The Commentariat -- March 28, 2016

Afternoon Update:

How Do You Say "Keystone Kops" in Flemish? Andrew Higgins & Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "The Belgian authorities on Monday conceded another enormous blunder in their investigation into the attacks last week on Brussels. They freed a man they had charged with terrorism and murder, acknowledging that he had been mistakenly identified as a bomber in a dark hat and white coat in an airport surveillance photo. The man, who was arrested on Thursday and charged on Friday, was released after three days in custody, during which some officials publicly vilified him as a terrorist. On Monday, the police said that the real attacker remained at large and they issued a new plea to the public to help identify one of the men who blew up a departures area at Brussels Airport."

Margaret Hartmann explains Trump's threatened to sue, well, somebody in Louisiana: "Donald Trump has been facing many unfair challenges in his quest for the GOP presidential nomination, from Establishment plots to derail his candidacy to shadowy forces that set the delegate requirement at the 'arbitrary number' of 1,237 (also known as math). Now the front-runner has vowed to fight back, after being cruelly robbed of ten delegates thanks to Louisiana's primary rules.... Of course, a winner like Trump has no use for that kind of logic. Everyone knows America's primary process isn't great, and threatening frivolous lawsuits is Trump's preferred method of fixing things."

Charles Pierce makes mincemeat of Nicholas Kristof. I couldn't agree more. I realize Kristof was off in Afghanistan or somewhere when several decades ago I was reading -- in MSM, BTW, not in the Daily Worker -- about the grotesque income disparity that was growing in the U.S. Now to pretend, as Kristof does, that no one in the MSM was fact-checking Trump or challenging his trumped-up Trumpisms is a de facto admission that one is not even reading the NYT editorial pages, much less most of the other mainstream outlets.

Jack Holmes of Esquire: Secretary of John Kerry says leaders of other countries are "shocked" by the American "circus of campaigning" wherein certain unnamed presidential candidates are talking "about banning Muslim immigrants..., surveilling Muslim neighborhoods and also water-boarding."k

Krugman has more on trade deficits in a blogpost.

*****

CW: If, like me, you are a bit hazy on the fundamentals of international trade, Irwin & Krugman are mighty helpful. I think I'd start with Irwin (I did, only because the Times published it earlier), because he's willing to write in terms that even Trump could understand -- if Trump ever heeded the advice of anyone other than himself. But, as he says, he doesn't.

** "Cutting the Trade Deficit Won't Make America Great Again." Neil Irwin of the New York Times explains macroeconomics to Donald (& Bernie): "Trade deficits are not inherently good or bad; they can be either, depending on circumstances. The trade deficit is not a scorecard.... In fact, trying to eliminate the trade deficit could mean giving up some of the key levers of power that allow the United States to get its way in international politics.... The choice is stark: A country running a trade surplus must either let its currency rise or let money flow back to its trading partners.... Money flowing into a country [-- the country with the trade deficit --] is usually considered a good thing.... Part of what makes the United States powerful is the great importance of the dollar to global finance. And part of the price the United States pays for that status is a stronger currency and higher trade deficits than would be the case otherwise." ...

... CW: In fairness to Bernie, I think he's more interested in what's in the trade agreements & how the deals will affect American workers, not in the size of the trade deficits they may maintain or increase. As Krugman explained a while back, modern "trade agreements" are mostly about intellectual property rights & international dispute settlements. ...

... Paul Krugman: "... the Democratic nominee won't have to engage in saber-rattling over trade. She ... will, rightly, express skepticism about future trade deals, but she will be able to address the problems of working families without engaging in irresponsible trash talk about the world trade system. The Republican nominee won't.... If you're generally a supporter of open world markets -- which you should be, mainly because market access is so important to poor countries -- you need to know that whatever they may say, politicians who espouse rigid free-market ideology are not on your side." ...

     ... Jack Mahoney has an excellent comment on Krugman's column, but I don't know how to isolate it, so you'll have to hunt it down.

... CW: All that aside, the most jarring thing for me in Krugman's piece is his lede: "There's a lot of things about the 2016 election that nobody saw coming...." There is? I would have said "there are," even though I acknowledge "a lot" is singular as a stand-alone term. So I went to grammarly, where I got an answer that made me feel better (link fixed).

"Interesting Times." Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "As the Republican Party collapses on itself, conservative leaders struggling to explain Mr. Trump's appeal have largely seized on his unique qualities as a candidate.... But the story is also one of a party elite that abandoned its most faithful voters, blue-collar white Americans, who faced economic pain and uncertainty over the past decade as the party's donors, lawmakers and lobbyists prospered.... While wages declined and workers grew anxious about retirement, Republicans offered an economic program still centered on tax cuts for the affluent and the curtailing of popular entitlements [CW: Grrrr!] like Medicare and Social Security." CW: Quite a good autopsy of the Republican party, even though Confessore doesn't explain why Trump's positions on immigration & trade are, among other things, stoopid. (See also Nate Cohn's post, linked below.)

... CW: To me, the most challenging job for Democrats is to explain why those policies are stoopid. I don't think the presidential candidates, much less most down-ballot candidates, are up to it. For one thing, it can't be done in sound bytes. When they try, as Clinton did in Ohio, they bungle it. This is the quote that stuck: "We're going to put a lot of coal companies and coal miners out of business." Her overall message was excellent. As Tim McDonnell of Mother Jones wrote, "That comment was immediately preceded by a promise to invest in the clean-energy economy in those places, and immediately followed by a pledge to 'make it clear that we don't want to forget those people.'" Besides, those coal miners would be much better off making solar panels in a nice, clean, well-lit factory than working underground in unsafe mines. ...

... Greg Sargent: "There is a lot of talk about how Ryan and Trump now represent warring opposites inside the GOP, and that's true. But if anything, what this polarity really illustrates is the paralysis of GOP elites in the face of Trumpism's appeal. Not even clever Luntzian messaging may be able to bail them out this time. Trump is peddling a scam, but at least it's a new scam."

E. J. Dionne: "In November, one of the most contentious campaigns in our history could end in a catastrophe for our democracy. A major culprit would be the U.S. Supreme Court, and specifically the conservative majority that gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013.... Before the Supreme Court undermined Voting Rights Act enforcement, radical changes in voting practices such as Maricopa's drastic cut in the number of polling places [in heavily minority/Democratic-leaning areas only] would have been required to be cleared with the Justice Department.... Arizona has shown us what could happen. We have seven months to prevent what really could be an electoral cataclysm." Thanks, Supremes!

Nick Gass of Politico: Fidel "Castro ripped into [President Obama] ... in El Granma, the official state newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, bringing up Obama's relative youth, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the role of both countries in ending the apartheid in South Africa and elsewhere...." When he was in Cuba, Obama did not meet with Fidel.

Presidential Race

Del Wilber of the Los Angeles Times: "Federal prosecutors investigating the possible mishandling of classified materials on Hillary Clinton's private email server have begun the process of setting up formal interviews with some of her longtime and closest aides, according to two people familiar with the probe, an indication that the inquiry is moving into its final phases. Those interviews and the final review of the case, however, could still take many weeks, all but guaranteeing that the investigation will continue to dog Clinton's presidential campaign through most, if not all, of the remaining presidential primaries." ...

I Want My Blackberry!... Hubris of the Luddite. Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton's email problems began in her first days as secretary of state. She insisted on using her personal BlackBerry for all her email communications, but she wasn't allowed to take the device into her seventh-floor suite of offices, a secure space known as Mahogany Row.... From the earliest days, Clinton aides and senior officials focused intently on accommodating the secretary's desire to use her private email account.... Throughout, they paid insufficient attention to laws and regulations governing the handling of classified material and the preservation of government records, interviews and documents show. They also neglected repeated warnings about the security of the BlackBerry while Clinton and her closest aides took obvious security risks in using the basement server [in the Clinton home in Chappaqua, N.Y]." ...

... CW: There are reasons for governmental rules & protocols. While sometimes those reasons are questionable or have become outdated, in this case they appear to have been well-justified. Clinton used her position as top dog to break those rules, & it has come back to haunt her in a way that could devastate the country if she loses the general election to Donald Trump because of her obstinacy. grandeur & unwillingness to adapt to the requirements of her job. Yesterday, I mentioned at a dinner party that Hillary had shortcomings, & the first thing one Democrat said was, "Yeah, the emails." Be assured she would pull similar dumb moves when everybody was calling her "Madame President." (Needless to say, President Trump would be many times worse than she in this regard.)

Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont challenged Hillary Clinton on Sunday to a debate in New York before the state's primary on April 19 and expressed concern that Mrs. Clinton might not debate him now that she is far ahead in the race to win the Democratic nomination." ...

... Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times on covering Bernie: "Unlike our colleagues, especially those who cover Hillary Clinton, we in the Sanders press corps rarely lack access to the candidate."

I'll sue your ass if you're mean to me!Wilborn Nobles of the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "Donald Trump threatened on Sunday (March 27) to file a lawsuit over the number of convention delegates he's being awarded in Louisiana following the state's presidential primary. In a tweet, he said he won the state but will 'get less delegates than Cruz-Lawsuit coming.' The Wall Street Journal, however, reported that Cruz might ultimately get 'as many as 10 more delegates' from Louisiana than Trump.... [Trump garnered the most votes in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary ... with 41.4 percent of the vote, beating Sen. Ted Cruz, who received 37.8 percent.... While they each earned 18 delegates on election night, the five delegates previously awarded to Marco Rubio are now up for grabs -- and the Wall Street Journal said they're expected to back Cruz. In addition, the state has five other delegates who are free to back whichever candidate they want, and are also more likely to support Cruz." ...

     ... @danpfeiffer replies: "He should sue his own campaign for not knowing some of the basics of delegate rules" Via Politico. CW: Dan Pfeiffer was President Obama's chief communications guy.

Nicki Rossoll & Jessica Harper of ABC News: "Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump blamed rival Ted Cruz for starting a spat leading up to a report in the National Enquirer claiming 'political operatives' are looking into rumors that the Texas senator had multiple marital infidelities.... 'I had nothing to do with it. The campaign had absolutely nothing to do with it,' Trump told ABC's Jonathan Karl on 'This Week' Sunday.... In an appearance on Fox News, Cruz said he doesn't believe that Trump had no involvement in the story's publication.... The National Enquirer allegations have not been confirmed by ABC News."

Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "There are clear stylistic differences between Trump, who tends to call anyone who disagrees with him stupid, weak, or disgusting, and Cruz, who, with a pitying smile, questions dissenters' motives, decency, and patriotism.... The party that talks loudest about American exceptionalism has given us a cast of characters that would be perfectly unexceptional in any backwater oligarchy. What the G.O.P. offers is a choice between two kinds of demagogues: one who insinuates and one who shouts."

Nobody Likes Him, Everybody Hates Him, Guess They'll Endorse Him if They Must. Jonathan Martin & Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "As [Ted] Cruz seeks to unite the disparate factions of the Republican Party that are bonded only by their dead-set opposition to Donald J. Trump, a high-wire act is required: welcoming the top ranks of the same establishment he has spent years excoriating while not abandoning the hard-line conservatives who like him in part because of his attacks on party leaders."

Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "... this year, blue-state Republicans have abandoned the establishment for Donald J. Trump. So far, Mr. Trump has won every non-caucus contest in a state carried by Barack Obama in 2012, with the exception of John Kasich's home state, Ohio.... Mr. Trump's blue-state appeal is a little hard to explain. It's well established that he fares best among less educated voters. Yet his strongest performance ... [was] in Massachusetts, a famously liberal state, where he won 49 percent of Republican voters. His appeal in historically Democratic areas is a reflection of strength among new Republicans -- whether they be white Southerners or white Roman Catholics and working-class voters in the North.... There is evidence both anecdotal and statistical that racism was another factor in the shift of some of these voters to the Republican Party." ...

... CW: Is this a fair statement? Ninety-nine & 44/100ths percent of people who vote for Donald Trump are  pure racists.

Marco's Secret Slush Fund. Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "Marco Rubio's campaign is dead. His secret-money legacy lives on. No presidential candidate fighting for their party's nomination has ever benefited from as much undisclosed cash, and watchdogs worry the pro-Rubio group's unchecked activity serves as a dangerous precedent that will soon become common practice. 'It is now the model for a how a candidate can inject unlimited, secret, corrupting money into their campaigns to benefit their election,' said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a campaign watchdog group. 'That is precisely the kind of model that we do not need in America.'"CW: Thanks, Supremes!

Driftglass on the No-Labels cult of both-siderism. Wait till you get to the part that inspired today's rant. CW: And a reminder of why Al Gore lost the presidential race, one which has nothing to do with Ralph Nader. No, one cannot blame Nader for Joe Lieberman; Gore did that all by himself.

Beyond the Beltway

WOW! Greg Bluestein of the Atlantia Journal-Constitution: "Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday vetoed the 'religious liberty' bill that triggered a wave of criticism from gay rights groups and business leaders and presented him with one of the most consequential challenges he's faced since his election to Georgia's top office. In a press conference at the state Capitol, Deal said House Bill 757 doesn't reflect Georgia's welcoming image as a state full of 'warm, friendly and loving people' -- and warned critics that he doesn't respond well to threats of payback for rejecting the measure.... A steady stream of corporate titans ... urged him to veto the bill -- and threatened to pull investments from Georgia if it became law."

Christians Gone Wild. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "An Easter egg hunt hosted by Pez [in Orange, Connecticut,] turned into a shoving match on Saturday when greedy parents 'rushed the field' and allegedly left some children hurt.... General Manager Shawn Peterson insisted that Pez staff tried to enforce the starting times, but said that the parents were 'kind of like locusts.'" CW: Luckily, the Secret Service will be around for today's Easter egg roll at the White House.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." -- Matthew 19:13, New International Version

Jesus said, "Let the little children fend for themselves, and stay out of our way or we shall deck them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these, but the earth belongs to the strongest among us." -- Matthew 19:13, New Connecticut Version

Way Beyond

Salman Masood of the New York Times: "A powerful blast ripped through a public park in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Sunday evening, killing at least 69 people and wounding around 300, including many children, rescue workers and officials said. The blast, which appeared to be caused by a suicide bomber, occurred in a parking lot at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, one of the largest parks in Lahore, said Haider Ashraf, a senior police official in Lahore." ...

... Shashank Bengali of the Los Angeles Times: "A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, which it said was aimed at Christians celebrating the Easter holiday. Pakistan, an overwhelmingly Muslim nation, has a small Christian minority. Officials said they had not confirmed if Christians were the target." ...

... Shaiq Hussain & Erin Cunningham of the Washington Post: "The death toll in a devastating suicide attack on picnicking families in the city of Lahore rose to 72, with another 230 injured, local media reports said Monday, as Pakistani authorities vowed to hunt down the Islamist militant bombers who claimed they specifically targeted Christians on Easter Sunday."

Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: The Belgian prison system "has become a breeding ground for violent Muslim extremists. Many of those involved in the Paris and Brussels attacks first did short stints behind bars for relatively petty crimes. And there these wayward young people met proselytizers and appear to have acquired a new, lethal sense of purpose.... For the past year, Belgium's Ministry of Justice has been planning to change a prison system widely seen as a school for radicals."

News Lede

AP: "After Syrian government forces recaptured Palmyra from the Islamic State group, Syrian antiquities experts said Monday they were deeply shocked by the destruction the extremists had carried out inside the town museum, with scores of priceless relics and statues demolished."

The Commentariat -- March 27, 2016

Presidential Race

Primary Results -- Democrats

Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders handily defeated Hillary Clinton on Saturday in the Washington State and Alaska caucuses, infusing his underdog campaign with critical momentum and bolstering his argument that the race for the Democratic nomination is not a foregone conclusion. Mr. Sanders found a welcome tableau in the largely white and liberal electorates of the Pacific Northwest...." ...

... Lisa Lerer of the AP: "Bernie Sanders has scored three wins in Western caucus contests, giving a powerful psychological boost to his supporters but doing little to move him closer to securing the Democratic nomination. While results in Washington, Alaska and Hawaii barely dented Hillary Clinton's significant delegate lead, Sanders' wins underscored her persistent vulnerabilities within her own party, particularly with young voters and liberal activists who have been inspired by her rival's unapologetically liberal message."

Alaska. With 100 percent reporting, Sanders won with 82 percent of the caucus vote. Clinton received 18 percent.

Hawaii. With 88 percent reporting, the AP has called the race for Sanders, who so far has 71 percent of the caucus vote. Clinton has 29 percent. With 100 percent counted, the totals are Sanders 70, Clinton 30.

Washington State. With 100 percent reporting, Sanders won with 73 percent of the caucus vote. Clinton received 27 percent.

David Sanger & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times interviewed Donald Trump for 100 minutes about foreign policy issues. They attempt to synthensize Trump's views: "In Donald Trump's worldview, America comes first and everybody else pays.... Mr. Trump explained his thoughts in concrete and easily digestible terms, but they appeared to reflect little consideration for potential consequences around the globe. Much the same way he treats political rivals and interviewers, he personalized how he would engage foreign nations, suggesting his approach would depend partly on 'how friendly they've been toward us,' not just on national interests or alliances." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The reporters provide a summary, or "highlights," of the interview here. The full, edited transcript is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)...

... CW: Trump has found a clever way to avoid answering questions about international policy where he has no idea whatsoever: "I wouldn't want to say. I wouldn't want them to know what my real thinking is." Well, it beats, "And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I'm going to say, you know, I don't know. Do you know?" Trump is on his way to winning the nomination, & who knows where Herman Cain is now? Don't tell me Republican voters aren't discerning. BTW, if you think Trump speaks like a 7th-grader because he is aware that's the best way to reach the great unwashed to whom he appeals, forget that. He uses just about the same level of language & lack of nuance when speaking to David Sanger, a highly-knowledgeable international policy reporter. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Devil in a Blue Suit. Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "On Saturday night, just as every year on the day before Easter, Mexicans gathered on street-corners and church squares to celebrate the holy week and set fire to their Judases, a popular ritual in this heavily Catholic country. Those demons are typically forked-tongue devils and flaming dragons, and often, like this ear, reviled politicians.... [This year], that would be Donald J. Trump. (J for Judas?)... All this Judas burning is a symbolic way to destroy evil, a night of catharsis by way of pyrotechnics. The ceremonies take place across Mexico, a symbolic way to destroy evil before Easter." ...

... Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta "says GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are 'irresponsible,' 'dangerous' and a risk to national security.... Panetta, who has endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, went after the GOP candidates after remarks they made in the wake of the Brussels terrorist attacks this week. 'Both Trump and Cruz's approaches are the kind of shoot-from-the-hip slogans that demonstrate what I fear is stunning lack of knowledge about national security and fundamental values,' Panetta said during a conference call with reporters Friday, according to ABC News."

Other News & Views

Breakthrough! GOP Senators Tentatively Agree to Do a Teeny Part of Their Jobs. Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "Senate Republicans and the White House are signaling a tentative point of agreement on a key part of President Obama's Supreme Court nomination process: the nominee questionnaire.... Traditionally, the Senate Judiciary Committee sends a personalized questionnaire for Supreme Court nominees to the White House. This time, the White House has not received one from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democratic member of the committee. Nonetheless, on Friday evening, Grassley's spokesperson, Beth Levine, told BuzzFeed News that the Republicans 'assume the administration will fill out the standard questionnaire submitted for judicial nominations.'" CW: Yes, we'll all excited that the Senate may allow the White House to fill out a form.

Nabih Bulos, et al., of the Los Angeles Times, in the Chicago Tribune: "Syrian militias armed by different parts of the U.S. war machine have begun to fight each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, highlighting how little control U.S. intelligence officers and military planners have over the groups they have financed and trained in the bitter 5-year-old civil war. The fighting has intensified over the past two months, as CIA-armed units and Pentagon-armed ones have repeatedly shot at each other as they have maneuvered through contested territory on the northern outskirts of Aleppo, U.S. officials and rebel leaders have confirmed." CW: What we need right now is for President Cruz to get in there & carpet-bomb them all. Sorry, innocent bystanders. You see, there are easy answers.

Stephanie Goodman of the New York Times: "Facing a storm of criticism over its plan to show a documentary about the widely debunked link between vaccines and autism, the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday pulled the film from its schedule next month. In a statement, Robert De Niro, a founder of the festival, wrote: 'My intent in screening this film was to provide an opportunity for conversation around an issue that is deeply personal to me and my family. But after reviewing it over the past few days with the Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific community, we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for.' The film, 'Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,' was directed and co-written by Andrew Wakefield, the author of a study that was published in the British medical journal The Lancet and then retracted in 2010. Mr. Wakefield's medical license was also revoked over his failure to disclose financial conflicts of interest and ethics violations."

Beyond the Beltway

John Myers & Liam Dillon of the Los Angeles Times: California "Lawmakers and labor unions have struck a tentative deal to raise the statewide minimum wage to $10.50 an hour next year and then gradually to $15, averting a costly political campaign this fall and possibly putting California at the forefront of a national movement. The deal was confirmed Saturday afternoon by sources close to the negotiations who would speak only on condition of anonymity until Gov. Jerry Brown makes a formal announcement as early as Monday."

Ian Lovett of the New York Times: "When the University of California's Board of Regents unanimously adopted a statement condemning anti-Semitism on its campuses, it became the first public university system to do so since the push for economic boycotts of Israel emerged on campuses across the nation. But the measure -- an attempt to combat hostility toward Jewish students amid this growing opposition to Israel -- softened a proposed flat-out condemnation of anti-Zionism, or opposition to the creation of a Jewish state."

Sarah Posner in the Washington Post: "The South Carolina Senate on Thursday passed a controversial bill targeting refugees in the state, prompting concern that it may portend a wave of anti-refugee legislation around the country, particularly in the tense climate following the terrorist attacks in Brussels. The bill, if passed by the South Carolina House and signed into law by Gov. Nikki Haley, would require refugees' sponsors to register them in a database maintained by the state's Department of Social Services. It would also impose strict liability on a refugee's sponsor if the refugee, at some point in the future, commits a terrorist or criminal act." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... CW: I'd like to be a confederate so I could sit up nights thinking up draconian, repressive bills to punish minorities & women. Still, I'm not sure my best efforts could have dreamed up this one, which aims not to punish any miscreant refuges but the likely kindhearted people who took them in. Of course the idea of the legislation is to intimidate the kindhearted to the point that they fear helping others. Welcome to Right Wing World. Next stop, Trumpsylvania.

Neither Rain nor Sleet nor Snow -- But Cops. Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: Four New York City plainclothes policemen cuffed & placed in an unmarked car Glen Grays, a black USPS worker. They left his postal truck unattended. Cellphone "footage was released this week by Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, who said Grays had been 'carrying out his normal duties' as a mail carrier when he got out of his truck and 'a vehicle passed by him, almost striking him. He made comments to the vehicle, as any New Yorker would,' Adams said at a news conference Wednesday. 'The occupants of the vehicle [-- the plainclothesmen --] stopped, backed up when he was crossing the street delivering the package.'... Grays, who said he was issued a summons for disorderly conduct, is engaged to a New York police officer.... Adams ... said that after the police vehicle drove away, it rear-ended another car and that Grays, who wasn't placed in a seatbelt, was injured in the crash." CW: New York's finest are there to protect & serve, people. If, in the course of a half-hour one of them happens to nearly kill a pedestrian, then rear-end a vehicle, well, you know, driving in NYC is a bitch.

Florida's Pro-Cancer Law. New York: "Florida is the latest state to effectively defund Planned Parenthood and enact stricter regulations on abortion providers. Florida had already cut off any state funding for actual abortions, so this law went after preventive care provided by abortion-performing organizations. Essentially this means women who need things like cancer screenings, pap smears, and birth control, cannot seek it from providers like Planned Parenthood, which says it serves 67,000 women in Florida each year. During discussion of the bill in the state senate, the law's proponents provided a list of alternative places Florida women could seek providers, most of which turned out to be medical professionals, like dentists, who had no particular expertise with women's health." CW: Need a pelvic exam, dear? Ask the dentist. ...

... Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Yes, it's a war on women."

CW: Unless you're a rich, white, straight, Christian guy, the only parts of the country where the government might be on your side are on the coasts, West & Northeast. Even there, you'd better watch out. Ask Glen Grays about that.

Way Beyond

NEW. Griff Witte, et al., of the Washington Post: "The investigation into last week's deadly attacks in Brussels extended farther across Europe on Sunday after Italian police arrested a new suspect thought to have helped Islamic State militants slip into Western Europe unnoticed. Italian police said late Saturday that they had arrested an Algerian man suspected of providing several Islamic State supporters with false identification documents, allowing them to evade authorities as they plotted attacks in Belgium and France."

NEW. Tim Arango of the New York Times: "The indictment of a prominent Turkish businessman unsealed last week has made an unlikely hero of a man most Turks had never heard of: Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, who brought the charges against the tycoon, Reza Zarrab. In recent days, as news of Mr. Zarrab's arrest circulated [in Turkey], Mr. Bharara became a social media sensation among Turks who have increasingly lost confidence in the independence of their country's institutions, particularly the judiciary, after a Tuesday morning post on Twitter: 'Reza Zarrab to soon face American justice in a Manhattan courtroom.'... Mr. Zarrab, a flamboyant gold trader who is married to a Turkish pop star, was once a constant in the gossip pages of [Istanbul]'s newspapers. He became a household name in Turkey in late 2013 when a corruption inquiry became public with dawn police raids against Mr. Zarrab, several other businessmen and the sons of three cabinet ministers."

Albert Aji of the AP: "Government forces backed by Russian airstrikes drove Islamic State fighters from Palmyra on Sunday, state media and an opposition monitoring group said, ending the group's reign of terror over a town whose famed 2,000-year-old ruins once attracted tens of thousands of visitors. Government forces had been on the offensive for nearly three weeks to try to retake the central town, which fell to the extremists last May. Their advance marks the latest setback suffered by IS, which has come under mounting pressure on several fronts in Iraq and Syria."

Michael Birnbaum & Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "Belgian authorities announced Saturday that they had charged a man in connection with this week's suicide bombings, saying they believe he participated in the attacks. Two others were also charged with terrorism-related offenses. The man, identified by a European official as Fayçal Cheffou, appeared before a judge after he was detained Thursday night while sitting in a car in front of the Belgian prosecutor's office.... Prosecutors did not say whether Cheffou -- whom they identified only as 'Fayçal C.' -- was the third man [in the airport surveillance videos circulated after the attacks]. Belgium's Le Soir newspaper reported that he was, citing an unidentified source...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

Washington Post: "An American airlines pilot was arrested Saturday on the runway as shocked passengers looked on after he failed a breathalyzer test at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Flight 736, scheduled to leave Detroit about 7 a.m. en route to Philadelphia, was immediately canceled, according to ABC affiliate WXYZ. A transportation security agent was the first person to spot the pilot acting suspiciously, the station reported. Minutes before the flight was to take off, airport police were called."

Yiddish Curses For Jews Who Vote Republican

Ophelia M. passed along the following in Saturday's Comments. She got it from a friend, which is one of the ways the jokes have found their way into the light. Before republishing Ophelia's comment, I looked for the jokes' provenance. They seem to have many mothers & fathers, all of them anonymous. Paul Krugman published a few lines some while back, along with a link to others, but Krugman's "original" got disappeared. So thanks to Ophelia & all you Anonymous Wits. And Curses, Republicans! -- Constant Weader

May you be reunited in the world to come with your ancestors, who were all socialist garment workers.

May you have a large store, and have it all dismantled by vulture capitalists.

May you grow so rich that your widow’s second husband is thrilled they repealed the estate tax.

May you feast every day on chopped liver with onions, chicken soup with dumplings, baked carp with horseradish, braised meat with vegetable stew & latkes, and may every bite of it be contaminated with E. Coli, because the government gutted the E.P.A.

May you sell everything and retire to Florida just as global warming makes it uninhabitable.

May you have a rare disease and need an operation that only one surgeon in the world, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, is able to perform. And may he be unable to perform it because he doesn’t take your insurance. And may that Nobel Laureate be your son.

May your state outlaw the morning-after pill the day before your daughter returns home from the NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth) convention.

May your son be elected President, and may you have no idea what you did with his goddamn birth certificate.

May the state of Arizona expand their definition of 'suspected illegal immigrants' to 'anyone who doesn't hunt.'

May you live to a hundred and twenty without Social Security or Medicare.

May you grow like an onion with your head in the ground, and then may that ground be fracked.

May you make a fortune, and lose it all in one of Sheldon Adelson's casinos.

May your child give his Bar Mitzvah speech on the genius of Ayn Rand.

May your insurance company decide constipation is a pre-existing condition.

May God give you a daughter-in-law who is as kind as she is beautiful, as patient as she is rich, as wise as she is devoted: a virtuous woman in every way. And then may a ballot initiative invalidate her marriage to your Rebecca.

May the secretary you're schtupping depend on Planned Parenthood for her birth control.