The Commentariat -- Dec. 2, 2014

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Obama on Monday announced that he would tighten standards on the provision and use of military-style equipment by local police departments, but he stopped short of curtailing the transfer of such hardware or weapons to the local authorities. After a review of the government's decade-old strategy of outfitting local police forces with military equipment, the White House concluded that the vast majority of these transfers strengthen local policing, but that the government should impose consistent standards in the types of hardware it offers, better training in how to use it and more thorough oversight. Mr. Obama announced the steps at a cabinet meeting that was called to deal with lingering tensions from fiery clashes between the police and protesters in Ferguson, Mo...." ...

... White House: "President Obama met with elected officials, community and faith leaders, and law enforcement officials to talk about how communities and law enforcement can build trust and work together":

... Dana Milbank is extremely unimpressed with President Obama's response to Ferguson. "To take a bolder stand on healing racial divisions would be easy for Obama, both because it doesn't require cooperation from Congress and because he already knows the words." ...

... CW: BTW, I disagree with Milbank. Obama can't "heal racial divisions," specifically because he is black. As Chris Rock said to Frank Rich (linked also in yesterday's Commentariat), "to say Obama is progress is saying that he's the first black person that is qualified to be president. That's not black progress. That's white progress. There's been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years.... The advantage that my children have is that my children are encountering the nicest white people that America has ever produced. Let's hope America keeps producing nicer white people." That is, "healing race relations" is mostly up to white people. If you want to know how white people are progressing, see the posts by Brendan James of TPM & Ed Kilgore, linked below. ...

... CW P.S.: Yeah, I know Obama is "the first black president," but that's not how I think of him. I think of him as the president. Period. If Milbank, et al., want to do their bit for "healing race relations," they could start by not repeatedly pointing at President Obama while shrieking, "OMG, he's black!" followed by scolding, "He should act more black." Dana Milbank probably voted for Obama, at least in 2008, & I'll bet that vote made Dana feel right progressive & big-hearted. Trouble is, Dana thought he was voting for Stepin Fetchit, not for an extraordinary man. ...

... Monica Davey, et al., of the New York Times: "At colleges and high schools, outside police stations, courthouses, city halls and federal buildings, a series of nationwide protests on Monday maintained the momentum of those seeking justice for the unarmed black teenager who was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., almost four months ago." ...

... More White People "Explain" Ferguson. Brendan James of TPM: "MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' panel started the day off on Monday with a segment slamming protestors in Ferguson, shaming the St. Louis Rams football team, and calling slain unarmed teenager Michael Brown a 'thug.'" ...

... Okay, Let's Hear from a Black Person for an Alternate Explanation. Ahiza Garcia of TPM: "Conservative activist and former pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson recently blamed police shootings of black men on the 'Me' generation that grew out of the 'women's lib movement.'" CW: Thanks for setting us slutty girls straight, Dr. Ben. You should run for president. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "I’ve just spent nearly a week back home in exurban Atlanta, and I regret to report that the events in and in reaction to Ferguson have brought back (at least in some of the older white folks I talked with) nasty and openly racist attitudes I haven’t heard expressed in so unguarded a manner since the 1970s." CW: Aah, your elderly, white Southern friends probably don't sound a lot worse than the honkies on "Morning Joe."

Julie Pace of the AP: "The job conditions for President Barack Obama's next defense secretary have already spurred some top contenders to bow out, leaving the White House with a slim list of candidates to fill the post for the administration's final two years. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson became the latest to tell the White House he wasn't interested in the job, according to people familiar with the process." ...

... BUT What About Joe? He's available! I'm seeing some of that old Joe-mentum. ...

... Hahahaha. Al Kamen of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Monday that White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough had contacted him about his thoughts on who should be the next defense secretary. 'I said Lieberman,' McCain told our colleague Steven Ginsberg as he got off the Amtrak Acela from Washington to New York. McCain laughed and said McDonough thanked him for his input, but that McCain did not think his close pal, the former senator from Connecticut, a Democrat turned Independent, would be considered for the job. (After all, he did endorse McCain over Obama in '08.)"

Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is trying to use a massive appropriations bill to loosen campaign finance rules. The Republican leader's office is attempting to attach a policy rider to the omnibus bill that would effectively end limits imposed on coordinated spending by federal candidates and political party committees."

Sí, Se Puede. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Emory University political science Prof. Alan Abramowitz noticed something in Gallup's weekly assessment of President Obama's approval numbers: His approval among Hispanics has shot up by 14 points over the past two weeks. It's now at 68 percent -- the highest it has been this year, and at a level last seen in early 2013.

Steve Mufson of the Washington Post: "Tumbling oil prices are draining hundreds of billions of dollars from the coffers of oil-rich exporters and oil companies and injecting a much-needed boost for ailing economies in Europe and Japan -- and for American consumers at the start of the peak shopping season. The result could be one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history, potentially reshaping everything from talks over Iran's nuclear program to the Federal Reserve's policies to further rejuvenate the U.S. economy. The price of oil has declined about 40 percent since its peak in mid-June and plunged last week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] voted to continue to pump at the same rate. That continued a trend driven by a weak global economy and expanding U.S. domestic energy supplies."

Maryclaire Dale of the AP: "Bill Cosby stepped down as a trustee of his beloved Temple University following renewed accusations that he had drugged and sexually assaulted a string of women over many years. The 77-year-old entertainer has been a high-profile booster for his alma mater in Philadelphia and a board member since 1982. 'I have always been proud of my association with Temple University. I have always wanted to do what would be in the best interests of the university and its students. As a result, I have tendered my resignation,' Cosby said in a statement released by the university."

Joe Harris of the AP: "The St. Louis Rams and the NFL will not discipline the five players who stood with their hands raised in a show of solidarity with Ferguson protesters before Sunday's game. Rams coach Jeff Fisher said Monday that it was his players' 'choice to exercise their free speech,' but he would not comment further on their actions." ...

... Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post: Jeff Roorda, spokesperson for the St. Louis Police Association, made "a veiled suggestion that the only thing protecting the Rams and the NFL from mob violence at games is the cops."

The Smoking Gun: "The Republican congressional aide who castigated the Obama daughters for their lack of 'class' and dressing as if they were angling for a 'spot at a bar' was once arrested for larceny during her own 'awful teen years,' court records show.... [Elizabeth] Lauten, then 17, was collared for stealing from a Belk department store in her North Carolina hometown." CW: In Lauten's defense, she was stealing modest, dowdy clothing (which is all they sell at Belk's) & was smiling politely & respectfully while the surveillance cameras rolled. Totally a class act. Thanks to Haley S. for the lead. ...

... Now that the former shoplifter is out of a job, I hope she doesn't have to try to go on food stamps. Her now-former boss, Rep. Stephen Fincher (RTP-Tenn.), who is "one of the largest recipients of [farm] subsidies in the history of the great State of Tennessee." is on a "mission from God" to end the food-stamp program, which he characterizes as "stealing from those in the country to give to others in the country" (which pretty much describes the farm subsidy; only difference: the children of farm subsidy hogs like Fincher aren't going hungry).

The words 'separation of church and state' is [sic.] not in the U.S. Constitution, but it was in the constitution of the former Soviet Union. That's where it very, very comfortably sat, not in ours. -- Rick Santorum

So, we're a Christian nation? Or dupes of the Communist party? Or what? Did Thomas Jefferson, who repeatedly implored the Founders to include a bill of rights in the Constitution, misunderstand the First Amendment? Do explain, Rick. -- Constant Weader

... Speaking of the Constitution. Sahil Kapur of TPM: "An alternative [to impeachment] that has gained some traction among Republicans is to 'censure' the president.... But there's one big problem with this plan: censuring the president might be unconstitutional.... '[A] censure resolution is obviously punitive both in purpose and in effect and would thus appear to constitute a kind of "trial by legislature' outside the ambit of impeachment and accordingly might be deemed a "Bill of Attainder" forbidden by Article I, §9, Clause 3,' [law professor Laurence] Tribe said in an email."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Heidi Moore of the Guardian: "The newsroom of the New York Times was tense Monday as staffers marked the departures of several senior editors and speculated about which of their colleagues would take early exit packages and which could be laid off. The job reductions, which will come first in the form of buyouts, appear likely to continue a generational shift at the paper as veteran reporters and columnists accept lucrative offers to leave." CW: Please, Tom Friedman, take the deal. ...

... No, the New York Times did not publish Darren Wilson's home address. Margaret Sullivan, the Times' public editor, has the details.

Beyond the Beltway

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Rams vice president of football operations Kevin Demoff, reached late Monday evening by the Post-Dispatch, denied that he issued an apology to the St. Louis County Police Department for the 'Hands Up' gesture on Sunday.... St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar sent an email Monday night to his staff, alerting them that the executive vice president of football operations for the Rams, Kevin Demoff, had called him to apologize for the actions of several players on the field Sunday." ...

... Thanks to Citizen625 for pointing out the Jeff Roorda, the spokesman for the St. Louis Police Association, has a history of being a proven liar & apparently other bad stuff, all of which caused him to be fired from his job as a police officer in Arnold, Missouri. Here's a report of the proceedings against him. CW: I think we have to assume the St. Louis-area police knew this history before hiring Roorda & wanted a spokesperson who was comfortable with being blatantly untruthful.

Presidential Election

Dan Sewell of the AP: "Ohio Sen. Rob Portman says he will not run for president in 2016, choosing instead to seek a second term in the Senate over the Republican nomination for the White House."

Shane Goldmacher of the National Journal: [CW: Oxymoron Alert!] "Rand Paul's brain trust has spent months developing an exhaustive political and legal battle plan to ensure he can run for both Senate reelection and the White House in 2016 -- despite a Kentucky law that suggests otherwise.... The path remains murky, but Paul will take the first step on Tuesday, when he will formally announce he is running for reelection, even as he lays the groundwork to launch a presidential bid next year."

Shushannah Walshe of ABC News: "In an address to an environmental group that fiercely opposes the Keystone XL pipeline Monday evening, Hillary Clinton made no mention of the project. At a fundraising dinner for the League of Conservation Voters, Clinton spent most of her speech expressing support for the president's environmental policies, the need to stay vigilant in combating climate change and the risks around natural gas drilling, but she ignored the pipeline.... Earlier Monday evening she appeared at a New York City fundraiser for Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu who is in a tough run-off in Louisiana. Landrieu strongly supports construction of the Keystone XL pipeline...." CW: I read some while back that when she was Secretary of State, & before environmental groups got up & running against the pipeline, Hillary planned to approve it (no link).

News Ledes

Washington Post: "U.S. officials have designated 35 hospitals around the country to care for Ebola patients, part of the Obama administration's effort in the past two months to improve domestic preparedness to cope with the deadly virus that has ravaged West Africa."

Guardian: "The Obama administration will ask a federal appeals court to overturn a judge's ruling that it must disclose videos depicting its controversial tube feedings of hunger strikers at Guantánamo Bay. The long-expected decision from the Justice Department, filed in court on Tuesday, comes two months after Judge Gladys Kessler of the Washington DC federal district court ruled that the government did possess a compelling rationale for preventing the public from viewing the forcible feedings and detention cell removals of a Syrian detainee."

New York Times: "In a far-reaching deal that helps reunite Iraq in the face of a bitter war with Islamic extremists, the [Iraqi] central government agreed on Tuesday to a long-term pact with the autonomous Kurdish region to share the country's oil wealth and military resources. The deal settles a long dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, the Kurdish capital in the north, over oil revenues and budget payments. It is also likely to halt a drive -- at least in the short term -- by the Kurds for an independent state, which appeared imminent this past summer after a violent territory grab by Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL."

New York Times: "In a decisive move after days of intense political bickering, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel fired his centrist finance and justice ministers on Tuesday and called for the dissolution of Parliament and early elections. Mr. Netanyahu excoriated Yair Lapid, the finance minister, and Tzipi Livni, the justice minister, for attacking his government and its policies from within in recent weeks, declaring in a statement, 'I will no longer tolerate opposition from within the government.'"

The Commentariat -- Dec. 1, 2014

Photo removed.

Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "Sales, both in stores and online, from Thanksgiving through the weekend were estimated to have dropped 11 percent, to $50.9 billion, from $57.4 billion last year, according to preliminary survey results released Sunday by the National Retail Federation. Sales fell despite many stores' opening earlier than ever on Thanksgiving Day. And though many retailers offered the same aggressive discounts online as they did in their stores, the web failed to attract more shoppers or spending over the four-day holiday weekend than it did last year, the group said. The average person who shopped over the weekend spent $159.55 at online retailers, down 10.2 percent from last year." ...

... Dear Retailers (and Other Corporate Bigwigs): Maybe if you paid your employees a living wage, they would splurge on stuff they don't need. -- Constant Weader

Kendall Breitman of Politico: "President Barack Obama is holding three meetings on Monday to discuss issues relating to unrest in Ferguson, Missouri."

Carl Hulse & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "As Congress returns from recess on Monday facing a Dec. 11 deadline for funding the government, Mr. Boehner and his fellow Republican leaders are working to persuade the rank and file -- furious over President Obama's executive action on immigration -- that engaging in a spending confrontation is the wrong way to counter the White House. That would set the wrong tone, they argue, as Republicans prepare to take over Congress and fulfill promises to govern responsibly." ...

... Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Inside Republican leadership, senior aides and lawmakers freely admit that the executive order -- no matter how unpopular it is -- will likely stand and there's little Congress can do about it. So Boehner, McCarthy and Scalise need to craft a process that will allow conservatives to vent, but prevent a shutdown." ...

... Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Republicans in and out of Congress are urging GOP leaders to move quickly on immigration reform in response to President Obama’s executive actions." CW: Love the photo the Hill decided to go with this story. ...

... Peter Shane -- a Constitutional scholar -- in the Washington Monthly: "The President's actions [on immigration] respect, even advance, the rule of law in at least five ways."

David Atkins: Congressional Republicans, following their "intellectual" leader Paul Ryan, are determined to introduce "fantasy-based budgeting." We'll be hearing more of this. CW: I'm wondering if the CBO will revolt.

Brian Beutler is thankful for a Republican Congress. He lays out six reasons why.

Peter Schroeder of the Hill: "President Obama's nomination of Antonio Weiss to serve as the Treasury Department's top domestic finance official is drawing fire from ... his fellow Democrats. Liberal lawmakers like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have been quick to oppose Weiss, a major investment banker with Lazard.... An underlying thread to the Democratic opposition is a fatigue with filling top-ranking administration spots with officials that have spent significant time working for or on behalf of Wall Street titans." ...

... Juan Williams in the Hill: "The 2014 winner of my annual award for 'Member of Congress of the Year' goes to the politician who had such a good year she now defines her party's future -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)."

E. J. Dionne: President "Obama and progressives should spend the next two years accomplishing as many useful things as they can, blocking regressive actions by Congress, and clarifying the choices facing the nation's voters. And they'll get much further by doing all three at once." ...

... Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "From the wreckage of his party's defeat, a president appears to have been reborn. This is a president who bears much more in common with the firebrand elected in 2008 on a message of hope and change than the frustrated figure who had governed ever since."

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "A year after the Obama administration temporarily shelved an unfinished part of HealthCare.gov intended for small businesses, it has opened with reports of only modest technical flaws -- but with doubts that it will soon benefit the millions of workers at little companies with inadequate health insurance or none at all.... In the two weeks since the marketplace's health plans went on sale for 2015, interest within the niche they are intended to help seems scant."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear the case of Peggy Young v. UPS. Young was laid off without pay from her job as a delivery person when she became pregnant & could not lift heavy packages, a task that was not part of her normal duties. She sued UPS under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act & lost in the lower courts. ...

... New York Times Editors: Young's "case, which has implications for millions of American women and their families..., is an opportunity for the court to strike a blow against discriminatory treatment and the resulting economic harm that are too often imposed on women who get pregnant -- as the vast majority of women entering the work force eventually do. Although many women can work through an entire pregnancy without job modifications, some -- especially those in low-wage jobs requiring long hours, prolonged standing and heavy lifting -- may require temporary help to safeguard their own health and their pregnancies." ...

... CW: Oops, the Times editorial board said the wrong thing. The conservatives on the court are dedicated to making life harder for the working poor -- so they'll know their place. The Times should have argued that ruling for Young would somehow help rich, white men.

Kathianne Bonniello of the New York Post: "Shopping at a Washington, DC, bookstore Saturday, President Obama spotted a copy of 'Meet the Press' host Chuck Todd's new book about his presidency. 'Oh, Chuck Todd!' Obama exclaimed. 'Let's see what Chuck has to say here!' 'How is he writing a book already?' asked his 16-year-old daughter, Malia. 'Sad.' 'He's just sad,' the president joked in response. Obama's off-the-cuff pan was no surprise, considering what Todd thinks of the president. The book, titled 'The Stranger,' blasts Obama as a flip-flopping policymaker whose detached temperament has prevented him from implementing his ideas." ...

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "On the subject of the Obama girls’ supposedly disrespectful behavior at the Thanksgiving turkey pardoning: not even close to unpardonable.... I thought the girls did fine.... If there was a soupcon of eye-rolling and a stretch of get-me-outta-here arm-crossing, well -- they were props at a turkey pardoning, for heaven's sake." ...

... Andy Borowitz: "Republican congressional aide Elizabeth Lauten said on Sunday morning that she 'deeply regretted' her attack on Sasha and Malia Obama because it 'completely overshadowed the vicious insults I hurled at their parents.'" ...

... CW: Here's what Lauten said about Barack & Michelle Obama: "... your mother and father don't respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I'm guessing you're coming up a little short in the 'good role model' department." She never did mentioned she was sorry for that. BTW, I should have highlighted this: Lauten used to work for former Rep. Joe Walsh, "a tea party freshman noted for calling President Obama a 'tyrant' and engaging in legal battle over his child support payments." (Via Adam Weinstein, in Mother Jones, September 2012.) Compared to refusing to feed your own children, dissing someone else's kids doesn't seem so bad. ...

... ** UPDATE. Erin Ryan of Jezebel: "Elizabeth Lauten, the Republican Congressional staffer who over the weekend found herself in hot water over comments she made about the Obama girls looking like bar floozies with bad attitudes, has announced today that she's resigning." CW: What a shame. But now she'll have time to pursue her dream of writing an advice column for teens.

Paul Krugman: Europe is an economic disaster, & it's Germany's fault.

Stanley Kutler in the (Madison, Wisconsin) Capital Times: "The Pentagon has hijacked the history of the Vietnam War, magically transforming it into a memory to honor and cherish. George Orwell never imagined better. The Pentagon omits any discussion of the deception and misdirected policies which sucked us into that quagmire. It ignores failures of both civilian and military leaders. The widespread breakdown of military command and discipline is glossed over and the military effort was led only by medal winners. The rending of the American social and political fabric which marked the 1960s and '70s is not acknowledged. Most of all, the Pentagon is unwilling to face the painful truth: We lost. The Pentagon has launched a 50th anniversary commemoration of the war to provide 'historically accurate materials' for schoolchildren. Get 'em young." ...

... Charles Pierce: "... in concocting an elaborate historical deceit to mark the 50th anniversary of the bloodiest foreign-poiicy blunder in the country's history, and the most divisive period of domestic politics since the Civil War, the Pentagon is accidentally memorializing Vietnam much better than it realizes." ...

... Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times (October 9): "... the extensive website, which has been up for months, largely describes a war of valor and honor that would be unrecognizable to many of the Americans who fought in and against it. Leading Vietnam historians complain that it focuses on dozens of medal-winning soldiers while giving scant mention to mistakes by generals and the years of violent protests and anguished debate at home.... The glossy view of history has now prompted more than 500 scholars, veterans and activists -- including the civil rights leader Julian Bond; Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the top-secret Pentagon Papers; Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan; and Peter Yarrow of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary -- to join [Tom] Hayden in demanding the ability to correct the Pentagon's version of history and a place for the old antiwar activists in the anniversary events."

Marie's Sports Report

Ken Belson of the New York Times: "N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell did not lie. That was the message that Jeff Pash, the league's general counsel, relayed to team executives Friday after an arbitrator overturned the indefinite suspension of Ray Rice, the onetime Baltimore Ravens running back who was caught on video knocking out his fiancée in a hotel elevator. On Friday, Barbara S. Jones, a former federal judge who heard Rice's appeal of his suspension, ruled that Rice had not misled Goodell about his confrontation with his fiancée, Janay Palmer, who is now his wife." CW: Um, I guess Goodell just "misunderstood" Rice. Maybe he doesn't know what "I punched her" means. I don't know.

Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: Kosta Karageorge, an Ohio State wrestler & football player, apparently killed himself, likely as a result of concussions he suffered.

Dan Good of ABC News: "The St. Louis Police Officers Association was 'profoundly disappointed' after players with the Rams entered the field Sunday with their arms raised, showing support for nearby Ferguson, the association said in a statement. Players Jared Cook, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens and Tavon Austin stopped near the tunnel and raised their hands during introductions Sunday, acknowledging the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson in the shooting one week ago.... Despite that intention, the St. Louis Police Officers Association released a statement Sunday night decrying the players' display. 'The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology,' the statement read in part." ...

... CW: I wish there had been more than five players joining in the protest.

Beyond the Beltway

Paige Cunningham of Politico: "... the GOP victories in the statehouses and governor's mansions ... are priming the ground for another round of legal restrictions on abortion."

White Supremacists Explain Ferguson:

(1) Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "... former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said on Sunday that the black community is more responsible for the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police than the officers themselves."

(2) Heather of Crooks & Liars: Rich Lowry of National Review: "If you look at the most credible evidence, the lessons are really basic. Don't rob a convenience store. Don't fight a policeman when he's stopped you and try to take his gun and when he yells at you to stop with is gun drawn, just stop and none of this would have happened."

(3) Manny Fernandez & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "... the Oath Keepers ... who are sometimes described as a citizen militia -- but do not call themselves that [have taken up armed positions on rooftops [in Ferguson] on recent nights.... But on Saturday, with the county police said to be threatening the Oath Keepers with arrest, the volunteers decided to abandon their posts and instead protest against the authorities." Sam Andrews, who organized the Oath Keepers in Ferguson, says, "... we have a moral obligation to protect the weakest among us. When we see these violent people, these arsonists and anarchists, attacking, it just pokes at you in a deep place." ...

... A Better Explanation:

Wilson's answer [to the Ferguson police department's 'relationship with the residents'] is an excuse. An excuse for the failure to protect victims in that neighborhood. An excuse for not providing the same level of services and respect and protection that other communities receive. And he does it through guilt by association. He conflates the community and the residents with so-called gangs. And once he does that it's as if we're being told that his excuse for not treating Michael Brown as a child and a resident and someone who he is paid by the taxpayers to protect and care for instead that he's entitled to conflate Michael Brown because of the color of his skin and the neighborhood in which he lives with known criminals. In our system of criminal justice, you're supposed to be innocent until you're proven guilty.... The idea that Wilson wouldn't even consider Michael Brown to be one of his charges and one of his constituents and instead immediately associate him with criminals goes to the heart of why we see incidents like this occur. -- Alexandra Natapoff, Loyola Law School

Irresponsible Father-to-Be Walks Off Job, Loses Severance. Alan Zagier & Jim Salter of the AP: "The mayor of Ferguson, Missouri, says police Officer Darren Wilson will not receive a severance package as part of his resignation from the police force."

AP: "The Republican party county chair who came under fire for comments about Muslims on his Facebook page has resigned. Big Stone County [Minnesota] GOP Chair Jack Whitley called Muslims 'parasites' and wrote 'FRAG 'EM!' when they travel to Mecca.... Those comments were condemned by Muslim community leaders and [Minnesota] GOP party Chairman Keith Downey. Whitley told the Associated Press Friday he had no plans to resign but was asked to do so by other board members. His resignation was effective Friday. Whitley was also fired from his hardware store job in Ortonville."

Frank Rich interviews Chris Rock about everything.

Presidential Election

CW: As Kate M. & I Always Say.... Paul Waldman: "Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, there is probably no single issue you ought to be more concerned about in the 2016 campaign than what the court will look like after the next president gets the opportunity to make an appointment or two. The implications are enormous."

No Clinton. No Bush. We Can Dream. Steve Rose in the Kansas City Star: "Charlie Cook, one of the most respected political experts in the country, believes Hillary Clinton has only a 25-30 percent chance of running for president, and in any case he thinks she is either 'rusty' or 'she has lost her fastball.' He bases that on her disastrous book tour, in which she said some very inappropriate things and also did not sell many books. The author of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report newsletter for almost 30 years also disappointed a local audience when he did not give Jeb Bush much of a chance of gaining the Republican nomination." ...

... Update. Wake-up Call. Steve Yaccino of Bloomberg Politics: "Columnist Steve Rose did not specify exactly when or where the private vent took place, but said Cook knew he was in attendance and that the statements were on the record. But Cook, who could not be reached by phone or e-mail for comment, took to Twitter and denied making the claim."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Larry McQuilliams had 'let me die' written in marker across his chest when he fired more than 100 rounds in downtown Austin[, Texas,] early Friday morning. McQuilliams, who Austin Police officials called a 'homegrown American extremist' with ties to a Christian identity hate group, was shot dead on Friday by a police officer outside the department's headquarters. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters on Monday that officers who searched the gunman's home found a map with 34 targets, including two churches. McQuilliams had fired bullets into Austin police headquarters, a federal courthouse and the Mexican consulate in downtown Austin on Friday. He also tried to set the Mexican consulate building on fire." ...

... Washington Post: "Police in West Virginia said on Monday night that the suspect in a series of fatal shootings has been found dead. The body of Jody Lee Hunt, a 39-year-old man from Westover, W.V., was discovered in his truck, hours after a shooting spree left four people dead and prompted police to launch a manhunt."

New York Times: "Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong suffered a setback on Monday, when their attempt overnight to besiege government offices collapsed and the police thrust into the protesters' biggest street camp. The reversal came after a night of seesaw clashes in the political heart of the city, ending weeks of anxious calm at the protesters' main street camp...."

New York Times: Officials in Eastern European countries believe Russia & its state-controlled energy behemoth Gazprom are behind anti-fracking protests.

The Commentariat -- Nov. 30, 2014

Internal links removed.

The Case Against Poor People. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "In mounting the latest court challenge to the Affordable Care Act, House Republicans are focusing on a little-noticed provision of the law that offers financial assistance to low- and moderate-income people. Under this part of the law, insurance companies must reduce co-payments, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for some people in health plans purchased through the new public insurance exchanges. The federal government reimburses insurers.... In their lawsuit, House Republicans say the Obama administration needed, but never received, an appropriation to make these payments to insurance companies. As a result, they contend, the spending violates the Constitution, which says, 'No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.'"

According to Brian Faler & Rachel Bade of Politico, here's what happened to that horrible tax deal Harry Reid "negotiated": "The immigration executive order soured the GOP on the tax cuts for the working poor and middle class sought by Democrats. Republicans worried undocumented immigrants targeted by the order would begin claiming the credits in droves. They found a friend in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who reluctantly agreed to drop his party's demands to extend expiring parts of the earned income tax credit and its companion, the child tax credit. The decision infuriated Reid's colleagues. 'Everyone felt that Reid had suddenly given the store to Republicans and not gotten much in return,' said a Democratic House aide. The president, with liberal Democratic backing on the Hill, issued the veto threat and the plan imploded, making the tax deal the first major collateral damage of the White House's immigration action."

Tina Nguyen of Mediate: According to the New York Times, "Over all, about 140 million people are expected to shop in stores or online this weekend. That is more people than voted in the midterms earlier this month." Nguyen calls this a "depressing statistic." CW: Evidently, it got too depressing for the New York Times, because as the story stands now, that second sentence is gone. Apprently the Times editors decided that pointing out that Americans are more interested in buying cheap teevees than in voting is not "fit to print."

Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call: "A senator who voted against keeping Harry Reid as the Democratic leader is getting a seat at the leadership table. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia is taking on the role of policy development advisor at the Democratic Policy and Communications Center. He joins a leadership team that previously expanded in number with the addition of progressive heroine Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts."

CBS San Francisco: "Walmart employees, in the Bay Area and across the nation, are on strike this Black Friday in what may be the largest Black Friday strike ever. They are calling on the retail giant to raise pay to a minimum of $15 an hour and provide consistent full-time work."

God News

Tim Egan: "Considering that it took the Mormon Church more than a century to acknowledge what scholars have long known to be true, it may take another hundred years for the elders in Salt Lake City to proclaim that the prophet, seer, revelator and founder of their religion was the kind of guy who would have to register with the police today before moving into a neighborhood."

God convinces GOP staffer that suggesting the President's daughters look like bar-hopping sluts is "hurtful." Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: Criticizing Malia & Sasha Obama's appearance at the annual Turkey pardoning, "Elizabeth Lauten, communications director for Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher (Tenn.), wrote Friday in a Facebook posting addressed to Sasha, 13, and Malia, 16..., 'Rise to the occasion. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at the bar,' Lauten wrote.... 'After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were.... I pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have) from this experience.'" Thank you, God. See also remarks under yesterday's Non-Commentariat by P. D. Pepe & James S.

Beyond the Beltway

"Deep South Justice in Ferguson." Colbert King of the Washington Post: A white-on-black murder his grandmother told King about "gave meaning to the assertion of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in Dred Scott that the black man has 'no rights which the white man was bound to respect.' The slaying in Ferguson, Mo., of an unarmed, 18-year-old African American, Michael Brown, by a white cop, Darren Wilson, who in turn gets away with it, strikes a raw nerve. It reminds many of the way in which authority is exercised, especially in communities where the central relationship between blacks and whites is the police." ,,,

... Monica Davey, et al., of the New York Times: Competing witness accounts suggest that the public will never know what really happened in the last seconds of Michael Brown's life. ...

... AFP: "The Missouri police officer who killed an unarmed black teen sparking months of protests in the city of Ferguson will never return to policing, his lawyer said. Darren Wilson is currently in discussions with the Ferguson, Missouri police department on the terms and conditions of his departure, attorney Neil Bruntrager said this week." ...

     ... Update. Christine Byers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Citing threats of violence, Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Michael Brown Aug. 9, resigned from the Ferguson Police Department on Saturday. Wilson, 28, whom a St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict in connection with the shooting, had worked for the city's police department for six years.... He said resigning was 'the hardest thing I've ever had to do.'" CW: Shooting at a teenager 12 times: piece of cake. ...

... Smoking Gun: "A police report detailing a fight last month between members of Michael Brown's family over the sale of commemorative t-shirts identifies the late teenager's mother as one of the 'attackers' who beat and robbed vendors selling the merchandise from a tent in a Ferguson, Missouri parking lot. A copy of the Ferguson Police Department report was provided yesterday by city attorney Stephanie Karr. When TSG requested the document two weeks ago, Karr noted that Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, was 'described in the report' and had 'specifically requested that the report be withheld from the media.'" ...

... CW: A couple of days ago. I linked a Smoking Gun report that after the announcement that Darren Wilson would not face charges, Brown's stepfather had repeatedly urged a crowd of protesters to "Burn this bitch down!" Assuming the reports are quasi-accurate, with parents like this, that poor kid had a tough row to hoe.

... Brendan James of TPM: "Red State editor Ben Howe  jumped on Twitter the day before Thanksgiving to share his take on a grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. The conservative editor's takeaway on Wednesday was brief but clear: He tweeted that, if he were in Wilson's position, he would have "shot Mike Brown right in his face.'" CW: These jerks really know how to set an appropriate tone, don't they? ...

... Digby: "What you're talking about are the rules of combat where a soldier in a war zone is charged with killing the enemy and the enemy is charged with killing him. It's kill or be killed. Policing in the streets of America is supposed to be different. Or it used to be anyway, with the police having a very strong obligation to de-escalate situations with unarmed citizens, not shoot them down in the street. 'Kill or be killed' is a very dangerous credo for the authorities to have in a so-called free society." ...

<... KTVI St. Louis: "Demonstrators boycotting Black Friday targeted several malls in the St. Louis area Friday afternoon. The movement was organized on social media...." ...

NBC 5 Seattle & AP: "Black Friday turned into a day of protests at malls across the country after a grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson earlier this week. Protesters in a St. Louis mall blocked shoppers and forced some stores to close. In Seattle, demonstrators forced Westlake Mall to close early on the busiest shopping day of the year and tried to disrupt the city's traditional tree lighting ceremony."

Best Holiday Headline. TPM: "Masturbating Passenger Causes Premature Landing For Virgin Flight."

See also Saturday's News Ledes.

Presidential Election

Ken Vogel of Politico: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry is inviting hundreds of prominent Republican donors and policy experts to a series of gatherings next month that are intended to rebuild his damaged national brand and lay the foundation for a potential 2016 presidential campaign...."

News Ledes

AP: "A representative for the family of an American couple cleared by a Qatari appeals court of wrongdoing in the death of their adopted daughter says they have been barred from leaving the Gulf nation."

Guardian: "Two people were killed in clashes between police and protesters after the former Egyptian dictator whose overthrow came to symbolise the promise of the Arab spring, Hosni Mubarak, was cleared of the murder of hundreds who called for his removal in 2011."