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support for opening the market for cable set-top boxes, singling out the devices in millions of homes as a clunky and outdated symbol of corporate power over consumers as he introduced a broad federal effort to increase competition....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."

Krugman's Biggest Lie

By Marie

I am not linking Paul Krugman's column today, but you all know where to find it. I did write a comment on the New York Times page. I held back in hopes my comment might be published, but I recognize I have an iffy chance of making the cut. Here's what I wrote, in as circumspect a way as possible:

This is the most shocking column I have ever read in the New York Times. You have accused Bernie Sanders of being a racist who thinks, you know, that black people should get only 3/5ths of a vote.

That is a flat-out lie.

As even a casual observer of politics knows, Sanders is doing what every single candidate in a contested race does: puts his best spin on his relative position. Candidates who are 20 points down in polls will say, "I think we're going to surprise the pollsters, blah-blah. We'll pull this thing out." Every once in a great while, fact follows spin. (See Sanders, Michigan.)

There's a double irony here in that you accuse Sanders of being anti-black in the same week Hillary Clinton (and, as further irony would have it, Bill De Blasio [whom Krugman cites as a swell example of an anti-racist]) made a joke based on the hyper-racist assumption that "colored people" are lazy. When criticized for this jaw-dropping lapse, Clinton blamed De Blasio.

Since I don't know much about economics, I have relied on your analyses. Perhaps I've misplaced my trust. I'm wondering now if "every word you write is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'" Because this column is a lie.

Addendum: BTW, if you want to know how Krugman's column should have been written, Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg provides a good example.

The Commentariat -- April 15, 2016

Afternoon Update:

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.

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

*****

Presidential Race

Patrick Healy & Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders, seizing on potential vulnerabilities for Hillary Clinton in the coming New York primary, repeatedly savaged her ties to wealthy donors and Wall Street banks during their debate on Thursday night, delivering a ferocious performance that Mrs. Clinton countered with steely confidence and her own sharp elbows." -- CW

Ed Pilkington & Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "The bitter struggle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination erupted into fractious and at times personal attacks on Thursday night as the simmering animosities between the two candidates burst onto a Brooklyn stage." Includes highlights video, which is better than CNN's, posted below, but the Guardian's is not currently embeddable (is that a word?). -- CW

The Washington Post provides an annotated transcript of the debate. -- CW

Glenn Kessler & Michelle Lee of the Washington Post fact-check some of the statements & misstatements the candidates made. -- CW

Greg Sargent: "From the outset of this campaign, Bernie Sanders has sometimes seemed reluctant to ... say outright that Hillary Clinton's policy positions are the direct result of her reliance on corporate contributions and her profiting from Wall Street speaking fees.... At last night's debate -- and in a very tough new ad released this morning -- Sanders made it as explicit as you could want that he does believe this to be the case":

David Graham of the Atlantic: "Sanders's problem is that though he delivered a sparkling performance and out-debated Clinton at nearly every turn, it's not enough. He trails Clinton in popular votes and pledged delegates, to say nothing of superdelegates. The tied national polls he cites are meaningless, since there's no national primary. Sanders needs a knock-out -- though even that probably wouldn't give him the nomination -- and tonight, he won the bout on points." -- CW

I do believe that Israel ... has every right to destroy terrorism. But in Gaza there were 10,000 wounded civilians and 1,500 killed. Was that a disproportionate attack? The answer is, I believe, it was. As somebody who is 100 percent pro-Israel, in the long run, if we are ever going to bring peace ... we are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity. -- Bernie Sanders, in last night's debate ...

... Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "That's a big deal. It's also ... a low bar.... Sanders's position could cost him in New York, because everything he's said could alienate pro-Israel voters. But he has prompted the most substantive debate about Israel this election cycle, and is the first national politician in a long, long time to have enlarged the discourse surrounding this issue." -- CW

Charlieg at Daily Kos: "A closing speech for the ages," followed by a standing ovation, set to music. Motivational even if you've heard the Bernie Sanders stump speech multiple times. -- LT

Rebecca Traister of New York shares what most Democrats probably are feeling about now: "... since there's no reason for either [candidate] to drop out, I guess we'll just keep wading through this foul swamp. But I wish it didn't have to be so unpleasant; I wish we could all do better. Let's make the American Democratic primary great again." -- CW

The Democrats debate Thursday at 9:00 pm ET on CNN. Here's where you can watch (or hear) the debate. ...

... The New York Times is liveblogging the debate. The Guardian's liveblog is here. ...

     ... CW: Sounds like the Bickersons are throwing the everyday dishes at each other. Maybe the "I NY" mug collection. I'm not watching this show. I don't like the "tone." Besides, I'm in the middle of watching this teevee drama series that centers on fratricide -- seems more uplifting.

Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "The Democratic Party and the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will sue the state of Arizona over voter access to the polls after the state's presidential primary last month left thousands of residents waiting as long as five hours to vote." -- CW

Evan Halper & Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times: "... no small number of [Sanders supporters] are lashing out in ways that are not particularly helpful to his campaign. There is the activist in Chicago who unleashed a movement to 'harass' superdelegates backing Clinton, with an online 'hit list' complete with delegate phone numbers and some home addresses. There are the online trolls who have come to be known as 'Bernie bros,' who attack journalists, politicians and fellow voters they perceive to be pro-Clinton with misogynistic, often vulgar attacks. There are the campaign surrogates -- some of them high-profile -- who use language the campaign finds itself having to walk back." CW ...

... Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "The Sanders campaign ... [announced] on Tuesday that Simone Zimmerman would be its national Jewish outreach coordinator.... On Thursday, Senator Bernie Sanders;s campaign suspended Ms. Zimmerman, 25, after revelations that she had used vulgarities in Facebook posts about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Hillary Clinton. The suspension, hours before a Democratic presidential debate in Brooklyn, made for an embarrassing misstep for Mr. Sanders...." CW ...

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

...On Hillary's Latin American foreign policy and more specifically the coup d'état in Honduras (2009). For the first video setting up the context, click here: --safari

Hit Job. Dana Milbank: Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chair of the House Isn't That Special Benghaaazi! Committee, "after blowing through several previous deadlines he set, has said to expect a final report 'before summer,' and Republicans say they are drafting it now.... Gowdy last month stopped giving Democrats transcripts of witness interviews. This move, ostensibly to prevent leaks, diminishes the minority's ability respond to allegations contained in the majority report." -- CW

CW: Because the candidates themselves are doing nothing newsworthy, the New York Times decided to devote some online pride-of-place front-page space to the graphic on the left. Inside, Matt Flegenheimer assesses Clinton, Trump & Sanders on various aspects of New-Yorkiness.

George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post: "Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski grabbed a reporter’s arm against her will, but there's insufficient evidence to pursue a misdemeanor battery charge against him, Palm Beach County prosecutors have concluded. 'Although there was probable cause to make an arrest, the evidence cannot prove all legally required elements of the crime alleged and is insufficient to support a criminal prosecution,' Assistant State Attorney Adrienne Ellis wrote in a 'No File' memo explaining prosecutors' decision not to pursue the battery charge filed last month by Jupiter police." -- CW ...

... Charles Pierce: "Tell you what we should do. Next time we're all swanning about Palm Beach, let's all pick a woman at random and yank her arm so hard that we leave bruises and she nearly falls down. Because, apparently, it's open season for that stuff down there." -- CW

Nick Gass: "In a defiant op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday evening, [Donald] Trump opined that the process through which delegates are selected and allocated is part of the same system that has 'rigged' trade, economic and immigration policies against Americans." -- CW ...

... John McCormick of Bloomberg: "Meeting behind closed doors, party leaders in Indiana on Wednesday selected 27 delegates, with most expected to be opposed to [Donald Trump], even though the state's voters won't cast primary ballots there for nearly more three weeks. As the calendar advances closer to the July national convention, it will become more common to have states like Indiana pick delegates before ballots are cast. That could buttress accusations by [Trump] ... and his allies that the system is rigged." -- CW ...

... Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: Donald "Trump's national campaign is largely staffed by an insular circle with little experience in the complexities of presidential politics. The Colorado debacle has revealed another factor holding back the billionaire front-runner as he tries to lock down enough delegates to clinch the nomination: the inexperience of his supporters." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Bible Study Today with Donald Trump

Well, I think many. I mean, you know, when we get into the Bible, I think many. So many. And some people -- look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that. That's not a particularly nice thing. But you know, if you look at what's happening to our country, I mean, when you see what's going on with our country, how people are taking advantage of us, and how they scoff at us and laugh at us. And they laugh at our face, and they're taking our jobs, they're taking our money, they're taking the health of our country. And we have to be firm and have to be very strong. And we can learn a lot from the Bible, that I can tell you. -- Donald Trump, reciting a phrase from his favorite Bible verse

But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. -- Exodus 21:23-24 (NIV)

You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.... Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. -- Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, according to Matthew 5:38-39, 42 (NIV)

So Trump is not a Christian. Glad we cleared that up. -- Constant Weader

For Bible Study with John Kasich, see yesterday's Commentariat. Also this:

... Charles Pierce: "On behalf of every single Christian all the way back to James The Just, I would like to apologize to our Jewish brothers and sisters on behalf of John Kasich, who knows not what he does, and in a big way, too." CW: Thanks, Charles, but most Christians (and not-Jews, such as I) are as ignorant of Jewish traditions & Old Testament texts as is Kasich.

Benjy Sarlin of MSNBC: "Donald Trump is taking over Reddit. Seemingly out of nowhere, the site dubbed 'the front page of the Internet' has been flooded with pro-Trump material over the last two months." -- CW

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

** Arnold Isaacs, in the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's call to bar Muslims from entering the country got all the attention, but an even uglier thread of anti-Muslim bigotry exists inside Ted Cruz's campaign. The team of foreign policy advisers he announced on March 17 ... includes some of the most fanatical anti-Muslim activists in America." -- CW

Katie Zezima & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post on how Ted Cruz plans to win the nomination. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eliza Collins of Politico: "Ted Cruz refused to say if he would support so-called personhood bills in an interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd, according to a partial transcript released by the network ahead of Thursday's broadcast." -- CW ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "Ted Cruz has no regrets about calling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate floor last July, [he suggested during a taping of an interview with Chuck Todd].... Todd asked, 'He lied to you -- you still stand by it?' 'Every word I said there was true and accurate. No one has disputed a word I said,' Cruz said. 'The reaction in the Senate is, 'How dare you say that out loud?' They're not upset that somebody lied to them. I mean, that's the amazing thing.'" -- CW ...

So This Is Totally Surprising. Lauren Fox of TPM: "Ted Cruz's Senate outreach isn't going well.... Cruz has been reaching out both by phone and in person to make appeals to senators.... But despite Cruz and his allies' efforts, senators don't seem willing to take the leap for Cruz especially after watching their first choice candidates fizzle out on the trail." -- CW

Ted Is Worried about Body Parts Again. Katie Zezima: "Sen. Ted Cruz said North Carolina acted within its rights to enact a law banning anti-discrimination protections for gay, lesbian and transgender people.... 'I'm not terribly excited about men being able to go alone into a bathroom with my daughters. And I think that is a perfectly reasonable determination for the people to make,' he said." -- CW

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

... AND, unless you're an "effete cultural elitist" like Steve M., you may find the Cruzes' performance "pretty adorable." In fact, it appears that even Mother Jones reporter Hannah Levintova is not an effete cultural elitist. -- CW

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

Other News & Views

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama will announce on Friday 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 introduces a broad federal effort to increase competition. In an unusual step, Mr. Obama will weigh in personally on a pending proposal at the Federal Communications Commission, filing comments that encourage it to loosen cable companies' grip on the boxes. And he will sign an executive order calling on every federal agency to send him proposals within 60 days for steps they can take to promote competition in a range of industries and better protect consumers." CW: Good news for cable consumers.

The Declaration of Independence 2016. Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: "For the first time since the Founding Fathers carved out the nation's capital from swampland, the District [of Columbia] will not ask the federal government for permission to spend its money. Instead, it will use local tax dollars as it sees fit, just as 50 states do. There is one problem -- Congress treats the District as a federal agency.... And Congress has warned that an insurrection by the city would violate the Constitution. So the city's spending plan will serve a second purpose -- a declaration of independence by the District of Columbia. The six-inch-thick city budget will be a clear challenge to the 'absolute supremacy' that Congress has wielded over the District since it was created in 1790." -- CW

The Nuns' Story. Richard Schragger, et al., of Slate: "This week, the Little Sisters of the Poor told the Supreme Court that they are finally willing to let the government accommodate their religious beliefs.... And they are joined in this turnabout by the numerous other religious nonprofits participating in the litigation.... In a case argued last month, Zubik v. Burwell, the order of nuns challenged the government's efforts to work around their religious objections to paying for health insurance that covers contraception.... The court might have to accept the Little Sisters' word that there is a difference [between the government's plan and the Supreme Court's suggested alternative], but there might also be strategic reasons for their embrace of the court's proposed alternative." -- CW

Steve Lohr of the New York Times: Microsoft "is suing the Justice Department, challenging its frequent use of secrecy orders that prevent Microsoft from telling people when the government obtains a warrant to read their emails. In its suit, filed Thursday morning in Federal District Court in Seattle, Microsoft's home turf, the company asserts that the gag order statute in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 -- as employed today by federal prosecutors and the courts -- is unconstitutional." -- CW

"How Plutocrats Cripple the IRS." Martin Lobel of the American Prospect: "Plutocrats, the richest 0.1 percent of Americans, get the most benefit from a weakened IRS. Because they have the money, the lawyers, the lobbyists, the accountants, and the secret campaign funds, they are able to ensure that the IRS won't have the resources to effectively collect the money they owe to it. Plutocrats do this by devising tax shelters too complex for the IRS to challenge at an acceptable cost, and by having allies in Congress who intimidate the IRS from issuing tough regulations and who cut IRS funding to prevent adequate enforcement." -- CW

The Art of the Title. Lauren Fox of TPM: "Blown Budget Deadline Shows Ryan's Got A Boehner-Sized Problem" --safari

Jessica Valenti of the Guardian: "I've been writing online long enough to not attach my value as a person or writer to strangers' opinions, but it would be a lie to say that the cumulative impact of being derided daily isn't damaging. It is. It's changed who I am on a fundamental level. And though I'd still like to think of myself as an optimistic person, being called a 'cunt' or 'whore' every day for a decade leaves its mark." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Matt Yglesias of Vox: "Time magazine decided to troll economically literate Americans this week with an alarmist cover story about the national debt." Yglesias goes on to partially explain why the entire Time premise is stupid. ...

... Jordan Weissmann of Slate finds even more reasons the Time cover story is bogus. For one thing, there's "the cover's tag line ... -- 'Make America Solvent Again.' A company, or a person, is technically insolvent when debts outstrip assets.... More colloquially, you'll hear someone is insolvent when his or her debts are so onerous they can't possibly be paid. The federal government is not insolvent. Not now. Not any time soon." -- CW ...

... CW: And here's another thing, which neither Yglesias norWeismann mentions: much of this is "debt" we owe ourselves. While the percentage of U.S. debt held by foreign investors is increasing, U.S. entities still hold about two-thirds of the national debt. So we, the American people, or as trolls like to say, "our grandchildren," are the creditors. So that means American creditors' grandchildren will be the beneficiaries. And so will we "debtors," because, as Yglesias does point out, we're benefitting from the services we've "bought" with our debt. ...

... Paul Krugman doesn't even try. In a post titled "No Time for Credibility," he points out that "the lead article [is] by James Grant -- signatory of the infamous 2010 letter warning Ben Bernanke that his policies would cause inflation and debase the dollar, crusader for a return to the gold standard." -- CW ...

... Alan Pyke of Think Progress: "Time Magazine wants to take America backwards from this fragile new willingness to entertain the idea that the world's richest society might be able to buy its poor people some nice things. To do so, it's paying Ron Paul's favorite whackobird to sell readers on the fiction that the national debt is going to come due in some immediate, personal way for individual Americans." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Dave Boucher, et al., of the Tennessean: Tennessee "Gov. Bill Haslam [R] vetoed the controversial bill Thursday that would have made the Holy Bible the official state book of Tennessee. Haslam cited an opinion issued in 2015 by Attorney General Herbert Slatery that said the bill could violate the state and federal constitutions. 'In addition to the constitutional issues with the bill, my personal feeling is that this bill trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text,' Haslam wrote in a letter to House Speaker Beth Harwell." -- CW

Greg Blustein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia "Gov. Nathan Deal said the uproar in North Carolina and Mississippi over new laws that critics say curb gay rights should give supporters of the 'religious liberty' measure in Georgia second thoughts, and warned that he's willing to pull out the veto pen again next year if similar legislation lands on his desk." -- CW

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

Nah, this guy couldn't be a crook.Tom Dart of the Guardian: "The Texas Rangers are examining claims that [the state's Secretary of Agriculture Sid] Miller misused taxpayer funds by flying to Oklahoma to receive the 'Jesus shot', reportedly a $300 injection said to cure chronic pain for life. The injection is only available from a physician known as 'Dr Mike', whose medical license in Ohio was revoked after he was convicted of multiple felonies including healthcare fraud and tax evasion. The Rangers have also been asked to consider allegations that Miller spent about $2,000 in state and campaign funds to fly to Mississippi and compete in a rodeo." CW: Apparently every elected official is Texas is an (alleged) crook. This one is also a colossal jerk.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Finding that a juror had not lied in order to serve at the trial, a judge on Thursday denied a motion to reverse the conviction of Peter Liang, the former New York police officer found guilty of manslaughter in the 2014 shooting of Akai Gurley in a housing project stairwell." -- CW

Poor people aren't "entitled" to luxurious diapers: --safari

Sam Stanton & Diana Lambert of the Sacramento Bee: "UC Davis contracted with consultants for at least $175,000 to scrub the Internet of negative online postings following the November 2011 pepper-spraying of students and to improve the reputations of both the university and Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, newly released documents show.... Some payments were made in hopes of improving the results computer users obtained when searching for information about the university or Katehi, results that one consultant labeled 'venomous rhetoric about UC Davis and the chancellor.'" CW: Just pepper-spray the Googles, please.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Lorne Cook & John-Thor Dahlburg of the AP: "Belgium's transport minister resigned Friday after a secret European Union report detailing lapses in airport security oversight was leaked in the wake of the deadly March 22 bombings at Brussels Airport and subway. Prime Minister Charles Michel said after his talks with Transport Minister Jacqueline Galant, 'the minister presented her resignation to the King and the King accepted it.'" -- CW

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

News Lede

Palm Beach Post: "Friday marked the first time a human died at the hands of an animal at the Palm Beach Zoo, officials said at a news conference Friday night. Stacey Konwiser, the zoo's lead tiger keeper, died at about 3 p.m. after an encounter with a male Malayan tiger in the cats' 'night house,' where they are fed and where they sleep." -- CW