The Commentariat -- Feb. 15, 2014

In his Weekly Address, President Obama urges Congress to raise the minimum wage:

Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "In a defeat for organized labor in the South, employees at the Volkswagen plant here voted 712 to 626 against joining the United Automobile Workers, even though the company did not oppose the unionization drive." ...

... Working at McDonalds. Terran Lyons, as told to Kj Dell'Antonia: "I work the night shift. It’s a good job, except they pay us so little. It would be easier except right now, it takes me about two hours on buses to drop my kids off and get to work." Lyons, a crew trainer, earns $9.85/hour. CW: The Times quite often runs short pieces on the stories of minimum- & near-minimum-wage workers. I've got news for billionaire assholes Sam Zell and Tom Perkins: Terran Lyons, & millions of other Americans, work at least as hard as do you sick old farts, their lives are much more challenging than yours, they are not persecuting you, & they have as much right to participate in the so-called democratic process as you do.

Danielle Douglas of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration on Friday gave the banking industry the green light to finance and do business with legal marijuana sellers, a move that could further legitimize the burgeoning industry. For the first time, legal distributors will be able to secure loans and set up checking and savings accounts with major banks that have largely steered clear of those businesses. The decision eliminates a key hurdle facing marijuana sellers, who can now legally conduct business in 20 states and the District."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A sweeping decision on Thursday night struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage and continued a remarkable winning streak for gay rights advocates, putting new pressure on the Supreme Court to decide the momentous question it ducked last summer: whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage." ...

... Robert Barnes & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post profile U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, who declared unconstitutional Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), co-author of the ban, called for her impeachment. Ted Olsen, one of the two principal advocates who successfully challenged California's anti-gay marriage Prop 8, called Allen's decision "a beautiful opinion" & said everyone should read Allen's decision. So here it is. (Barnes & Fahrenthold call the ruling "forceful and sometimes grandiose.") ...

... David Cohen & Dahlia Lithwick in Slate: "Insofar as there was confusion about what Windsor[, last year's Supreme Court decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act,] meant at the time it was decided, the lower courts across the country have now effectively settled it. A survey of publicly available opinions shows that in the eight months since Windsor, 18 court decisions have addressed an issue of equality based on sexual orientation. And in those 18 cases, equality has won every single time. In other words, not a single court has agreed with Chief Justice Roberts that Windsor is merely about state versus federal power. Instead, each has used Windsor exactly as Justice Scalia warned' -- as a powerful precedent for equality." ...

... Paul Waldman of the American Prospect: "Same-sex marriage opponents refer to themselves as advocates of 'traditional marriage,' but they backed themselves into a corner by assuming we'd all agree that because something is 'traditional,' it has an inherently superior moral value." ...

... Ron Brownstein of the National Journal: "To understand the rolling demographic and cultural trends threatening the GOP in presidential elections, a good place to start might be with the polychromatic ads Chevrolet is running during the Olympics. First, consider the source. Chevrolet is not a company that equates buying its product with saving the planet.... In the past, its ads have linked the company, without apparent irony, to 'baseball, hot dogs, [and] apple pie.' But Chevy's latest ads, under the title 'The New Us,' celebrate the transformation of the American family into a kaleidoscopic array of new forms. In cascading images, one ad warmly portrays couples of every race and ethnicity, interracial couples, gay male couples, gay female couples -- all raising what appear to be happy, well-adjusted children. Not only does Heather have two mommies; in the world Chevrolet evokes, she's perfectly fine with it.... The 'new us' bears more than a passing resemblance to the new coalition that has allowed Democrats to win the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections." ...

     ... CW: Brownstein is right. And the Chevy ad is an amazing, surprising & delightful bit of evidence that "traditional marriage" comes in many forms. So hooray for the new us. When even Chevy & Madison Avenue gets it, we are kinda there.

Christi Parsons & Diana Markum of the Los Angeles Times: In Fresno, California, "President Obama on Friday warned against thinking of water as a 'zero-sum game' and urged regional players to push beyond politics in solving supply problems. On a dusty afternoon spent with politicians and farmers, Obama argued against pitting agricultural interests against urban ones, or north against south. 'We're going to have to figure out how to play a different game,' Obama told participants in a round table Friday afternoon. 'We can't afford years of litigation and no real action.' Still, he said, he had no intent of wading into water politics, joking that he wanted to 'get out alive.' While in town, Obama promised more than $200 million in aid to those affected by the drought."

President Obama spoke at the House Democratic Issues Conference yesterday:

GOP's Dr. Frankensteins Can't Control Their Monsters. Kathleen Hunter of Bloomberg News: Republican leaders have no effective way of punishing Ted Cruz for his wrecking-ball tactics.

... Carol Gentry of WUSF finds some Tampa Bay-area Republicans who love the ACA. Here's one:

Peggy Arvanitas of Seminole has been a Republican for decades. In fact, she helps get GOP voters out to the polls. And yet, on her car there's a bumper sticker that says 'I Heart Obamacare.' Here's why: She lost her coverage last year when the company she worked for went under; she had to take a part-time job with no benefits. Then the health law kicked in. Since Jan. 1, she's had a Humana plan she likes. Because her income is low, she pays just $10 a month. When Arvanitas finishes her business degree and passes the CPA exam, she says, her income will go up, and the premium will, too. She sees that as sensible and fair. 'It isn't a Democrat or Republican issue,' she said. 'It's a health care issue.'

     ... CW: Arvanitas' coda is unfortunate. On the one hand, she realizes Republicans are wrong; on the other hand, she ignores it. So she's saying, "Thanks, Democrats, for improving my life despite unrelenting Republican obstructionism; now I'm going out to work to elect Republicans." Stooo-pid.

** Tim Egan: "The sickness that infects news and politics, and its commensurate cynicism, can be directly traced to the creation of Fox News -- 'a political operation that employs journalists,' in the words of Gabriel Sherman, author of the new book on Roger Ailes, 'The Loudest Voice in the Room.' There is no bigger media story in the last 50 years than the creation of a news network run by political hacks, says Sherman. I'm inclined to agree. But just as important, civility itself took a dive with the rise of Fox, and has never recovered." Egan goes on to give Bill O'Reilly his just desserts. CW: Sorry, missed this one when the Times published it two days ago.

New Yorker: "On this week's Political Scene Podcast, Hendrick Hertzberg and Ryan Lizza join Dorothy Wickenden to discuss Hillary Clinton's political career":

Beyond the Beltway

A Miracle in Kansas. Kevin Murphy & Carey Gillham of Reuters: "Opposition grew on Friday in Kansas to a bill that would allow businesses and other groups to refuse certain services and benefits to same-sex couples on the basis of 'sincerely held religious beliefs.' The Kansas Senate will likely reject the bill, which the Kansas House approved on Wednesday, the Senate's president said. Meanwhile, a newly formed statewide business coalition said it would oppose the measure. Senator Susan Wagle, a Republican, said the majority of her caucus does not support the bill on the grounds that it may encourage bias.... The measure passed the House 72-49. Republicans outnumber Democrats 32-8 in the Senate and 92-33 in the House." CW: Also, thanks to Kansas businesses, many of which probably did not want to be targeted by bigots for serving gay people.

Chuck Bartels of the AP: "A group of death row inmates won a court judgment Friday that temporarily blocks executions in Arkansas and says the state Legislature gave too much authority to the Correction Department when it designated the agency director as the person who picks the drug for lethal injections. A law passed last year specified that the state kill inmates by using a barbiturate but did not specify which one."

Peter Hamby of CNN: "On the heels of a major winter storm that blanketed his state with snow, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spent Friday at a resort in Puerto Rico with his family." ...

... So then there's this Bergen Record story of all these roofs collapsing across several North Jersey communities. AND forecasts are calling for more snow today.

News Ledes

AP: "Another round of snow made its way into the Northeast on Saturday as the region continues to dig out from the previous storm. New England is expected to be hit hardest by the latest blast of winter weather. The National Weather Service says 10 to 14 inches of snow is expected in eastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island. Connecticut could see 8 to 10 inches along its Rhode Island border."

New York Times: "After four days of deliberation, the jury in the trial of Michael Dunn, a Florida man who shot a teenager to death in a parking lot during a dispute over loud music, said it could not agree on whether Mr. Dunn had acted in self-defense or was guilty of murder. The jurors did find Mr. Dunn guilty of three counts of second-degree attempted murder for getting out of his car and firing 10 times at the Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle in which Jordan Davis, 17, was killed. Three other teenagers, the subjects of the attempted murder charges, were in the car but were not struck. Mr. Dunn continued to fire at the car even as it pulled away. On the attempted murder convictions, he could be sentenced to 20 to 60 years in prison."

New York Times: The United Nations mediator for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, wrapped up the second round of peace talks [in Geneva] on Saturday without breaking a longstanding deadlock or setting a date for a third round, and urged the parties to think seriously about their commitment to the negotiations. Mr. Brahimi said the talks had broken down primarily because the Syrian government balked at his suggestion that the negotiators discuss both sides' top demands in the first two days of negotiations, rather than spending days on the government's priorities."

The Hill: "The government of Cuba announced late Friday that it will no longer process visas for U.S. travel to Cuba. Cuba said travel will end until a new U.S. bank can be found to process visa fees that are collected and routed to Cuba.Cuba's decision means only humanitarian travel will be permitted to the island nation from the United States, and that the 'people-to-people' visas and other educational travel will be shut off.... The decision is a blow to the goals of the Obama administration, which sought to expand travel opportunities to the island. It will also have an immediate impact on Cuba's access to hard currency, on which many of its citizens rely."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 14, 2014

Internal links removed.

Politico has a Valentine's Day gift for you: a look into the romance of Dick & Pat Nixon, excerpted from a book by Will Swift.

Ashley Parker & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: " Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, offered a long-shot option on Thursday to revive the moribund effort to overhaul the nation's immigration laws that would require the support of more than a dozen House Republicans -- and, if nothing else, pressure others to act on an election-year issue that Tea Party-aligned members strongly oppose. The legislative maneuver, known as a discharge petition, would allow supporters of overhauling the nation's immigration laws to circumvent the Republican majority in the House by bringing the measure directly to the House floor, bypassing the regular committee process. It is a rarely successful tactic, though it was used in 2002 to eventually win passage of a major campaign finance law." ...

... Speaking of Discharge Petitions.... Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "Democrats will seek to force a House vote on raising the federal minimum wage, party leaders said Thursday, but even getting the proposal to a vote will be an uphill fight. As the minority party in the House, Democrats cannot set the agenda for when bills are brought to the floor. So they will use a procedural tool known as a discharge petition to bring up their proposal to raise the minimum hourly pay to $10.10. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), who announced the move at a three-day policy retreat for House Democrats, said the party decided to push the issue after President Obama signed an executive order this week setting a new minimum wage for workers employed by federal contractors." ...

... ** "A Valentine for Restaurant Workers." Mark Bittman of the New York Times: "... among generally mistreated minimum wage workers there's a subgroup of those whose wage experience is even more miserable and unfair. The group is tipped workers, the majority of whom are restaurant servers. There is a minimum wage for tipped workers, called by those who know the 'tipped minimum wage': ... $2.13.... The National Restaurant Association -- the other N.R.A., the Herman Cain gang..., has fought to preserve the $2.13 tipped minimum wage.... As a result, the tipped minimum wage has remained at the same level for more than 20 years." ...

... ** Paul Krugman: "Now that the Congressional Budget Office has explicitly denied saying that Obamacare destroys jobs, some (though by no means all) Republicans have stopped lying about that issue and turned to a different argument. O.K., they concede, any reduction in working hours because of health reform will be a voluntary choice by the workers themselves -- but it's still a bad thing because, as Representative Paul Ryan puts it, they'll lose 'the dignity of work.' ... If you really care about the dignity and freedom of American workers, you should favor more, not fewer, entitlements, a stronger, not weaker, social safety net. And you should, in particular, support and celebrate health reform. Never mind all those claims that Obamacare is slavery; the reality is that the Affordable Care Act will empower millions of Americans, giving them exactly the kind of dignity and freedom politicians only pretend to love."

Ed Kilgore: The Wall Street Journal editors ... aren't mad at [Sen. Ted] Cruz for opposing a debt limit increase. They're mad at him for forcing a vote which revealed the double-dealing GOP effort to ensure the debt limit increased passed without Republican votes. 'Democrats had enough votes to pass the increase with a simple majority, which means they would have owned the debt increase.'" ...

... They Were For It Before They Were Against It (a Few Minutes Later). Kilgore again: "As you will be shocked to learn, all twelve Senate Republicans who supported cloture on the debt limit bill yesterday voted against the actual bill. That was appropriate given the happy celebration of Republican hypocrisy we've been witnessing in most of the MSM this week.... Anyone pleased that we have dodged the debt limit bullet and perhaps ended debt default threats for good should praise the Democrats from the White House on down who forced Republicans into a Hypocrite's Corner instead of praising the hypocrites themselves."

Lydia Depillis of the Washington Post: "Employees at the Volkswagen auto plant [in Chattanooga, Tennessee] will vote Friday on whether to join the United Auto Workers union, marking the end of a fevered battle between national conservative groups and labor leaders over the future of the right-to-work South. If a majority of Volkswagen's 1,570 hourly workers vote yes, it would mark the first time in nearly three decades of trying that the UAW has successfully organized a plant for a foreign brand in the U.S. This time, the union has a powerful ally: Volkswagen itself, which is hoping the union will collaborate in a German-style "works council" and help manage plant operations." ...

     ... CW: I guess that makes Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) a Big Fat Liar. Besides being a dick on general principles -- like protecting workers.

Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable comes at a moment of seismic change in the television industry, with consumers increasingly cutting their cable cords and instead streaming their favorite shows via the Internet through services like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Hulu. This shifting landscape may aid Comcast as it seeks to persuade government officials -- and deploy its prodigious army of lobbyists -- to win [regulatory] approval for its $45 billion takeover.... Still, the combination of the two companies, creating a cable and broadband behemoth serving 30 million customers across 42 states, is expected to come under intense scrutiny from the Obama administration, which has toughened its enforcement of federal antitrust laws." ...

... That's Not What John Cassidy Sez: "Comcast Corporation is ... the largest media company in the world." With its planned purchase of Time Warner Cable, it will get even bigger. People living in the U.S. "pay far more for broadband Internet access, cable television, and home phone lines than people in many other advanced countries, even though the services we get aren't any better. All too often, they are worse.... This sorry situation ... is the predictable outcome of Congress bowing to the monopolists, or quasi-monopolists, and allowing them to squelch potential competitors.... What we need is a new competition policy that puts the interests of consumers first, seeks to replicate what other countries have done, and treats with extreme skepticism the arguments of monopoly incumbents such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable.... Under President Obama, the anti-trust division of the Justice Department has nodded through a number of dubious mergers.... The new head of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, is a former lobbyist for two sets of vested interests: the cell-phone operators and, you guessed it, the cable companies." ...

New York Times Editors: "This deal ... would give Comcast greater power over media companies like CBS and Disney and Internet services like Netflix and Amazon. And that would ultimately give it more control over American consumers."

Haya el Nasser of Al Jazeera: President "Obama is visiting the agricultural heart of [California] and the nation, where farmers are making the tough decision to forgo cultivating seasonal crops and use the little water they have to save permanent crops. Fewer crops will mean fewer workers. It's a dire situation, one the White House will address with an expected $100 million in disaster assistance for California livestock producers, with relief going to other states facing similar problems. An additional $1 billion will help those who lost cattle during the 2012 drought that browned several states and the snow that hit the Dakotas in the fall of 2013. The Department of Agriculture will accelerate the application process for disaster aid."

Jennifer Medina & Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: Enrollment of Latinos in insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act is lagging for a number of reasons.

(1)The Can Kicks Back the Bucket. Byron Tau of Politico: "A year and a half after launching with much fanfare, a group affiliated with fiscal watchdogs Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson is nearly broke. The Can Kicks Back -- which targets millennials and was conceived as a partner and affiliate of the group Fix the Debt -- is running low on cash, according to emails and documents reviewed by Politico." ...

... Alex Pareene of Salon: "One fundraising problem The Can Kicks Back has faced is the entirely accurate perception that it is not actually a grass-roots organization of young people deeply concerned with reckless entitlement spending and unsustainable long-term debt, but rather yet another front group -- and in this case a particularly ineffective one -- for the small network of billionaires who have spent decades advocating tax cuts and the rolling back of Social Security and Medicare benefits, in the name of fiscal responsibility." ...

(2) Jordyn Phelps of ABC News: "A new political attack ad from the Koch brothers-funded group Americans for Prosperity calls on Louisianans to tell Sen. Mary Landrieu that Obamacare is hurting their families. The ad shows a number of people, who appear to be Louisianans, opening their mail to find a letter stating that their health care policy has been cancelled because of the Affordable Care Act.... But the people in the emotion-evoking ad are not Louisianans at all; they are paid actors." ...

(3) Jim Romenesko: "The conservative Media Research Center often urges liberal news outlets to TELL THE TRUTH, but the Reston, VA-based press watchdog isn't telling the truth about its own leader: Brent Bozell doesn't write the syndicated column that appears under his byline. It is longtime MRC media analysis director Tim Graham who writes 'almost everything published under [Bozell's] name,' a former MRC employee tells me in an email. 'That includes his weekly column. Same goes for his books, which at least carry Graham's name in a secondary billing, but also aren't written by Bozell (but Bozell keeps 80-90% of the advance and all profits!)' Two other people with ties to MRC confirmed that Graham is Bozell's ghostwriter -- and that Graham is not happy with the assignment." ...

... Paul Krugman: "What these stories have in common is that they show how much of what passes for genuine expression of public concern is really just a bought and paid-for (or, in the case of The Can, not sufficiently paid-for) front for plutocratic priorities."

Obama 2.0. Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "A century-old debate over whether presidents should reward political donors and allies by making them ambassadors has flared again following a string of embarrassing gaffes by President Obama's picks.... The stumbles have highlighted the perils of rewarding well-heeled donors and well-connected politicos with plum overseas assignments, and have provided political fodder for Republicans eager to attack the White House. The cases also underscore how a president who once infuriated donors by denying them perks has now come into line with his predecessors, doling out prominent diplomatic jobs by the dozens to supporters."

The Person I'd Most Like to Deck Today: Bobby Jindal, who made a major speech Thursday night at the Reagan Library arguing that that "liberal elites," including of course President Obama, are waging a "silent war" on religious freedom that would "transform the country from a land sustained by faith into a land where faith is silenced, privatized and circumscribed." Yeah, Bobby, you obnoxious, self-righteous, ignorant shmuck, this liberal elite person would definitely like to see religion "privatized." Pick up a copy of the Constitution you've sworn to uphold, where you'll find that the establishment clause of the First Amendment makes "privatization" of religion compulsory. Oh, and your concern that "liberals will use the mantra of anti-discrimination to force people to violate their religious beliefs"? Check out the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment whilst you've got the Constitution handy. ...

... First Runner-Up: Ted Cruz. Apparently every obnoxious/stupid/harmful thing Cruz or his compatriots say or do gets a pass. Stewart Powell of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Cruz dismissed reporters' questioning his role in sidetracking the House proposal on immigration reform. 'I understand that a lot of folks in the press want to focus on the Washington politics of it all,' Cruz said. 'I think most Americans could not care less about a bunch of politicians in Washington.'" ...

... Update. Extra Points for Cruz. Luke Johnson of the Huffington Post: "Amid a wave of court decisions striking down anti-gay marriage laws in states, the Texas Republican introduced a bill to the Senate Wednesday to amend U.S. law 'with regard to the definition of "marriage" and "spouse" for Federal purposes and to ensure respect for State regulation of marriage." Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is the bill's only co-sponsor so far."

... Still, the Biggest Asshole of the Week Award should go to zillionaire Tom Perkins. One Person, One Vote? Hell, No. Charles Riley of CNN: "Tom Perkins suggested Thursday that only taxpayers should have the right to vote -- and that wealthy Americans who pay more in taxes should get more votes. The venture capitalist offered the unorthodox proposal when asked to name one idea that would 'change the world' at a speaking engagement in San Francisco.... Perkins offered no immediate indication that he was joking. Asked offstage if the proposal was serious, Perkins said: "I intended to be outrageous, and it was.'"

Margaret Hartmann of New York has a point: Looks as if the only people being "held accountable" for the Snowden clusterfuck -- besides Snowden himself -- are two contractors & a member of the military attached to the NSA. CW: No actual NSA employees. And none of the geniuses who installed a system of protocols which practically invited someone like Snowden to compromise NSA data. The "S" in NSA guarantees top-tier job security, too. Great! ...

... RT: "Former Texas congressman Ron Paul has announced a petition aiming to secure clemency for Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency whistleblower who revealed extensive US surveillance programs and ignited a national debate on Americans' privacy."

Beyond the Beltway

** "It's Not Just the Bridge." Alec MacGillis of the New Republic: "The problem with Christie isn't merely that he is a bully. It's that his political career is built on a rotten foundation. Christie owes his rise to some of the most toxic forces in his state -- powerful bosses who ensure that his vow to clean up New Jersey will never come to pass. He has allowed them to escape scrutiny, rewarded them for their support, and punished their enemies. All along, even as it looked like Christie was attacking the machine, he was really just mastering it." CW: A fascinating read.

Anne Blythe of the Raleigh News & Observer: "The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the state environmental agency tasked with regulating Duke Energy after a coal ash spill left the Dan River so polluted that people were advised to avoid contact with the water. The probe, environmentalists say, might also open a window into the relationship that state regulators have with the country's largest electricity provider, a company that also was a 28-year employer of Gov. Pat McCrory [R]." ...

... Michael Biesecker & Mitch Weiss of the AP: "Over the last year, environmental groups have tried three times to use the federal Clean Water Act to force Duke Energy to clear out leaky coal ash dumps like the one that ruptured last week, spewing enough toxic sludge into a North Carolina river to fill 73 Olympic-sized pools. Each time, they say, their efforts have been stymied -- by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The state agency has blocked the citizen lawsuits by intervening at the last minute to assert its own authority.... After negotiating with Duke, the state proposed settlements where the nation's largest electricity provider pays modest fines but is under no requirement to actually clean up its coal ash ponds.... The environmentalists suggest [Gov. Pat McCrory's] administration's real goal has been to shield the governor's former employer from far more severe and expensive penalties it might face if the cases ever made it to a federal courtroom."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Norfolk struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage Thursday night, saying it violates the constitution's guarantee of equal protection. U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen stayed her decision so that it can be appealed, and so same-sex marriages in the commonwealth will not begin immediately. Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D), who had switched the state's legal position on the issue and joined two gay couples in asking that the ban be struck down, has said the state will continue to enforce the ban until the legal process is over." CW: Allen is an Obama appointee.

Mark Stern in Slate: "In addition to barring all anti-discrimination lawsuits against private employers, [a bill passed by the Kansas State House would] permit government employees to deny service to gays in the name of 'religious liberty.' ... If a gay couple calls the police, an officer may refuse to help them if interacting with a gay couple violates his religious principles. State hospitals can turn away gay couples...." ...

     ... CW: For what it's worth, I think there's a bit too much hyperventilation over this bill, even though it is likely to become Kansas law. But not for long. It is clearly unconstitutional, and the first challenge should be upheld. I would expect a judge to order a stay as it moves through the courts.

Chrissie Thompson of the Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio "State Rep. Peter Beck, R-Mason, now faces a total of 69 felony counts and is under pressure to resign his General Assembly seat. A Hamilton County indictment alleges Beck helped bilk investors of hundreds of thousands of dollars as chief financial officer of an insolvent West Chester software startup owned by the late Cincinnati money manager Thomas M. Lysaght. Beck also is accused of taking some of the money intended for the startup ... and diverting it to his campaign fund. Ark by the River Fellowship Ministry, a secretive Linwood church investigated by The Enquirer in September, also received much of the money from the fraud, according to the indictment issued Thursday. So the church -- a 'cult,' according to the felony indictment -- and Pastor Janet Combs, who is Lysaght's widow, also face felony charges for corruption, money laundering and receiving stolen property."

News Ledes

Reuters: "A 120-car Norfolk Southern Corp train carrying heavy Canadian crude oil derailed and spilled in western Pennsylvania on Thursday, adding to a string of recent accidents that have prompted calls for stronger safety standards. There were no reports of injury or fire after 21 tank cars came off the track and crashed into a nearby industrial building at a bend by the Kiskiminetas River in the town of Vandergrift."

AP: "A windy stretch of the Mojave Desert once roamed by tortoises and coyotes has been transformed by hundreds of thousands of mirrors into the largest solar power plant of its type in the world, a milestone for a growing industry that is testing the balance between wilderness conservation and the pursuit of green energy across the American West. The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, sprawling across roughly 5 square miles (13 sq. kilometers) of federal land near the California-Nevada border, formally opened Thursday after years of regulatory and legal tangles ranging from relocating protected tortoises to assessing the impact on Mojave milkweed and other plants."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 13, 2014

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Senate Republican leaders on Wednesday rescued a measure to raise the nation's borrowing limit, overcoming a threatened filibuster from members of their own party and averting a potential shock to the economy. A vote to cut off debate on the debt ceiling measure passed 67 to 31, after a dramatic scene on the floor when Republicans managed to muster 12 votes in support, clearing the way for final approval. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Republican whip, waited nearly a half-hour as their Republican colleagues refused to vote to end debate on the bill. When it was clear that the debt ceiling increase would fail, they stepped forward in tandem to deliver the deciding votes. Other Republicans followed by changing their votes." ...

... Steve Benen: "Democrats and Republicans could have reached a unanimous-consent agreement, approve the bill in seconds, and gone home. Barring that, there could have also been a simple up-or-down vote. Every Republican could have voted 'no,' knowing that the must-pass bill would clear the Senate anyway. But [Ted] Cruz wanted a confrontation. He demanded that Democrats first break a GOP filibuster, knowing it would force some Republicans to break ranks and cast an awkward political vote. In other words, Cruz made matters tougher on many of his ostensible Republican allies -- on purpose.... The new Cruz looks an awful lot like the old Cruz." ...

... Charles Pierce: "So the Republicans in the Senate decided to let Ted Cruz once again romp in the fields of the stupid for a while, before voting him back into four-point restraints so the Senate could pass the increase in the debt limit. This is in large part because Mitch McConnell who, in matters of principle, is often struck with sudden attacks of invisibility, has a Tea Party challenger in his primary and a well-financed, popular Democratic opponent waiting for him in the general election, if he survives." ...

... Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "For the fifth time since January 2013, [Speaker John] Boehner on Tuesday effectively turned the floor of the House over to Democrats to secure must-pass legislation. But rather than weakening his control of the House, he may have strengthened it. He showed a relish for combat, both with the ranks of his right-wing antagonists in the House and with the increasingly angry Tea Party activists off Capitol Hill." ...

... Russell Berman of the Hill: "Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) abrupt decision to capitulate and hand President Obama a straightforward debt-ceiling increase resulted from simmering divisions that have virtually paralyzed his majority. On an issue that once defined his Speakership, Boehner is now confronting a president who won't negotiate and a conference that can't coalesce around an offer.... While Boehner spoke only of the debt limit on Tuesday, internal divisions have taken down bills or stymied progress on a host of issues in recent years, including immigration, appropriations bills, a major highway proposal and an alternative to Obama's healthcare reform law." CW: Lovely to see straight news stories with a lede that (correctly) characterizes House Republicans as "paralyzed." Of course they aren't reading the Hill in Peoria. ...

... Carl Hulse of the New York Times: The House vote "was the purest incarnation yet of what has become known as the Vote No, Hope Yes Caucus. Most Republicans badly wanted the debt limit to be raised ... They just did not want their fingerprints on it. The implications for governing are obvious. If many lawmakers are unwilling or refuse to vote for legislation that they understand to be necessary, and even beneficial, out of fear of retribution from an empowered and outspoken wing of their party, reaching agreement on major policy like immigration becomes difficult if not impossible." ...

... Frank Rich on the House vote, Hillary Clinton & gay rights. ...

... John Stanton of BuzzFeed: "A group of House Republicans has received a mysterious threat in recent weeks: an anonymous email that promises political retribution for those who vote yes to a debt-limit increase -- sent to their closely guarded personal email addresses. Because of the near-secret nature of lawmakers' internal email addresses, the emails have raised more than a few eyebrows -- and the possibility that one of their own was behind, or at least assisting in the attacks.... 'It's got to be another member. Probably one of the crazy ones,' said a Republican who had seen the email...." CW: So even some House Republicans describe certain colleagues as "the crazy ones." ...

... Hunter of Daily Kos. "One of the crazy ones"? "That doesn't really narrow it down much now, does it?"

Katie Glueck of Politico: "Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday officially filed his class-action lawsuit against the Obama administration over National Security Agency data collection, joining with two prominent tea party leaders to make the announcement. Paul, a libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican and potential presidential contender, inveighed against NSA surveillance and promised a 'historic' lawsuit. He and his allies hope to take the case, which focuses on the NSA's gathering of telephone metadata, to the Supreme Court." ...

     ... CW: AND kudos to Glueck for featuring this in her report: "Paul has been publicly promoting the lawsuit for weeks -- an effort that appears to also be helping him build a campaign infrastructure for 2016, when he's up for reelection to the Senate and when the White House is in play. He initially directed potential class-action signatories to websites including RandPAC.com and to his Facebook page, which sent visitors to RandPaul2016.com. Signing up on both sites also added visitors to his campaign's email lists. Now the senator also is pushing Defendthe4th.com, a reference to the Fourth Amendment. The Paul campaign arm will still be able to access those email lists, an adviser to the senator confirmed. They are working in conjunction with the FreedomWorks-backed initiative ConstitutionDefenseFund.com." ...

... ** The Cooch -- "Dumb as a Box of Rocks." Dana Milbank: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ... stands accused of filing a lawsuit stolen from its author." Attorney Bruce Fein drafted the NSA suit for Paul. "But when Paul filed his suit at the U.S. District Court in Washington on Wednesday morning, Fein’s name had been replaced with that of Ken Cuccinelli.... Fein, who has not been paid in full for his legal work by Paul's political action committee, was furious.... 'I am aghast and shocked by Ken Cuccinelli's behavior and his absolute knowledge that this entire complaint was the work product, intellectual property and legal genius of Bruce Fein,' Mattie Fein, his ex-wife and spokeswoman, told me Wednesday. "Ken Cuccinelli stole the suit," she said, adding that Paul, who "already has one plagiarism issue, now has a lawyer who just takes another lawyer's work product." CW: Milbank's column, thanks to the unintended cooperation of his subjects, is more than a laugh-a-minute.

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "For the first time since the federal and state health-insurance marketplaces opened early last fall, the number of people who signed up for coverage exceeded the government's expectations for the month in January, bringing the overall total to about 3.3 million. Across the country, nearly 1.2 million people enrolled in health plans last month through the new insurance exchanges -- more than federal officials had envisioned when they compiled monthly targets late last summer, weeks before the sign-ups began." ...

... Sam Baker of the National Journal: "With two months left to go, Obamacare enrollment is on track to hand the White House a significant win over the law's critics. About 3.3 million people had signed up for private insurance plans through the end of January, according to new data the Health and Human Services Department released Wednesday. January itself was a little better than expected, and the growth put the administration within reach of a strong total when open enrollment ends in March. There are significant gaps in the data that could affect assessment of the law's ultimate success, but barring any wild surprises, things are looking good for the White House." ...

... Steve Benen: "The law's detractors won't want to hear this, but the imminent implosion of the Affordable Care Act has been cancelled." The fact that Republicans are pinning their future hopes on (a) bashing ObamaCare, but (b) not governing, is looking less & less like a winner. ...

... Kevin Bogardus & Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was in frequent contact with President Obama and senior White House aides before the disastrous launch of the federal ObamaCare exchange last year. While Sebelius has said the president was not aware of HealthCare.gov's problems, more than 750 pages of documents obtained by The Hill through a Freedom of Information Act request show she made scores of visits to the White House." CW: This is consistent with what the White House has said in the past, but you do wonder: what-all did they talk about? And does it take an FOIA request to get this information? ...

... ** SNAFU. Right Hand & Left Hand Not Communicating. Evan McMorris-Santoro of BuzzFeed: "Saturday is National Youth Enrollment Day for Obamacare, a day designed to help make up for youth recruitment time lost while HealthCare.gov was down last year. It will be marked by a broad array of events, from Head Start information sessions to pub crawls. The day will also feature a HealthCare.gov outage that came as a surprise to the White House allies who have been planning Feb. 15 enrollment activities for weeks.... The Obamacare website outage begins at 3 p.m. ET and carries on through Tuesday at 5 a.m. ET."

Michael Isikoff of NBC News: "civilian NSA employee recently resigned after being stripped of his security clearance for allowing former agency contractor Edward Snowden to use his personal log-in credentials to access classified information, according to an agency memo obtained by NBC News. In addition, an active duty member of the U.S. military and a contractor have been barred from accessing National Security Agency facilities after they were 'implicated' in actions that may have aided Snowden.... While the memo's account is sketchy, it suggests that, contrary to Snowden's statements, he used an element of trickery to retrieve his trove of tens of thousands of classified documents...."

Ben Armbruster of Think Progress: "More than one hundred members of the House of Representatives -- Democrats and Republicans -- have signed a letter supporting President Obama’s diplomatic approach to Iran's nuclear program and urging their colleagues to avoid passing 'bills or resolutions' that could jeopardize current talks with Tehran. The push to pass more sanctions on Iran has stalled for now, but House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is reportedly working with Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on text for a non-binding resolution outlining acceptable outcomes of any final agreement with Iran over its nuclear program (Hoyer backed off the resolution in December after pressure from Obama administration officials, other lawmakers and activists)."

Tom Kludt of TPM: "Nicolle Wallace, a former George W. Bush spokesperson [& Sarah Palin's beleaguered handler] and now a 'Morning Joe' regular," chastized Chuck Todd for not showing enthusiasm for Chris Christie's "pretty good day" Monday. (Christie gave a speech in Chicago.) "Todd later said that, unlike 'Morning Joe,' he's not going to carry water for Christie. 'I'm not cheerleading,' Todd said. 'You're asking me to cheerlead one side or the other. I'm not cheerleading. I know others on this show are cheerleading. That's fine.'" Here's the exchange:

... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times reports on Christie's fabulous speech. CW: Doesn't sound too fab to me.

Beyond the Beltway

Union-Bustin' Bob. Bernie Woodall of Reuters: "U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said on Wednesday he has been 'assured' that if workers at the Volkswagen AG plant in his hometown of Chattanooga reject United Auto Worker representation, the company will reward the plant with a new product to build. Corker's bombshell, which runs counter to public statements by Volkswagen, was dropped on the first of a three-day secret ballot election of blue-collar workers at the Chattanooga plant whether to allow the UAW to represent them.... National Labor Relations Board expert Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt ... said Corker was trying to intimidate workers into voting against the union."

New Orleans Times-Picayune: "Ray Nagin, the former two-term mayor of New Orleans indicted after he left office, was convicted Wednesday of 20 federal corruption charges, stemming from illegal dealings with city vendors dating back to 2004. A jury delivered the verdict just before 1 p.m. after roughly six hours of deliberations that followed a nine-day trial." CW: Could not have happened to a more deserving guy.

Craig Gustafson of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "The elevation of Kevin Faulconer from city councilman to mayor is a return to familiar territory for San Diego voters as he represents the moderate Republican archetype that they've repeatedly chosen to lead the city for much of the past four decades. Faulconer's definitive victory over Democratic Councilman David Alvarez in Tuesday's special election ends -- at least for now -- the city's brief experiment with hyperpartisan leadership under Democratic former Mayor Bob Filner."

Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier-Journal: "In a ruling that could open the door to gay marriage in Kentucky, a federal judge has struck down the state’s ban on recognizing same-sex unions performed in states where it is legal. U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled Wednesday that Kentucky's prohibition violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law by treating gays and lesbians 'differently in a way that demeans them.'Ruling in a suit brought by four gay and lesbian couples and their children, Heyburn said that, while 'religious beliefs ... are vital to the fabric of society ... assigning a religious or traditional rationale for a law does not make it constitutional when that law discriminates against a class of people without other reasons.'" CW: Heyburn is a Bush I appointee.

AP: "The Kansas House has approved a bill aimed at keeping individuals, groups and businesses from being compelled to help with same-sex weddings. The House's 72-49 vote Wednesday sends the measure to the Senate. Supporters describe it as a religious freedom measure. Opponents contend it will encourage discrimination against gays and lesbians. The bill would bar government sanctions when individuals, groups and businesses cite religious beliefs in refusing to recognize a marriage or civil union, or to provide goods, services, accommodations or employment benefits to a couple. Anti-discrimination lawsuits also would be barred." CW: Thanks to contributor safari for the link. ...

       ... CW: Obviously, Judge Heyburn's (see story on Kentucky ruling above) succinctly-state principle applies: "... assigning a religious or traditional rationale for a law does not make it constitutional when that law discriminates against a class of people without other reasons." 'Nuff said.

Michael Linhorst of the Bergen Record: "Lawmakers investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures want more details about who edited the testimony that a top Port Authority executive gave to the Legislature in November. That official, former deputy executive director Bill Baroni, later resigned. He told the Assembly's Transportation Committee that the lane closures -- which created giant traffic jams in Fort Lee over four days in September -- were part of a traffic study. Baroni was not testifying under oath, and his traffic study explanation was later contradicted by documents from the Port Authority and Governor Christie's office." ...

... Terrence Dopp:, et al., of Bloomberg News: "The New Jersey legislative panel investigating intentional lane closings at the George Washington Bridge has ordered Governor Chris Christie’s office and re-election campaign to turn over all information they assembled on the mayor of Fort Lee." ...

     ... CW: As Rachel Maddow pointed out in her shows Tuesday & Wednesday, these subpoenas are directed not so much at the lane closings themselves but at the cover-up & who was involved in that:

... Karen Rouse & John Reitmeyer of the Bergen Record: "A former Christie administration official lobbied NJ Transit to build a train station that would benefit a $1 billion office and residential complex being proposed for the Hoboken waterfront -- the same complex the city's mayor claimed she was pressured to fast-track or risk losing Sandy aid. Records show that the lobbyist argued for the station within months of an agreement signed with NJ Transit to move forward on the rail project. That lobbying occurred in the spring of 2013 -- the same time period that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said she was pressured by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. The lobbyist, Lori Grifa, works for Wolff & Samson, the law firm founded by former state Attorney General David Samson.... Samson was appointed by Christie to be chairman of the Port Authority and met with Christie on the day The Record reported the now-infamous email, 'Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.'" CW>: As the Church Lady would say, "How conveeenient!"

Matt Friedman of the Star-Ledger: "The New Jersey Republican State Committee is using Gov. Chris Christie's scandal to raise money. In a fundraising appeal email today sent to supporters, the party attacked Democrats and the 'liberal media' and asked supporters to 'reaffirm' their support for Christie by committing to donate $25 a month."

Senate Race 2014

Daniel Strauss of TPM: "Kentucky Republican Matt Bevin [a Tea Party candidate who is challenging Mitch McConnell] linked the federal judge who ruled the state has to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states [see story in Beyond the Beltway above] to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).... 'It is no surprise that Judge Heyburn was Mitch McConnell's general counsel and McConnell recommended him for the federal bench. Kentucky deserves better.'"

Byron York of the right-wing Washington Examiner: "On Tuesday, the Senate Conservatives Fund called for the ouster of House Speaker John Boehner. Now the SCF, originally founded by Sen. Jim DeMint and run by a close DeMint associate, has launched the harshest attack yet on its No. 1 target, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In a new ad based in part on supposition, misleading reporting, questionable assertions and a single (erroneously cited) poll, the SCF likens McConnell's leadership of the Senate to Internal Revenue Service harassment of conservatives":

Congressional Race 2014

Curtis Krueger of the Tampa Bay Times: "Democrat Alex Sink narrowly leads Republican David Jolly in Pinellas County's hotly contested congressional race, according to a new poll that also shows district voters deeply split over Obamacare. In the hard-fought and nationally watched campaign, 42 percent would vote for Sink, 35 percent for Jolly and 4 percent for Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby, according to an exclusive Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/WUSF Public Media poll of likely voters in Congressional District 13."

Gubernatorial Race 2014

Robert Draper has a long piece in the New York Times Magazine on Wendy Davis, Democratic candidate for governor of Texas. CW: I read it all; I guess it's "fair & balanced." See what you think. ...

... Gromer Jeffers, Jr., of the Dallas Morning News: "Wendy Davis said Tuesday that she would have supported a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, if the law adequately deferred to a woman and her doctor. Davis, a Fort Worth senator and the likely Democratic nominee for governor, told The Dallas Morning News' editorial board that less than one-half of 1 percent of Texas abortions occur after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Most of those were in cases where fetal abnormalities were evident or there were grave risks to the health of the woman." ...

... Steve M. "... at a certain point I don't see why I should be any more excited about a possible Wendy Davis victory than I was about, say, the victory of Joe Manchin or Claire McCaskill of Heidi Heitkamp -- it's good, it's a step in the right direction, but it's not a sign that Texas has turned into a truly purple state a la Nevada or Colorado."

News Ledes

Reuters: A deadly and intensifying winter storm packing heavy snow, sleet and rain pelted a huge swath of the U.S. East Coast on Thursday, grounding flights and shuttering schools and government offices. Winter storm warnings and advisories were in place from Georgia up to Maine, and the powerful system could blanket the Atlantic Coast over the next two days with 12 to 18 inches (30 to 46 cms) of snow, said Jared Guyer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service."

New York Times: "Comcast and Time Warner Cable's boards announced on Thursday a merger of the two companies, which will create the largest behemoth in the industry. Describing the deal as 'a friendly, stock-for-stock transaction,' Comcast will acquire 100 percent of Time Warner Cable's 284.9 million shares outstanding, in a deal worth about $45.2 billion in stock value. The deal will leave Time Warner Cable shareholders owning approximately 23 percent of Comcast's common stock."

Washington Post: "Afghanistan freed 65 suspected Taliban prisoners from jail on Thursday, ignoring repeated warnings by the U.S. government that the men pose a threat. The move could worsen tension between leaders of the two countries, who have been at odds for years over war strategy, political matters and other issues."

Sorry, missed this yesterday. New York Times: " The election of a Republican city councilman to become San Diego's mayor became a rare bright spot for a party that has been eclipsed at the state level in California.The victory by the councilman, Kevin Faulconer, on Tuesday will make San Diego the largest city in the nation run by a Republican, and it raises the possibility that he could become an important leader in the efforts to strengthen the party in California."