The Commentariat -- Dec. 28, 2014

Internal links removed.

Politics as Usual. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "Acting in concert with [New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie], Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced on Saturday evening that he would veto a bill that would have brought a sweeping round of reforms to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, despite unanimous support from the legislatures of both states. The legislation, known as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Transparency and Accountability Act of 2014, needed approval of both Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican...." ...

     ... This story has been updated. New Lede: "The governors of New York and New Jersey, defying the unanimous votes of both their Legislatures, on Saturday rejected a bill aimed at curbing political interference and patronage at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, more than a year after lane closings at the George Washington Bridge set off a scandal that looms over the agency to this day." ...

... CW: If you want to know why the governors vetoed the bill, the answer is buried in McKinley's report: "... commissioners and top staff members are appointed by the two governors.... its reputation for rewarding connected officials with patronage jobs and allies with lucrative contracts.... the authority has a budget of $7.8 billion for 2015." ...

It's shameful. They ripped the heart out of real reform in order to maintain their control and power.... It's really just an awful thing for them to do. Neither of them can ever stand up and say they're for effective reform. In a competition between effective reform and power, power won. Reform ends on Christmas, but scandals go on forever. -- Former NY Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D)

... Here's more from David Klepper & Michael Catalini of the AP.

Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "The Secret Service began struggling to carry out its most basic duties after Congress and the George W. Bush administration expanded the elite law enforcement agency's mission in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. According to government documents and interviews with dozens of current and former officials, the recent string of security lapses at the White House resulted from a combination of tight budgets, bureaucratic battles and rapidly growing demands on the agency that have persisted through the Bush and Obama administrations in the 13 years since the attacks. At the same time, the Secret Service was hit by a wave of early retirements that eliminated a generation of experienced staff members and left the agency in a weakened state just as its duties were growing."

It Was All Mom's Fault. Justin Jouvenal & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Jeanine McDonnell Zubowsky[, a daughter of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell & Maureen McDonnell,] wrote in a blunt letter to a federal judge that it was former first lady Maureen McDonnell's materialism and mental-health issues that derailed the rising political career of her husband. The letter of support for Robert McDonnell was part of a trove of 440 submitted by his attorneys, who are seeking leniency at his Jan. 6 sentencing in Richmond.... In letters to the judge, McDonnell Zubowsky and another daughter, Cailin Young, also echoed themes that emerged at Robert McDonnell's trial.... Robert McDonnell's sister also took aim at Maureen McDonnell...." The letters from the daughters are here.

Joseph Califano, a top assistant to President Johnson, in a Washington Post op-ed: "The makers of the new movie 'Selma' apparently just couldn't resist taking dramatic, trumped-up license with a true story that didn't need any embellishment to work as a big-screen historical drama. As a result, the film falsely portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson as being at odds with Martin Luther King Jr...." ...

... Krissah Thompson of the Washington Post: Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who has seen the film "Selma" twice & watched part of the filming, discusses the movie & some of his real-life experiences. ...

... The New Yorker publishes rarely-seen photos of the Selma march, with commentary by David Remnick.

Dan Balz & Scott Clement of the Washington Post: "Blacks and whites live in different worlds when it comes to perceptions of the criminal justice system and the role that police play in society. But divisions within the white community are almost as stark, with opinions heavily shaped by partisan identification and ideology, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.... While 2 in 3 white Republicans say minorities and whites are treated equally in the criminal justice system, only 3 in 10 white Democrats agree with that view." ...

... Gary Langer of ABC News: "Large majorities across racial and political groups agree on two proposals to address police-community relations in the United States: The use of an outside prosecutor when police kill an unarmed civilian, and requiring all patrol officers to wear body cameras when on duty." ...

... Lisa Leff of the AP: "A high school basketball tournament on the Northern California coast has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing protests over police killings of unarmed black men after a school was disinvited because of concerns its players would wear T-shirts printed with the words 'I Can't Breathe' during warmups." ...

... Darryl Pinckney, in a New York Review of Books essay on Ferguson: "America has always felt the necessity of keeping its black male population under control. Behind every failure to make the police accountable in such killings is an almost gloating confidence that the majority of white Americans support the idea that the police are the thin blue line between them and social chaos."

Kimberly Yonkers in a Washington Post op-ed: "This obsession with mental health as the root cause of gun violence is not only silly; it's dangerous.... According to one distinguished study, we would see only a 4 percent reduction in gun violence if mental illnesses were eliminated.... Gun violence is 20 times more prevalent in the United States than in other highly developed countries. But our mental health system is not substantially worse."

Tim Wu of the New Yorker: Flying is a miserable experience today, & the airlines are constantly colluding to make it worse. Why? Because they want passengers to spend on "extras" -- a lucrative source of revenue. "In 2013, the major airlines combined made about $31.5 billion in income from fees, as well as other ancillaries, such as redeeming credit-card points."

Joan Lowy of the AP: "The Obama administration is on the verge of proposing long-awaited rules for commercial drone operations in U.S. skies, but key decisions on how much access to grant drones are likely to come from Congress next year."

God News

December 25 Is Nobody's Birthday But Jesus's. Hemant Mehta in Patheos: "On Christmas Day, Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted this gem: 'On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton, b. Dec. 25, 1642.' It quickly became his most retweeted message ever, and many accused him of 'riling up Christians.'"

Bob Churchill in Religion News Service: "Atheists, humanists and liberals are now the targets of hate campaigns, according to a new Freedom of Thought Report, which found that some countries find the idea of atheism as a popular movement a threat to the prevailing order.... For example: ... in January, Saudi Arabia enacted a new law equating 'atheism' in itself with 'terrorism.'" ...

... Presidential Race

Steve Benen: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) is launching his presidential bid with a totally non-political rally of far-right evangelicals. In preparation for his totally non-political event, he wrote to church leaders, "The time has come for pastors to lead the way and reset the course of American governance." Benen: "... given that the separation of church and state is a bedrock principle in the American system of government, it's rather alarming that a governor and likely presidential hopeful is looking to pastors -- presumably, ministers who share his beliefs and agenda -- to establish the course for public policy. Given that so many of Jindal's allies on the extreme fringe, this is all the more problematic."

News Ledes

AP: "Italian and Greek military and coast guard rescue crews battled gale-force winds and massive waves Sunday as they struggled to rescue hundreds of people trapped on a burning ferry adrift between Italy and Albania. At least one person died and two were injured."

New York Times: "The Indonesian authorities were searching on Sunday afternoon for an AirAsia jet with 162 people on board that lost contact with air traffic controllers hours earlier, the airline and government officials said. The plane, Flight QZ8501, left the Indonesian city of Surabaya around 5:30 a.m. for the short hop to Singapore, a flight that usually takes about two hours, the airline said. Air traffic control lost contact with the Airbus A320-200 at 6:17 a.m., about 40 minutes later, Indonesian officials said." ...

     ... Guardian Update: "Hopes were fading on Sunday night for the safe return of 162 people aboard the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 after the first day of the search was called off in Indonesia owing to failing light. The government in Jakarta said it did not 'dare to presume what [had] happened' to the aircraft."

The Commentariat -- Dec. 27, 2014

Another Slow Gnus Day.

Getting Away with Murder. Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "... the scathing report the Senate Intelligence Committee delivered this month is unlikely to significantly change the role the C.I.A. now plays in running America's secret wars. A number of factors -- from steadfast backing by Congress and the White House to strong public support for clandestine operations -- ensure that an agency that has been ascendant since President Obama came into office is not likely to see its mission diminished...."

Just When We Don't Need Bipartisanship. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama is preparing a major push on a vast free-trade zone that seeks to enlist Republicans as partners and test his premise that Washington can still find common ground on major initiatives. It also will test his willingness to buck his own party in pursuit of a legacy-burnishing achievement. Already, fellow Democrats are accusing him of abandoning past promises on trade and potentially undermining his domestic priority of reducing income inequality.

German Lopez of Vox: "Given the wave of protests and attention they received, it seems 2014 may end up a crucial turning point in discussions about race and the criminal justice system." ...

... Ryan Cooper of the Week: "Pat Lynch, the president of the Patrolman's Benevolent Association..., and Co. might try just respecting basic democratic legitimacy. It turns out that people have a First Amendment right to protest. And elected political leadership ought to have control over the exercise of state violence." ...

... Factoid via Cooper: "Being a cop is not even in the top ten most dangerous professions.... A fisherman is over six times more likely [than is a cop] to die on the job -- and a logger 7.5 times more likely."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Steve M. Politico notices -- again -- that President Obama doesn't often attend church services. Somehow they never notice that the same was true of Dubya, & according to Steve, Reaganus Maximus never went to church (and he's been sainted!). But we do want to know in this season of Christian joy that the current POTUS is a heathen. ...

... Charles Pierce remarks on the same Politico article, but you'll have to cursor down to it because the link to the post doesn't work.

The Yahoo! News team picks the weirdest political stories of 2014.

CSI, Dog Shit. Karen Heller of the Washington Post: "Among the great unresolved conflicts between neighbors is determining the provenance of unwanted, unseemly and often unwittingly trampled dog detritus.... PooPrints, a self-described 'dog poop DNA matching service,' is the most successful product of BioPet Vet Lab in Knoxville, which specializes in canine genetic testing. Launched in late 2010, the company has on record the DNA of more than 30,000 dogs from Canada and 45 states, including Maryland and Virginia, and recently signed a deal to launch in Great Britain.... Currently, PooPrints is used only in multi-unit properties, although municipalities including Dallas; Hoboken, N.J.; and Gaithersburg, Md., have expressed interest." CW: I told you it was a slow news day.

Presidential Election

"The Smart Brother." Jason Millman of the Washington Post: Jeb Bush was against implementing the Medicaid expansion in Florida even though he had no idea how greatly it would have benefitted he state. He now has made a bundle of dough on it, but he's running away from that deal as fast as he can to burnish his nutball creds. CW: I guess he thinks from his gut just as his brother does. Great.

News Ledes

AP: "A protester who advocated for peaceful demonstrations in Ferguson was charged Saturday with setting fire to a convenience store in a neighboring suburb. A St. Louis County jail official said Joshua Williams, 19, of St. Louis, was being held on $30,000 bond. He is charged with arson, second-degree burglary and stealing less than $500.... Court records said Williams confessed in a videotaped interview, and that his actions were captured by surveillance video and by news media."

New York Times: "The turnout [for the funeral today of NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos] was extraordinary. Though no reliable count was made, it appeared that more than 20,000 police officers came to Queens, from as far away as Wisconsin and California and England, some driving through the night to make it.... Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., dispatched by President Obama, spoke movingly of the courage of policing." Many officers turned their backs when NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke. ...

... ABC News: "Hundreds of police officers turned their backs on a screen showing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as he spoke at the funeral of one of two officers killed last week in what has been called an 'assassination.'" ...

... New York: "In the week since the murders of Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, people from New York and across the United States hav[e] been working to make sure that the NYPD officers' families are taken of financially."

NBC News: "North Korea's Internet and 3G mobile networks were paralyzed again on Saturday evening, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, with the North Korean government blaming the United States for systemic instability in the country's networks."

AP: "A leader with the Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab who had a $3m bounty on his head has surrendered in Somalia, a Somali intelligence official said on Saturday. Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi surrendered to Somali police in the Gedo region, said the intelligence officer, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

The Commentariat -- Dec. 26, 2014

Internal links removed.

Christmas Eve Docu-dump. David Lerman of Bloomberg News: "The National Security Agency [Wednesday] released reports on intelligence collection that may have violated the law or U.S. policy over more than a decade, including unauthorized surveillance of Americans' overseas communications.... The heavily-redacted reports include examples of data on Americans being e-mailed to unauthorized recipients, stored in unsecured computers and retained after it was supposed to be destroyed, according to the documents. They were posted on the NSA's website at around 1:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. In a 2012 case, for example, an NSA analyst 'searched her spouse's personal telephone directory without his knowledge to obtain names and telephone numbers for targeting,' according to one report. The analyst 'has been advised to cease her activities,' it said." The NSA's link to the reports, released in response to an ACLU FOIA lawsuit, is here. ...

... Zandar in Balloon Juice: "... it's entirely possible to hold the position that both the NSA needs massive reform to prevent civil liberties abuses, and that Edward Snowden went about exposing these abuses in a way that damaged national security. The ACLU on the other hand requested this information through FOIA, and got it. No espionage or skulduggery was required, and the information clearly shows the NSA isn't following its own procedures. This was the right way to get evidence of these massive abuses and does so in a manner that's both responsible and powerful."

Oh, They Knew. Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "Long before revelations in the spring that the Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix had manipulated waiting lists to hide that veterans were facing long delays to see doctors, senior department officials in Washington had been made aware of serious problems at the hospital, according to filings before a federal administrative board.... Susan Bowers, the executive in charge of dozens of hospitals and clinics from West Texas to Arizona..., said that when she submitted a report stating that the Phoenix hospital was out of compliance, she was pressured by other officials to say that it was compliant. She also said that beginning in 2009, she briefed Eric K. Shinseki, then the Department of Veterans Affairs secretary, and other top officials several times a year about the patient backlog and other problems in Phoenix.... When she briefed Mr. Shinseki about problems, she added, he would say, 'There's a process, and we need to follow through on the process.'" See also News Ledes in the December 24 Commentariat.

Emily Wax-Thibodeaux of the Washington Post: "Thousands of female veterans are struggling to get health-care treatment and compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs on the grounds that they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by sexual trauma in the military. The veterans and their advocates call it 'the second battle' -- with a bureaucracy they say is stuck in the past."

Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "The Islamic State's vaunted exercise in state-building appears to be crumbling as living conditions deteriorate across the territories under its control.... Services are collapsing, prices are soaring, and medicines are scarce in towns and cities across the 'caliphate' proclaimed in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State, residents say, belying the group's boasts that it is delivering a model form of governance for Muslims. Slick Islamic State videos depicting functioning government offices and the distribution of aid do not match the reality of growing deprivation and disorganized, erratic leadership, the residents say." ...

     ... CW: Who would have guessed that a band of rabid, murderous, fundamentalist revolutionaries would not make good bureaucrats? This does not suggest that the so-called Islamic state would naturally implode. Totalitarian states throughout history have maintained their control for decades even when their other social & economic policies were terrible failures.

Paul Krugman: "You'll never hear this on Fox News, but 2014 was a year in which the federal government, in particular, showed that it can do some important things very well if it wants to.... On multiple fronts, government wasn't the problem; it was the solution. Nobody knows it, but 2014 was the year of 'Yes, we can.'" ...

... CW: If Krugman is right -- that "Christmas seemed unusually subdued this year" because "All year Americans have been bombarded with dire news reports portraying a world out of control and a clueless government with no idea what to do" -- you can lay this somber holiday directly at the feet of a very effective Republican noise machine. The Party of Nope, with their constant stream of downers, many of them lies, trumped the Party of Hope. ...

... George Packer of the New Yorker on the same topic. Packer does manage to lay direct blame on Republicans -- & on Democrats "too spooked to utter the simple truth that government in competent hands can be a tremendous tool for advancing the good." ...

... "Let's Screw the 1 Percent." Paul Rosenberg in Salon: President Obama should raise the mandatory overtime salary to cover at least the adjusted-for-inflation salaries that were mandated in a 1975 law.... [The move] would not just make those workers better off, it's money that would fuel the rest of the economy as well.... Firing the supply-siders in his own administration -- would be the smartest thing President Obama could do right now, to ensure that the economy keeps on growing, regardless of what congressional Republicans try to do in the next two years." Unfortunately, Rosenberg asserts, Obama himself "thinks like Ronald Reagan." ...

     ... CW: This seems like such an obvious fix. It would specifically help the middle-class, & many would feel the positive effects with their next paycheck. Thus, as a political move, it's a no-brainer. Republicans might wail, but I doubt they'd be calling it ObamaPay. ...

... Erika Eichelberger of Mother Jones: "One often-overlooked  factor ... [contributing to wealth inequality] is that 16.7 million poor Americans don't have a bank account. Lack of access to this basic financial tool cramps poor Americans' ability to prove credit-worthiness and build assets, and forces them to rely on expensive alternative financial services, trapping them in a cycle of debt and instability."

Rebecca Leber of the New Republic: "Investigators have traced the gun Ismaaiyl Brinsley used to kill two New York City police officers and wound his ex-girlfriend to a Georgia strip mall 900 miles away. The Arrowhead pawn shop, which bills itself as a 'family-owned business dedicated to good prices, good customer service and good vibes,' as of 2010 was the fifth-largest source of guns used in crimes nationally and the number-one source of out-of-state guns seized by the New York Police Department.... Brinsley was barred from owning a gun because he had committed multiple felonies.... Weak federal laws and disparate state laws enable a black market where felons and domestic abusers can get their hands on guns. Georgia is among many southern states whose lax gun laws effectively supply firearms for criminal activity in states with stricter laws." ...

... CW: So if you're looking around for somebody to blame for the deaths of those policemen -- besides the shooter himself -- I'd say the NRA & their stable of cowardly politicians trumps people righteously protesting racially-biased policing.

Sam Eifling of the New Republic: "... 2014 was the year we learned that no matter what scandals befall individual players or even the front office of the country's most powerful sports league, fans don't really care -- at least, not enough to stop watching football. Americans were mad as hell, right until the Monday Night Football theme, that testosterone lullaby, coaxed them back onto the couch.... Pro football games weren't just the most-watched cable shows -- they were some of the most-watched cable shows ever."

Josh Lederman of the AP: "President Barack Obama marked the end of more than a decade of combat in Afghanistan by paying tribute to America's military, telling troops on Christmas Day that their sacrifices have allowed for a more peaceful, prosperous world to emerge out of the ashes of 9/11." ...

... Josh Lederman: President Barack Obama celebrated Christmas in Hawaii by singing carols at home before spending the afternoon on the beach."

British Queen Elizabeth's Christmas message is surprisingly touching -- and political:

Mark Bittman of the New York Times: This Christmas day marked "the 100th anniversary of the 'Christmas truce' of World War I, when soldiers from both sides left their weapons in the trenches and met in neutral territory to embrace, play soccer and no doubt drink to excess in the spirit of humanity. Although the acts were officially condemned, these 'live and let live' moments were repeated throughout the war.... If every day were Christmas, if we lived as if the golden rule mattered, if every day were a truce -- well, that is a reality we have never approached, but should aim for."

Here's a 1981 BBC documentary about the 1914 Christmas truce, with first-hand accounts:

Presidential Election

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for president, is working hard to shore up support among liberals in hopes of tamping down a serious challenge from the left in the battle for the 2016 nomination." CW: In other words, one more fake Hillary. I can't keep up.

Joseph Tanfani of the Los Angeles Times: "... as he considers a run for president in 2016, [Jeb] Bush has begun to unwind some of his financial affairs, apparently to avoid the kind of criticism that hobbled fellow Republican Mitt Romney in his unsuccessful bid for the White House in 2012.... Bush is quitting Tenet Healthcare Corp. -- a company that has profited from Obamacare -- and is ending a consulting contract with Barclays Bank.... Aides say he also has stopped giving highly paid speeches.... Last year, he took a step into the rarefied world of private equity and offshore investments, joining with former banking executives and a Chinese airline company to make bets on natural gas exploration and shipping. One of the funds was set up in the United Kingdom, a structure that allows the company to shield overseas investors from U.S. taxes." ...

... Matea Gold, et al., of the Washington Post: "... all the e-mails [Jeb] Bush will release [from his terms as governor of Florida] have long been available through a records request to the Florida Department of State. What's more, the former governor is expected to release only documents already required to be made available under state law, which allows exemptions for legal communications and personnel matters, among others. And the e-mails that he will release show a somewhat filtered version of operations within his administration, in part because Bush was keenly aware that his correspondence could one day become public."

Nancy Benac of the AP: "There are more than 300 million people in America, yet the same two families keep popping up when it comes to picking a president.... It turns out that even though Americans profess to reject dynasties, in politics they're quite comfortable with familiar names.... Dynastic politics, in which multiple family members hold elected office, are more common than people might think in the U.S."

Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor: "n a hypothetical general election matchup Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton would crush Republican Chris Christie in his home state of New Jersey, according to a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll."

Beyond the Beltway

** Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: Gov. Jerry "Brown [D-Calif.] is again seeking to remake [the California state supreme] court that to this day is viewed by legal scholars as among the most influential in the nation, with one study proclaiming it the state court most followed by other appellate judges. And once more, the ever-unconventional Mr. Brown is roiling the waters with a series of head-snapping ... choices for this tribunal.... Of the three people Mr. Brown has nominated to the seven-member Supreme Court -- the latest confirmed on Monday -- not one had a day of judicial experience: Two are law professors and the third is an associate attorney general in the Justice Department." ...

... Judy Lin of the AP: "Continuing a Christmas Eve tradition, Gov. Jerry Brown issued pardons to 105 people Wednesday, before retracting one to a man hours later after learning he had not disclosed recent discipline by financial regulators, a spokesman said."

AP: "Demonstrators took to the streets for a second night after a white police officer in Berkeley, Missouri, killed a black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him."

Here's a detail I didn't know about the police killing of Antonio Martin in Berkeley, Missouri. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "An attorney for the police officer, Brian Millikan, confirmed that the officer was handed a body cam at the start of his shift but had been distracted and had not put it on. There was a second police recording device on the dashboard of his marked patrol vehicle, but that too was not turned on at the time of the shooting." CW: An officer too "distracted" to turn on either of two cameras is too distracted to be sent out on patrol.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Security forces on Friday killed an alleged organizer of last week's school massacre, the latest sign that the government and military are stepping up their assault on the Pakistani Taliban and other Islamist militant groups."

New York Times: "Under intense pressure from the government of Sudan, the United Nations is planning to shrink its floundering peacekeeping force in Darfur, even though renewed fighting there has chased more people from their homes this year than during any other in the past decade. The withdrawal plans come right after the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, announced that she had decided to suspend the genocide case against Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, because world powers have done nothing to secure his arrest."

Washington Post: "Revelers opening brand-new Playstation 4 or Xbox One video game consoles on Christmas Day were disappointed to find the gaming networks offline, due to an alleged attack. As of Friday morning, the situation has improved, but the problems are not completely over: XBox Live is mostly up and running, albeit with 'limited' functionality, according to its service status site. Playstation's network PSN, meanwhile, is still down for the count, according to its status page." See also yesterday's News Ledes.

New York Times (Dec. 24): "A blizzard of millions in cash paralyzed a road in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon, when a security van spilled bundles of Hong Kong 500 dollar notes, presenting onlookers with a Christmas Eve test of whether to be good for goodness' sake. The police estimated that the equivalent of about $2 million was missing, local news reports said...."