The Commentariat -- Jan. 13, 2015

Internal links, graphic removed.

Connie Cass of the AP: "A Texas congressman drew criticism Tuesday for a tweet that used the world's response to terrorist attacks in Paris as an opportunity to compare President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. Rep. Randy Weber's official account, @TXRandy14, tweeted on Tuesday night: 'Even Adolph Hitler thought it more important than Obama to get to Paris. (For all the wrong reasons.) Obama couldn't do it for right reasons'." CW: Relax, people. He wasn't tweeting about Adolf Hitler. He was tweeting about Adolph Hitler. People like Weber are so ignorant & twisted with hate, I can't really get angry at them. The people who vote for these ignoramuses? They have no excuse.

NEW. FreakOut Nation headline: "White People Riot In Columbus After Football Game, Media Calls It A 'Celebration.'" Read the post. The author is right.

James Downie of the Washington Post: The Republicans first week of total control of Congress was mighty "scary."

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama on Tuesday will unveil new proposals to protect businesses and the government from cyberattacks, including increasing the prosecution of crimes conducted through computer networks and toughening penalties for them. Under the steps to be outlined by Mr. Obama, companies that share information about cyberthreats with the government would be shielded from liability, according to a description of the proposals provided by the White House." ...

... This Is Embarrassing. Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "President Obama unveiled legislation to help protect consumers and students against cyberattacks Monday afternoon, as the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the U.S. Military's Central Command were apparently hacked." Here's the President's address to the FTC:

... Kim Zetter of Wired: "Twitter and YouTube accounts belonging to the military's US Central Command were hacked on Monday. Hackers supportive of the terrorist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, took credit and issued a warning to the US military. 'AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS,' the hackers tweeted through the account for the US Central Command, which is the military command for the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia."

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The White House, facing a barrage of criticism for President Obama's decision not to attend Sunday's peace march in Paris, said on Monday that an American official with a higher profile should have been on hand for the show of solidarity.... Asked his response to critics who say a person with more prominence than the United States ambassador to France should have attended, [White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest] said: 'We agree.'... Mr. Earnest ... cited scheduling and security concerns as playing a part." ...

... Dana Milbank: "The conservatives are guilty of a bit of inconsistency, if not hypocrisy, in criticizing the Obama administration for snubbing a people they not long ago called cheese-eating surrender monkeys." ...

... ** In Paris, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu makes a complete ass of himself. Robert Tait of the Telegraph: "The most serious criticism has been levelled at his call for members of France's Jewish community -- the largest in Europe -- to move to Israel for safety reasons following last Friday's attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, in which four Jews were killed." Read the whole story. Bibi is the Chris Christie of Israel.

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times profiles U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, whom President Obama has nominated to replace Attorney General Eric Holder.

Jonathan Chait of New York: "... history will be very generous with Barack Obama, who has compiled a broad record of accomplishment through three-quarters of his presidency.... Whatever the source of the current disappointment with Obama, the explanation cannot be that he failed to achieve his stated goals."

History Won't Be Very Generous with This Guy. Allison Jackson of the Global Post: "Casual racism, or just a very poorly thought-out remark? Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said a 'trained ape' would have managed the US relationship with Afghanistan better than the Obama administration.... Rumsfeld also said the US-Afghan relationship had been 'first-rate' during the Bush administration, but had gone 'downhill like a toboggan' since Obama took office." ...

... Charles Pierce: "Almost 5000 Americans, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died. ISIS was born. And now Donald Rumsfeld, who couldn't manage a toy boat in a washtub, gets to say something cute about the president. Also, it's not About Race because it never is About Race."

Matt Apuzzo: "James Risen, a New York Times reporter, will not be called to testify at a leak trial scheduled to begin this week, lawyers said Monday, ending a seven-year legal fight over whether he could be forced to identify his confidential sources." CW: I thought we learned this last week.

What If the Supreme Court Does Mitch McConnell's Bidding? Linda Blumberg, et al., of the Urban Institute: "The Supreme Court will hear the King v. Burwell case, in which the plaintiff argues that the ACA prohibits payment of premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions to people in states without state-managed Marketplaces. We estimate that a victory for the plaintiff would increase the number of uninsured by 8.2 million people and eliminate $28.8 billion in tax credits and cost-sharing reductions in 2016 ($340 billion over 10 years) for 9.3 million people. With lower cost individuals leaving the market, average nongroup premiums in 34 states would increase by 35 percent, affecting those purchasing inside and outside those Marketplaces." Via Steve Stromberg of the Washington Post. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... politically, Republicans would have to weigh the severe damage suffered by millions of people -- many of them GOP voters -- who are suddenly facing big premium increases against the excitement of conservative activists (especially the large number who are themselves all warm and cuddly with their Medicare benefits) who will cheer any blow to the Great White Whale of the Affordable Care Act." ...

... CW: But first. There's one important person who has to "weigh the severe damage suffered by millions of people." That guy is John Roberts. The will-he or won't-he is the question for the next six months. This is not a question of law. It is a question of character. Roberts' Choice will be, in some ways, the paradigmatic manifestation of the condition of the elite conservative heart. We'll find out in June if it's dead or still beating, however faintly.

David Goodman & Al Baker of the New York Times: "After largely ignoring many minor offenses for two weeks, the [New York] Police Department's rank and file began to reverse a severe slowdown that began after two officers were killed and that raised questions about command of the department. New numbers released on Monday showed a marked increase in enforcement activity by police officers and traffic agents since the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, told police commanders and union leaders last week that he expected an end to the unsanctioned collective action by officers."

Russell Contreras of the AP: "Two Albuquerque police officers were charged with murder Monday in the shooting death of a knife-wielding homeless man that led to violent protests and brought new scrutiny to the police department amid a federal investigation."

John Schwartz of the New York Times: The West Virginia Board of Education will consider whether or not to change their climate science standard back to one that doesn't favor the fossil fuel industry.

CW: Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. If you were missing David Brooks because I always forget about him, Driftglass brought us up-to-date on Brooks' appearance on "Press the Meat" & elsewhere. Also, if you forgot what NPR stands for, Driftglass has an update there, too: "Nice, Polite Republicans." Exactly right. I think the network should make it official.

Presidential Election

Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "Mitt Romney is moving quickly to reassemble his national political network, calling former aides, donors and other supporters over the weekend and on Monday in a concerted push to signal his seriousness about possibly launching a 2016 presidential campaign. Romney's message, as he told one senior Republican, was that he 'almost certainly will' make what would be his third bid for the White House." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Well, it will be interesting to see how Mitt handles the alleged appetite of Republicans for 'populism' going into 2016; of all his personas, I think he's ever worn that one." ...

... In keeping with the Romney news, Alex Moe of NBC News: "Paul Ryan won't run for president in 2016." Sez he can do more damage as chair of the House Ways & Means Committee (or something like that).

Santorum, that’s Latin for asshole. -- Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), ca. 1995

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times (Jan. 11): "Rick Santorum sharply criticized a group of potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in an interview that indicated he intends to reclaim conservative primary voters ahead of another White House bid in 2016. Mr. Santorum, the runner-up to the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, in 2012, took direct aim Friday at Mike Huckabee, Senator Rand Paul and Senator Ted Cruz, each of whom could offer the party's right wing a fresh alternative to Mr. Santorum in conservative states with early primaries or caucuses." ...

... Charles Pierce: "I don't entirely disagree with Jonathan Martin here in his assessment that there are at the moment two distinct pre-primaries going on among the Republicans. There's the fat-wallet primary between Jeb (!) and possibly Mitt Romney, and maybe Chris Christie. And then there's the one in which Santorum is embroiled. This is a solid analysis as far as it goes, as long as we accept as an obvious given that the latter primary is being conducted exclusively on the terrain of the completely insane."

News Corpse. Dave Weigel of Bloomberg Politics: "Sixteen months ago, to some fanfare, Dick Morris re-entered the anti-Clinton fray with a new PAC. He launched Dick Morris's Just Say No to Hillary PAC, registering it from Tampa. From time to time, stories about the potential hurdles for a Hillary Clinton run would cite the rise of PACs like Morris's. But there is a rather glaring problem with adding Morris to this narrative: No one has been giving money to his PAC. Literally, no one.... His profile has never quite recovered from two events in 2012. First: He went further on a limb than any comparable commentator in saying Mitt Romney would win the presidency. He would take it in a 'landslide,' said Morris on Fox News.... Morris played in the 2010 midterms via his Super PAC, which ended up paying most of what it took in -- close to $1.7 million -- to Newsmax Media." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... it seems Morris has burned up all his credibility, even with people who live for his sort of jive. It is indeed an inspiring story for anyone wondering if the wicked always triumph."

Congressional/Gubernatorial Races

Seema Mehta of the Los Angeles Times: California "Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris will announce Tuesday that she is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Boxer, according to a Harris adviser." ...

... Alex Isenstadt of Politico: California Lt. Gov. Gavin "Newsom, who had left a message with [Kamala] Harris outlining his intentions [to run for governor of California], went ahead anyway and announced on Facebook that he wouldn't be running for Senate in 2016. Newsom's withdrawal capped a furious 72 hours of discussions among the would-be candidates and their advisers over whether to jump at the state's first open Senate seat in two decades, or hold out for a shot at leading a state that is the world's eighth-largest economy. In announcing his plans, Newsom, 47, got out ahead of Harris, 50, who has told friends that she is also interested in the job of governor. Instead, on Tuesday, she will launch a campaign for Boxer's seat, knowing that if she hesitated, it would appear that she was reluctant to choose the Senate over the governorship." ...

... Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times: "Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who announced Monday that he would not run for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat next year, signaled that he would probably support state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris if she does seek the post. Newsom called Harris on Sunday night to tell her of his decision, but he denied that the two have an agreement in which he would support her for Senate and she would support him for governor -- an office in which Newsom has previously expressed interest."

News Ledes

Boston Globe: "Attorneys for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are asking a judge to suspend jury selection in his trial for at least a month because of the terror attacks in France. The filing late Tuesday says a delay would allow time for 'the extraordinary prejudice' from the attacks last week and the comparisons to the 2013 marathon bombing to diminish."

Washington Post: "A woman riding on a Metro train died Monday and 83 other passengers were taken to hospitals, at least two in critical condition, after the train abruptly stopped, went dark and filled with smoke in a tunnel in downtown Washington, authorities said." CW: Sorry about placing this story on the wrong continent yesterday.

Guardian: "The three police officers killed in last week's attacks were honoured by French president François Hollande at a sombre and emotional ceremony at the Prefecture de Police in Paris on Tuesday."

Guardian: "The front cover of Wednesday's edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the first since last week's attack on its Paris offices that left 12 people dead, is a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad.... Zineb El Rhazoui, a surviving columnist at Charlie Hebdo magazine who worked on the new issue, said the cover was a call to forgive the terrorists who murdered her colleagues last week...."

The Commentariat -- Jan. 12, 2015

Internal links, photo removed.

Rip Van Dems Awake! Lori Montgomery & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Senior Democrats, dissatisfied with the party's tepid prescriptions for combating income inequality, are drafting an 'action plan' that calls for a massive transfer of wealth from the super-rich and Wall Street traders to the heart of the middle class. The centerpiece of the proposal, set to be unveiled Monday by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), is a 'paycheck bonus credit' that would shave $2,000 a year off the tax bills of couples earning less than $200,000. Other provisions would nearly triple the tax credit for child care and reward people who save at least $500 a year. The windfall -- about $1.2 trillion over a decade -- would come directly from the pockets of Wall Street 'high rollers' through a new fee on financial transactions, and from the top 1 percent of earners, who would lose billions of dollars in lucrative tax breaks. The plan also would use the tax code to prod employers to boost wages...."

Roberto Ferdman of the Washington Post: "There is little empathy at the top. Most of America's richest think poor people have it easy in this country, according to a new report released by the Pew Research Center. The center surveyed a nationally representative group of people this past fall, and found that the majority of the country's most financially secure citizens (54 percent at the very top, and 57 percent just below) believe the 'poor have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return.'"

Paul Krugman: "... what should be done about Keystone XL? If you believe that it would be environmentally damaging -- which I do -- then you should be against it, and you should ignore the claims about job creation. The numbers being thrown around are tiny compared with the country's overall work force. And in any case, the jobs argument for the pipeline is basically a sick joke coming from people who have done all they can to destroy American jobs -- and are now employing the very arguments they used to ridicule government job programs to justify a big giveaway to their friends in the fossil fuel industry."

Chad Terhune of the Los Angeles Times: "Uncle Sam could take a bigger bite at tax time for consumers who received too much government help last year with their Obamacare premiums. That may be just one of several surprises for millions of Americans in advance of the first tax deadline involving the Affordable Care Act. The majority of Americans who get their health insurance at work should see few changes when filing their taxes. Most will just need to check a box on their tax return indicating they had coverage in 2014. It stands to be more complicated for those individuals who purchased a private health plan in government-run exchanges or went without insurance at some point last year." ...

... CW: GOP Outrage Machine to run ads featuring single mom who got big promotion; formerly unemployed Midwest husband who got job, thus doubling family income. And maybe one with your typical starving Harvard professor. ...

... digby sees a real problem: "I think it's going to be a big story because people simply weren't adequately warned about it.... It could add up to some real money for middle class folks who made more than they expected. And it will feel as if they're being punished for doing better. It's unusual to have your bills increase just because you get a raise. ...

... CW: Yes, it is going to be a big story because Republicans are going to make it a big story. But it is not "unusual to have your bills increase just because you get a raise; the "bill" here is called a "tax," and your tax bill is supposed to go up just because you got a raise.

... Right now the Outrage Machine is otherwise occupied, gathering wrath because neither President Obama nor Vice President Biden attended the Paris march. CW: Gee, I wonder if their absence had anything to do with the high security threat posed by an open-air anti-terrorism march in streets surrounded by quirky six-storey buildings. Maybe the complainers would have been happy if Obama had deputized Bush & Cheney to represent the U.S. ...

... David McCabe of the Hill: "Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to France on Thursday and Friday, amid criticism that the Obama administration did not send a high-level representative to a Sunday solidarity march in Paris responding to two terrorist attacks." Kerry is in India ... Pakistan. ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week, the White House has scheduled an anti-extremism conference that was originally set for last October but was postponed without explanation. In a statement issued as many world leaders gathered in the French capital Sunday to express solidarity with France and to vow renewed efforts to fight violent Islamic radicalism, the White House announced that its summit on the issue of homegrown terrorism will take place next month." ...

... Elise Viebeck of the Hill: "Attorney General Eric Holder said Sunday that the possibility of a Paris-style terrorist attack in the United States is very real and keeps him 'up at night.'... Holder spoke with four of the five Sunday political talk shows from Paris, where world leaders marched to honor the memory of 17 people in violence by terrorists there this week."

Annals of "Journalism," Nonpareil. Raf Sanchez of the Telegraph: Steve Emerson, "an American 'terrorism expert' on the right-wing Fox News channel, has declared that Birmingham is 'a totally Muslim' city 'where non-Muslims just simply don't go'.... 'In Britain, it's not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don't go in,' he said.... 'Parts of London, there are actually Muslim religious police that actually beat and actually wound seriously anyone who doesn't dress according to Muslim, religious Muslim attire,' he proclaimed, without giving examples. He described Birmingham as one of a number of European cities 'where sharia courts were set up, where Muslim density is very intense, where the police don't go in, and where it's basically a separate country almost, a country within a country.' Mr Emerson is a regular contributor to Fox News...." Thanks to safari for the lead. ...

AP: "Attorney General Eric Holder isn't saying whether he still will be on the job when the time comes to decide whether to bring charges in the investigation of former CIA Director David Petraeus. Holder, in several television news interviews on Sunday, steered clear of commenting directly on the investigation. But he told CBS' 'Face the Nation' that he expects that 'a matter of this magnitude' would be decided 'at the highest level' of the department." ...

... Poor, Pitiful Petraeus. Eric Bradner of CNN: "A top Senate Democrat defended David Petraeus on Sunday, saying the Justice Department erred in recommending charges against the former top Army general and Central Intelligence Agency director. 'This man has suffered enough in my view,' Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the former Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman, told Gloria Borger, CNN chief political analyst on CNN's 'State of the Union.'" ...

     ... Heather of Crooks & Liars: "Someone please let me know if this woman has ever shown this much deference for ordinary citizens, or for journalists, or for Edward Snowden or anyone else who was not in her good graces that has leaked classified information?" ...

     ... Good question, Heather. ...

I don't look at this as being a whistleblower. I think it's an act of treason.... He violated the oath, he violated the law. It's treason. -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, on Edward Snowden, June 2013

... CW: The argument Petraeus's apologists have been raising is that, unlike Ed Snowden & other leakers, Petraeus did not leak secret documents for the purpose of publication. Really? He sent them to a woman who was writing a book, for Pete's sake. Most leakers are motivated by what they consider to be some high-minded moral purpose. Petraeus's high-minded moral purpose was to ensure Paula Broadwell portrayed him as a super-hero in her book, and/or to further his personal relationship with Broadwell. As for Feinstein's "suffered enough" rationale, poor Petraeus is struggling along as a public speaker & visiting professor to supplement his meager federal pension (about $230,000/year for his military service). Meanwhile, Snowden is exiled in Siberia Moscow, & some whistleblowers are wearing orange jumpsuits: Chelsea Manning, who was just a dumb kid, is behind bars for 35 years & was subjected to procedures defined as torture.

Neil Irwin of the New York Times: Barry Eichengreen's "new book, 'Hall of Mirrors' (Oxford University Press), accuses the global leaders of the 21st century of failing to heed the warning signs that a crisis might occur and then becoming too self-satisfied with the initial success they had at containing the worst effects of the banking crisis in late 2008 and early 2009. The reason the global economy is still in rough shape seven years later, in this telling, is that leaders in the United States and Europe drew the conclusions they wanted to hear from the Depression."

Shawn Cohen of the New York Post: "At precincts across [New York City], top brass are cracking the whip on summons activity and even barring many cops from taking vacation and sick days, The Post has learned." CW: Remember, this report comes from the Post, so it ain't necessarily so.

News Ledes

Washington Post: One person is dead, two are in critical condition, with 81 others taken to hospitals after smoke filled the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station in Paris in Washington.

     ... CW: Yipes! Sorry about that. The "article" was very sketchy -- bullet sentences, really -- at the time I read it; the station had a French name; I thought it was "le Métro," not "the Metro."

New York Times: "The Manhattan clinic where Joan Rivers went into cardiac arrest while being treated for a voice problem has failed to correct deficiencies implicated in her death and will be barred from having its services paid for by Medicare and Medicaid funds, according to a letter released Monday from the federal agency that oversees those two programs."

Guardian: "France is deploying 10,000 troops around the country to bolster security and sending almost 5,000 police to protect Jewish sites as it steps up the search for a likely accomplice to the attackers who killed 17 people last week."

Reuters: "Cuba has released all of the 53 prisoners it had promised to free as part of a deal with the US, senior American officials have said. The release of the remaining prisoners sets a positive tone for talks next week aimed at normalising relations after decades of hostility."

New York Times: "Indonesian Navy divers on Monday retrieved one of the so-called black boxes from the AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea late last month and were trying to recover the other one amid strong underwater currents and limited visibility, officials said."

The Commentariat -- Jan. 11, 2015

Internal links, color swatch & photo removed.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Thomas Frank is here to annoy us one last time. ...

... CW: What's the Matter with Thomas Frank? For one thing, he relies on the "great man" theory -- that American politics is all about Obama, as if Max Baucus (now exiled to Siberia China) & Ted Cruz didn't exist. For another: Frank makes up stuff: "... enforcing party discipline is a job for the punditry...," as if columnists never criticized President Obama or his factotums Tim Geithner & Larry Summers. For a third, he dismisses certain inconvenient factors as immaterial or rationalizations even as he acknowledges them: "the reactionary white working class," "the incorrigible South": this is a good rhetorical trick, but it's a trick. Fourth, he generalizes what's wrong with the punditry by, ferinstance, citing as an example Lanny Davis. Lanny Davis? Puh-leze. All of this hoo-hah undermines any valid points that Frank may make: about Obama's & the Democrats' coziness with Wall Street, about their failure to propose solutions to inequality, etc.

Darlene Superville of the AP: "Continuing the break with State of the Union tradition, President Barack Obama will spend most of the coming week previewing more of the proposals he will outline in the address, including on identity theft, electronic privacy and cybersecurity, the White House announced Saturday."

Scott Lemieux has an excellent post on the history of "Republican health-care plans." Lemieux argues, case by case, that there is no such thing. CW: I think he's right, and I had not figured this out before.

Orange Squish. Charles Babington of the AP: "Die-hard House conservatives bungled a coup against House Speaker John Boehner but now look like winners, pushing Republicans farther right. Rather than punish and isolate those who opposed him as leader, Boehner surprised many on Friday by embracing an immigration plan that's tougher than lawmakers had expected." ...

... New York Times: Speaker John Boehner returned to Washington last week "showcasing a very deep winter-recess tan burnished at his new condominium in Marco Island, Fla." The Sherwin-Williams Color Visualizer "found us the closest matches: 'Spicy Hue' and 'Husky Orange,' the latter of which fits nicely with Mr. Boehner's recent description of himself: 'I am not a squish.'"

In other Florida news, Gal Lotan of the Orlando Sun-Sentinel: "George Zimmerman faces charges of aggravated assault with a weapon after allegedly throwing a bottle of wine at his girlfriend earlier this week, according to his lawyer. Zimmerman, 31, was arrested Friday night in Lake Mary where he is currently living, but his attorney Don West said the fight involving his girlfriend happened four or five days ago.... Zimmerman stood before Judge John Galluzzo Saturday morning when a $5,000 bond was set. Zimmerman, who is currently unemployed, bonded out of jail at 12:25 p.m.... Galluzzo told Zimmerman that he had until Tuesday to surrender any firearms in his possession to a family member or a third party. The judge also ordered Zimmerman to stay out of Volusia County and to have no contact with the victim." Thanks to James S. for the lead. ...

... Hudson Hongo of Gawker reminds us of Zimmerman's recent brushes with the law. ...

... CW: It's worth remembering that Zimmerman, who has had numerous brushes for the law for violent offenses, long wanted to be a policeman. In 2009, he applied to be a police officer in Prince Williams County, Virginia. The county rejected him because of his bad credit history. Later, he attended a Seminole County, Florida, Sheriff's course on citizen's law enforcement. Pedro Oliveira of the New York Post: "George Zimmerman has placed at least 46 calls to 911 in the last eight years. In the last year, his calls focused on blacks in his gated community." Zimmerman never attained his career goal, but I suspect he is a "type" of police academy applicant. Some police forces probably recognize this type & cull them because of their attitudes. But many people with views similar to Zimmerman's probably have become police officers in forces throughout the country.

Brooks Hays of UPI: "On New Year's Eve, officers with the New York City Police Department failed to issue a single citation in Times Square -- one million partygoers, zero tickets.... Zero isn't just the total of minor offenses ticketed on New Years Eve, it's the total for the entirety of the holiday week, from December 28 through January 3." ...

... Nicholas Kristof: "WELCOME visitors to New York City! This has been the best time ever to urinate on a street, sneak onto the subway or run a red light, for the police force has been on a virtual strike."

General BetrayUs. David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "It wasn't quite so long ago that Congress saw the need to censure MoveOn.org's childish 'Betray Us' ad in order to 'strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus.' It turns out that the honor and integrity quotient wasn't that high after all, not just in his personal life but also as matter of national security.... [Its' a mistake] to put a human being on a pedestal and insist that anyone is above attacks on their honor and integrity. General Petraeus clearly wasn't, and it's more than a little ironic that he's now in danger of felony charges for actually betraying national security secrets." ...

... It's Obama's Fault. Michael Walsh of the right-wing PJ Tattler: "There has got to be a lot more to this story of David Petraeus.... How likely is it that the man who at one point posed a possibly potent challenge to President Obama's re-election changes had he chosen to return from the Middle East and run for the GOP nomination, and then was stashed in Langley by that same Obama administration in order to get him out of the way, and then was suddenly felled by a sex scandal, could be in such trouble? Somebody in the White House plays very. very rough."

David Sirota in Salon provides an excellent examples of how Republicans redistribute wealth from the middle class to the rich -- starring Govs. Sam Brownback & Chris Christie. "The tepid response to this kind of wealth transfer suggests that for all the angry rhetoric about redistribution you might hear on talk radio, cable TV and in the halls of Congress, the political and media class is perfectly fine with redistribution -- as long as the cash flows from the 99 percent to the 1 percent, and not the other way around."

God News

Fredrick Nzwili of Religion News Service: "International rights groups, churches and activists are escalating campaigns against female genital mutilation now that a new practice has emerged in which girls are checking into hospitals to have the procedure. In what being referred to as the medicalization of FGM, doctors, nurses and other health practitioners are secretly performing the procedures at the request of families." ...

... David Gibson of Religion News Service: "Cardinal Raymond Burke, a senior American churchman in Rome who has been one of the most outspoken critics of Pope Francis' push for reform, is ... arguing that the Catholic Church has become too 'feminized.' Burke, who was recently demoted from the Vatican's highest court to a ceremonial philanthropic post, also pointed to the introduction of altar girls for why fewer men are joining the priesthood. 'Young boys don't want to do things with girls. It's just natural,' Burke said in an interview published on Monday (Jan. 5). 'I think that this has contributed to a loss of priestly vocations.'" CW: It's unnatural for young men to do things with girls. That's what I thought.

Josephine McKenna of Religion News Service: "Archbishop Oscar Romero, the hero of the Catholic left who was assassinated in 1980 while celebrating Mass in El Salvador, is inching one step closer to sainthood after his case languished in bureaucratic limbo for decades.... Romero's cause was started nearly two decades ago when St. John Paul II gave him the title of Servant of God in 1997. But his case never advanced amid lingering Vatican suspicion of Liberation Theology, an economically progressive approach to Catholicism that flourished under Romero and was suppressed by both John Paul and Benedict XVI." ...

... ** Charles Pierce on Saint Oscar Romero.

Daniel Strauss of TPM: "The Grand Synagogue of Paris did not host Shabbat services and closed Friday for security reasons, the first time that's happened since World War II. The Synagogue, the largest place of worship for those of the Jewish faith in Paris, was closed Friday amid the ongoing efforts by French authorities to hunt down the suspects involved in terrorist attacks around the city. The attacks started with shootings of staff of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo." Via Steve Benen.

David Gibson: "As Florida became the latest state to legalize same-sex marriage this week, Miami [Roman Catholic] Archbishop Thomas Wenski sent a memo to all church employees reiterating that any expressions of support for gay marriage -- even if it's only a tweet or Facebook post -- could cost them their jobs." ...

... BUT. David Gibson: "A Belgian bishop [Johan Bonny of Antwerp] who has been touted as a future leader of that country's Catholic hierarchy is making waves by urging the church to find ways to recognize gay relationships in which 'exclusivity, loyalty, and care are central to each other.'"

Michelle Boorstein & Annys Shin of the Washington Post: "A top Episcopal bishop turned herself in to Baltimore police Friday after being charged in the death of a bicyclist with manslaughter, leaving the scene, driving under the influence of alcohol and texting while driving. Heather Elizabeth Cook, 58, was driving her 2001 Subaru on Roland Avenue in Baltimore on the afternoon of Dec. 27 when she veered into the bike lane where Thomas Palermo, a father of two, was riding, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a statement Friday." Read the whole article. This was not Cook's first DUI.

Special Congressional Election

Rachel Shapiro of Staten Island Live: "District Attorney Daniel Donovan has been selected as the Republican Party candidate on Staten Island for the empty congressional seat. Party Chairman John Antoniello selected Donovan after interviewing him, as well as Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, on Saturday morning with executive committee members. Party bylaws allow the chairman to be the sole determiner of the party candidate in this case." It's not quite a done deal, as the Congressional district covers part of Brooklyn, too, & the party chair there has a say. But Donovan will almost certainly be the nominee. ...

... CW: It appears that on Staten Island there's a big payoff for letting a killer-copy walk. ...

... Tom Wrobleski of SI Live comments on Donovan's "sotto voce announcement," which I mentioned in yesterday's Commentariat.

Congressional Race 2016

** Welfare Queens, Revived! Jud Lounsbury of Uppity Wisconsin: "U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, you know -- the guy who got rich by finding someone to support him, has a pearl of wisdom for all the working single moms out there: If she wants to 'increase her take-home pay' instead of having yet 'another child out of wedlock' to increase her welfare windfall, she should instead 'find someone to support her.' Johnson is quick to admit that he stole this incredibly sexist riff comes from his uber-misogynist pal, U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman. But some things are so awesome, that you just have to use them yourself!.... Johnson and Grothman's modern redux of the 'welfare queen' has been rated 'Mostly False' by Politifact and was given 'Two Pinocchios' by the Washington Post's fact checker." With video. Read the whole post. Via capper of Crooks & Liars, who has more to say on Johnson. CW: I would take Johnson's phony welfare-queen schtick as both sexist and racist.

Presidential Election

"Awk-ward!" Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: The battle between Jeb & Mitt (not their real names) is on. "Bush has been trying to consolidate support among establishment donors, leaders and operatives since announcing in December that he would begin laying the groundwork for a likely campaign.... But on Friday, Romney sought to slam the brakes on Bush, telling about 30 powerful donors that he, too, was seriously considering a 2016 bid. 'I want to be president,' he said, adding that his wife, Ann, was supportive. Romney has begun methodically calling donors, staff members and endorsers from his two prior campaigns to measure how deep his reservoir of support would be if he runs for a third time, his advisers said. He also has scheduled a series of public speeches...."

Dan Balz attends a focus group (of voters from across the political spectrum) in Aurora, Colorado. Jeb? Nope. Hillary? Not so much. Rand Paul? Maybe. Elizabeth Warren? Yes!

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "The Iowa straw poll has survived. Despite calls for the Republican Party of Iowa to abandon this quirky tradition -- which, opponents say, unfairly hurts some candidates and detracts from the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses a few months later -- the group's central committee voted 16 to 0 on Saturday to begin planning a straw poll." CW: Sure hope Michele Bachmann wins again.

News Ledes

New York Times: "More than a million people joined over 40 presidents and prime ministers on the streets of Paris on Sunday in the most striking show of solidarity in the West against the threat of Islamic extremism since the Sept. 11 attacks. Responding to terrorist strikes that killed 17 people in France and riveted worldwide attention, Jews, Muslims, Christians, atheists and people of all races, ages and political stripes swarmed central Paris beneath a bright blue sky, calling for peace and an end to violent extremism." ...

... AFP: "A German tabloid that paid tribute to those killed at Charlie Hebdo by reprinting cartoons from the French satirical paper mocking the Prophet Mohammed was firebombed Sunday, police said."

AP: "Two members of the famed Tuskegee Airmen have died in Los Angeles. Relatives say Clarence E. Huntley Jr. and Joseph Shambrey, both 91, died last Monday in their Los Angeles homes. Huntley and Shambrey were friends who enlisted together in 1942. They served as mechanics in Italy during World War II and kept the planes of the all-black squadron in the air."

New York Times: "Anita Ekberg, who became an international symbol of lush beauty and unbridled sensuality in the 1960 Federico Fellini film 'La Dolce Vita,' died on Sunday in Rocca di Papa, southeast of Rome. She was 83."

New York Times: "Robert Stone, who wrote ambitious award-winning novels about errant Americans in dangerous circumstances or on existential quests -- or both -- as a commentary on an unruly, wayward nation in the Vietnam era and beyond, died on Saturday at his winter home in Key West, Fla."