The Commentariat -- Sept. 3, 2014

Internal links, graphic removed.

Julie Pace of the AP: "Mounting a show of solidarity with NATO allies, President Barack Obama announced plans Wednesday to send more Air Force units and aircraft to the Baltics, as he sought to reassure nations on edge over Russia's aggression in Ukraine. With Moscow supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, NATO allies such as Estonia fear they could be the next target, and Obama's one-day visit to Estonia was designed to emphasize the U.S. commitment to defending its allies and ramp up consequences for Russian President Vladimir Putin." ...

... Eli Lake of the Daily Beast: "With Russian forces entering into Ukraine, NATO is putting together a plan to place the alliance's troops in bases behind the former Iron Curtain.... Officially, however, the Obama administration has gone to great pains to explain that the proposed outposts in these eastern European countries are not bases, per se.... The debate over the bases -- or 'persistent rotational presence,' if you must -- is part of a larger discussion with the NATO alliance and the Washington policy-making establishment over how to deter Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Also on the table: a new, NATO quick-reaction force and new legislation, being prepared by a leading U.S. senator [Mark Kirk (R-Ill.], that would amount to an economic nuclear bomb against the Russian federation." ...

... Julie Pace: "President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the United States will not be intimidated by Islamic State militants after the beheading of a second American journalist and will build a coalition to 'degrade and destroy' the group. Obama still did not give a timeline for deciding on a strategy to go after the extremist group's operations in Syria.... Obama's comments came after he said the United States had verified the authenticity of a video released Tuesday showing the beheading of freelance reporter Steven Sotloff, two weeks after journalist James Foley was similarly killed." ...

... Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has beheaded Steven J. Sotloff, the second American executed by the Islamic militant group, and posted a video of it on the Internet, the SITE Intelligence Group, a research organization that tracks jihadist web postings, said Tuesday. Mr. Sotloff's family issued a statement saying it believed he had been killed." ...

... Nina Golgowski of the New York Daily News: The terrorist who murdered Steven Sotloff appears to be the same person who killed James Foley. ...

... Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Bill Nelson [D-Fla.] will introduce legislation that would give President Barack Obama congressional authority to bomb Islamic State forces in Syria." ...

... Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "The siege of Amerli is thought to be the first time a town has managed to keep the militants at bay since the group, which now calls itself the Islamic State, began its march through wide areas of Iraq. By Monday, aid from the United Nations had begun reaching the starving residents.... It took an odd coalition of Iraqi and Iranian militias backed by American air support to drive off the ISIS fighters. But for long weeks before, the minority Shiite Turkmens who live here held the line, waging a desperate campaign for survival as they took up arms to protect the estimated 15,000 residents.... The fact that American air power had helped was not as celebrated. Some of the militiamen had fought the Americans after the invasion of Iraq in 2003." CW: Read to the end. ...

... Michael Cohen in the New York Daily News on "how the constant chorus of 'do something' Obama foreign policy critics gets it wrong." Includes rules to fun-&-easy game the Very Serious People have devised & perfected. Cohen asserts that actually conducting foreign policy is not a game. Spoilsport. ...

... ** David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "Even by Washington standards, the Senate Republicans have hit a new low for hypocrisy. They denounce President Obama's inaction on foreign policy -- and simultaneously refuse to confirm his nominees for U.S. ambassadors to such hot spots as Turkey, on the front lines against the Islamic State, and Sierra Leone, epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. Let's say it plainly: This is how nations lose their power and influence, when they are unable to agree even on basic matters such as diplomatic representation."

Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "Federal judges pointedly questioned a Justice Department lawyer on Tuesday about the National Security Agency's bulk collection of US phone data, in the opening day of case thatrepresents a major step toward a supreme court ruling on the constitutionality of the program. A three-judge panel from the second circuit court of appeals aimed skeptical questions at assistant attorney general Stuart Delery about the scope and breadth of the call-records dragnet, reported last year by the Guardian thanks to leaks from Edward Snowden."

Mark Guarino of the Guardian: "After 14 months of intense legal wrangling, a public relations battle, late night mediation sessions and intense number crunching, Detroit finally entered a federal courtroom on Tuesday for a trial that will determine whether or not it can emerge from the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy to become a smaller, more economically nimble city." ...

... The Detroit Free-Press story, by Nathan Bomey & Matt Helms, is here. The page also contains links to live updates & related content.

Alexander Cohen of Public Integrity: "Gazprombank GPB (OJSC), a Russian bank targeted with sanctions by President Obama over the Ukraine crisis, has hired two former U.S. senators [-- former Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) & former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) --] to lobby against those sanctions, according to a new disclosure filed with the Senate. Gazprombank is controlled by Russia's state-owned energy company Gazprom, the country's largest gas producer; it supplies about a third of Europe's natural gas." Thanks to safari for the link. See also safari's comment in yesterday's thread....

     ... CW: It will be interesting to see if any MoCs speak out for or against Lott & Breaux. Maybe Chuck Todd will ask permanent green-room occupant John McCain what he thinks about his former colleagues. Nah. Breaux & Lott sell their souls inside the Beltway. Dissing the distinguished gentlemen would be bad form.

Blame It on Reagan. Devin Fergus, in a Washington Post op-ed: "Today's student aid crisis has its roots in the 1980s. In 1981, the Reagan administration, with a coalition of congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats, pushed through Congress a combination of tax- and budget-cutting measures.... Spending on higher education was slashed by some 25 percent between 1980 and 1985.... Effectively, these changes shifted the federal government's focus from providing students higher education grants to providing loans.... [The view was that] students were 'tax eaters ... [and] a drain and drag on the American economy.' Student aid 'isn't a proper obligation of the taxpayer,' Reagan's OMB Director David Stockman told Congress.... Elected officials up-and-down the ballot took notice ... that there would be no electoral consequence for cutting higher education spending."

Virgil Dickson of Modern Healthcare: "... Indiana, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming may be next in line among GOP-led states in seeking a federal green light for their conservative-oriented [ACA Medicaid] expansion proposals." ...

... Dylan Scott of TPM: "Medicaid expansion is making progress.... But a handful [of GOP-dominated states] remain hardened in their opposition. They are largely contained to the South, and that means that the people being left out of Obamacare's safety-net expansion are disproportionately poor blacks." ...

... CW: White people can think up so many inventive ways to be racists while pretending they're not. In the particular Dylan Scott illuminates, let's give a special shout-out to Secret Racist Chief Justice John Roberts, who in his majority opinions, has (a)expressed the need for colorblind policy & (b) decided the unconstitionality of the "coercive" Medicaid expansion provisions of the ACA.

digby: Ted Cruz's father Rafael, an "ignorant creep," lectures African-Americans on history. "I don't know if they're idiots or think everyone else is an idiot but the idea that black people don't understand that the parties switched places-- due to civil rights! -- in the 1960's and 1970's is mind-boggling." AND, as Daniel Strauss of TPM points out, contrary to Father Cruz's assertion, Democrats controlled the Senate when major civil rights legislation passed.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Karen Tumulty, et al., of the Washington Post profile their new boss, Fred Ryan. He's a great guy! And dresses impeccably! The image of a Very Serious Person! (CW: Aye, there's the rub.)

Beyond the Beltway

Rosalind Helderman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Jurors opened deliberations in the federal corruption trial of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen on Tuesday, spending five-and-a-half hours discussing the case without settling on a verdict." In his jury instructions, presiding Judge James Spencer gave the jury a broad definition of "official acts" that is favorable to the prosecution."

Jonathan Katz & Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "Thirty years after their convictions in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in rural North Carolina, based on confessions that they quickly repudiated and said were coerced, two mentally disabled half-brothers were declared innocent and released Tuesday by a Robeson County court. The case against the men, always weak, fell apart after DNA evidence implicated another man with a history of rape and murder.... The current district attorney, Johnson Britt, did not contest the motion to dismiss the charges [against Henry Lee McCollum, now 50, & Leon Brown, now 46] and said he would not attempt to reprosecute the men because the state 'does not have a case.'" ...

As recently as 2010, the North Carolina Republican Party put Mr. McCollum's booking photograph on campaign fliers accusing a Democrat of being soft on crime....

In 1994, when the United States Supreme Court turned down a request for review of the case, Justice Antonin Scalia described Mr. McCollum's crime as so heinous that it would be hard to argue against lethal injection.

Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post: Iberia, Louisiana, police first claimed that Victor White, a young black man "with his hands cuffed behind his back in a patrol car, produced a gun that wasn't found in two previous searches and committed suicide by shooting himself in the back." Then the coroner, whose report was not released for six months, said White shot himself in the chest (with his hands tied behind his back). White's parents are calling for a federal investigation. The full msnbc report, by Hannah Rappleye, is here. ...

     ... Update. Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: "The United States Justice Department said on Tuesday that it was investigating the death of Victor White III, 23, who died while in the custody of Iberia Parish sheriff's deputies in March."

Mark Santora of the New York Times: "The organizers of the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade said on Wednesday that they were lifting a ban on gay groups participating in the march, ending a policy that had sparked protests, court battles and bitter debate for decades. The decision, first reported by The Irish Voice, to allow a gay group to march under its own banner came as Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened to once again boycott the parade and the organizers faced pressure from employees of NBC Universal, which broadcasts the festivities."

Congressional Races

Casino Mogul to Purchase U.S. Senate. Peter Stone of the Daily Beast: "Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is poised to donate close to $100 million this election cycle, with much of that total coming in untraceable 'dark money' to conservative groups -- a massive amount that could help decide which party controls the Senate next year. Several of the casino mogul's largest checks, in the mid-seven to low-eight figure range, are being sent to a quartet of conservative nonprofits that under IRS rules can mask donors' names, say three GOP operatives and donors familiar with his contributions." ...

... Nonetheless, the Huffington Post's poll-tracker model gives Democrats a 57 percent chance of retaining control of the Senate. (The figures change at least daily.)

Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declined Tuesday to discuss the resignation of his former campaign manager, Jesse Benton, who quit last week as questions swirled about his role in a federal bribery case in Iowa."

Greg Sargent: Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS has a big new ad buy attacking Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor for his support of ObamaCare. The ad is anachronistic: "This new spot shows Republicans running against this thing called 'Obamacare' they created years ago and still can't let go of."

Jed Lewison of the Daily Kos: Cory Gardner, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate & aggressive abortion foe, has been a long-time proponent of zygote personhood -- which he now says he's against, even though he's still co-sponsoring a personhood bill in the House. He has a good chance of beating Democratic incumbent Mark Udall, especially if he can convince Colorado women he's their new best friend. Now he's running an ad advocating for over-the-counter contraception -- probably so women, rather than their health insurance under ObamaCare, will have to pay for the pills. ...

... According to Sandra Fluke, it would take a minimum wage worker 6 days' pay to buy her monthly pill supply. (More on this here.)

Eric Levenson of the Boston Globe: New Hampshire U.S. Senate candidate & former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (RDoofus) apparently doesn't mind emphasizing his carpetbagger status. On a radio show last week, Brown jokingly invited residents of other states -- Vermont & Connecticut, "wherever" -- to come to New Hampshire & vote for him in the primary election. New Hampshire has same-day voter registration, so out-of-state resident who have a "domicile" in New Hampshire -- say, a vacation home like the Browns' -- could probably vote legally in New Hampshire.

Jose Delreal of Politico: "Gary Kiehne conceded Arizona's 1st Congressional District GOP primary on Tuesday, handing the party's nomination to state House Speaker Andy Tobin, the Republican establishment's preferred challenger for vulnerable Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick.... Going into this week, Tobin held a 359-vote lead over Kiehne, though more than 3,000 outstanding ballots had yet to be counted."

Presidential Race

Rand Paul is a hawk, ready to destroy ISIS. OR he's equivocal. OR he's a dove. Maybe. It depends on the day of the week time of day. CW: I need to update my old Romney flip-flops.

News Ledes

Guardian: "John Kerry has called the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, amid a US effort to persuade Israel to reverse the go-ahead for the largest appropriation of land on the occupied West Bank since the 1980s. The secretary of state's call followed the disclosure that the US had officially requested Israel to reverse the decision, amid mounting criticism of the move both internationally and within Netanyahu's own cabinet."

Washington Post: "Andrew H. Madoff, who reported to authorities that his father and longtime Wall Street colleague, Bernard L. Madoff, had masterminded perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme in history, a multi-billion-dollar crime that Andrew described as a 'father-son betrayal of biblical proportions,' died Sept. 3 at a hospital in New York City. He was 48. His lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum, said in a statement that the cause was mantle cell lymphoma. Mr. Madoff was diagnosed in 2003 with lymphoma and suffered a relapse a decade later."

** New York Times: "President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine said on Wednesday that he and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had agreed on a cease-fire in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The announcement provided no details about the agreement, and there was no immediate reaction from the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine who have been battling government troops with assistance from Moscow." ...

     ... ** Reuters UPDATE: "Ukraine said on Wednesday its president had agreed with Russia's Vladimir Putin on steps towards a 'ceasefire regime' in Kiev's conflict with pro-Russian rebels, but the Kremlin denied any actual truce deal, sowing confusion on the eve of a NATO summit." ...

     ... ** UPDATE 2. The Times' new lede in the story linked above: "The office of President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine said Wednesday that he and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had a similar understanding about what was needed to achieve a cease-fire in southeastern Ukraine, but it retracted a statement it had made earlier in the day that said the two men had agreed to a 'lasting cease-fire.'" (Emphasis added.)

The Commentariat -- Sept. 2, 2014

Internal links removed.

** Your Think Piece for Today. Timothy Stanley & Alexander Lee in the Atlantic: "Twenty-five years ago this summer, Francis Fukuyama announced the 'end of history' and the inevitable triumph of liberal capitalist democracy.... Today, it's hard to imagine Fukuyama being more wrong.... If the liberty of each person is to be maintained and maximized, the principles of equity and the common good must be embedded in the structure of society. And since society is structured above all by law, the law must reflect these precepts." Read the whole essay. Stanley & Lee provide, among more important concepts, a good example of why I think Hillary Clinton is so yesterday.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
OMG Edition

Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "Washington Post owner Jeffrey P. Bezos is replacing Publisher Katharine Weymouth with Frederick J. Ryan Jr., a former Reagan administration official who was part of the founding leadership team of Politico, a primarily digital news organization that competes with The Post on political coverage, the company announced Tuesday. The departure of Weymouth, 48, ends eight decades of Graham family leadership of The Post, which her great-grandfather bought in 1933."

If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks. -- Russian President Vladimir Putin to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso, via La Repubblica ...

... Julie Davis & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "As Ukrainian leaders warned on Monday of 'a great war' with Russia, NATO leaders meeting in Wales this week were expected to endorse their most concrete response yet to increased Russian military intervention in Ukraine: establishing a rapid-reaction force capable of deploying quickly to Eastern Europe, officials of the alliance said.... The agreement is planned as the substantive centerpiece of the NATO meeting, which will take place Thursday and Friday and will be attended by President Obama...."

Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "... wealthy political contributors have more access than ever to candidates since the ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. More than 300 donors have seized the opportunity, writing checks at such a furious pace that they have exceeded the old limit of $123,200 for this election cycle, according to campaign finance data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research organization." (Link missing.)

Cantor to Become Vulture Capitalist. Fred Barbash of the Washington Post: "Former House majority leader Eric Cantor is joining a Wall Street investment bank as vice-chairman and managing director, the firm announced this morning. The firm, Moelis & Co., said Cantor will be based in the New York office of the global company and will soon open an office in Washington. Moelis, with 500 employees, is known as fast-growing 'boutique' firm that advises companies and investors on mergers, acquisitions and risk."

Tom Bergin of Reuters: "A Reuters analysis of Burger King's regulatory filings in the U.S. and overseas, which was also reviewed by accounting experts, shows that it has been making major efforts to reduce its U.S. tax bill for some time. By massaging down U.S. taxable profits while maximizing the profits it reports in low-tax jurisdictions overseas, Burger King is able to operate one of the most tax-efficient businesses in the U.S. fast-food industry."

Caitlin Rathe of Salon on the history of the food stamp (SNAP) program -- a program pushed by U.S. grocers. CW: And yes, it continues to appall me that the biggest beneficiaries of social welfare programs are the Richest People in the World -- the Waltons, who benefit not only from the low wages paid by other businesses but also doubly benefit from the low wages WalMart itself pays. Thanks to Haley S. for the link.

Guantánamo Forever. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Although President Obama pledged last year to revive his efforts to close Guantánamo, his administration has managed to free just one low-level prisoner this year, leaving 79 who are approved for transfer to other countries. It has also not persuaded Congress to lift its ban on moving the remaining 70 higher-level detainees to a prison inside the United States."

As MAG noted in yesterday's Comments, Charles Pierce composed "a rollicking wicked read" on the sorry anachronisms that are the Village People's Gossip for Geezers Shows:

... on Labor Day weekend, with income equality on the rise, and with wages stagnant for decades, and the rate of unemployment officially normalized somewhere in the teens, and with all the roads full of holes and the bridges falling down, on the shows that a dead president once thought were highly influential, on which ISIS and Ukraine and Kirsten Gillibrand's book and the nine-year old with the UZI and the fundamental greatness of my man Chuck Todd were all considered worthy of discussion, there was not a single mention of an American worker because, I guess, rap music. Shazam.

... CW: For all the grandeur of its public buildings & its National Mall of the people, the Beltway encircles a smug, self-segregated community where the actual people who built the place are not only unwelcome but also not worth mentioning. Every couple of years we do get a virtual mention in "polling data," & I'm sure Chuck Todd will do a rootin'-tootin' job of describing us as data points. You have Andrea Mitchell's word on that.

Beyond the Beltway

Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, in a federal courtroom in Corpus Christi, Tex., Justice Department lawyers will try to persuade a judge to strike down the [Texas] voter ID law, the latest skirmish in a three-year legal battle over whether the law passed by the Republican-led Legislature in 2011 discriminates against blacks and Hispanics. If Texas loses the trial -- which opens Tuesday and will last about two weeks -- it could again be required to seek federal approval before making changes to its voting procedures, a level of oversight it was freed from by the United States Supreme Court."

James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times: "Leading a Labor Day rally at a park in South Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti proposed on Monday creating a minimum wage in Los Angeles that would reach $13.25 after three years. Garcetti was backed by billionaire businessman Eli Broad, County Federation of Labor chief Maria Elena Durazo and seven members of the City Council, who will have to approve the increase." ...

... Dominic Rushe of the Guardian: "America's fast food workers are planning their biggest strike to date this Thursday, with a nationwide walkout in protest at low wages and poor healthcare. The strike is the latest in a series of increasingly heated confrontations between fast food firms and their workers. Pressure is also mounting on McDonald's, the largest fast food company, over its relations with its workers and franchisees." ...

... Annie Lowrey of New York: "Connecticut has somehow managed to become both the richest and worst economy in America. And what's worse, America has started to look more and more like Connecticut.... Of late, its economy has expanded more slowly than that of any other state. It has the worst job creation record of any state, too, supporting fewer paying positions in 2010 than it did in 1990."

Steve Benen: "After [Texas Gov. Rick Perry] deployed National Guard troops for no particular reason, some of those troops reportedly reached out to a local food bank because the state hadn't fully planned for their deployment.... On Thursday, news accounts quoted a local food bank's executive director saying, 'We were contacted that 50 troops that are in the Valley don't have any money for food and gas and they need our assistance.' Apparently, the Guard troops were sent to the border on August 11, but weren't scheduled to be paid until September 5, and some needed local charity to bridge the gap." Texas officials are denying that any troops sought charitable assistance. CW: I suppose that food bank person is just another liberal liar making up stuff to make Rick Perry look idiotic.

There's Something Wrong with the Georgia GOP. Daniel Strauss of TPM: "Over the past week there's been something of a brouhaha surrounding a journalist being forcibly removed from a local Republican event in Georgia. The journalist was Nydia Tisdale, who went to Burt's Farm in Dawsonville, Georgia, to record video of speeches by David Perdue, the state's GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, as well as Gov. Nathan Deal (R) and others. Tisdale runs the website AboutForsyth.com." The Republican party advertised the event on Facebook, inviting the public to attend the rally. The speakers were public officials &/or were running for public office. The event was held on private property, & Tisdale claims that one of the propertyowners gave her permission to tape. That's all she was doing. She was not heckling, holding a sign or otherwise protesting or showing disrespect for the proceedings. Others attending the event also were recording it....

     ... Jim Galloway's Atlanta Journal-Constitution report is here. An earlier report, by Galloway & Greg Bluestein is here. The sheriff's deputy who made the arrest was not on duty at the time. You can see in the picture he's strapped with a gun, but is wearing street clothes. His shirt has the logo of the Dawson County Sheriff's Department on it. The sheriff, who cleared the officer of wrongdoing, said the officer also was wearing a badge. ...

     ... Everything Is Obama's Fault. Here the top of the lead comment on the story posted by Brian Pritchard of FetchYourNews.com. Pritchard, who attended -- and recorded -- the event, broke the story of Tisdale's arrest. "What a disturbing story. Are we still citizens of the United States or has Obama succeeded in leading us down the path of a socialist society where individual freedom is no longer valued?"

Rene Stutzman of the Orlando Sentinel: "Two friends were injured Sunday afternoon at Shoot Straight, a Casselberry[, Florida,] gun range, when one tried to unjam a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and wound up shooting himself in the finger and his friend in the thigh, police reported.... Several witnesses saw what happened and one described it as 'just a case of stupidity.'" ...

... According to this 2012 MinnPost story, "Nonfatal gun injuries occur at the average rate of 20 a day in the United States -- and that doesn't include pellet-gun injuries (which average 45 day) or injuries that don't involve a bullet wound (like powder burns and recoil injuries)." Whaddaya bet most of them are "just cases of stupidity"? ...

... ALSO from the report: "If you have a gun, everybody in your home is more likely than your non-gun-owning neighbors and their families to die in a gun-related accident, suicide or homicide. Furthermore, there is no credible evidence that having a gun in your house reduces your risk of being a victim of a crime. Nor does it reduce your risk of being injured during a home break-in." In other words, statistically, gun ownership is a lose-lose situation.

Michael Pearce of the Los Angeles Times: "Two online fundraising pages that raised more than $400,000 for the police officer who killed an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Mo., were shut down this weekend so tax lawyers could decide how best to handle the money, an official told the Los Angeles Times." However, it appears the story is more complicated than that. CW: Also, too -- the site can't continue to collect funds at the same time its purported lawyers decide how to distribute them?

Gubernatorial Races

Dan Mihalopoulos of the Chicago Sun-Times: "... supporters of Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bruce Rauner ... are quietly working to ensure that no third-party candidate has the chance to tilt the outcome in a tight election." Gun-toting private investigators have intimidated at least one signer of a Libertarian ballot petition & one petitioner." CW: So, not so "quietly working." ...

... Dan Mihalopoulos: "Public records show there are strong ties between [GOP gubernatrial candidate Bruce] Rauner and those involved in the effort to knock the Libertarians off the ballot." Rauner's campaign & another Rauner-backed political campaign have paid $53,000 to the law firm that hired the pistol-packing PIs. "Rauner personally contributed $6,500 to" a Republican group headed by the owner of the PI firm. "A notary for the effort to knock the Libertarians off the ballot, Morgan Kreitner, is a salaried employee of the Rauner campaign." Thanks to Haley S. for the leads.

Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will probably cruise to re-election victory in November, but nobody much likes Mario's boy.

Presidential Race

Patrick Svitek of the Houston Chronicle: "A tweet mischaracterizing Gov. Rick Perry's indictment was sent Sunday evening from his personal account, setting the social network abuzz and leaving his critics fuming. An hour later, the message was deleted, with his account calling it 'unauthorized.' ... The original tweet ... included a graphic mocking Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.... The text on top of the graphic read: 'I DON'T ALWAYS DRIVE DRUNK AT 3X THE LEGAL BLOOD ALCOHOL LIMIT ... BUT WHEN I DO, I INDICT GOV. PERRY FOR CALLING ME OUT ABOUT IT. I AM THE MOST DRUNK DEMOCRAT IN TEXAS.' Lehmberg did not indict Perry. She and other officials in solidly Democratic Travis County recused themselves.... Although the tweet came from Perry's personal account -- as opposed to the ones run by his staff -- it was unclear Sunday evening whether he actually sent it out." CW: How does he think he can run the country when he can't even manage his own Twitter account?

Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: After making a series of gaffes in which he showed his ignorance of foreign affairs, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is going to Mexico this week to show he's a "global guy." CW: I'm looking forward to seeing him insult all of Central America, not just Mexico.

News Ledes

New York Times: "With NATO leaders expected to endorse a rapid-reaction force of 4,000 troops for Eastern Europe this week, a senior Russian military official said on Tuesday that Moscow would revise its military doctrine to account for 'changing military dangers and military threats.'"

Guardian: "Syrian rebels have issued three demands for the release of 45 Fijian peacekeepers they've held captive for five days, Fiji's military commander has said. Brig Gen. Mosese Tikoitoga said the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front wants to be taken off the United Nations terrorist list, humanitarian aid delivered to the capital Damascus, and compensation for three of its fighters it says were killed in a shootout with UN officers."

AP: "U.S. military forces attacked the extremist al-Shabab network in Somalia Monday, the Pentagon said, and a witness described ground-shaking explosions in a strike that reportedly targeted the group's leader. Al-Shabab had attacked the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people a year ago this month and the U.S. had targeted planners of the bloody assault."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 1, 2014

The History of Labor Day:

Maybe for you, as for most Americans, the holiday simply means a weekend away:

E. J. Dionne on the Market Basket walk-out. ...

... Arthur T. Demoulas addresses Market Basket employees:

Fuck the U.A.W. -- Rahm Emanuel, re: the auto industry bailout, according to Steve Rattner

... "Why white men hate unions." Edward McClelland in Salon on the evolution of union demographics. ...

... Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "... a flood of recent cases ... accuse employers of violating minimum wage and overtime laws, erasing work hours and wrongfully taking employees' tips. Worker advocates call these practices 'wage theft,' insisting it has become far too prevalent. Some federal and state officials agree. They assert that more companies are violating wage laws than ever before, pointing to the record number of enforcement actions they have pursued.... Many business groups counter that government officials have drummed up a flurry of wage enforcement actions, largely to score points with union allies. If anything, employers have become more scrupulous in complying with wage laws, the groups say, in response to the much publicized lawsuits about so-called off-the-clock work that were filed against Walmart and other large companies a decade ago." CW: They said/they said; Who's to know? ...

... Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post on the real reason for economic stagnation: "From the end of World War II through the late 1970s..., major U.S. corporations retained most of their earnings and reinvested them in business expansions, new or improved technologies, worker training and pay increases. Beginning in the early '80s, however, they have devoted a steadily higher share of their profits to shareholders." ...

... CW: I wonder how much this has to do with the ballooning of MBA's & what-all business schools have been teaching the kids. There's a chicken-&-egg issue here; young people who opt for MBAs are probably not, on the whole, the most socially-conscious. But doesn't that leave you with institutions devoted to teaching little dickheads how to be bigger, more ruthless dickheads?

** NEW. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Some of the factual assertions in recent amicus briefs would not pass muster in a high school research paper. But that has not stopped the Supreme Court from relying on them. Recent opinions have cited 'facts' from amicus briefs that were backed up by blog posts, emails or nothing at all.... Some 'studies' presented in amicus briefs were paid for or conducted by the group that submitted the brief and published only on the Internet. Some studies seem to have been created for the purpose of influencing the Supreme Court. Yet the justices are quite receptive to this [sic.!] dodgy data."

Erin Cunningham & Abigail Hoslohner of the Washington Post: "Iraqi troops aided by U.S. airstrikes entered the besieged town of Amerli on Sunday, residents and Iraqi officials said, breaking a months-long blockade of the Shiite Turkmen village by Islamic State militants that raised fears of a massacre..... The U.S. strikes around Amerli on Saturday appeared to swiftly tilt the balance in favor of Iraqi forces." ...

... Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "After a week in which [President Obama] was criticised for failing to develop military plans for tackling Islamic State militants inside Syria and taking a relatively cautious approach to Russian incursions in Ukraine, senior figures [of both parties] in Congress took turns to demand greater US intervention." ...

... Martin Matishak of the Hill: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), "the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that President Obama has perhaps been 'too cautious' in confronting the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)." ...

... Timothy Cama of the Hill: "The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday sharply criticized President Obama's lack of a strategy to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Speaking on 'Fox News Sunday,' Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said statements from the White House last week that it does not yet have a firm strategy on ISIS are indicative of the Obama administration's foreign policy failures." ...

... Martin Matishak: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday said President Obama's responses to the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine             (Fill in the Blank)            ." * ...

     * A few weeks ago, Jon Soltz, in the Huffington Post, wrote a piece laying out some of the wrong calls McCain has made regarding military policy & our international military adventures. Soltz can't figure out why John (pronounced "wrong" McCain is the most popular guest ever on the Sunday shows. Via Heather of Crooks & Liars. ...

... ** Steve Coll of the New Yorker: "If the United States is returning to war in the region, one might wish for a more considered vision than Whack-a-Mole against jihadists."

... In case you were unaware of it, Howie Kurtz is still on the teevee, ostensibly watchdogging the media & wondering what-all is wrong with it from his Fox "News" perspective (having been dumped from his slightly more respectable perspectives, in the last instance for "serial inaccuracy"). Driftglass tuned in Sunday morning.

CW: I can't help seeing Bibi Netanyahu as Baby Vladimir. Of course Putin hasn't directly killed hundreds of Ukrainian children. Too bad U.S. politicians haven't the guts to say, "Bibi, that BFF thing has a limit, & you're over the top." If Israeli voters want to stick with Netanyahu or another hardliner, the U.S. should cut off funding & transfer of military equipment. Nearly as long as there has been an Israel, I have been an ideological supporter. Not anymore. See Sunday's News Ledes.

Paul Krugman: "For years, pundits and politicians have insisted that guaranteed health care is an impossible dream, even though every other advanced country has it. Covering the uninsured was supposed to be unaffordable; Medicare as we know it was supposed to be unsustainable. But it turns out that incremental steps to improve incentives and reduce costs can achieve a lot, and covering the uninsured isn't hard at all. When it comes to ensuring that Americans have access to health care, the message of the data is simple: Yes, we can." Read the whole column.

AP: "Fearing a Russian invasion and occupation of Alaska, the U.S. government in the early Cold War years recruited and trained fishermen, bush pilots, trappers and other private citizens across Alaska for a covert network to feed wartime intelligence to the military, newly declassified Air Force and FBI documents show. Invasion of Alaska? Yes. It seemed like a real possibility in 1950."

Beyond the Beltway

Collier Meyerson of msnbc: "The St. Louis County police officer who was recently suspended after video surfaced of him threatening to 'kill everybody' and who shoved CNN's Don Lemon on live television in Ferguson has retired. Officer Dan Page, a 35-year veteran of the force, had his last day on August 25th. Sergeant Colby Dolly, aid to the St. Louis County Police Chief, told msnbc by phone that Page is expected to receive his full pension." CW: And before he got a chance to kill everybody. ...

... Denise Hollinshed of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Ferguson "Police officers ... began wearing body cameras on Saturday as marchers took to the streets in the most recent protest of a shooting two weeks earlier by a city officer that left an unarmed teenager dead. Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said his department was given about 50 body cameras by two companies, Safety Visions and Digital Ally, about a week ago. The companies donated the body cameras after the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown Jr. by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson." ...

... Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times: "After raising more than $400,000 for the police officer who killed an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Mo., two online donation pages appear to have been shut down by their organizers without explanation this weekend." Thanks to James S., for the link.

Gubernatorial Race

CW: Yikes! I was asleep at the wheel on this. The primary was August 9! AP: "Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he lost his bid for re-election in a Democratic primary because of his decision to call a special session to legalize gay marriage. Republicans are allowed to vote for Democrats in Hawaii's open primary, and Abercrombie said they chose to vote against him because of his support for gay marriage and because they think his party rival, state Sen. David Ige, is an easier target to beat in the general election.... Abercrombie, who spoke to reporters in his office, lost to Ige by a stunning 2-1 margin, the first time a Democratic governor has been unseated in a Hawaii primary."

Presidential Race

Ken Vogel of Politico: "Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Pence, Rick Perry and Ben Carson all sounded like presidential candidates in weekend speeches to conservative activists ... [at] a conference organized by an influential Koch-backed group. The would-be candidates touted their small-government bona fides and hammered prospective Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama on issues ranging from the Middle East to health care to Obama's golfing. Cruz and Perry got among the lustiest responses from the nearly 3,000 grass-roots activists at Americans for Prosperity's annual Defending the American Dream summit. But Paul and Pence, who on Thursday night dined privately with a more exclusive group of major donors and VIPs including AFP foundation chairman David Koch and columnist George Will, appear to have made the best impressions on the elite and moneyed class." ...

... Erin Durkin of the New York Daily News: New York"City pols blasted Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Sunday for taking a swipe at the Bronx in a speech to a conservative group. Cruz invoked the borough's bad old days high-crime image, saying he was tired of hearing northern pols like Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) 'lecture' about immigration. 'Now, I understand that Manhattan is very concerned with their security with the Bronx, but it's a little bit different on 2,000 miles of the Rio Grande,' he said in a speech Saturday to the group Americans for Prosperity. That got a rise out of city Democrats who represent the borough."

News Ledes

Guardian: "The UK and US governments have criticised, in unusually strong language, Israel's decision to approve one of the largest appropriations of Palestinian land for settlement in recent decades. The UK foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said he deplored the move as 'particularly ill-judged'."

Al Jazeera: "Iraqi Kurdish forces and Shia armed volunteers have retaken more northern towns from the Islamic State group, killing at least two of its senior fighters, sources have told Al Jazeera. A day after breaking the siege in the town of Amerli north of Baghdad, government forces retook the town of Sulaiman Bek on Monday, removing another key stronghold of the Islamic State group." ...

... Guardian: "Barack Obama on Monday formally notified Congress that he had authorised targeted air strikes in Iraq to help deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Shia town of Amerli, the White House said in a statement."

Washington Post: Pakistan's "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was clinging to power Monday as protesters stepped up their assault on government buildings while the capital was gripped with fear and confusion about whether the country's powerful military will step in to defuse the tension. As the demonstrations calling for the prime minister's resignation enter their third week, Sharif is trying to navigate Pakistan's worst political crisis in more than a decade."

Guardian: "The American government on Monday asked North Korea to release three Americans currently held in the communist country, after foreign media outlets were allowed to interview detainees. 'Out of humanitarian concern for Jeffrey Fowle, Matthew Miller, and their families, we request the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] release them so they may return home,' said Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the State Department, in a statement. 'We also request the DPRK pardon Kenneth Bae and grant him special amnesty and immediate release so he may reunite with his family and seek medical care.'"