations, which are currently being challenged in federal court." -- CW

Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: Because of the popularity of the Broadway musical "Hamilton," Treasury Secretary Jack "Lew is leaning toward keeping [Alexander] Hamilton at the center of the $10 note and placing a vignette of female historical figures on the flip side. But, in keeping with his announcement last June, Mr. Lew is expected to simultaneously announce that a woman will be front and center on the more numerous $20 notes -- displacing the (currently) less popular Andrew Jackson -- and that one or more women will be on the $5 bill as well. Mr. Lew's own public hints in recent weeks have pointed in this direction." -- CW

Julie Davis: President "Obama and his wife, Michelle, cashed out nearly $1 million in investments last year, according to their 2015 tax return, which the White House released on Friday. The figure suggests that they were preparing to finance large expenses like a home purchase. Mr. Obama said last month that the family would remain in the Washington area after he left the White House in January 2017, while his younger daughter, Sasha, finishes high school." -- CW ...

... A summary of President Obama and Michelle Obama's 2015 tax returns, as well as a summary of Vice President Biden & Dr. Jill Biden's 2015 returns, via the White House Website, is here. Link to the full returns from the linked page. -- CW

Matt O'Brien of the Washington Post takes a whack at Time's wacky (vote Republican!) cover story. CW: Indeed, the cover story is so bad that it has given room for each of the other columnists I cited yesterday to take a unique tack. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

TMZ: "Cops cuffed [actor] Rosario Dawson and hauled her away from the Democracy Spring rally in Washington, D.C. The actress was among a group of about a dozen people who crossed a police line and then sat down in protest. It's unclear what Rosario was booked for, but cops say about 100 people were arrested Friday ... mostly for crowding or obstructing. The Democracy Spring rallies have been going on all week in D.C. to protest all sorts of causes." Via New York. -- CW

Griff Witte & Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis arrived Saturday morning on the Greek island of Lesbos in a highly symbolic and provocative visit that seems designed to prick Europe's conscience over its treatment of refugees. Lesbos has been the first port of call for hundreds of thousands of people seeking sanctuary in Europe over the past year as they fled war, oppression and poverty in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. But in the past two weeks, it also has been the scene of hundreds of deportations under a new plan by which Europe sends back those who reach its shores." -- CW

Damian Carrington of The Guardian: "The global temperature in March has shattered a century-long record and by the greatest margin yet seen for any month." Professor Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University said, "The [new data] is a reminder of how perilously close we now are to permanently crossing into dangerous territory." -- LT

Jenny Staletovich of Miami Herald: "With sea rise projections growing ever grimmer -- the latest predicts up to eight times as much flooding around Miami-Dade County by 2045 -- the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has launched an ambitious plan to come up with a comprehensive assessment of risks....Covering 10,000 miles of vulnerable shoreline from North Carolina to Mississippi, the study for the first time tries to unify what has so far been a patchwork of sea rise assessments." -- LT

Francis Langum of Crooks and Liars: "You know that sentimental human caring that says 'rape, incest, or the life of the mother' are reasons why abortion might be allowed Not for the Heritage Foundation... Global organizations are outraged at what is perceived widely as backwards misogyny and outdated puritanism on the part of the United States. The US policy enforces the rights of terrorists to use rape as a weapon of war, forcing their progeny onto women populations." -- LT

Seung Lee of Newsweek: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is receiving a lot of heat from the computer security industry for her bipartisan encryption bill, co-sponsored with Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the "Compliance With Court Orders Act of 2016 [which] seeks to significantly weaken secure communications, like end-to-end encryption, by giving the government power to force companies to decrypt their data or provide technical assistance if the courts issue a warrant for 'serious crimes.'" -- LT

Presidential Race

Matea Gold & Anu Narayanswamy of the Washington Post: "A small core of super-rich individuals is responsible for the record sums cascading into the coffers of super PACs for the 2016 elections, a dynamic that harks back to the financing of presidential campaigns in the Gilded Age. Close to half the money -- 41 percent -- raised by the groups by the end of February came from just 50 mega-donors and their relatives...." -- CW

Jeff Stein of Vox: "The biggest news outlets have published more negative stories about Hillary Clinton than any other presidential candidate -- including Donald Trump -- since January 2015, according to a new analysis of hundreds of thousands of online stories published since last year.Clinton has not only been hammered by the most negative coverage but the media also wrote the smallest proportion of positive stories about her, reports Crimson Hexagon, a social media software analytics company...." -- CW

Nick Gass of Politico: "Surrogates for both Democratic candidates sniped back and forth on the cable shows Friday over whether Hillary Clinton should release the transcripts of her paid speeches to financial institutions, as Bernie Sanders again suggested during the previous night's debate that the lack of disclosure bespeaks a lack of judgment." -- CW

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Aides to Sen. Bernie Sanders said Friday that the Democratic presidential hopeful plans to make good on his promise to release his full 2014 tax returns by the end of the day.... [Sanders] reported income of just more than $200,000 on his 2014 returns, according to the first few pages of his federal and Vermont filings, which were shared with The Washington Post back in June. On Friday, the couple is planning to release the rest of the returns...." -- CW ...

... Update. Chris Megerian of the Los Angeles Time: The Sanders' tax "returns [for 2014] showed an adjusted gross income of $205,271 for Sanders and his wife, Jane. They donated $8,350 to charity, about 4% of their income.... Hillary Clinton has posted seven years of documents on her campaign's website. (She and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, detailed $27.9 million in adjusted gross income in 2014, and $3 million in charitable gifts.)" CW: So in 2014 the Clintons made about 136 times what the Sanders earned. I don't know why Bernie keeps going on about income inequality.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "Bernie Sanders launched one of the most powerful indictments of modern capitalism of his campaign in the Vatican on Friday, saying that the greatest challenge facing the world was a moral imperative to redirect 'our efforts and vision to the common good'.... Sanders praised the Roman Catholic church for its consistent social teachings on economic matters, saying: 'There are few places in modern thought that rival the depth and insight of the church's moral teachings on the market economy.' But his most effusive praise was reserved for Pope Francis, whom he heralded for raising the 'most profound issues' of the day -- from the problems of the dispossessed, to the loneliness of the elderly who cannot afford their medication, to the challenge of climate change -- with a "vision and articulateness", while others chose to ignore the issues.'" -- CW ...

... Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders did not get to meet with Pope Francis inside Vatican City on Friday, but it's not because the pontiff didn't want to. Pope Francis sent a handwritten note to those attending a conference at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, including Mr. Sanders, saying he had planned to stop by the event around 7 p.m. local time, but could not because of a scheduled trip to the Greek island of Lesbos the next day." -- CW ...

     ... Update. Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "... Bernie Sanders met privately with Pope Francis during his overnight trip here, his spokesman said.The brief meeting took place at the papal residence early Saturday, according to the senator's spokesman Michael Briggs.... Sanders does not consider the meeting in any way an endorsement of his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Briggs said." -- CW ...

... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico has more on Sanders' meeting with Francis & his admiration for the Pope. Of course it's Politico, so the headline is "Bernie's Fanboy Moment." -- CW ...

... Hanna Trudeau of Politico: "Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that while he approves of Bernie Sanders' quick trip to Rome, he doubts Pope Francis endorses the Vermont senator's policies." CW: Weirdly, Biden then seeimingly made a faith-based case for Bernie's policies.

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times on reactions to Sanders' debate answer to the question, "Does Israel have a right to defend itself as it sees fit?" CW: Sanders is the first presidential candidate in quite a few election cycles to give a sensible, humane answer to this type of question.

Michelle Gorman of Newsweek: "Bernie Sanders said on Thursday night that he would ask President Barack Obama to withdraw his recent nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court if Sanders wins the November election.... MSNBC's Rachel Maddow ... asked the candidate whether he would request Garland's name be withdrawn.... 'Yes, I would,' Sanders said. 'I'm 100 percent prepared to support Judge Garland. I think he's clearly very knowledgeable and can serve ably on the Supreme Court. But, between you and me, I think there are some more progressive judges out there,' he added." -- CW

One of the few things I really haven't enjoyed about this primary: I think it's fine that all these young students have been so enthusiastic about [Hillary Clinton's] opponent and [Sanders] sounds so good: 'Just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything will be fine.' -- Bill Clinton, Friday

Okay, so Bill Clinton is worse than Krugman when it comes to misrepresenting Sanders. -- Constant Weader

Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "Late in Thursday night’s debate..., [Hillary] Clinton was asked if she would ask the president to withdraw Chief Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court ... if she wins the presidential election. Clinton rather explicitly refused to answer the question.... [She made] a noncommittal statement that hardly comes off as a robust endorsement of the Garland nomination. Nevertheless..., her non-commitment to Garland is the judge's best chance at confirmation." -- CW

Alex Isenstadt & Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "The Republican National Committee is expected to debate a proposal next week that would dramatically shift the balance of power at this summer's convention -- and impose a new rulebook for selecting the party's nominee. The proposal, which will top the agenda during a meeting of the Rules panel at the RNC's annual spring meeting in Hollywood Beach, Fla., would fundamentally alter how the convention is conducted, further empowering the delegates to determine the course of the proceedings." -- CW ...

... Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: Reince Priebus, "the chairman of the Republican National Committee, has privately urged members of the party's rules committee not to make changes to the guidelines governing the presidential nominating process, an effort to avoid the appearance that the party is seeking to block Donald J. Trump from becoming its nominee." -- CW

Jenna Johnson & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Tensions between the Republican Party and its own front-runner erupted into a full-blown public battle as top party officials rebuked Donald Trump on Friday for alleging that the GOP primary system was 'rigged' against him.... A senior Republican National Committee official fired back with a thinly veiled response, writing in a Friday memo to reporters that 'each process is easy to understand for those willing to learn it.'" -- CW

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: Among all of the presidential candidates, "only in the case of [Donald] Trump have significant numbers of former [foreign policy] officials and retired military officers publicly declared they would never work for him.... Trump, who has cited himself as his primary foreign policy adviser, has announced eight team members so far, one of whom has discrepancies on his résumé." -- CW

Ken Meyer of Mediaite: "Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski appeared on [CNN's] New Day to address the final decision by Florida prosecutors to drop the charges being brought against him by a former Breitbart reporter..... Lewandowski said that their three-second encounter 'wasn't memorable' to him, and claimed that he tried to reach out to [reporter Michelle] Fields to clear things up. 'To this day,' Lewandowski said, 'I have never heard back from Michelle. She wanted to inject herself into making it a story. Now I'm glad the story is over.'" Fields later tweeted that she had never heard from Lewandowski. -- CW

Via WFSB: "Thousands of people showed up at the Convention Center in Hartford [CT] on Friday to see Donald Trump...A crowd of more than 8,000 people was expected to attend...Close to 800 protesters and supporters chanted outside the center." With video. -- unwashed {Warning!: Before viewing, have vomitus apparatus collectum at hand.}

Dick Cavette opines in the New York Times: "Each new awful atrocity or pettiness by 'Trumpo' (the really unfunny Marx brother) just cements the allegiance of those followers who jeer and give the finger and worse to anyone who doesn't agree with him, or them. Like Donald, they find fault with the questions and questioners, but not with his often incomplete, erroneous or ever-changing answers." -- unwashed

Dildo Update. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Ted Cruz says he will not ban dildos and other sexual toys if he becomes president."

Kasich's Detailed Plan to Protect Women from Sexual Predators. Ben Gittleson of ABC News: "... John Kasich [Friday] told a female college student concerned about 'sexual violence, harassment and rape' that she should not 'go to parties where there's a lot of alcohol.' The first-year student asked Kasich at a town hall in Watertown, New York, what he would 'do in office as president to help me feel safer and more secure regarding sexual violence, harassment, and rape?'" -- CW ...

... Christina Cauterucci of Slate: "Kasich's viewpoint is a cynical, victim-blaming, finger-wagging perspective.... It would make just as much, if not more sense to tell men to stop drinking so much so they don't rape women.... Kasich should blame misogyny, poor sex education, and toxic male behavior, not women, for the scourge of campus sexual assault." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

AP: "Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has signed into law a bill that allows some members of churches to undergo firearms training so they can provide armed security for their congregations. The Church Protection Act specifies that those designated can carry guns into church buildings. It also allows people to carry holstered weapons without a permit. The law also makes Mississippi the ninth state in the nation to allow people to carry holstered guns without a permit, said NRA spokeswoman Amy Hunter." -- CW

Maura Ewing of The Trace: "Public outrage over campus carry legislation has so far focused mostly on the potential for accidental shootings -- the worrisome formula of keg party plus gun -- and scenarios where the presence of firearms might adversely influence intense classroom discussion. But some researchers and faculty members are flagging what they worry could be another deadly side effect of more firearms on college grounds - youth suicide." -- LT

Yay! Sex Makes Corruption Scandal More Interesting. Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have evidence that Sheldon Silver, the former speaker of the New York Assembly, engaged in extramarital relationships with two women connected to his position in Albany, according to newly unsealed court documents. The women were not identified in the papers, which were released on Friday, but one of them lobbied Mr. Silver 'on a regular basis on behalf of clients who had business before the state,' the government said.... In the case of the other woman, prosecutors said, Mr. Silver 'used his official position' to help her get a state job, 'over which he exercised a particularly high level of control.'" -- CW

Dylan Baddour of the Houston Chronicle: "A handful of Texas Republican district or county conventions in March passed resolutions calling for a vote on secession, paving the way for a potentially awkward debate at the state GOP conference in May." -- CW ...

     ... A photo of fake soldiers shooting at something as they stand in front of the Alamo accompanies the story. So does as instrumental version of "Yellow Rose of Texas." The history of the song is interesting, including this part, via Wikipedia: "This song [with altered lyrics] became popular among Confederate soldiers in the Texas Brigade during the American Civil War; upon taking command of the Army of Tennessee in July 1864, General John Bell Hood introduced it as a marching song." -- CW

Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times: "UC Berkeley Provost Claude Steele resigned Friday following widespread criticism of his leadership involving sexual harassment cases and the budget crisis. Steele, who has served as Berkeley's chief academic officer since March 2014, will retain his faculty appointments...." -- CW

Curse of the Intertubes. Brian Feldman of New York: "... UC Davis, which spent a whopping $175,000 trying to bury posts about the infamous 2011 incident in which a campus police officer pepper-sprayed protesting students.... Of course, all of this news is just dredging the pepper-spraying up once again. Searching for UC Davis on Google this afternoon will pull up -- you guessed it -- articles on the internet about UC Davis trying to clean up its online presence. Once again, for the trillionth time, the web eats its own tail, in an endlessly recursive algorithmic nightmare." -- CW

Marc Tracy of the New York Times: On Jackie Robinson Day, the City of Philiadelphia apologizes to Robinson for the way the Phillies treated him to racist taunts at the beginning of his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. CW: This took awhile. The incidents occurred in 1947, & Robinson died in 1972. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

New York Times: "The death toll from two powerful earthquakes and a series of continual aftershocks on the Japanese island of Kyushu reached 41 on Saturday, the authorities said, as rescue workers searched for survivors under collapsed buildings and mountains of earth displaced by landslides."