The Commentariat -- Jan. 17, 2015

Internal links removed.

White House: "In this week's address, the President recounted the stories of letter writers from around the country who will be joining him when he delivers his annual State of the Union Address this Tuesday":

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether all 50 states must allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. The court's announcement made it likely that it would resolve one of the great civil rights questions of the age before its current term ends in June. The justices ducked the issue in October, refusing to hear appeals from rulings allowing same-sex marriage in five states. That surprise action delivered a tacit victory for gay rights, immediately expanding the number of states with same-sex marriage to 24 from 19, along with the District of Columbia." ...

... The Washington Post story, by Robert Barnes, is here. ...

... Sahil Kapur of TPM: "The Obama administration will formally ask the Supreme Court to 'make marriage equality a reality for all Americans' in a landmark case. In a statement issued on Friday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will file a friend-of-the-court brief calling for gay and lesbian Americans across the country to be able to marry." Here's Holder's statement. ...

... An analysis by Lyle Denniston of ScotusBlog is here. ...

... Steve Sanders in ScotusBlog: "Let's be clear -- the marriage bans are about animus.... Spend a few minutes browsing news databases for coverage of the mini-DOMA campaigns and it confirms what you knew but may have forgotten: the campaigns were substantially characterized by negative code words, moral judgment, and disparagement (often implicit, sometimes explicit) of gays' dignity.... The question of animus will be prominent -- perhaps pivotal -- in this final phase of marriage litigation."

Robert O'Harrow, et al., of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without proving that a crime occurred. Holder's action represents the most sweeping check on police power to confiscate personal property since the seizures began three decades ago as part of the war on drugs.... Holder's decision follows a Washington Post investigation published in September that found that police have made cash seizures worth almost $2.5 billion from motorists and others without search warrants or indictments since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.... Last Friday, Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), along with Reps. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), signed a letter calling on Holder to end Equitable Sharing." Thanks to Haley S. for the link. ...

... CW: I doubt Holder would have taken this step if not for the WashPo series. Journalism matters. ...

... Not to mention John Oliver, who took up the issue in October:

... The Justice Department's press release is here. ...

... Andy Cash of Gawker: "Holder's decision won't end civil forfeiture entirely, however: many states have their own forfeiture laws, and the DOJ will still allow for the seizure of things like weapons and child porn, and in other situations when 'public safety is at risk' or there is clear evidence of criminal activity, the Post notes. But many of those state laws don't direct property back to police departments, as the federal policy does, but deposit it in the state's general fund instead -- hopefully narrowing the possibility that cops will take some guys Hummer just because it would look bitchin' with the PD logo on it." ...

... Katie Zavadski of New York: "Unsurprisingly, states that don't funnel seized cash back into law enforcement tend to have fewer forfeiture-related scandals."

Nicholas Watt of the Guardian: "Barack Obama and David Cameron struck different notes on surveillance powers after the president conceded that there is an important balance to be struck between monitoring terror suspects and protecting civil liberties. As Cameron warned the internet giants that they must do more to ensure they do not become platforms for terrorist communications, the US president said he welcomed the way in which civil liberties groups hold them to account by tapping them on the shoulder." ...

... Jerome Cartillier of AFP: "US President Barack Obama on Friday urged European governments to try to better assimilate their Muslim minority populations as they respond to extremist attacks like last week's shootings in Paris." ...

... The press conference was pretty interesting. You might want to listen to it while you're washing your socks:

... Matt Apuzzo & Steve Erlanger of the New York Times: In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, there is a great deal of opposition in France to the government's adopting a version of the U.S. Patriot Act. CW: From the report, something that went over my head in the President's remarks during the joint presser:

Mr. Obama said Friday that while violent extremism had 'metastasized' and was 'widespread,' he added, 'I do not consider it an existential threat.' That is a marked contrast from the language used after the attacks in 2001, when Condoleezza Rice, the White House national security adviser at the time, said, 'There is no longer any doubt that today America faces an existential threat to our security.'

The Poor Get Poorer. Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "Just over half of all students attending public schools in the United States are now eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, according to a new analysis of federal data. In a report released Friday by the Southern Education Foundation, researchers found that 51 percent of children in public schools qualified for the lunches in 2013, which means that most of them come from low-income families. By comparison, 38 percent of public school students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches in 2000."

Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "The planet is changing, and we are close to the time when trying to check climate change will be like trying to redirect El Niño with canoe paddles.... The new numbers are so striking that they surprised even climate scientists."

Theda Skocpol of Harvard University on the premise of the King v. Burwell plaintiffs that subsidies are not apply to states which use the federal exchange: "Throughout hard-fought debates about health reform, lawmakers in both parties looked for ways to save taxpayer money. Partial subsidies would have greatly reduced costs, so the total absence of this kind of analysis among the 68 prepared by CBO for the 111th Congress (and its continuing absence in reports done for the next Congress) is the best objective evidence we have that no one in Congress considered premium subsidies restricted to certain states to be either possible or desirable. If Congress intended to threaten states with withheld subsidies, nobody said so." CW: The intent of Congress -- if it can be established -- is supposed to govern the courts' interpretation of laws. We'll see if it matters to the Supremes. Via Paul Waldman.

A Short History of the Crazy. Jonathan Chait: "The 'reformocons,' the small coterie of pundit-adviser-activists trying to coax the Republican Party back toward sanity, may be doing the most politically significant work of any faction in America today. But the task of talking sense to the senseless is tricky business.... Peter Wehner, the former Karl Rove aide..., denounces Republicans who have taken 'an apocalyptic view of American life during the Obama era.'... Actually, an apocalyptic view of American life is the very thing that propelled conservatism to power in the first place." ...

... The Party of NObama. Sahil Kapur: "Newly invigorated congressional Republicans ended their joint House-Senate retreat ... divided on how to handle pressing problems like immigration, homeland security funding and a contingency on health care.... The only thing uniting them was their opposition to President Barack Obama." ...

... Things might have worked out better if Speaker Boehner had not been so busy with more important things. Rebecca Nelson of the National Journal: "As soon as President Obama walked into a school in Knoxville, Tenn., last week and announced his ambitious community-college program, John Boehner knew it was trouble. So he did what any conservative, 65-year-old lawmaker would do: He compiled a series of Taylor Swift GIFs to spell out the problems of the plan.... The 12 GIFs, published on the speaker's website and emailed to reporters Friday morning, explain the GOP's case against Obama's proposal to make community college tuition-free." ...

... CW: Swift hasn't addressed the Boehner GIFs. She's been performing since she was about nine, so Swift herself hasn't gone to college. But she has supported schools & education through philanthropy & by, among other efforts, co-chairing the NEA's Read Across America Campaign. She might not be all that pleased to be used as a cudgel against helping millions of young Americans get a college education.

Inexcusable. Lori Aritani, et al., of the Washington Post: "It took Metro seven minutes to call 911 after a train stopped because of heavy smoke, and even then, officials did not report to emergency responders that passengers were trapped in a tunnel, according to federal safety investigators and reports from city officials and firefighters. When the first rescuers reached the platform at the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station, they had no idea that hundreds of Yellow Line passengers were gasping for breath, according to internal District documents."

No Prejudice Here. AP: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi this week appointed Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana[, a Muslim,] to the panel, which oversees the government's intelligence departments and activities. Much of the business that comes before the committee is classified. Anti-Muslim protests erupted on Twitter and other social media with complaints that exposing American secrets to Carson could be dangerous."

No Racism Here. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Florida police department uses black men&'s mugshots for target practice." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. ...

... Oliver Laughland of the Guardian expands on the story. Really, the cops think shooting at mugshots of real people who really live in the area is a swell practice. And don't worry -- sometimes they shoot at real white men, real Hispanics & real women. See, not racism.

Presidential Race

Dave Weigel: The GOP will sanction only nine presidential primary debates, and none of them will be on MSNBC. "Apart from bringing joy to every conservative, it was as [RNC Chair Reince] Priebus said -- he did not want debates to be steered by people who wanted to make Republicans look stupid." ...

... CW: Please, none of the GOP candidates needs MSNBC to make him (or her -- Carly Demon-Sheep Fiorina!) look stoopid.

Katie Zavadski: "Earlier this week, Mitt Romney launched a trial balloon for a third run at the presidency. In the days since, political commentators, GOP megadonors, and influential moguls have done more than just deflate it -- they've popped it loudly and watched the pieces fly all over the room. Romney will address GOP leaders at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting Friday night, but many influencers seem to have already made up their minds." ...

... Ditto Paul Waldman: "... within just a few days, the entire Republican world, from conservatives to moderates, from office-holders to pundits, from strategists to hangers-on, has turned on Romney with a spectacular fury.... Even Peggy Noonan, relentless chronicler of Americans' gut feelings and secret longings -- who on the eve of the 2012 election assured readers that Romney would win despite what the polls said because 'All the vibrations are right' -- has today [Friday] turned rather viciously on the man she used to hold in such high esteem."

... "The Tyranny of Celebrity." Dana Milbank: "The conservative editorialists were right to dread another election about Romneycare and the 47 percent. But why pick on Romney? Overall, 2016 is shaping up to be the year of the retreads: the reduce, reuse and recycle election."

Gail Collins assesses Rick Perry's presidential bona fides. Hilarity ensues. She also gets in a classic-Collins mention of the Mittster: "The man who drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the car roof and the man who claims he shot a coyote while jogging." ...

... CW BTW: Unlike the dog-on-the-roof-of-the-car, there is good reason to believe that the coyote legend is a man-made myth.

** One Scary Dude Who Could Become President. Ian Millhiser lays out Rand Paul's alarming 19th-century plans for an "activist" Supreme Court -- one that would have "the Court to return to its self-appointed role as the vanguard against democracy." ...

... OR, as Charles Pierce puts it, Rand Paul "... would take us altogether back to the days of slave wages, child labor, unbridled carnage in the workplace, and legally enforced serfdom within the American corporation.... The current Supreme Court, John Roberts presiding, already is halfway there to meeting with Aqua Buddha on most of these issues." ...

... CW: While it's fair to suppose that neither the Fake Coyote Hunter nor the I-Am-Not-a-Scientist Man has sussed out the full-blown judicial philosophy that swirls beneath Aqua Buddha's wild toop, I believe that Perry & Rubio, as well as every one of the other likely GOP candidates, would comb the vast American wasteland for Sam Alito clones to fill the Court. It would take a Democratic-majority Senate with incredible resolve -- one we haven't seen since the Borking Era; ergo, Clarence Thomas -- to defend the Constitution. And even if such a Senate should return in 2016, it cannot reject all of a president's nominees; ergo, Anthony Kennedy & Nino Scalia. We're having our fun with Li'l Randy now, but how many soccer moms & factory workers do you suppose will pore over Ian Millhiser's writings before heading to the polls?

News Ledes

Orlando Sentinel: "Armed with a handgun and pockets full of ammunition, Jose Garcia Rodriguez walked into the Melbourne Square mall Saturday morning and shot his wife, another man, then himself, police say. The shooting left gunman Garcia Rodriguez, 57, of Palm Bay, and the other unidentified man dead, said Cmdr. Vince Pryce of Melbourne Police Department. Garcia Rodriguez's wife, 33-year-old Ida Garcia, survived and remains in good condition at a local hospital, Pryce said."

AP: "Greek police have detained four suspected terrorists, including one who could be the man wanted by Belgian authorities as an alleged ringleader of a jihadi cell, a police official told the Associated Press Saturday." ...

... AP: "Belgian authorities said Saturday that information sent to them from Athens so far has not indicated the people detained by police in Greece were involved in a Belgian jihadi cell."

AFP: "Pope Francis was forced Saturday to flee a fierce storm in the Philippines that killed a papal volunteer, cutting short a mercy mission to weeping survivors of a catastrophic super typhoon. Wearing a yellow plastic poncho to protect him from intense rain, Francis delivered an emotional mass to about 200,000 people in the typhoon-ravaged central Philippine city of Tacloban. However, plans to spend the entire day in Tacloban and nearby areas that were devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan 14 months ago were ruined by another storm, forcing him to fly back to Manila at lunchtime."

The Commentariat -- Jan. 16, 2015

Internal links, photo removed.

NEW. Justin Gillis of the New York Times: "Last year was the hottest in earth's recorded history, scientists reported on Friday, underscoring scientific warnings about the risks of runaway emissions and undermining claims by climate-change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped." ...

... Carl Zimmer of the New York Times: "A team of scientists, in a groundbreaking analysis of data from hundreds of sources, has concluded that humans are on the verge of committing unprecedented damage to the oceans and the animals living in them. 'We may be sitting on a precipice of a major extinction event,' said Douglas J. McCauley, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a co-author of the new research, which was published on Thursday in the journal Science."

Keeping America Stupid. Certainly we've had changes in our climate. I'll let the scientists debate the sources in their opinion of that change. But I think the real question is that every proposal we see out of the administration with regard to climate change means killing American jobs. -- Speaker John Boehner, Thursday

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was asked the same question and did not answer it. (See also Joni Ernst, Alfred E. Neuman, below.)

Manu Raju of Politico: "President Barack Obama made clear Thursday in a closed-door session with Senate Democrats that he's prepared to veto hostile legislation from the GOP-controlled Congress, including an Iran sanctions package on the front-burner of Capitol Hill.... At the meeting, Obama, who has rarely used his veto pen in his six years in office, signaled he would do so repeatedly, including on GOP-sponsored legislation to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline.... White House officials confirmed the veto threat over the Iran bill but declined to comment further." ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama and Senator Robert Menendez traded sharp words on Thursday over whether Congress should impose new sanctions on Iran while the administration is negotiating with Tehran about its nuclear program, according to two people who witnessed the exchange. In the course of the argument, which was described as tense but generally respectful, Mr. Obama vowed to veto legislation being drafted by Mr. Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and Senator Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois, that would impose the sanctions before the multiparty talks are set to end this summer."

White House: "On January 15, 2015, President Obama travelled to Charmington's Café in North Baltimore, Maryland to talk about the workplace policies we need to help working Americans balance their careers with their needs of their families":

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Freshman Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) will deliver the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address next week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the news at a joint press conference with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) during the GOP retreat at the Hershey Lodge.... She said voters sent her to the nation's capital with a mission to 'craft and implement good policies, good solutions which will enable to get America on a better path.'" Thanks to James S. for the link.

... CW: I wonder what Ernst's good solutions might be to the scientific bombshell that we're "on the precipice of a major extinction event" In September Jeff Spross of Think Progress reported, "On Sunday, the Republicans' Senate candidate from Iowa, Joni Ernst, joined the ranks of politicians who confess to not knowing the science of climate change, but remain happy declaring we need do nothing about it." One thing Ernst is sure about: "job-killing [EPA] regulations" have got to go. Okay, then. ...

     ... AND So What? Eric Bradner of CNN: According to the latest CNN/ORC poll, "57%, say global warming will not pose a serious threat to their way of life, while just 43% expect global warming to threaten them. Meanwhile, only 50% of Americans believe global warming is caused by man-made emissions, while 23% say it's caused by natural changes and 26% say it isn't a proven fact." ...

... Charles Pierce: "Joni Ernst is a box of rocks. She's a jumped-up state legislator whose worldview is that of somebody waiting on hold to speak to Steve Deace on the radio. This will be the case even if she manages to get through her 'response' next Tuesday night with more aplomb than those old has-beens, Jindal and Rubio. Resist any attempt to make a star out of this woman. Believe your own lying eyes. It's very important." Read the whole post. ...

... CW: Despite Pierce's prediction that Ernst is "not going to fall into the orchestra pit, the way Jindal and Rubio did," I'll bet no one is happier about this announcement than the folks at Saturday Night Live.

... Wait, Wait. Joni Ernst Is the Establishment SOTU Speaker. Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Rep. Curt Clawson (R-Fla.) will deliver the Tea Party response to President Obama's State of the Union on Tuesday night. ...

... CW: Clawson is MY representative. His claim to fame? John Hudson of Foreign Policy: "In an intensely awkward congressional hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, freshman Rep. Curt Clawson misidentified two senior U.S. government officials as representatives of the Indian government.... The two officials, Nisha Biswal and Arun Kumar, are Americans who hold senior positions at the State Department and Commerce Department, respectively. Although both Biswal and Kumar were introduced as U.S. officials by the chairman of the Asia and Pacific subcommittee, Clawson repeatedly asked them questions about 'your country' and 'your government.'... During the hearing, he repeatedly touted his deep knowledge of the Indian subcontinent and his favorite Bollywood movies...." CW: I'll bet in his SOTU response, Clawson "misidentifies" Barack Obama as the Kenyan emperor.

     ... Less well-known: Last week, Clawson voted for Li'l Randy to be Speaker of the House.

Humberto Sanchez of Roll Call: "Republicans still don't have an exit strategy that will allow them to fund the Department of Homeland Security while canceling President Barack Obama's temporary administrative amnesty for millions of immigrants. The uncertainty over the future of the DHS funding measure -- which must be cleared by the end of next month or partially shut down the department -- sets up a tension with the message the GOP is seeking to send from their bicameral retreat that they intend to govern responsibly."

Two thoughtful columns on free speech, the first from Tim Egan & the second from Paul Waldman.

Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress: "For the first time in a decade, the number of people struggling to pay their medical bills has started to decline, according to a new survey released on Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund. The researchers attributed the historic drop to the number of people gaining insurance under the health care reform law.... In a press release, the researchers described the declines as 'remarkable.'"

Paul Krugman explains that the Swiss franc crisis "says is that you really, really shouldn't let yourself get too close to deflation -- you might fall in, and then it's extremely hard to get out. This is one reason that slashing government spending in a depressed economy is such a bad idea: It's not just the immediate cost in lost jobs, but the increased risk of getting caught in a deflationary trap." His warnings are a good example of why wags call economics "the dismal science."

Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "On Friday, the Supreme Court justices will be meeting to decide whether to hear a case -- or multiple cases -- challenging a ban on same-sex couples' marriages. This will be the second time the justices have considered whether to take any of the cases out of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and/or Tennessee. When they did so on Jan. 9, they took no action on those cases, instead re-listing them for discussion on Friday." ...

... Tresa Baldas of the Detroit Free Press: "A federal judge [Thursday] gave 300 same-sex married couples in Michigan a much-anticipated legal blessing, saying the state must recognize their marriages because they were legally performed and have a 'fundamental right' to be recognized.... [Judge Mark]Goldsmith's ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by eight same-sex couples who got married during a window of opportunity last March after a federal judge struck down Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. Roughly 300 couples got married that day. The next day, a federal appeals court put the judge's decision that legalized gay marriage on hold, and the state has since refused to recognize the marriages."

Fat Leonard Cops a Plea. Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "A Malaysian defense contractor pleaded guilty Thursday in a corruption scandal of epic proportions, admitting that he bribed 'scores' of U.S. Navy officials with $500,000 in cash, six figures' worth of sex from prostitutes, lavish hotel stays, spa treatments, Cuban cigars, Kobe beef, Spanish suckling pigs and an array of other luxury goods. Leonard Glenn Francis, a businessman who charmed a generation of Navy officers while resupplying their ships in Asia, admitted in federal court in San Diego to presiding over a decade-long corruption scheme involving his Singapore-based firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia.... Five current and former Navy officials have pleaded guilty so far, and prosecutors have made it clear they are targeting others. The Navy has also stripped security clearances from two admirals, including the chief of naval intelligence...."

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Freed from cumbersome requirements to obtain a Treasury Department license, individual Americans will be able to travel to Cuba provided they say the trip is intended to serve religious, educational or other approved purposes under the still-standing U.S. embargo. When they return, they can bring up to $400 in Cuban goods, including $100 worth of alcohol and tobacco. U.S. airlines will be allowed to fly scheduled routes to Cuba for the first time in decades." The new rules go into effect today.

God News, Friday Edition

Susan Svrluga & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Duke University canceled plans Thursday to begin a weekly Muslim call to prayer from the campus chapel this week, an initiative that had set off debate on social media. A school spokesman and a Duke Muslim leader said that a serious and credible security threat played a role in the decision.... Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, called on donors and alumni to withhold support from Duke until the policy was reversed. The hashtag #boycottduke spread quickly, and many of the reactions on Twitter referred to recent terrorist attacks, and interpreted it as an anti-Christian move."

Greg Botelho & Sunshine de Leon of CNN: "Weighing in on last week's terror in France and the debate over freedom of expression it stirred, Pope Francis said en route to the Philippines that killing 'in the name of God' is wrong, but it is also wrong to 'provoke' people by belittling their religion." ...

... CW: Tim Egan, cited above, calls the Pope's remarks "a step backwards," & I've seen headlines that suggest other commentators & reporters are interpreting Francis's remarks as endorsing a curb on freedom of speech. These interpreters are making the same mistake David Brooks did: they're confusing what is socially or morally acceptable with what is legally acceptable. The Westboro Church anti-gay rants are legally acceptable.

Carl Nolte of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Pope Francis says he will declare that Junipero Serra, one of the founders of modern California, is a Roman Catholic saint. Serra, who established nine of California's 21 Spanish missions, is both a revered and a controversial figure in the state's history."

Turns out a boy appropriately & coincidentally named Malarkey did not go to heaven & return, despite the claims in a best-selling book, which he supposedly co-authored, that he'd made the round trip.

Presidential Race

Dan Balz & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Republican leaders on Friday plan to unveil new rules for presidential debates, marking the most aggressive effort yet by a national party committee to limit the number of forums and to shape the environment for the nominating season. Reacting to what many in the party concluded was a chaotic and ultimately costly series of debates in the 2012 campaign, a task force of the Republican National Committee has spent months seeking to devise a set of rules that will bring more order to the process." CW: That would be a shame.

Adios, Mofo. Katie Glueck of the Politico: "The Rick Perry era drew to a close in Texas on Thursday as the longest-serving governor in Lone Star State history bade farewell, delivering an address that was as much about his future as it was a reflection on the past. Perry, a likely Republican 2016 contender who was first sworn in as governor in 2000, sounded themes that he is expected to expand on in a future presidential bid. He touted Texas, under his leadership, as an engine of job growth, a model for the rest of the country and a beacon of optimism. Perry, who was initially a favorite of conservative Republicans in his ill-fated 2012 presidential bid, also signaled that he is no hardliner." ...

... One last time:

Dr. Ben Is Off His Meds Again. Alexandra Jaffe of CNN: "Physician Ben Carson on Thursday held up ISIS, a terrorist group that's beheaded multiple Americans, as an example for the United States during comments before the Republican National Committee. 'We've got ISIS. They've got the wrong philosophy, but they're willing to die for what they believe, while we are busily giving away every belief and every value for the sake of political correctness,' he said during his speech at the RNC's winter meeting. 'We have to change that.'" ...

... Here's more of Carson's speech, via Dan Balz & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post:

It's so important that we be the kind of people who are bold in our expressions. Don't be chicken livers.... We don't need to tinker around the edges. We need to turn the ship around. It is about to go over Niagara Falls and we've got people leaning over the edge saying there's a barnacle. We've got to turn the ship around. If we don’t do it, the barnacles won't matter. That means being bold. That means being dramatic.

... CW: According to Balz & Rucker, Carson implied ISIS was like the American Revolutionary army. When does a political candidate cross the line between laughable & dangerous? Jaffe writes that "It's that very penchant -- for frank and often controversial comments -- that has made him so popular with the GOP base...." If you follow the "logic" of his speech, he is urging Americans to take up arms against the government, behead a few people maybe.

Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina says she's 'very seriously considering running' for president in 2016, a move that could make her the highest-profile female in the Republican field. 'I think we need different experience, different perspective and a different voice,' she said in an interview on Fox Business Network's 'Cavuto.'" ... CW Note to Sunday morning bookers: It would be wrong to include this person in your panels when she's a potential political candidate -- or ever again.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Marilyn B. Tavenner, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who helped preside over the rollout of sweeping changes in the nation's health care system, said Friday that she was resigning.... Ms. Tavenner, who was at the center of the disastrous debut of the federal insurance marketplace in October 2013, had given no public indications that she would be stepping down."

Washington Post: John Kerry is making his 19th visit to Paris since he became Secretary of State; this time he came to mourn.

New York Times: "With a renovated death chamber, new training and a higher dose of drugs, Oklahoma on Thursday carried out its first execution since April, when the slipshod, prolonged killing of Clayton D. Lockett led the state to suspend lethal injections and change its procedures. 'Charles Frederick Warner was pronounced dead at 7:28 p.m.,' said Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Corrections Department."

Guardian: "Police have arrested a dozen people suspected of helping the Islamist militant gunmen carry out last week's Paris killings, the city prosecutor's office said as the US secretary of state, John Kerry, arrived in France for talks. The arrests came after Belgian police killed two men who opened fired on them during one of about a dozen raids on Thursday against an Islamist group, while German police said they had arrested two people following a raid on 11 properties linked to radical Salafists." ...

     ... New York Times UPDATE: Make that two dozen plus.

... New York Times: "As Europe braces against potential terrorist attacks after violence in France and Belgium, the German police on Friday arrested two Turkish men suspected of having links to an organization supporting the militant Islamic State and other radical groups fighting in Syria."

The Commentariat -- Jan. 15, 2015

Internal links removed.

Circumstances force me to remind commenters that this is a site about politics & at least loosely-related topics. Kindly keep your comments somewhere in that realm. Thanks. -- Constant Weader

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama will announce Thursday that he is directing federal agencies to give their employees up to six weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child, a benefit he wants to extend to all American workers. He will also call on Congress to pass a bill that would allow workers across the United States to earn up to seven paid sick days a year and would create a $2 billion incentive fund to help states pay for family leave programs, officials said late Wednesday."

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The United States transferred five more detainees -- all of them Yemenis -- from the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Wednesday, the Defense Department announced. Their release intensified the dispute between the Obama administration and several Republican senators over President Obama's recent flurry of transfers as he seeks to empty the American-run prison. The latest transfers came one day after several Republican senators, including John McCain of Arizona, proposed legislation that would place a moratorium on the release of most of the prisoners held at Guantánamo. The move was widely interpreted as an attempt to halt the recent surge in releases."

AP: "The Obama administration says new rules to significantly loosen the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and open up the communist island to greater American travel will go into effect Friday. They are the next step in President Barack Obama's plan to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. They come three days after U.S. officials confirmed the release of 53 political prisoners Cuba had promised to free. Only Congress can end the five-decade U.S. trade embargo of Cuba." ...

... The New York Times story, by Peter Baker, is here.

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday voted to undo major provisions of President Obama's immigration policy, approving legislation that would revoke legal protections for millions of undocumented immigrants. The vote drew outrage from Democrats and led more than two dozen Republicans, many worried about the perception that their party is hostile to immigrants, to break away.The most contentious measures in the bill will most likely die in the Senate.... The White House has said President Obama will not sign any bill that blocks his executive actions on immigration.... In the House, 26 Republicans voted against an amendment that would effectively end Mr. Obama's 2012 order that allowed immigrants who entered the country illegally as children ... to stay. The amendment passed by the thinnest of majorities, 218 to 209, with no Democratic Party votes. The overarching funding bill for Homeland Security passed 236 to 191, with 10 Republican defections." ...

... ** Cruel & Usual Punishment. Dara Lind of Vox: The amendments to the bill the House approved today..., would return to a world where unauthorized immigrants lived in constant fear of deportation -- but they don't do much to ratchet up deportation itself." ...

... Francis Wilkinson of Bloomberg View: "Today House Republicans voted for what might be called 'comprehensive anti-immigration reform.'... Democrats and their immigration allies are eager to emphasize what, in an e-mail to me, immigration analyst Marshall Fitz of the liberal Campaign for American Progress called the 'whites-only' electoral path that House Republicans have endorsed with today's amendments. (The Tea Party has met the 21^st century and decided to pass.)" ...

... "Whites-Only" Party, Ctd. Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "House Republicans have concluded that it's not 'necessary' to restore the portion of the Voting Rights Act that was struck down by the Supreme Court, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said Wednesday." ...

If you look at what Mr. Scalise said, in the context of no voting rights bill and no immigration bill, you start to see an attitude. That really is bothersome. -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

... White Supremacists' Party. Steve Benen: "it's important to realize that voting rights weren't a partisan issue up until very recently. Remember, when Congress last considered the VRA -- the law was reauthorized in 2006 -- support for the law was nearly unanimous. In the Senate, it was literally unanimous. President George W. Bush held a nice signing ceremony to celebrate it. In the House, a young congressman by the name of Bob Goodlatte even voted for it." Benen notes that the Urban League challenged Steve Scalise -- the House whip -- to push VRA legislation. Not gonna happen.

David Jackson of USA Today: "Governments should help expand access to high-speed broadband Internet, President Obama said Wednesday, calling it more of a necessity than a luxury in today's wired world. 'This is about helping local businesses grow and prosper,' Obama said during a visit to Cedar Falls, Iowa. Obama said he will ask the Federal Communications Commission to 'push back' on laws in 19 states that prevent local governments from creating municipal Internet services":

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (RTP-Tenn.) reacts to President Obama's speech on expanding broadband Internet service.... Alex Byers & Brooks Boliek of Politico: "Obama's speech Wednesday -- backing efforts to spur city-run broadband networks as an alternative to private-sector providers like Comcast and Verizon -- incensed Republicans who see it as just another attempt to over-regulate the industry with a Washington power-grab."

** Upward Redistribution. E. J. Dionne: "the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has issued a report showing that, at the state and local level..., the poorest fifth of Americans will pay, on average, 10.9 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes and the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent. But the top 1 percent will pay states and localities only 5.4 percent of their incomes in taxes.... In well-to-do countries...., the good old USA soars to first in inequality.... The five states with the most regressive systems are Washington, Florida, Texas, South Dakota and Illinois." Read & send to your right-wing brothers.

** David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "On Thursday, an all-star commission of economists and policy experts from several countries is publishing a detailed analysis of the great wage slowdown. It is a defining challenge of our time, the report argues, before offering a meaty list of possible solutions.... The report is meant to shape the political debate -- both in this year's British general election and the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States.... it's hard not to see the report partly as the first draft of an agenda for a presumptive campaign by Mrs. Clinton. The commission was created by the Center for American Progress, a Washington research group founded by Clinton allies.... Politics aside, it is a deeply serious document -- one of the best overviews of income stagnation and inequality that I've read. Its central message is that the great wage slowdown is not inevitable."

Dana Milbank takes on the top dogs at the Chamber of Commerce, in person & on the page. A classic smackdown.

Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "The Secret Service has decided to remove four of its most senior officials while a fifth has decided to retire, the biggest management shake-up at the troubled agency since its director resigned in October after a string of security lapses, according to people familiar with internal discussions. The departures would gut much of the Secret Service's upper management, which has been criticized by lawmakers and administration officials in recent months for fostering a culture of distrust between agency leaders and its rank-and-file, and for making poor decisions that helped erode quality."

Elaine Ganley & Jamey Keaten of the AP: "Parisians lined up Wednesday to empty the newsstands of the first issue of Charlie Hebdo, a week after Islamic extremists attacked the satirical newspaper's office, and French justice officials began cracking down by arresting dozens of people who glorified terrorism or made racist or anti-Semitic remarks." ...

... Glenn Greenwald: "Forty-eight hours after hosting a massive march under the banner of free expression, France opened a criminal investigation of a controversial French comedian for a Facebook post he wrote about the Charlie Hebdo attack, and then this morning, arrested him for that post on charges of 'defending terrorism.' The comedian, Dieudonné..., previously sought elective office in France on what he called an 'anti-Zionist' platform.... Since that glorious 'free speech' march, France has reportedly opened 54 criminal cases for 'condoning terrorism' ... [which] underscores the utter scam that was this week's celebration of free speech in the west.... That's because last week's celebration of the Hebdo cartoonists ... was at least as much about approval for their anti-Muslim messages as it was about the free speech rights...."

The Bickersons. Scott Wong of the Hill: "One of [Jason Chaffetz's (R-Utah)] first acts since taking over the [House] Oversight [Committee chairmanship]: Removing portraits of [Darrell] Issa [R-Calif.] and other past chairmen from the walls of the Oversight hearing room, committee sources told The Hill.... Issa allies see the move as a slap in the face to the last chairman.... Issa's likeness, they note, had only been hanging in Rayburn 2154 for two months.... Chaffetz has been taking shots at Issa in the press since he was selected chairman by Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) Steering Committee....." ...

     ... Back Detail. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post (December 9, 2014): "Before the Americans are 'stupid' [Jonathan] Gruber hearing really got under way Tuesday morning, ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) mentioned that Issa's official portrait had been hung up in the committee room. 'Thank you for saying I was hung,' Issa said, without missing a beat. He then laughed.... Well, after today, Issa will become just another member."

Peter Hermann & Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: "A timeline of the emergency response to Monday's Metro tragedy that left one woman dead and scores of passengers injured corroborates riders' accounts that they waited at least 35 minutes trapped in a dark, smoky tunnel before firefighters began to rescue them."

Climate Science 2, Deniers 1. Ryan Quinn of the Charlotte (West Virginia) Gazette: "After widespread criticism from teachers, professors and others, the West Virginia Board of Education voted Wednesday to withdraw a set of science education standards containing controversial modifications to the teaching of climate change. The new version, which will be open for a 30-day public comment period, doesn't contain the alterations to the three standards on climate change the board earlier approved."

Michael Schwirtz & Michael Winerip of the New York Times: "In a review of 153 applications of people the [New York City] Correction Department recently hired, city investigators found that more than one-third had problems that either should have disqualified them or needed further scrutiny. Ten had been arrested more than once, and 12 had previously been rejected by the New York Police Department, six of them for 'psychological reasons', among other issues. Additionally, 79 had relatives or friends who were current or former inmates.... The investigation found hiring practices to be in disarray: There was no screening for gang affiliation; most of the application process was not computerized; and employment screeners did not monitor phone calls between inmates and applicants.... The findings underscore the profound dysfunction at Rikers Island and help explain how a culture of violence and corruption has come to flourish in the city jails.'" ...

... CW: Almost half of the applicants had "relatives or friends who were current or former inmates"??? Don't know what their recruitment program looks like, but "Obtain recommendations from inmates" must be a substantial part of it.

God News, Thursday Edition. De Blasio, rabbis near accord on penis-sucking; should help control potentially-fatal herpes in neonates. Thanks so very much, James S., for the link. CW: Why doesn't the city require that the blood-suckers be regularly tested for herpes? Wouldn't that greatly reduce the risk of the babies' contracting herpes, while still allowing adherents their Constitutional right to submit their innocent babes to this cringe-inducing practice?

On this day in history, the Constant Weader linked two unrelated penis stories. Pretty good evidence it isn't just some of the commenters who have veered off-topic lately.

Presidential Race

Jonathan Bernstein: Hillary Clinton may have just locked up the Democratic nomination.

Katie Glueck of Politico: "A Republican backlash against Mitt Romney that had been simmering for days boiled over on Wednesday as conservatives across the GOP spectrum panned the prospect of another presidential bid by the former Massachusetts governor and two-time loser on the national stage. Leading the anti-Romney charge was the voice of the GOP establishment wing, the Wall Street Journal editorial page. 'The question the former Massachusetts Governor will have to answer,' the newspaper wrote, 'is why he would be a better candidate than he was in 2012.... The answer is not obvious.'" ...

     ... CW: Because Bush III will be ever so much better.

Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics: "Rand Paul is not a fan of the United Nations, and on a campaign-style swing through New Hampshire on Wednesday, the likely Republican presidential hopeful said that he would support dissolving the international governing body entirely. Speaking to a room full of gun rights advocates at the Londonderry Fish & Game Club, Paul said that while the concept of having a multinational body to 'discuss diplomacy' isn't necessarily a bad one, he objects to the current structure, in which the United States has to foot "a huge chunk" of the U.N.'s bill." ...

... Paul Waldman: "I think we're going to see a lot of this kind of thing -- a candidate not considered one of the extremists in the race looking for issues, even barely relevant ones, that can be used to signal the GOP base that he can be as nutty as anybody."

Gail Collins on the presidential aspirations of Chris Christie, Scott Walker & Mike Pence (who?).

The Short-Lived Career of President Dr. Ben Carson

** CW: This news occurred when I was travelling last week, & I'm disconsolate that I missed it. Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of BuzzFeed: "Several sections of potential Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson's 2012 book America the Beautiful [subtitle: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great] were plagiarized from various sources, BuzzFeed News has found.... In one instance, Carson cites wholesale from an old website that has been online since at least 2002, Socialismsucks.net.... Carson recently said a decision on a 2016 presidential run is coming before May, and has previously said 'the chances are reasonably good' that he will run for president." Here's an especially delicious detail: right there in America the Beautiful, he cites an incident in which his college professor caught him extensively plagiarizing a paper:

Even though I did not know the implications of plagiarism, I certainly should have known inherently that what I was doing was wrong. I had done it before without consequences and probably would have continued doing it if I had not been caught. Fortunately for me, the professor was very compassionate, realized that I was naïve, and gave me a chance to rewrite the paper. This raises another question: Is ignorance an acceptable excuse for unethical behavior?

CW: You cannot match the chutzpah of writing in a book you plagiarized that you had learned the hard way that plagiarism was "unethical" and "wrong." ...

... Well, you could try. It appears Carson attempted to shift blame for the plagiarism to his wife Candy Carson -- credited as the co-author -- and to his editors. Eliana Johnson of the National Review: "Candy Carson, the source says, 'relied heavily on the editor' to ensure all of the sources were attributed correctly." Being a winger means it's always somebody else's fault.

... Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly: "I think Dr. Carson needs to set aside his quest for the things that made this country great and focus on the things that made him a great surgeon. For some, plagiarism is the result of carelessness, but with people like Carson it is the act of a simple scoundrel."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Belgium stepped up its efforts against suspected terrorists on Thursday with police raids, arrests and a heightened alert level across the country. Two suspects were killed in a gun battle near the German border, and the authorities said that a man suspected of links to last week's deadly terror attacks in Paris had been arrested in southern Belgium.The gun battle happened in Verviers, a town about 75 miles east of Brussels."

New York Times: "With a renovated death chamber, new training and a higher dose of drugs, corrections officials in Oklahoma were ready Thursday to carry out the first execution there since April, when the slipshod, prolonged killing of Clayton D. Lockett forced the state to suspend lethal injections and make changes to its procedure."