The Commentariat -- Ides of March 2015

Internal links & defunct removed.

Mitt Romney has an op-ed in USA Today urging the Obama administration to show some "courage" & walk away from negotiations with Iran because "agreements with tyrants & fanatics" always fall apart.

Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "... the United States, largely because of poor oversight and loose financial controls, has sometimes inadvertently financed the very militants it is fighting. While refusing to pay ransoms for Americans kidnapped by Al Qaeda, the Taliban or, more recently, the Islamic State, the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars over the last decade at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which has been siphoned off to enemy fighters."

I really do have a lot of close friends who are Democrats. I even have Hillary's private e-mail. . . It's HillaryClinton@Wallstreet.com. You know the best part of that joke, Elizabeth Warren wrote it for me. -- Scott Walker, at the Gridiron dinner

[Walker] punted on the question of evolution, which I do think is a problem. I absolutely believe in the theory of evolution -- when it comes to gay marriage. -- President Obama, Gridiron dinner

Ben Terris of the Washington Post: President Obama & other politicos cracked wise as the Gridiron Club's off-the-record annual dinner last night. ...

... The AP reports more jokes.

God News

** Kevin Kruse, in a fascinating New York Times op-ed, explains -- as a reaction to the New Deal -- "how corporate America invented Christian America," which is the subtitle of his recent book. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link.

Elizabeth Barber of Reuters: "Two homosexual rights groups will march in Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade on Sunday after organizers lifted a longtime ban on lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBT) organizations joining the annual Irish-American march.... The Massachusetts contingent of Knights of Columbus, an organization of Catholic men, pulled out of the parade on Friday, calling the event 'politicized and divisive.' [CW: Also, gay people frighten them.]... In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he will boycott the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade again this year, with its organizers refusing to admit more than one gay rights group."

NBC News: "Pope Francis has said he will probably remain pope for only a few years, adding that his predecessor was very brave for retiring." Also, he misses being able to go out & get a pizza. CW: It's true that in Rome, where the pizza is delicious. that's a hardship.

Brendan James of TPM: "A group of Catholic nuns condemned Fox News host Bill O'Reilly [last] Sunday for saying that he had 'seen' the murders of their sisters in El Salvador in 1980.... 'Maryknoll Sisters were deeply saddened when our Sisters were killed in El Salvador, and shocked when we learned of Mr. O'Reilly's statement inferring he witnessed their murder,' the statement said.... The Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland also offered a statement, calling for reporters covering the tragedy to do so with a spirit of 'integrity and honesty.'" Via Steve Benen.

Greg Horton of Religion News Service: "In an effort to block the state's involvement with gay marriage, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday (March 10) to abolish marriage licenses in the state.... [The bill's sponsor, Todd] Russ [R,] said the intent of the bill is to protect court clerks caught between the federal and state governments.... The bill would require court clerks to issue certificates of marriage signed by ordained clergy or affidavits of common-law marriage. The Senate has not yet voted on the measure. Nor has Gov. [Mary] Fallin [R] indicated what she will do if the bill passes the Senate."

Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch: Evangelical leader Franklin Graham says the reason President Obama won't fight ISIS is that he wants to protect Islam because "His mother must have been a Muslim." Via Benen. CW: Never mind that Obama is fighting ISIS & his mother was not a Muslim & neither is he. It is never, never necessary to say anything even vaguely factual if you believe in Jesus. So let that be a lesson to those nuns who are ragging Bill O'Reilly for making up stuff. It's the Christian thing to do, Sisters.

Ben Hooper of UPI: "Authorities in Florida said a church has lost its tax-exempt status after it was found to be hosting nude paint events and slumber parties with the 'sexiest ladies.'... The events hosted at the facility included an 'anything but clothes' body painting party and a slumber party billed as 'a pajama and lingerie party hosted by the sexiest ladies on the beach.'"

Presidential Race

Jonathan Karl, et al., of ABC News: "House Speaker John Boehner is expected to announce this week a new investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices as Secretary of State, including her admission that more than 31,000 emails were destroyed because she determined them to be personal, top House Republicans told ABC News today." CW: What a surprise! ...

Gohmert! I suspect she didn't want Louie Gohmert rifling though her e-mails, which seems to me to be a kind of reasonable position for someone to take. -- James Carville, on ABC News's "This Week," today

... The "Little Woman" Excuse. David Remnick of the New Yorker: At her press conference, Hillary Clinton should have been returning to those feminist themes [she expressed in her U.N. speech], but she used the opportunity to claim that she was only trying to protect the sanctity of her communications about her 'yoga routines,' her daughter's wedding, and her mother's funeral. This was a notably transparent exploitation of gender. It's one thing for a politician to be stupid; it is quite another for her to assume that we are. And what to make of a politician who protested the war in Vietnam and investigated the Watergate scandals but now writes a valentine to Henry Kissinger in the Washington Post -- a book review in which Clinton calls Kissinger 'surprisingly idealistic'? The peoples of Chile, Cambodia, Argentina, Bangladesh, and East Timor surely want to know more." ...

... Maureen Dowd writes a pretty good "Open Letter to hdr22@clintonemail.com". ...

... Just So You'll Know. Ed Klein of the New York Post: "It's the vast left-wing conspiracy. Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett leaked to the press details of Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail address during her time as secretary of state, sources tell me. But she did so through people outside the administration.... In addition, at Jarrett's behest, the State Department was ordered to launch a series of investigations into Hillary's conduct [as Secretary of State].... I'm told that the e-mail scandal was timed to come out just as Hillary was on the verge of formally announcing that she was running for president.... Members of Bill Clinton's camp say the former president suspects the White House is the source of the leak and is furious.... According to this source, Bill added: 'The Obamas are out to get us any way they can.'" CW: Klein's "sources," BTW, are notoriously unreliable. But that's okay; the Post made this its cover story....

Worse Than Hillary ...

... CW: Yesterday, I linked an NYT story on how "Jeb Bush has rebuked Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private email account as secretary of state, holding up his own conduct as an example of transparency in government. But it took Mr. Bush seven years after leaving office to comply fully with a Florida public records statute requiring him to turn over emails he sent and received as governor." ...

...Way Worse Than Hillary ...

... Today, Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post piles on: "Jeb Bush used his private e-mail account as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues such as troop deployments to the Middle East and the protection of nuclear plants, according to a review of publicly released records. The e-mails include two series of exchanges involving details of Florida National Guard troop deployments after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the review by The Washington Post found.... Bush ... has sharply criticized ... Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private e-mail account...." A Bush aide called O'Keefe's story a "Democrat opposition research dump."

Where's Scottie? Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "For more than a week, aides to Gov. Scott Walker have declined to say whether he's in Wisconsin on those days that have no public events scheduled.... In many cases in recent months, the first indication that Walker has left the state comes when news outlets at his destination report on his trips, which have taken him to Iowa, California, New Hampshire and New York in the past week alone. On five of the past eight days, Walker has been out of Wisconsin for at least part of the day. On one of those days, it was unclear in what state the governor was located." CW: Maybe he's meeting in an undisclosed location with Putin.

An illustration in "Southern Partisan," 1999.Vote Lindsey Graham for President of the CSA. Andrew Kaczynski & Ilan Ben-Mier of BuzzFeed: Richard Quinn, "one of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's longtime advisers, was the editor-in-chief of [Southern Partisan,] a neo-Confederate magazine -- a magazine Graham gave an interview to in 1999." Quinn claims to have rejected his long-held racist views, evidently because it was politically expedient for him to do so: "The issue of Quinn's past came up while serving as an adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign.... McCain stood by Quinn and said he had never read his writing. He cited Quinn's work for Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, and others." Thanks to safari for the link. ...

... David Firestone of the New York Times, Jan. 12, 2000: "Over the last three days, Senator John McCain has made three conflicting statements on the Confederate battle flag issue raging in the key primary state of South Carolina, and with each statement, his position has become less clear.... His top South Carolina strategist, Richard M. Quinn, said ... that Mr. McCain had called the flag a symbol of heritage 'at least 150 times in the past.'... [McCain's] characterization of the flag's symbolism makes him the only major presidential contender to empathize with the flag's supporters." In late April, more than a month after he had withdrawn from the presidential race, McCain apologized for his support for the racist symbol.

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: New Hampshire could be crucial for GOP presidential candidates this year, especially the so-called "moderates," & the candidates are giving the state a lot of attention. There is no clear frontrunner.

Beyond the Beltway

Jack Healy & John Eligon of the New York Times: "On April 7, Ferguson will cast its first votes for local leaders since [Michael] Brown's death in August.... For years, local leaders in Ferguson ran unopposed in elections that drew 12 percent of registered voters, only single-digit percentages of black residents and almost exclusively white candidates.... Four African-Americans are running this year, compared with a total of three in Ferguson's previous 120 years."

Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post: "... pistol and rifle teams, which, like other college shooting teams, have benefited from the largesse of gun industry money [have] become so popular that they often turn students away. Teams are thriving at a diverse range of schools: Yale, Harvard, the University of Maryland, George Mason University, and even smaller schools.... Once they fire a gun, students say they find shooting relaxing -- at MIT, students call it 'very Zen' -- and that it teaches focusing skills that help in class.... And that's precisely what the gun industry hoped it would hear after spending the past few years pouring millions of dollars into collegiate shooting...."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Where's Vlad, Ctd. Julia Ioffe, in a Washington Post piece, on Vladimir Putin's strange disappearance. The Kremlin doesn't have a cover story, & even if it did, no one would believe the tale.

News Ledes

AP: "Secretary of State John Kerry, returning to talks with Iran on its nuclear program, said Sunday that most of the differences still barring an agreement are political rather than technical."

New York Times: "Robert A. Durst, the scion of a New York real estate family, was arrested on Saturday in New Orleans on a warrant issued in a homicide investigation by Los Angeles County, law enforcement officials said. For years, questions have swirled around Mr. Durst about the unsolved killing of a close friend and confidante in Los Angeles 15 years ago, and about his first wife's disappearance in 1982 and the shooting and dismemberment of a Texas neighbor in 2001. HBO has been airing a documentary about Mr. Durst, called 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,' and the final episode is scheduled to be shown Sunday night." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "On Sunday night, in the final moments of the final episode of a six-part HBO documentary about him, 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,' Mr. Durst seemed to veer toward a confession that could lift the shroud of mystery that surrounds the deaths of three people over the course of three decades. 'What the hell did I do?' Mr. Durst whispers to himself in an unguarded moment caught on a microphone he wore during filming. 'Killed them all, of course.'"

The Commentariat -- March 14, 2015

Internal links removed.

Michael Shear & Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "Nine months after President Obama concluded that a 'corrosive culture' had led to systemic problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the nation’s largest hospital system has made only halting progress toward hiring new doctors, replacing incompetent supervisors, upgrading outdated computers and rebuilding trust with veterans.... In a highly stage-managed appearance at the Phoenix hospital on Friday, Mr. Obama acknowledged the need for more improvement." ...

... The Los Angeles Times story, by Christi Parsons & Michael Memoli, is here.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court has turned aside the Obama Administration's proposal to accelerate its request for a stay of a lower judge's order blocking President Barack Obama's plan to give quasi-legal status and work permits to millions more illegal immigrants.... A few days delay is not likely to have much direct impact... However, the 5th Circuit's move could be an early sign that the appeals court -- viewed as the most conservative in the country -- isn't favorably inclined to the Obama Administration's view that [Judge Andrew] Hanen's order needs to be overturned quickly."

Nick Gass of Politico: "President Barack Obama said he's 'embarrassed' for the 47 Republican senators who signed a letter to Iranian leaders earlier this week":

... Jaime Fuller of New York: Ministers from other P5+1 countries are not amused. "Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council has begun to discuss whether it might lift sanctions on Iran if a deal on nuclear weapons were reached. One diplomat told Reuters, "There is an interesting question about whether, if the Security Council endorses the deal, that stops Congress undermining the deal." Luckily, we have John McCain to compare the German minister to Neville Chamberlain & Ted Cruz to invoke "Munich in 1938." ...

     ... Here's the Washington Post's report, by Karen DeYoung. ...

... CW: John Boehner must be enjoying the break. For once, the news is all about how embarrassing the Senate is instead of how embarrassing the House is. ...

... Argumentum ad Hitlerum, Ctd. Simon Maloy of Salon: "'Obama is an appeaser like Chamberlain' ... [ha]s actually become the go-to argument for conservatives looking to get a quick dig in at Obama's foreign policy. If you look back over the years, the historical record is littered with instances of conservatives claiming that Barack Obama just ceded the Sudetenland to Hitler." Maloy produces a parade of horribles. "... conservatives see a world that is just jammed full of Hitlers. Cuba, the Islamic State, the Muslim Brotherhood, Russia, Iran -- Hitlers all. And once you've reduced every single international conflict into 'us versus Hitler,' well, anything less than full-on, guns-blazing, hard-line, World War II-type swagger starts to sound weak and unreasonable. If only Obama would get serious and realize that literally everyone is Hitler, he wouldn't be such a Chamberlain." ...

... James Hohmann of Politico: "One-third of Republican insiders [as defined by Politico!] believe that Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and his GOP colleagues -- including several potential presidential candidates -- crossed the line when they published an open letter to Iranian leaders warning about a possible nuclear deal." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dumbest Guy in Senate Says "Oops!" Heidi Przybyla of Bloomberg : "The letter 47 Republicans sent earlier this week warning against a nuclear deal President Barack Obama is negotiating with Iran probably shouldn't have been addressed to the regime's leaders, said Senator Ron Johnson, who signed the letter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

I do believe [Senate Republicans] defied the chain of command in what could be construed as an illegal act. What Senator Cotton did is a gross breach of discipline, and especially as a veteran of the Army, he should know better. I have no issue with Senator Cotton, or others, voicing their opinion in opposition to any deal to halt Iran's nuclear progress. Speaking out on these issues is clearly part of his job. But to directly engage a foreign entity, in this way, undermining the strategy and work of our diplomats and our Commander in Chief, strains the very discipline and structure that our foreign relations depend on, to succeed.... The breach of discipline is extremely dangerous, because undermining our diplomatic efforts, at this moment, brings us another step closer to a very costly and perilous war with Iran. I think Senator Cotton recognizes this, and he simply does not care. That's what disappoints me the most. -- Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton

... CW: A few days ago Philip Weiss of MondoWeiss speculated that neoconservative, invariably-wrong Bill Kristol likely had a hand in the drafting the Senate's 47 Percent letter. ...

... SO ... Tim Mak of the Daily Beast: "The letter, which was conceived of by freshman GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, was influenced in part by prominent national security hawk and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. Kristol said he had no part in drafting or editing the letter, but did consult with the senator about it. 'I did discuss it with Tom as he was conceiving it and pondering whether and how to do it. I know he consulted with others as well with some government and foreign policy experience, as you'd expect,' Kristol told The Daily Beast." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... CW: These people sit together in little puddles of stupid. When they are not saying stupid things to each other, they are congratulating each other for the stupid things they say. ...

... Jonathan Chait: "The letter episode contains all the characteristic traits of a neoconservative project. First, of course, is the wild confrontationalism, which in this case was directed not against Iran but against the Obama administration.... Second, the letter was drafted and signed with maximum haste and a total contempt for planning or serious thought of any kind.... Third, the ploy has failed even by the standards of its own logic.... And, then, finally, there is the stubborn refusal to concede the plan has backfired even in the face of overwhelming evidence." ...

... Historian Josh Zeitz, in Politico Magazine on the history of the Logan Act: "Two hundred years from now, historians will ponder the [Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron] Dermer and Cotton affairs. Only time will tell whether this newfound repudiation of executive authority in foreign affairs will apply to all presidents, or only to presidents who, by virtue of their politics and provenance, excite the anxieties of people in the throes of great economic and demographic change." ...

... CREDO is circulating a petition to "Tell Democratic leaders in the Senate to put forward a resolution condemning the 47 Republican senators who are endangering national security to damage the presidency." Via Paul Waldman.

Dana Milbank highlights the plight of Washington Post reporter & Iran bureau chief Jason Rezaian, who has been imprisoned in Iran for eight months & whose "only crime is being an American journalist."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Here is the headline of an op-ed in one of the country's top newspapers: "War with Iran is probably our best option." The author is Joshua Muravchik, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University;s School of Advanced International Studies. The newspaper is the Washington Post. ...

... Jim Fallows: "The Post's owners ... have traditionally had a free hand in choosing the paper's editorial-page policy and leaders.... Jeff Bezos, behold your newspaper.... This is appalling." ...

... CW: Maybe Bezos just got bored with his sweatshop operations & playing with drones & decided it would be more fun to become a major player in the military-industrial complex. ...

... Scott Lemieux in LG&M: "Wherever there's a non-ally of the United States not being invaded by the United States, Fred Hiatt[, the Post's op-ed editor,] is there to find a crackpot to advocate that the problem of non-invasion be solved immediately.... I must, however, subtract 5 points because he invokes Hitler without mentioning Chamberlain."

White House: "In this week's address, President Obama laid out his vision for quality, affordable higher education for all Americans":

Scott Wong of the Hill: "What began a month ago with questions about [Aaron Schock]'s [R-Ill.] unusual 'Downton Abbey' inspired office decorations has quickly become a slow drip of more damaging stories by the day.... Conservative critics are now calling for his ouster.... Already, attorney Mark Zalcman, a self-described 'pro-union, Christian conservative' from Normal, Ill., said this week he'll try to unseat Schock next year. His campaign slogan: 'Because Washington needs the Gospel.'" CW: How can something "quickly" become a "slow" drip?

Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "The Koch brothers' conglomerate Koch Industries has refused to comply with an investigation by three Senate Democrats into whether the company has funded groups or researchers who deny or cast doubt on climate change. In response to a request from senators Barbara Boxer, Edward Markey and Sheldon Whitehouse for information about Koch Industries' support for scientific research, Koch general counsel Mark Holden invoked the company's first amendment rights.... On 25 February, the three Democratic senators -- each a ranking member of committees that oversee environmental affairs -- sent letters to 100 fossil fuel companies and thinktanks.... The senators' investigation was prompted by documents obtained through a freedom of information request by Greenpeace...." Holden cited First-Amendment free-speech rights as the basis for the companies' refusal to comply.

...everything Barack Obama does domestically and in foreign policy is designed to humble the arrogant crackers who have always run the United States. -- Winger Erick Erickson, filling in for Rush Limbaugh

... Paul Waldman: "... it is simply impossible to overstate the ubiquity of this particular theme in conservative media: Barack Obama hates not just America but white people in general, and all of his policies are meant to exact racial vengeance upon them. This is the rancid stew of fantasy, hatred, and yes, racism in which millions upon millions of conservatives have spent the last six years marinating."

Presidential Race

Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "Jerry Brown ran against Bill Clinton in the 1992 Democratic primaries. Now he doesn't think anyone should run against Hillary Clinton when she seeks the nomination next year." ...

... Ezra Klein: "The question for the Democratic Party is whether Clinton is going to be as strong in the visible primary [[ and the visible election -- as she is in the invisible one. The skills necessary to win over Democratic Party elites may not be the skills necessary to win the election -- and if Hillary doesn't face serious opposition in the visible primary, Democrats may not find that out until too late." ...

... Josh Gerstein: "Hillary Clinton's claim that most work-related emails sent from her personal account were preserved in the electronic files of other State Department officials fell apart Friday. After a week of deflecting questions about how emails were handled during Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, the agency finally acknowledged that the email traffic of other senior officials was not automatically or routinely archived." ...

     ... Here's the New York Times story, by Michael Schmidt & Julie Davis. ...

... Jaime Fuller: "The last time we saw a politician doing this workout was an hour before Biden debated vice-presidential candidate Representative Paul Ryan in 2012. Time magazine published photos of Biden's opponent doing the exact same pose. However, Ryan only used 25-pound dumbbells.... The White House made the Vine to publicize Michelle Obama's #GimmeFive challenge and the fifth anniversary of the First Lady's 'Let's Move' campaign."

Jeb Breaks Law, Faults Hillary for Not Breaking Law. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Jeb Bush has rebuked Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private email account as secretary of state, holding up his own conduct as an example of transparency in government. But it took Mr. Bush seven years after leaving office to comply fully with a Florida public records statute requiring him to turn over emails he sent and received as governor, according to records released Friday. Mr. Bush delivered the latest batch of 25,000 emails in May 2014, seven and a half years after leaving the Statehouse and just as he started to contemplate a potential run for the White House, according to a newly disclosed letter written by his lawyer. A Florida statute governing the preservation of public records requires elected officials, including the governor, to turn over records pertaining to official business 'at the expiration of his or her term of office.' ...

... Reid Epstein of the Wall Street Journal: "Jeb Bush said he would be open to allowing illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and said his position on immigration is 'the grown-up plan.'" ...

... Steve M.: "When you describe a position of yours that's unpopular with the voters as 'the grown-up choice,' what you're saying is that those who disagree with you are children.... Look, I understand -- GOP voters are stupid children. But you're not supposed to say that to them if you want their votes."

Christie Lays Out Reasons Not to Vote for Him. Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R)told leading GOP policy analysts this week that he will make overhauling Medicare, Social Security and other long-term entitlement programs a centerpiece of his likely presidential campaign, according to participants in the talks. Christie's decision to embrace a politically risky campaign theme is central to an attempt to revive his wilting national prospects, according to people familiar with his plans."

Robert Costa & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Sen. Marco Rubio has been cultivating a relationship with Mitt Romney and his intimates, landing some of the 2012 Republican nominee's top advisers and donors and persistently courting others as he readies an expected 2016 presidential campaign."

Well, I was a Boy Scout, and I always thought maybe campsites should be cleaner. -- Scott Walker, responding to a second-grader who asked him what he would do about climate change

Absolute proof there is no business lobby opposed to clean Boy Scout campsites.* -- Constant Weader

*As long as the campsites are not in the way of loggers, frackers or miners. Anyway, making Boy Scout clean up their campsites is an excellent overall strategy to fight climate change. ...

... Gail Collins on GOP candidates positions on climate change: "Have you ever heard anybody say he couldn't comment on tax policy because he wasn't an accountant?"

Beyond the Beltway

Kelly Weill of Capital New York: "Computers operating on the New York Police Department's computer network at its 1 Police Plaza headquarters have been used to alter Wikipedia pages containing details of alleged police brutality, a review by Capital has revealed.... The edits and changes were linked to the NYPD through a series of Internet Protocol addresses, or IP addresses, which can be publicly tracked by various websites.... Computer users identified by Capital as working on the NYPD headquarters' network have edited and attempted to delete Wikipedia entries for several well-known victims of police altercations, including entries for Eric Garner, Sean Bell, and Amadou Diallo.... NYPD IP addresses have also been used to edit entries on stop-and-frisk, NYPD scandals, and prominent figures in the city’s political and police leadership." ...

... Jessica Roy of New York: "The NYPD told Capital the editing incident is under 'internal review,' so look out for future edits to the entry 'NYPD Wikipedia Scandal.'"

Abby Ohlheiser of the Washington Post: "The former members of Oklahoma University's disbanded Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter are considering a lawsuit against the school, according to statements from the fraternity's newly retained attorney, Stephen Jones.... Jones, who served as Timothy McVeigh's lead defense attorney during the Oklahoma City Bombing trial, told KFOR that the fraternity members objected to statements from the school's president that, they say, painted all of the fraternity members as racists and bigots." CW: Jones sure gets the worst clients: a mass-murdering terrorist & frat-boy racists. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dan Williams of Reuters: "Flagging in opinion polls before Tuesday's election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to rally Israeli rightists by casting his centre-left challengers as tools of a global campaign to usurp power. Over social media and broadcast interviews, the three-term leader has accused unspecified foreign governments and tycoons of funneling 'tens of millions of dollars' to opposition activists working to undermine his Likud party and boost the Zionist Union joint list led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni."

Barbie Nadeau of the Daily Beast: "Russian president Vladimir Putin appears to be back at the Kremlin after a mysterious disappearance that had people wondering if the Russian leader might be seriously ill or at risk of a coup. But a Swiss newspaper says the Russian playboy was just in Lugano for the birth of his lovechild. In an article titled Es ist ein Mädchen! or 'It's a Girl,' the paper Bilk claims that Putin and his alleged 32-year-old lover, Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva, welcomed their daughter at the private Santa Anna di Sorgeno clinic in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino on the Italian border -- a favorite playground for wealthy Russians." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... In a report filed after lovechild story broke, Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times writes that Putin is still MIA. The report does not mention the Italian theory.

News Lede

Hill: "At least 10 Americans potentially exposed to Ebola in Sierra Leone will be flown to the United States for observation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and reports Saturday. CDC and the State Department are working to fly the U.S. citizens via private planes to the United States, where they will be monitored for 21 days, the maximum incubation period for Ebola, near either the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health or Emory University Hospital."

The Commentariat -- March 13, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Abby Ohlheiser of the Washington Post: "The former members of Oklahoma University's disbanded Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter are considering a lawsuit against the school, according to statements from the fraternity's newly retained attorney, Stephen Jones.... Jones, who served as Timothy McVeigh's lead defense attorney during the Oklahoma City Bombing trial, told KFOR that the fraternity members objected to statements from the school's president that, they say, painted all of the fraternity members as racists and bigots." CW: Jones sure gets fine clients: a mass-murdering terrorist & frat-boy racists.

James Hohmann of Politico: "One-third of Republican insiders [as defined by Politico!] believe that Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and his GOP colleagues -- including several potential presidential candidates -- crossed the line when they published an open letter to Iranian leaders warning about a possible nuclear deal." ...

... Dumbest Guy in Senate Says "Oops!" Heidi Przybyla of Bloomberg: "The letter 47 Republicans sent earlier this week warning against a nuclear deal President Barack Obama is negotiating with Iran probably shouldn't have been addressed to the regime's leaders, said Senator Ron Johnson, who signed the letter." ...

... CW: A few days ago Philip Weiss of MondoWeiss speculated that neoconservative, invariably-wrong Bill Kristol likely had a hand in the drafting the Senate's 47 Percent letter. ...

... SO ... Tim Mak of the Daily Beast: "The letter, which was conceived of by freshman GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, was influenced in part by prominent national security hawk and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. Kristol said he had no part in drafting or editing the letter, but did consult with the senator about it. 'I did discuss it with Tom as he was conceiving it and pondering whether and how to do it. I know he consulted with others as well with some government and foreign policy experience, as you'd expect,' Kristol told The Daily Beast." ...

... CW: These people sit together in little puddles of stupid. When they are not saying stupid things to each other, they are congratulating each other for the stupid things they say.

Barbie Nadeau of the Daily Beast: "Russian president Vladimir Putin appears to be back at the Kremlin after a mysterious disappearance that had people wondering if the Russian leader might be seriously ill or at risk of a coup. But a Swiss newspaper says the Russian playboy was just in Lugano for the birth of his lovechild. In an article titled Es ist ein Mädchen! or 'It's a Girl,' the paper Bilk claims that Putin and his alleged 32-year-old lover, Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva, welcomed their daughter at the private Santa Anna di Sorgeno clinic in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino on the Italian border -- a favorite playground for wealthy Russians."

*****

CW: I am just waiting for some prominent Republican in a pique to shout, "I don't care about the facts." It would be the gaffe of gaffes, and it could happen. Because it's true of nearly every one of them.

** "We Have a President for a Reason." Historian Kathleen DuVal, in a New York Times op-ed, puts the Senate's 47 Percent in historical context. It turns out, not surprisingly, that attempts by early American individual elected officials to negotiate with foreign powers were both kooky & unsuccessful. "Having a point person for foreign relations was one of the main motives for jettisoning the Articles of Confederation in 1789.... Increasingly, Americans began to see alternative negotiating as treason." ...

... CW: Oh, the irony! The Senate's 47 Percent, in their pompous pose as Constitutional scholars & teachers, were in fact acting as perfect exemplars of what the sainted Founders wrote the Constitution to prevent. ...

... David Goldstein of McClatchy News: "The U.S. Senate Historian's Office has so far been unable to find another example in the chamber's history where one political party openly tried to deal with a foreign power against a presidential policy, as Republicans have attempted in their open letter to Iran this week." Thanks to Dave S. for the link. ...

... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "Something seems to be out of kilter in the political marketplace that yielded Tom Cotton.... The odds of having a chance encounter with rationality in today's Senate are vanishingly small." ...

... Quite a few editorial boards around the country are reacting to the Senate's 47 Percent. Here's the Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor: "If the open letter to the 'Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran' represents the path forward for U.S. foreign policy, chaos is the destination. It's simply stunning that [Kelly] Ayotte [N.H.] and 46 other senators can&'t see that -- or choose not to." ...

... Cotton Sheep. Steve Benen: "The fact that Cotton would continue ridiculous antics after winning the election shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. What matters, though, is the Republican embrace of this brand of political extremism.... After he created what was effectively an international incident, his fellow GOP lawmakers are 'suddenly flocking to him for counsel on foreign policy'? Two bumbling months into his term, Arkansas Republicans are gearing up for his 2020 presidential campaign? This really isn't healthy." ...

... Former Bushie Michael Gerson: "This was a foreign policy maneuver, in the middle of a high-stakes negotiation, with all the gravity and deliberation of a blog posting. In timing, tone and substance, it raises questions about the Republican majority's capacity to govern.... Congress simply has no business conducting foreign policy with a foreign government, especially an adversarial one." CW: You can ignore about half of Gerson's column, which includes inaccuracies of the both-sides-do-it genre, but his criticisms of this Stupid Republican Trick are right on point. ...

... New York Times Editors: "The Republicans in the Senate seem to have had no trouble inserting themselves into the Iran nuclear negotiations, when they had no business interfering. Yet they have shown little interest in carrying out a job that is squarely within their constitutional mandate -- drafting an authorization for war against ISIS that Democrats can support and President Obama will sign."

We Ain't in De Basement. Paul Krugman: "... the Fed's critics keep insisting that easy-money policies will lead to a plunging dollar. Reality, however, keeps declining to oblige. Far from heading downstairs to debasement, the dollar has soared through the roof. (Sorry.)... Actually, the strong dollar is bad for America. In an immediate sense, it will weaken our long-delayed economic recovery by widening the trade deficit. In a deeper sense, the message from the dollar's surge is that we're less insulated than many thought from problems overseas."

Carol Leonig & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "Two Secret Service agents suspected of driving under the influence and striking a White House security barricade disrupted an active bomb investigation and may have driven over the suspicious package itself, according to current and former government officials familiar with the incident." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Arit John of Bloomberg Politics: "... in recent years the Secret Service has bounced from one alcohol-and-incompetency fueled scandal to the next: prostitutes and partying in El Salvador, prostitutes and partying in Colombia, a drunk agent passed out in the hallway of a hotel in The Netherlands, plus another in Miami, an armed contractor in the elevator, sniper bullets that hit the White House, last fall's fence jumper, and the downplaying of the fence jumper. Adding salt into the current Secret Service wound, nearly two years ago agents shot and killed a woman, who seemed to be confused, for driving through a similar checkpoint.... The Secret Service, signed into existence on the last day of President Lincoln's life, eventually came into being, in part, because the person tasked with protecting Lincoln that day was drinking on the job.... Next month is the 200th anniversary of the Lincoln assassination...." CW: Really? ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic has another rundown of the Secret Service's recent lapses.

Scott Higham of the Washington Post: International Relief and Development Inc. of Arlington, Va., "the largest nonprofit contractor working for the U.S. Agency for International Development during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, billed the government $1.1 million for staff parties and pricey retreats -- three of them held at one of the poshest destinations on the East Coast, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... John Eligon, et al., of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Thursday denounced the shootings of two police officers during a late night protest here as 'heinous and cowardly attacks' that came just as this embattled city was taking 'good faith steps' toward rebuilding trust in law enforcement. 'This was not someone trying to bring healing to Ferguson,' Mr. Holder said at a news conference in Washington. 'This was a damn punk, a punk, who was trying to sow discord.'" ...

... Wesley Lowery, et al., of the Washington Post, update information on the shooting & its aftermath. ...

... Jon Eligon & Eli Yokley of the New York Times: "Just as Ferguson seemed to be moving past the stunning abuses detailed by the federal authorities, having shed its city manager, police chief, municipal judge and other officials accused of running a racially biased legal system, those four gunshots threatened to reopen the well of anger, unrest and racial tension that has stifled life here since Mr. Brown's death last summer from shots fired by a white police officer. 'To actually have the police injured by gunshots -- that is not even a small setback, it is a real setback,' said Courtney Curtis, a Democratic state representative whose district includes Ferguson. 'It takes away the forward momentum the protesters did have.'" ...

... Jennifer Fermino of the New York Daily News: "Just when you thought Rudy Giuliani couldn't get crazier, the former NYC mayor blamed Obama for the brutal beatdown at a Brooklyn McDonalds -- and said the president should be more like Bill Cosby. Obama is ignoring 'enormous amounts of crime' committed by African-Americans, Giuliani said Thursday. And he said President Obama is to blame for the brawl inside a McDonald's in Brooklyn as well as the shooting of two cops in Ferguson because of the anti-police 'tone' coming from the White House." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Before Barack Obama took office, crime was not a problem. (You had a few rotten apples like Bernard Kerik committing the odd crime, but nobody in politics could be blamed for that.) Since Obama became president, crime has ... okay, it's continued to fall, but it feels worse. Or at least it feels worse to Rudy Giuliani....What do you call holding Barack Obama responsible for every crime committed by a black person, anywhere?" CW: And what do you call a person who does not live in an evidence-based world? Oh, I believe Jennifer Fermino led with the answer. ...

... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Fox News' 'Outnumbered' co-host Andrea Tantaros said on Thursday that Eric Holder is 'an attorney general for the criminal' while arguing that the Obama administration is at least partially to blame for the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Mo., early Thursday. 'Eric Holder has proven, time again, he is an attorney general for the criminal, by the criminal, and of the criminals in the United States of America,' Tantaros said."

There is no basis,tradition, or even in contemporary practice for finding that in the Constitution the right to demand judicial consideration of newly discovered evidence of innocence brought forward after a conviction.... With any luck, we shall avoid ever having to face this embarrassing question again. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, concurrence in Herrera v. Collins, 1993

... ** Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Lara Bazelon in Slate: "If you are a wrongfully convicted man or woman in this country, it is extremely difficult -- if not outright impossible -- to win your case by advancing the simple argument that you are innocent. Sounds crazy, right? But it's true. The Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to hold that the federal Constitution allows for so-called freestanding claims of innocence, that is, the right to be let out of prison simply because you didn't do it, without any other 'technical' violation to back up your argument. In the United States, the inmate who raises a compelling case of innocence after a constitutionally proper trial may well be doomed."

NBC News: "A group of 104 legal scholars and immigration law instructors signed a statement calling the Texas judge's decision that blocked President Barack Obama's immigration executive action 'deeply flawed.' In their statement provided to NBC News and made public Friday, the group argued that the executive action programs that would have shielded millions from deportation and provided them permission to work 'are well within the legal authority of the federal executive.'"

Gene Robinson on the SAE Boys on the Bus: "... the real stunner was the line describing what to do with any black man who might have the gall to seek to join their fraternity: 'You can hang 'em from a tree.' Whoa. Just like that, they went all the way to lynching? And thought it was funny? Now, I realize that these soft, pampered, privileged, ridiculous frat boys are not likely to attempt actual violence against black people. But they wouldn't have to. The attitudes their words reveal can, and probably will, show themselves in other ways.... There is still a shocking degree of racial segregation in American society -- no longer de jure but de facto. Segregation reinforces structural racism, which increasingly is not addressed or even acknowledged."

Erica Goode of the New York Times: "... a new series of studies ... rais[es] the possibility that although conservatives may report greater happiness than liberals, they are no more likely to act in ways that indicate that they really are happier.... In fact, when behaviors rather than self-reports were examined, liberals seemed to have a small but statistically significant happiness edge."

Jonathan Chait: "... the two [political] parties are not mirror images of each other. They are asymmetrical. One is organized around practical objectives, the other ideological ones. Practical objectives lend themselves more easily to compromise. They can be measured in empirical terms. Ideological objectives defy compromise and practical assessment.... Republicans won't have a real health-care plan until they become a different kind of party."

Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post: "The NRA, even more ridiculous than usual.... The NRA's maximalist rhetoric, designed to stoke paranoia about liberal elites disarming, then tyrannizing everyday Americans, isn't just unconvincing -- it's often insultingly so. It's incredible that there is still a choir that nods along with this sermon."

This post by Jason Koebler in Motherboard shows the FAA is still confused about drones.

Where's Vlad? Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't been seen for days, and now people are beginning to wonder why."

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Hillary Rodham Clinton's disclosure that she exclusively used a private email address while she was secretary of state and later deleted thousands of messages she deemed 'personal' opens a big picture window into how vague federal email guidelines have been for the most senior government leaders. Although the White House has strict requirements dating back two decades that every email must be saved, there is no such requirement for federal agencies. Instead they are in charge of setting their own policies for determining which emails constitute government records worthy of preservation and which ones may be discarded."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Elias Isquith of Salon on the media's Hillary circus: "... while I'm certainly used to seeing my colleagues in the political press devote their time and energy to cynical, superficial stories that few people outside the politico-media elite will bother to read, I've never seen them do it with such unabashed gusto. I've never seen them be quite so shameless about placing themselves, and their relationship with a politician, at the front-and-center of the national stage. I've never seen them be so gleeful and self-conscious about creating a circus, either. It is, quite simply, embarrassing."

Presidential Race

Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "In the last presidential contest, super PACs were an exotic add-on for most candidates. This time, they are the first priority. Already, operatives with close ties to eight likely White House contenders have launched political committees that can accept unlimited donations -- before any of them has even declared their candidacy. The latest, a super PAC called America Leads that plans to support Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, was announced Thursday.... Potential candidates want to help their super PAC allies raise as much money as possible now, before their official campaigns start. That's because once they announce their bids, federal rules require them to keep their distance."

"The Clinton Way." David Von Drehle of Time: Hillary "Clinton's failure to defuse the email issue, along with a growing list of questions about the family's relentless fundraising and her husband's choice of companions, has revived hopes among erstwhile rivals in the Democratic Party that the Hillary dreadnought might actually be sinkable.... Backbiting inside the Clinton campaign -- a hallmark of her failed 2008 presidential effort -- has begun to leak into the political press.... Along with her husband ... Hillary Clinton is the co-creator of a soap-operatic political universe in which documents vanish, words like is take on multiple meanings and foes almost always overplay their hand. ...

... They're taking all this very seriously at the right-wing Weekly Standard: "TIME Cover Gives Hillary Horns." ...

... David Graham: In her press conference, Clinton "asserted 1) a thorough investigation that included 'going through' roughly 60,000 emails; 2) a standard of erring on the side of disclosing 'anything' that could 'possibly' be viewed as work related; 3) a 'thorough' process robust enough to warrant 'absolute confidence' in its results; 4) a process to turn over emails that could plausibly be characterized as 'unprecedented.' With an assist from Von Drehle's reporting, Graham shows that Clinton's assertions were "misleading" at best.

... David Brock in a USA Today op-ed: Trey "Gowdy should apply the same standard he's applying to Clinton to himself and his staff. They should release all their e-mail -- public and private -- unless, of course, they are the ones hiding something -- perhaps their partisan motivations and strategic leaking to the media." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Nestled in a piece by Jonathan Topaz at Politico about Bernie Sanders' ambivalence about (and very limited preparations for) a presidential run is this comment from the proto-candidate about the Issue of the Week:

'Why am I asked about Hillary Clinton every other day, about her emails? Do you know what -- I can't swear to you on this -- last I checked, here in Washington, do you know how many calls I got from Vermont on Hillary Clinton's emails? Zero. Yet I can't walk down the hallways here without hearing about Hillary Clinton's emails.' -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Jonathan Chait: "Last year, Marco Rubio defined himself as the Republican presidential candidate who was primarily concerned with the middle class. He gave speeches about poverty. He gave speeches about the struggles of the middle class. It wasn't working terribly well. So Rubio has updated his tax plan, the old version of which gave a big tax cut to the rich, so it now gives an absolutely gargantuan tax cut to the rich. The new Rubio is hobnobbing with members of the Koch family and other billionaires, and ... they really like the cut of his jib." CW: For those of you who enjoy articles that LOL at Republican hypocrisy, this one's a winner.

Beyond the Beltway

Daniel Perez of the Houston Chronicle: "A bill restricting the rights of citizens to record the police was filed in Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday. The House Bill 2918 introduced by Texas Representative Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) would make private citizens photographing or recording the police within 25 feet of them a class B misdemeanor, and those who are armed would not be able to stand recording within 100 feet of an officer.... An appeals court in Glik v. Cunniffe ruled unanimously that private citizens are allowed to videotape police in 2011, so this bill would go against the set precedent." CW: No kidding.

Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press: "The Detroiter who stunned the world with Olympian walks to his suburban factory job -- and stunned himself by attracting gifts of a new car and $350,000 in donations -- abruptly moved Tuesday to a location he felt was safer, police said. James Robertson, 56, was helped by Detroit police to move just minutes after crime-prevention specialists offered him temporary living quarters, Detroit police Capt. Aric Tosqui said.... Driving Robertson's decision was news that last week Detroit police arrested a man charged in the killing of an 86-year-old Detroiter who disappeared in December, three days after the elderly man was said to have won $20,000 in a lottery game, police said.... Robertson's decision to move came after he confided that ... some of the other residents at the boardinghouse where he lived wanted a share of his windfall and threatened Robertson with violence, said [banker Blake] Pollock, 47, of Rochester, who befriended the intrepid commuter."

News Ledes

AP: "A knife-carrying Army veteran who scaled a White House fence and dashed into the executive mansion before being caught took a plea deal Friday. Omar Gonzalez, 43, pleaded guilty to two federal charges. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend between 12 and 18 months in prison. The Sept. 19 incident in which Gonzalez made it into the mansion's East Room preceded the disclosure of other serious Secret Service breaches in security for President Barack Obama and ultimately led to Julia Pierson's resignation as director of the agency."

Guardian: "Steve Jobs rejected an offer of a liver transplant from Tim Cook in 2009, a new biography of the late Apple co-founder reveals. Despite becoming increasingly ill from cancer, Jobs angrily turned down the proposal by the man who would go on to run Apple after he died."