The Commentariat -- May 2 & 3

All internal links removed.

Lynh Bui & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Six Baltimore police officers have been charged with several counts, including one who was charged with second-degree murder, in the high-profile death of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries suffered in police custody, State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said Friday. Mosby said warrants have been issued for the arrest of the officers, including a lieutenant and a sergeant. Gray suffered a spinal injury after he was arrested April 12 and died after riding in a police transport van that made several stops. The charges against some of the officers include involuntary manslaughter, assault, failure to render aid and other counts." The Post is liveblogging events following the charges. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Paul Waldman: "Perhaps this prosecution -- and whatever reforms might happen in the near future -- would have occurred if the protests had stayed peaceful. There's no way to know for sure. But you don't have to approve of rioting to acknowledge that in this case it may well have led to results." ...

... Gene Robinson: "Police had no legitimate reason to arrest [Freddie Gray] in the first place. The ostensible charge against Gray -- that he had an illegal switchblade -- was false, according to Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby. The folding knife found in his pocket was of a design that is perfectly legal under Maryland law, Mosby said.... Now does everyone understand the anger in Baltimore?" ...

... Christopher Hooton of the Independent: "Kevin Moore, the man who filmed Freddie Gray's brutal arrest, has now himself been arrested following 'harassment and intimidation' from Baltimore police. Moore was arrested at gunpoint last night along with two other members of Cop Watch, a group dedicated to filming and documenting police work.... Moore claims that despite having co-operated with two detectives in the Baltimore Police Department's Office of Internal Oversight and given them the video, police posted his photo and told the public that he was 'wanted for questioning', asking people to identify him." ...

     ... Carimah Townes of Think Progress: "Moore says he was protesting with Ferguson cop watchers on North Avenue, shouting obscenities and wearing an Anonymous mask. Once the group left, officers arrested them without issuing a citation or explaining what the charges were." ...

... Nikita Stewart & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "All over Baltimore in the early hours after Ms. Mosby's speech, residents found themselves gripped by unexpected emotion. Crowds of young men who had spent the past few days and nights protesting in anger were instead smiling, bounding up and down, shouting 'Freddie, Freddie, Freddie!' Drivers honked their horns; teenagers pumped their fists. Some residents even found a way to play a recording of Ms. Mosby's speech, outside to passing crowds."

... Margaret Hartmann: "The other prisoner [who rode in the van for a short time with Freddie Gray], 22-year-old Donta Allen, came forward on Thursday and confirmed that he heard banging when he got in the van.... But in an interview with WJZ, Allen said police are misconstruing his words, and he's angry that the report was leaked. 'They trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to hisself [sic],' he said. 'Why the [expletive] would he do that to hisself?'... Allen claims that when they got to the station, he heard police say, 'We got him, we gave him a run for his money.'" ...

... MEANWHILE. Steve M.: "The right has a new Eric Holder." Congratulations, Marilyn Mosby. CW: Whew! Just when you thought wingers wouldn't know what to do when Eric Holder left the building way last week.

Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "The House and Senate Republican budget plan announced this week would continue hits on government workers, as expected, with cuts that could lighten their wallets by up to $194 billion..... Given the [House Oversight C]ommittee's oversight, however, federal pension benefits and the Federal Employees Health Benefits program are likely targets." CW: A budget President Walker would love.

Department of Transportation: "U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced a final rule for the safe transportation of flammable liquids by rail. The final rule, developed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in coordination with Canada, focuses on safety improvements that are designed to prevent accidents, mitigate consequences in the event of an accident, and support emergency response."

Tina Nguyen of Mediaite: "In the past few months, the Capitol Hill Police has recorded at least three instances where their officers accidentally left their loaded Glocks in bathrooms.... Roll Call, which broke this mindblowing tale of stupidity, reports that two of the guns were found in the Capitol office complexes itself: one in the bathroom of the Capitol Visitors Center, casually wedged into a toilet seat cover dispenser. One was reportedly picked up by an 8-year-old boy touring Speaker John Boehner's office with his parents. (Let's repeat that: An 8-year-old tourist found a Glock in Boehner's office.) The third Glock was discovered casually chilling in the open at the Capitol Police headquarters building." ...

... Hannah Hess of Roll Call: "Unlike a gun with a traditional safety, a Glock will fire if the trigger is pulled -- making the young boy's alleged discovery of a gun in Boehner's office particularly concerning."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jonathan Chait: "Now that he is no longer the chairman of the Federal Reserve and is now a blogger, Ben Bernanke is free to point out certain obvious truths he couldn't say previously, such as the fact that The Wall Street Journal editorial page is run by crazy people. Bernanke is not quite putting it in those terms, alas, but his blogging career is young. In response to a Journal editorial calling for higher interest rates to tame inflation, Bernanke notes that the Journal has been wrongly forecasting higher inflation for nine years now." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annie Lowrey of New York: "David Brooks is not buying your excuses, poor people.... I am going to leave the reductive argument about social norms and social mobility aside. Nobody should take it seriously, particularly not when it is based on a bizarre misreading of federal data on poverty." ...

... Dean Baker has an excellent explanation of why Brooks is "just mak[ing] crap up...." ...

     ... CW BTW: Pretty much everything Baker explains was available to Brooks on the Internets long before he made up this crap. For instance, here, where Glenn Kessler gives 3 Pinocchios to a similar analysis by Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. or in this PolitiFact rebuttal to Very Serious Budget Guru Paul Ryan.

... Sean Illing of Slate: "For Brooks, the problem with poor people is that they're immoral. It's not because they're structurally disadvantaged, or because their local economies have collapsed, or because jobs have been shipped overseas, or because they attended chaotic schools, or because their parents worked multiple jobs for unlivable wages, or because the material demands of existence occupy the bulk of their time. Nope, it's because of poor 'social psychology.' That's the kind of explanation that could only be offered by someone oblivious to his own advantages. And Brooks has been peddling it for years." ...

... Driftglass: "The astute reader will note that whenever Mr. Brooks lectures gassily and from far, far away about the plight of The Poors, he is never shy about using his amazing moral x-ray vision to penetrate their lives and communities and pronounce judgement on these children of a lesser God." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Sad thing is no telling how many people will read Brooks' column and whether or not they absorb the exact numbers or understand their misleading character, they'll retain the vague impression that everybody knows you could cash out anti-poverty programs and save everybody a lot of money -- or hell, maybe just kill the programs outright and keep the change instead of giving it to po' folks who are incorrigible unless somebody gets in there and makes them behave." ...

... CW: I've said it before, & I'll say it again. David Brooks is the reincarnation of the Peter Sellers character, Chauncey Gardner, "the soft-headed Washington, D.C. gardener who is mistaken for an insightful businessman, and whose 'simple brand of wisdom' is misread as profundity." But Brooks, of course, is way meaner. A thanks to the writers cited above who don't "just make crap up." Brooks is a disgrace.

Presidential Race

Thomas Zambito of NJ.com: "Former Port Authority executive David Wildstein pleaded guilty Friday to his role in the politically-motivated closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Wildstein, 53, admitted in federal court to conspiring with former Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni and Gov. Chris Christie's former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly to 'punish' Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie in his re-election bid." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Kate Zernicke & Marc Santora of the New York Times: "After a 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal, a judge in New Jersey on Friday unsealed indictments of two people close to Gov. Chris Christie, outlining a conspiracy to exact political vengeance against a local mayor for his failure to offer political support to the governor. Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, were charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, including 'knowingly converting and intentionally misapplying property of an organization receiving federal benefits.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Kate Zernicke: "... an indictment released by federal prosecutors in New Jersey on Friday fills out in more detail the specifics of how and why [for the bridge closing], presenting the lengths three accused conspirators ... went to, and the delight they took, in concocting their scheme and the sham story to cover it up.... The fine-grained intricacies laid out in the legal papers show the three plotting like petulant and juvenile pranksters, using government resources, time and personnel to punish a public official whose sole offense was failing to endorse their political patron. The three were in constant contact, brazenly using government emails, their tone sometimes almost giddy." The indictment also alleges (with plenty of written corroboration) that Wildstein, with the help of other unwitting PA personnel, developed plans to maximize the impact of the closing & blame Mayor Sokolich. ...

... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Nowhere does the indictment say Mr. Christie, a Republican, knew of the scheme or was involved in it. Yet it was a crime of political vengeance, the indictment makes clear, that was conceived in furtherance of Mr. Christie's political ambitions, and carried out in his name.... Mr. Christie faces the specter of a lengthy and embarrassing criminal trial overshadowing the 2016 presidential campaign, in which the star witness -- David Wildstein ... still maintains the governor was aware of the lane-closing plot as it happened. Even so, Mr. Christie treated the outcome of the federal investigation as a personal exoneration." ...

... New York Times Editors: "Mr. Christie can't slough these problems off on hired hands. They belong to the man in charge. [The] behavior [of his subordinates] shows Mr. Christie's inability to choose employees, to manage them and, most important, to keep them from abusing their power. His failure to do so created a culture that allowed his underlings to bully the mayor of Fort Lee.... While Mr. Christie was in Virginia on Friday morning talking about the need for trust and truth in government, Mr. Wildstein was in federal court in Newark pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and 'conspiracy against civil rights' of residents caught in the traffic jam."

... Harry Enten of 538: "Chris Christie's access lanes to the the GOP nomination are closed.... Whether or not Christie is ever charged, his position in the presidential race is already even worse than we thought it was at the beginning of the year."

Gail Collins: "Question: Sanders self-identifies as a 'democratic socialist.' Aren't people going to think that's a little extreme? Answer: This week, the governor of Texas announced he was putting a special watch on U.S. military exercises this summer, due to public speculation that the soldiers might take over the state and confiscate everyone's guns. Also, the Idaho Legislature recently killed a bill that would have provided federal aid in tracking down deadbeat dads, due to concern that it might involve the use of Shariah law. I do not want to hear you calling Bernie Sanders an extremist." ...

... Dana Milbank argues that Bernie Sanders & Martin O'Malley are making a mistake by not taking on Hillary Clinton "directly and forcefully.... The O'Malley and Sanders reticence is doing Clinton no favors. Were they to take her on, they could force her from her defensive crouch into a more populist posture. That would excite the Democratic base, and sparring with O'Malley or Sanders would get her in shape for the general election."

Beyond the Beltway

Alan Yuhas & Jana Kasperkevic of the Guardian: "Thousands of Americans set out to march under the banners of 'black lives matter' and 'no justice no peace' on Friday, merging the movement against police abuses with May Day's 124-year crusade for workers' rights. In New York, thousands rallied in downtown Manhattan, demanding 'disarm the NYPD' in the wake of the police killings of Freddie Gray in Baltimore and other black men around the country. Protesters also called for a minimum wage hike to $15, restrictions on carbon emissions and an end to tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans." ...

... Veronica Rocha & Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times: "Traffic snarled in downtown Los Angeles on Friday afternoon as street closures took effect for a May Day rally demanding immigration reform and higher minimum wages."

William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Dean G. Skelos, the leader of the New York State Senate, and his son are expected to be arrested on federal corruption charges next week, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The expected arrests, coming roughly three months after federal bribery and kickback charges led Assemblyman Sheldon Silver to step down as speaker, would signal an extension of the investigation into allegations of political corruption in Albany.... It is not known if Mr. Skelos, a Republican from Long Island who was first elected to the Senate in 1984, will resign his leadership post as did Mr. Silver, a Manhattan Democrat...."

Tim Egan on California in the Arid Age.

The Commentariat -- May 1, 2015

All internal links removed.

Afternoon News:

Lynh Bui & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Six Baltimore police officers have been charged with several counts, including one who was charged with second-degree murder, in the ... death of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries suffered in police custody, State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said Friday. Mosby said warrants have been issued for the arrest of the officers, including a lieutenant and a sergeant.... The charges against some of the officers include involuntary manslaughter, assault, failure to render aid and other counts." The Post is liveblogging events following the charges. ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "The other prisoner [who rode in the van for a short time with Freddie Gray], 22-year-old Donta Allen, came forward on Thursday and confirmed that he heard banging when he got in the van.... But in an interview with WJZ, Allen said police are misconstruing his words, and he's angry that the report was leaked. 'They trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to hisself [sic],' he said. 'Why the [expletive] would he do that to hisself?'... Allen claims that when they got to the station, he heard police say, 'We got him, we gave him a run for his money.'"

Thomas Zambito of NJ.com: "Former Port Authority executive David Wildstein pleaded guilty Friday to his role in the politically-motivated closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Wildstein, 53, admitted in federal court to conspiring with former Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni and Gov. Chris Christie's former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly to 'punish' Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie in his re-election bid." ...

... Kate Zernicke & Marc Santora of the New York Times: "After a 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal, a judge in New Jersey on Friday unsealed indictments of two people close to Gov. Chris Christie, outlining a conspiracy to exact political vengeance against a local mayor for his failure to offer political support to the governor. Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, were charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, including 'knowingly converting and intentionally misapplying property of an organization receiving federal benefits.'"

Jonathan Chait: "Now that he is no longer the chairman of the Federal Reserve and is now a blogger, Ben Bernanke is free to point out certain obvious truths he couldn't say previously, such as the fact that The Wall Street Journal editorial page is run by crazy people. Bernanke is not quite putting it in those terms, alas, but his blogging career is young. In response to a Journal editorial calling for higher interest rates to tame inflation, Bernanke notes that the Journal has been wrongly forecasting higher inflation for nine years now."

*****

NBC Chicago: "President Barack Obama's library will be built in Chicago, NBC News' confirmed Thursday. Both The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago placed bids. The final selection is expected to be connected to the University of Chicago, but the final site has not been settled upon." ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Speaking to a group of schoolchildren at the Anacostia Library in Washington, D.C., [President] Obama said he would like to focus on expanding education and economic opportunity after his presidency. 'I'll be done being president in a couple of years and I'll still be a pretty young man,' he said. 'And so I'll go back to doing the kinds of work I was doing before, just trying to find ways to help people.'... 'Help young people get an education, help people get jobs, bring businesses into neighborhoods that don't have enough businesses,' he said. 'That's the kind of work that I really love to do.' During the event in Southeast Washington, Obama announced a new initiative to provide 10,000 new e-books to low-income youth."

Alexander Bolton & Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Two junior conservatives blindsided Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Thursday by attempting to force a vote on an amendment that could derail the bipartisan Iran nuclear review bill. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is running for president, surprised McConnell by leapfrogging ahead of colleagues waiting for chances to get votes on their amendments. They used a procedural maneuver to force McConnell to schedule a vote on an amendment requiring Iran to recognize Israel's right to exist as part of any nuclear deal."

Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauser of the New York Times: "After more than a decade of wrenching national debate over the intrusiveness of government intelligence agencies, a bipartisan wave of support has gathered to sharply limit the federal government's sweeps of phone and Internet records. On Thursday, a bill that would overhaul the Patriot Act and curtail the so-called metadata surveillance exposed by Edward J. Snowden was overwhelmingly passed by the House Judiciary Committee and was heading to almost certain passage in that chamber this month. An identical bill in the Senate -- introduced with the support of five Republicans -- is gaining support over the objection of Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who is facing the prospect of his first policy defeat since ascending this year to majority leader."

Bernie Becker of the Hill: "The House on Thursday passed a Republican budget that would boost defense spending, slash social welfare programs and target ObamaCare, in what GOP leaders cast as a victory for fiscal sanity. The joint House-Senate budget, which was unveiled on Wednesday, passed by a 226-197 margin, with 14 Republicans joining every Democrat in opposition.... And even as the House passed the first joint GOP budget in nearly a decade, Republicans were already seeing signs that they would face difficulties -- including a divide between defense and fiscal hawks -- as they seek to turn the top-line budget numbers into fleshed-out spending bills."

Josh Hicks & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Baltimore police said Thursday that they have turned over [to the State's Attorney's office] a much-anticipated report of their investigation into the death of Freddie Gray to prosecutors.... The Baltimore State's Attorney's Office will now have to decide whether to file criminal charges. The U.S. Department of Justice is also conducting its own investigation into Gray's death.... Officials have had said the police report to the prosecutors will not be made public." ...

... Brad Bell of WJLA Washington: "An investigation into the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray has found no evidence that his fatal injuries were caused during his videotaped arrest and interaction with police officers, according to multiple law enforcement sources. The sources spoke to ABC7 News after being briefed on the findings of a police report turned over to prosecutors on Thursday. Sources said the medical examiner found Gray's catastrophic injury was caused when he slammed into the back of the police transport van, apparently breaking his neck; a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van." ...

     ... The Washington Post story, by Lynh Bui & others, is here.

... Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "In Baltimore, they call it a rough ride.... Other cities called them joy rides. The slang terms mask a dark tradition of police misconduct in which suspects, seated or lying face down and in handcuffs in the back of a police wagon, are jolted and battered by an intentionally rough and bumpy ride that can do as much damage as a police baton without an officer having to administer a blow." ...

... Blame the Victim, Ctd. CW: I thought I'd check in with David Brooks to see what he thought about the killing of Freddie Gray. Suffice it to say that Brooks has found a better, gentler way to blame the victim -- and liberals! Incredibly, Brooks mentions Gray's lead-paint contamination & frames it not as an explanation for Gray's disabilities but, in as an oh-so-subtle way to suggest Gray got an even bigger handout than most poor people get & -- as is his "nature" -- he didn't use it to become a tax-paying nuclear-scientist & family man. See, throwing money at the poor doesn't work. I haven't time to debunk Brooks' theory on "the nature of poverty," but I'll look around later to see if anyone else takes on his load of crap. There are so many ways to do it.

James Risen of the New York Times: "The American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror, according to a new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists. The report is the first to examine the association's role in the interrogation program. It contends, using newly disclosed emails, that the group's actions to keep psychologists involved in the interrogation program coincided closely with efforts by senior Bush administration officials to salvage the program after the public disclosure in 2004 of graphic photos of prisoner abuse by American military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.... Rhea Farberman, a spokeswoman for the American Psychological Association, denied that the group had coordinated its actions with the government." ...

... Here's the report, titled "All the President's Psychologists."

Hypocrites Son Nosotros. Mary Jordan & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "By providing tax prep and driving classes [for Latinos, the Koch brothers, through an organization they fund called LIBRE], are building good will in the Latino community and what they call a 'platform for civic engagement.' LIBRE officials take pains to say they are advocating policies, not specific candidates.... The Latino Victory Fund, which is backed by Democratic activists including actress Eva Longoria, is so concerned about LIBRE that it is gathering Latino leaders in Washington next week to discuss how to counter the efforts, which they see as disingenuous."

Jonathan Chait: Karl Rove "is also the victim of a severe psychological trauma that has rendered him unable to recollect anything that transpired between January 2001 and 2009, when he masterminded one of the most disastrous presidencies in American history, an ordeal that is the possible source of his trauma." ...

... AND a lovely piece by Paul Waldman on "indulging the lunatics on the right," featuring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. "So in response to the fact that some of Texas's dumbest citizens emerged from their doomsday prepper shelters long enough to harangue a colonel about their belief that martial law is coming to their state, Governor Abbott issued an order to the National Guard to monitor the movements of the U.S. military just to make sure they aren't herding citizens into re-education camps or dropping Islamic State infiltrators into Galveston.... But what's remarkable about this is that we aren't talking about an offhand remark Abbott made.... He's mobilizing state resources, at taxpayer expense, because of a bizarre conspiracy theory that has some of Texas's more colorful citizens in its grip." ...

... Steve M. has much more on the conspiracy theories, which would be more of a fun read if it weren't for the fact that, "your Fox-watching uncle probably believes a great deal of this. And one of our two major parties is so afraid of conspiratorialists like this that it takes them seriously. That's what's frightening."

Strange News. Aaron Schock Has Disappeared. Jon Seidel of the Chicago Sun-Times: "... two weeks after a campaign donor filed a federal lawsuit against the former congressman, [Daniel Kurowski] an attorney for the donor, said Wednesday he can't track the Peoria Republican down.... Kurowski said his firm tried to serve Schock at a Peoria address that Schock previously listed on forms with the Federal Election Commission. But Kurowski said the property is now vacant. He also said attorneys who appear to have represented Schock in the past have not responded to his firm's inquiries."

Presidential Race

Paul Krugman: "... this election should turn almost entirely on the issues. But if we must talk about character, let's talk about what matters, namely intellectual integrity." CW: As far as I can tell, the only presidential candidate who meets Krugman's criterion is ...

Bernie! Paul Kane & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday launch[ed] his campaign for the White House -- and representing a real challenge to the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as she fights to win over the kind of left-leaning Democrats inclined to heed Sanders's fiery call to action. Sanders lifted off his long-shot bid with a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday by declaring war on corporate America and billionaire campaign donors. He also landed subtle jabs at Clinton, whose political ties to Wall Street and hawkish worldview have left some liberals yearning for an alternative":

... Paul Waldman: "... Sanders could actually cause more headaches for the Republicans running for president [than for Clinton] -- if he succeeds on focusing the campaign on his area of interest.... Sanders' candidacy will be almost entirely about economic issues.... The more attention Bernie Sanders gets, the more attention economic inequality gets, which is something Republicans would rather avoid." ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: Sanders is "a genuine economic populist, and many of his policy proposals -- such as spending a trillion dollars on infrastructure investment, introducing a carbon tax, and replacing private health insurance with Medicare for all -- are eminently defensible, if politically unrealistic." ...

... Arlette Saenz of ABC News: "Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, said he is concerned by the millions of dollars flowing into the Clinton Foundation at a time when he thinks money plays too strong a role in politics. 'It tells me what is a very serious problem,' Sanders said in an interview with ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl. 'It's not just about Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton. It is about a political system today that is dominated by big money. It's about the Koch brothers being prepared to spend $900 million dollars in the coming election." ...

... Andrew Prokop of Vox summarizes Sanders' policy positions. ...

... Andy Borowitz (satire): "Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is on pace to adopt rival Bernie Sanders's positions on all major issues by noon on Thursday, Clinton campaign officials have confirmed." ...

... CW: Also, seems Borowitz would agree with me on the integrity thing: "The Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders's potential bid for the 2016 Presidency was declared over, on Monday, before it even began, because of a key feature of the American political system that makes a person with integrity ineligible for the White House." ...

... Annie Linskey of the Boston Globe: "An unprecedented ethics promise that played a pivotal role in helping Hillary Rodham Clinton win confirmation as secretary of state, soothing senators' concerns about conflicts of interests with Clinton family charities, was uniformly bypassed by the biggest of the philanthropies involved. The Clinton Health Access Initiative never submitted information on any foreign donations to State Department lawyers for review during Clinton's tenure from 2009 to 2013, Maura Daley, the organization's spokeswoman, acknowledged to the Globe this week. She said the charity deemed it unnecessary, except in one case that she described as an 'oversight.'" ...

... Ken Vogel of Politico: "A handful of deep-pocketed donors are reconsidering their gifts to the $2 billion Clinton Foundation amid mounting questions about how it's spending their money and suggestions of influence peddling, according to donors and others familiar with the foundation's fundraising. One major donor who contributed at least $500,000 to the foundation last year said a 2015 donation is less likely because of revelations about sloppy record-keeping and huge payments for travel and administrative costs."

Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "Two days after riots in Baltimore [[ at a time when most of the presidential field is either silent or contemptuous -- [Hillary] Clinton has stepped out front with a forward-looking agenda on bringing people out of prison, a definitive rebuke to the 'law and order' politics used by her husband throughout his career. Not only did Clinton call for an end to 'the era of mass incarceration,' but she also connected our prison population to broader patterns of inequality.... This speech is a political gamble as much as it is a policy commitment.... Suddenly, police reform is a Democratic agenda item, something a Democratic Congress and a Democratic White House may act on. For police reform activists, this is vindication. This is what winning looks like." ...

... Dara Lind of Vox: "Whenever a politician suddenly flip-flops on an issue, especially after decades spent on the other side, it makes sense to wonder whether the conversion is genuine. But even if Clinton doesn't believe a word she said at Columbia, the fact that she gave the speech is incredibly significant.... Research shows that campaign promises are actually a lot more important than you might think.... Clinton just handed criminal justice advocates something they can use, if she's elected president, to prove that she told them reform was a priority." ...

... Ed Kilgore notes that it wasn't President Bill Clinton, but Republicans, who inserted harsh drug sentencing into the 1994 Omnibus Crime Law. So Rand Paul should STFU. CW: One thing that one must remember about Li'l Randy: he never, never, ever is right about history. He's probably the guy who told Michele Bachmann that "the shot heard 'round the world" rang out from New Hampshire & told Sarah Palin that Paul Revere warned the British that Bostonians would shoot them (or whatever she said).

Jessie Byrnes of the Hill: "Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a likely 2016 presidential contender, said the Baltimore rioting that has gripped national attention this week was a major blow to the city and its ambitions.... O'Malley was heckled on Tuesday when walking the streets of Baltimore, where he served as mayor from 1999 to 2007, over the tough-on-crime policing policies pushed during his term." ...

... James Hohmann of Politico: "Martin O'Malley's political career, which started on the streets of Baltimore, may also end there: Half of Democratic insiders in the early states believe this week's riots have hurt the former mayor's already long-shot presidential hopes."

Kate Zernicke & Marc Santora of the New York Times: David Wildstein, "a former Port Authority official and ally of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, is expected to plead guilty on Friday to the first charges stemming from the 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal. The United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, announced early on Friday that there would be a 'proceeding of interest in a criminal matter' related to the closings at 11 a.m. in front of Judge Susan D. Wigenton in United States District Court in Newark. Mr. Fishman will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. to discuss the investigation, breaking his long silence over the inquiry.... Mr. Fishman is expected to announce other indictments in the case, but it was not clear who would be among those indictments." ...

... Not to worry, Chris. We realize you hardly knew Wildstein. Ken Kurson of NJ Politicker (March 15, 2015): "'We were not even acquaintances in high school.... We didn't travel in the same circles in high school. I was class president and an athlete, I don't know what David was doing.' A tough editorial in yesterday's Star-Ledger called that line 'cringe-worthy' and pointed out that a $150,000 executive position at the Port Authority was a pretty sweet reward for some 'anonymous nerd occupying another lunch table at Livingston High.'"

When I don't show up for work because I'm out hustling fatcats, it's like I'm really there & voting 'no.' -- Ted Cruz (paraphrase), explaining why he was the only senator who didn't vote on Loretta Lynch's confirmation

Eli Stokols of Politico: For the second time this month, Rand Paul blew an opportunity to distinguish himself as a Republican with a more sympathetic view of the oppression & resulting problems of urban black Americans.

Jeb Bush thinks his horrible educational policies would help Baltimore just as the helped Florida. CW: Which is debatable.

I respect the courts, but the Supreme Court is only that -- the supreme of the courts. It is not the supreme being. It cannot overrule God...When it comes to prayer, when it comes to life, and when it comes to the sanctity of marriage, the court cannot change what God has created. -- Mike Huckabee

One of things God has created is people who who want to enjoy the sanctity of marriage with people of the same sex. And, no, the Court cannot change that. Which is as it should be. Amen, Brother Mike. -- Constant Weader

Gubernatorial Race

Tom LoBianco of the Indy Star: "Democrats are lining up to potentially challenge a likely re-election bid by Republican Gov. Mike Pence, whom some see as vulnerable. Pence's chief opponent from the 2012 campaign, Democrat John Gregg, announced Thursday he would run for governor again. Meanwhile, Pence's continuing critic since taking office in 2013, Democratic State Schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz, announced she is considering a gubernatorial challenge, too."

Beyond the Beltway

CW: Yesterday in a comment, I jokingly suggested President Obama should declare martial law & take over Florida. Maybe the joke isn't such a bad idea, after all. As Steve Benen lays out, "Rick Scott believes Florida should say no to Obamacare because it might interfere with Obamacare." Since we already have two Floridians in the presidential beauty contest, I think Rick Scott should join them; he's as good at farcical doublespeak as is Marco Rubio & he's richer than Jeb Bush.

News Ledes

Los Angeles Times: "The stepchildren of a woman killed in a car crash involving Bruce Jenner filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Friday against the Olympian, accusing him of being negligent."

Guardian: "Ben E King, the R&B and soul singer best known for Stand By Me, whose honeyed vocal tones helped first popularise the genres with mass pop audiences, has died aged 76."

Los Angeles Times: "Blues musician B.B. King is in home hospice care in Las Vegas, according to his official website."

New York: "A week after the last string of sexual-assault allegations against Bill Cosby, two more women have come forward with claims that the comedian drugged and sexually assaulted them.... More than 40 women in all have accused Cosby of sexual assault."

The Commentariat -- April 30, 2015

Internal links removed.

CW: As promised, another day of goofing off here on my part. Do check out Jon Stewart's interview of Judith Miller, which Victoria D. linked today.

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Shinzo Abe, in the first address by a Japanese prime minister to a joint meeting of Congress, praised his nation's 'quantum leap' in economic reforms but offered no specific concessions as he appealed to skeptical lawmakers to back a far-reaching Pacific trade accord. Mr. Abe faced a Congress deeply divided by President Obama's drive to obtain fast-track negotiating authority to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Japan and 10 other nations on the Pacific Rim. Lawmakers in both parties have questioned Mr. Abe's ability to open his nation's agriculture and auto markets to American products, one of the biggest questions that remain in the trade talks." ...

... CW: Apparently, Abe's address made Speaker Boehner very, very sad:

Rebecca Shabad of the Hill: "Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a joint House-Senate budget that aims to torpedo ObamaCare while balancing the federal books within 10 years. The release of the blueprint sets up a vote in the House on Friday, with the Senate expected to follow suit next week." ...

... Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities: "The budget conference agreement, if adopted by Congress, will represent one of the most radical budget plans that lawmakers have adopted since they created the modern budget process in 1974. That's no exaggeration. If they follow this plan, lawmakers would eviscerate substantial parts of the federal government -- including parts that have previously enjoyed bipartisan support -- and they also would violate the clear intent of the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA). Consider this: More than doubling the sequestration cuts.... Radically shrinking much of government.... Using a blatant gimmick to increase defense spending.... Magic asterisk.... Robin Hood in reverse."

Amy Howe of ScotusBlog: "In the past few years, the Roberts Court has been very supportive of the freedom of speech.... But today an unusual coalition of five Justices -- Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court's four more liberal Justices -- agreed on one kind of speech that the government can ban: personal solicitations of campaign funds by people running for judgeships .... in Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar. ...

... Rick Hasen: "This is a case which makes it much more likely that limits on money and speech in judicial elections will be upheld.... This is a HUGE win for those who support reasonable limits on judicial elections -- and getting Roberts on this side of the issue is surprising, welcome, and momentous.... Justice Kennedy's dissent [is] not only a dissent to this case, but a defense of his decision in Citizens United." ...

... Gail Collins: "The reform community was thrilled. This is how low our expectations for clean elections have dropped, people.... Antonin Scalia ... found the whole idea of restricting judges' ability to hit up trial lawyers for money a 'wildly disproportionate restriction' upon judicial candidates' right of free speech.... Chief Justice Roberts provided the swing vote on the decision, an irony not lost on pretty much anybody. It's been Roberts who's led the court in castrating limits on the role of big money in other elections. The difference in this case, he explained, is that 'judges are not politicians.' While Roberts thinks his own profession needs to appear impartial and above the fray, he appears to feel that there's no need whatsoever for the public to believe that candidates for, say, president of the United States, aren't being swayed by rich donors."

Lyle Denniston of ScotusBlog: "What appears to be a clear majority of the Court has grown frustrated with the repeated constitutional assaults on the death penalty, especially since that penalty is still constitutionally permitted. That frustration almost boiled over as the Court heard the case of Glossip v. Gross." ...

... Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Anger spilled from the nine justices from both sides of the court's ideological divide. The more conservative wing vented their disapproval at those they called 'abolitionists' who they accused of trying to overturn the death penalty by stealth, while the more liberal judges attacked states such as Oklahoma for using a new drug protocol that had left prisoners 'writhing in pain' in executions that took up to two hours to complete.... 'If there's no method of executing a person that does not cause pain, that may show the death penalty is not consistent with the eighth amendment,' [Justice Breyer] said."

June's gonna be a nice time for a gay wedding. -- Jon Stewart

... CW: Also, too, it was pretty clever of the states opposing marriage equality to choose a gay man to argue their case. (Yeah, I know he's married to a woman & has five children for added window-dressing. But he is still gay-gay-gay-diddy-gay.) Please, Supremes, free John Birch Bursch. (But make him pay child support.) ...

... Linda Greenhouse: U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli explains to the Supremes why "wait-and-see" is just another way of validating the "house-divided" status for gays which racial minorities enduring for generations under "de jure racial segregation" in some states.

Margaret Hartmann of New York: "Two nights after Baltimore was burned and looted by rioters, the city's curfew appears to be working. National Guardsmen and police in riot gear were stationed through the city once again, but at 10:00 p.m. only a few stragglers were still out. Members of the community were credited with helping clear the streets, averting clashes with police. 'We are very proud of what has happened here tonight. We are proud of our city,' said Congressman Elijah Cummings. Earlier on Wednesday evening, protesters across the country turned out by the thousands to express their outrage over the death of Freddie Gray, and other victims of police brutality. Massive demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Boston, and Minneapolis were peaceful, but a march in New York ended with the arrest of more than 60 protesters." ...

... Jason Molinet, et al., of the New York Daily News: "Protesters jammed Union Square and clashed with NYPD officers as they marched through the streets of New York City in solidarity with Baltimore activists Wednesday night, briefly shutting down the Holland Tunnel and snarling traffic along the West Side Highway - resulting in at least 100 arrests. What began as a small gathering at Union Square around 6 p.m. swelled to more than 1,000 people, many holding 'Justice 4 Freddie Gray' placards while chanting 'Black Lives Matter' and continued into the early hours Thursday." ...

... Today in Blame-the-Victim News. Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "A prisoner sharing a police transport van with Freddie Gray told investigators that he could hear Gray 'banging against the walls' of the vehicle and believed that he 'was intentionally trying to injure himself,' according to a police document obtained by The Washington Post." CW: Will consume Fox "News" coverage for days. ...

... Adam Chandler of the Atlantic: "Jayne Miller, a reporter for WBAL-TV, disputed the prisoner's claims on Twitter. She argues that Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts told her the second prisoner in the police van said Gray had been 'mostly quiet' during the ride and there had been 'no evidence' of Gray banging his head against the van." ...

... In a discussion with Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC, Miller cites her own reporting that completely debunks the claim. "The second prisoner is ony in the van for the last five minutes of the ride..., a full 30 minutes after Gray was loaded in the van." ...

... Blame-the-Victim, Ctd. Mark Puente & Doug Donovan of the Baltimore Sun: "Online reports are swirling that Freddie Gray had spinal surgery shortly before he died in police custody, and had collected a payout in a settlement from a car accident. Those reports -- which raise questions about the injury that led to his death in April 19 --; point to Howard County court records as proof. But court records examined Wednesday by The Baltimore Sun show the case had nothing to do with a car accident or a spine injury. Instead, they are connected to a lawsuit alleging that Gray and his sister were injured by exposure to lead paint." ...

... Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post: "Before his controversial death earlier this month while in police custody..., the life of Freddie Gray was defined by failures in the classroom, run-ins with the law, and an inability to focus on anything for very long. Many of those problems began when he was a child and living in [a] house [with pealing lead paint], according to a 2008 lead poisoning lawsuit filed by Gray and his siblings against the property owner, which resulted in an undisclosed settlement.... Advocates and studies say [lead poisoning] can diminish cognitive function, increase aggression and ultimately exacerbate the cycle of poverty that is already exceedingly difficult to break.... The burden weighs heaviest on the poorestcommunities like the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood in West Baltimore that produced Freddie Gray." ...

... See Keith Howard's comment in today's thread. ...

... Charles Blow: "We can't roundly condemn violent revolt now while ignoring the violent revolts that have littered this country's history. We can't rush to label violent protesters as 'thugs' while reserving judgment about the violence of police killings until a full investigation has been completed and all the facts are in." Thanks to safari for the link.

Dana Milbank: "The Civil War era's 14th Amendment, granting automatic citizenship to any baby born on American soil, is a proud achievement of the Party of Lincoln. But now House Republicans are talking about abolishing birthright citizenship. A House Judiciary subcommittee took up the question Wednesday afternoon, prompted by legislation sponsored by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and 22 other lawmakers that, after nearly 150 years, would end automatic citizenship." Read the whole column.

Donald McNeil of the New York Times: "Rubella, a disease with terrible consequences for unborn children, has finally been eliminated from the Americas, a scientific panel set up by global health authorities announced on Wednesday. The disease, also known as German measles, once infected millions of people in the Western Hemisphere. In a 1964-65 outbreak in the United States, 11,000 fetuses were miscarried, died in the womb or were aborted, and 20,000 babies were born with defects."

Nicholas Kulich & Nicola Clark of the New York Times: "The Federal Aviation Administration raised questions in 2010 about whether it should grant a pilot's license in the United States to Andreas Lubitz, who in March flew a Germanwings jetliner into a French mountainside, but was assured by his doctors in Germany that he had fully recovered from an episode of depression the year before, according to newly released documents.... The release of the information, in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from news organizations, helps to fill in gaps in the timeline of Mr. Lubitz's illness and treatment.... There is also evidence suggesting that Mr. Lubitz might have tried to mislead the F.A.A. about his treatment, initially marking 'no' in response to a question on whether he had ever been treated for mental disorders on a form dated June 2010. Referring to a question number on the form, the file notes, 'changed from N to Y.'"

Presidential Race

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, announced Thursday that he was running for president as a Democrat, injecting a progressive voice into the contest and providing Hillary Rodham Clinton with her first official challenger for the party's nomination.... Mr. Sanders issued a statement to supporters that laid out his goals for reducing income inequality, addressing climate change and scaling back the influence of money in politics." ...

... Here's Sanders' interview with the AP's Dave Gram.

Mike McIntire & Jo Becker of the New York Times: "Aides to former President Bill Clinton helped start a Canadian charity that effectively shielded the identities of donors who gave more than $33 million that went to his foundation, despite a pledge of transparency when Hillary Rodham Clinton became secretary of state. The nonprofit, the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership (Canada), operates in parallel to a Clinton Foundation project called the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, which is expressly named in an agreement Mrs. Clinton signed to make all donors public while she led the State Department. However, the foundation maintains that the Canadian partnership is not bound by that agreement and that under Canadian law contributors' names cannot be made public."

Amy Chozick & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "In an unusually impassioned speech, Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a pointed assessment of race in America on Wednesday, lamenting the recent deaths of young black men and calling for overhauling the 'out-of-balance' criminal justice system on display on the smoke-filled streets of Baltimore. In her first major policy speech since announcing her presidential run, Mrs. Clinton spoke forcefully about the damage done, ticking off the names of the unarmed African-American men who have died at the hands of white police officers in recent months." ...

... Video & the transcript of Clinton's speech is here. ...

... Elias Isquith of Salon: Aside from the fact that she failed to mention that her husband -- and Joe Biden -- "contributed to the mass incarceration she decried in her speech..., those who want to see criminal justice reform and inequality at the center of her campaign have reason to be optimistic.... She consistently tied ... policy tweaks to a broader theme of economic inequality, describing 'talk about smart policing and reforming the criminal justice system' as worthless unless paired with 'talk about what's needed to provide economic opportunity.'"

Frank Rich on various topics, beginning with Baltimore. Rich takes a moment to whack Li'l Randy: "Then we have Rand Paul, who in an interview with the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham yesterday, joked that he was 'glad the train didn't stop' in Baltimore when he passed through it this week. Remember Rand Paul? This is the one Republican presidential hopeful who has been making a point of reaching out to African-Americans. He doesn't seem to realize that not stopping in Baltimore is exactly the problem for him and his peers." ...

... Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times: "Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator and political aspirant, for instance, chose an interview with the Republican radio host Laura Ingraham the other night to show that he has a) no taste, b) no sense of humor and c) nothing useful to add to the discussion of race.... Mr. Paul's witless joke demonstrates that he's simply not prepared to take on national leadership. Hiding in a moving rail car is not anything remotely like an adequate response to the Baltimore mess from someone who wants to be president."

Beyond the Beltway

Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: "The board of the [New York City] Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted on Wednesday to ban political advertising on New York City subways and buses to avoid the legal challenges it had faced after rejecting some ads with political messages.... The vote followed a lively debate over free speech as dissenting board members and advocacy groups argued that the transit system was a public space that should be a forum for debating political issues.... The change came a week after a federal judge ordered the authority to display an ad produced by a pro-Israel group that the authority argued could be interpreted as a call to violence."

News Lede

Guardian: "A Nasa spacecraft crashed into the planet Mercury on Thursday, ending its four-year mission to explore the planet by creating a new crater on its surface. Out of fuel after more than a decade in space, the robotic Messenger probe slammed into the planet at about 3.26pm ET, on the far side of Mercury and out of sight of telescopes."