The Commentariat -- January 3, 2014

Internal links removed.

Steven Rich & Barton Gellman of the Washington Post: "In room-size metal boxes, secure against electromagnetic leaks, the National Security Agency is racing to build a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world. According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the effort to build 'a cryptologically useful quantum computer' -- a machine exponentially faster than classical computers -- is part of a $79.7 million research program titled, 'Penetrating Hard Targets.' Much of the work is hosted under classified contracts at a laboratory in College Park." ...

... Margaret Sullivan, the public editor of the New York Times: The Times editorial of yesterday, calling for Edward J. Snowden to be offered clemency or a plea bargain [generated a great deal of heat]. By midday, it had already drawn well over 1,200 online comments, as well as articles about it in other media outlets, including Politico, Fox News, The Nation, and USA Today. Andrew Rosenthal, The Times's editorial page editor, told me Thursday that the editorial had been under discussion by the editorial board for weeks." ...

... Greg Sargent: "Of course Snowden is the reason why the debate unfolded as it has. Indeed, you don't have to look any farther than the initial pages of the report released by the Obama-appointed panel for clear proof of this." ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "I wouldn't defend every last thing Snowden has done. But life is messy, and you don't always get to control events with precision. Realistically, your choice is between (a) approving of what Snowden did, warts and all, or (b) approving of the status quo, with all of us none the wiser about what our government is doing. I'd say the choice is obvious." ...

     ... CW: That's ridiculous: a good example of the "false dilemma" fallacy. Obviously, there's a Choice (c): approving of some of what Snowden has done & disapproving of the some of what Snowden has done. One need not embrace warts. In addition, despite the limits of the Times editorial board's imagination -- they argued Snowden had no other choice than to go public after his supervisors demonstrated they shared none of his concern about the surveillance state -- Snowden had the option to take less drastic action. As I suggested some while back, he could have taken some or all of his data dump to Sen. Ron Wyden's national security guy, for instance. Or he could have released to U.S. media only those documents that made a case that the NSA was overstepping its legal, Constitutional and/or ethical authority. Drum is arguing, "I hadda kill the guy because he stole my pencil." Would Snowden have gotten into legal trouble if he'd taken my suggestions? Probably so. But he also would have been a hero to everyone but the NSA & their supporters. It would have been much more politically problematic to prosecute somebody who exposed only wrongdoing than it is to prosecute somebody who has released embarrassing (at the least) national security secrets to a host of foreign press. ...

... CW: I've avoided linking Ruth Marcus's Washington Post column for two days because I'm not a Marcus fan. But I do think she mostly gets it right about Snowden: "Time has not deflated Edward Snowden's messianic sense of self-importance. Nor has living in an actual police state given the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower any greater appreciation of the actual freedoms that Americans enjoy.... The Snowden of Gellman's interview is seized with infuriating certitude about the righteousness of his cause. Not for Snowden any anxiety about the implications for national security of his theft of government secrets, any regrets about his violations of a duty of secrecy.... The whistleblower personality is rarely an attractive one.... And personality would not matter -- at least it would not be so grating -- if Snowden's behavior were more upstanding and his actions more justified." ...

     ... OR, as contributor Diane wrote yesterday, " I'm stickin' with my original assessment, he's an immature little prick." ...

... ALSO, Charles Pierce doesn't like Ruth Marcus. AND he thinks Snowden is as deserving of living in the U.S.A. as are Elliott Abrams & Ollie North. CW: This is the "two wrongs make a right" fallacy. One of you pro-fessional debaters may come up with a more appropriate fallacy. But it's a fallacy: "George Zimmerman beat a murder rap so every murderer should get off scot-free."...

... ** Digby has a very good piece on "the necessary give and take between government power and a free press." Also of note, Gellman claims that "Snowden gave all the documents to the three journalists, Gellman, Greenwald and Poitras, and they have all been going through institutional news organizations with editors and lawyers and other journalists vetting the material in consultation with experts. Snowden has nothing to do with how the material is being released."...

... CW: Gellman's assertion seems to conflict with Greenwald's hints that Snowden has "access to a trove of pilfered documents stored on a data cloud":

[Snowden] has taken extreme precautions to make sure many different people around the world have these archives to insure the stories will inevitably be published. If anything happens at all to Edward Snowden, he has arranged for them to get access to the full archives. I don't know for sure whether has more documents than the ones he has given me... I believe he does. -- Glenn Greenwald

New York Times Editors: "A careful review of ... Justice Sonia Sotomayor's perplexing decision to issue a temporary injunction against requiring an order of Colorado nuns to fill out paperwork required by the health care reform law's contraception mandate ... should persuade Justice Sotomayor and her Supreme Court colleagues, who may also become involved now, that the alleged threat to religious liberty is nonexistent and the stay should be lifted while litigation proceeds in the lower courts.... The audacious complaint in this case is against the requirement that such groups sign a short form certifying that they have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services, a copy of which would go to their third-party insurance administrator.... Adding a level of absurdity to the controversy, Little Sisters of the Poor's insurance plan qualifies as a self-insured 'church plan.'... In this case, contraceptives would not be made available even indirectly to the nuns' employees." ...

... Rebecca Shabad of the Hill: "Eleven GOP attorneys general say the Obama administration is breaking the law by repeatedly making changes to ObamaCare without going through Congress. The attorneys general specifically criticize President Obama's executive action that allowed insurance companies to keep offering health plans that had been canceled for not meeting ObamaCare's more rigorous standards.... HHS did not respond to a request for comment." ...

... Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "Supporters of President Obama's health care law had predicted that expanding insurance coverage for the poor would reduce costly emergency room visits as people sought care from primary care doctors. But a rigorous new study conducted in Oregon has flipped that assumption on its head, finding that the newly insured actually went to the emergency room more often.... The finding casts doubt on the hope that expanded insurance coverage will help rein in rising emergency room costs just as more than two million people are gaining coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Instead, the study suggests that the surge in the numbers of insured people may put even greater pressure on emergency rooms and increase costs."

James MacPherson of the AP: "Following a string of explosive accidents, federal officials said Thursday that crude oil being shipped by rail from the Northern Plains across the U.S. and Canada may be more flammable than traditional forms of oil. A safety alert issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation warns the public, emergency responders and shippers about the potential high volatility of crude from the Bakken oil patch. The sprawling oil shale reserve is fueling the surging industry in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, which is now the nation's second-largest oil producer behind Texas."

"Paul Krugman is off today," so I bring you instead a lecture from Ruth Marcus's BFF David Brooks on the Evils of Weed. ALSO, how Brooks overcame his habit: "I smoked one day during lunch and then had to give a presentation in English class. I stumbled through it, incapable of putting together simple phrases, feeling like a total loser." As a result of his abstention he became a "more integrated, coherent and responsible" person and totally not a loser. ...

... ALSO, if this government publication is right, then so is Brooks.

    ... CW: Update: After I ID'd Ruth Marcus as Brooks' BFF, I turned to the Washington Post, & what should I find but a new Marcus column titled "The Perils of Legalized Pot." I didn't read past her confessional.

Tom Kludt of TPM: "Chris Kluwe, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings, wrote in Deadspin on Thursday that his public support for same-sex marriage played a role in his release from the team. Specifically, Kluwe identified 'two cowards' and a 'bigot' at the Vikings organization who were behind his release." ...

... Here's Kluwe's account. CW: I found it pretty compelling reading. ...

... David Atkins of Hullabaloo: "... to those who say we've nearly won the fight on gay rights, realize there remains an incredible amount of work to do even in the entertainment industry. Something is still very wrong when a child-marriage-advocating bigot like Phil Robertson gets to stay on the air on A&E of all places, while Chris Kluwe gets blacklisted from the NFL." ...

... John Aravosis of AmericaBlog: "If two coaches, at least, were acting in a homophobic manner, and one coach was rabidly homophobic, and nothing was done about it -- other than to fire someone who was pro-gay -- then the Vikings have a serious problem with homophobia in the management of that team."

Okay, here's your Krugman fix. Paul Krugman: "We could have a debate about whether rising inequality is a problem, and whether measures intended to curb it would do more harm than good. But we can't have that kind of debate if the anti-populist side won't acknowledge basic facts -- and it won't. In his [Wall Street Journal] piece Bret Stephens trashes Obama, accusing him of making a factual error when he did no such thing; then proceeds to commit just about every statistical sin you can imagine in an attempt to minimize the rise in inequality. In the process he leaves his readers more ignorant than they were before. When this is what passes for argument, how can we have any kind of rational discussion? Oh, and just FYI: this is the kind of journalism that the great and the good deem worthy of a Pulitzer Prize." ...

... Cockroaches, Zombies & Nonsense. Krugman again: "Consider three arguments one might make against 21st-century populism: 1. Inequality isn't increasing. 2. OK, inequality is increasing, but it's not a problem. 3. OK, it would be nice to have lower inequality, but any proposed solutions would do more harm than good. Which of these arguments does the right choose, when making its stand? The answer is, all three."

Peter Beinart in the Atlantic: "Democrats in 2014: the Party of John Edwards.... It was Edwards, during his 2004 presidential run, who returned the focus to inequality by flipping Clintonism on its head. In his 1992 campaign, Clinton had talked a lot about 'rewarding work.' Democrats, he insisted, would help people who 'played by the rules' -- for instance, via an expanded earned income tax credit for the working poor -- but they would stop coddling welfare recipients. In 2004, Edwards took that judgmental tone but redirected it. In his narrative, the people disrespecting work were not welfare mothers but trust funders, people who lived off their investments rather than the sweat of their brow."

"How can there be snow if there's global warming?"

... Commenters today mentioned the segment above. The short segment that preceded it is quite good, too:

... Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "... behind the scenes at the State Department [Secretary of State John] Kerry has initiated a systematic, top-down push to create an agencywide focus on global warming. His goal is to become the lead broker of a global climate treaty in 2015 that will commit the United States and other nations to historic reductions in fossil fuel pollution." ...

... Laura Barron-Lopez of the Hill: "Climate change and energy will be a major policy battleground in the 2014 midterms, advocates on both sides of the issue promise. Republicans like Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) plan to go on the attack against President Obama's climate action plan, which they have dubbed a 'war on coal.'" ...

... Mike Ciandella of News Busters: "The Russian ship, Akademic Shokalskiy, was stranded in the ice while on a climate change research expedition, yet nearly 98 percent of network news reports about the stranded researchers failed to mention their mission at all. Forty out of 41 stories (97.5 percent) on the network morning and evening news shows since Dec. 25 failed to mention climate change had anything to do with the expedition." CW: May be true of print media as well. I linked two AFP stories on the rescue effort; one never mentioned the group's makeup, & the other called it a "scientific expedition" with "tourists," but never hinted the party was gathering climate change data.

Local News

Maura Dolan of the Los Angeles Times: "A Mexican immigrant without a green card on Thursday won the right to practice law in California, an unprecedented ruling that could permit others in similar circumstances to become lawyers. The state Supreme Court agreed unanimously that Sergio C. Garcia -- who passed the bar examination four years ago -- should receive a law license while awaiting federal approval of his green card application. The court, which has the final word on licensing lawyers, said it was able to approve Garcia's admission to the state bar because the Legislature had passed a law last year that cleared the way."

Freeeedom! Jim Forsyth of Reuters: "Magpul Industries, a manufacturer of ammunition magazines, is moving its corporate headquarters to Texas, making good on its threat to leave its base in Colorado because of new restrictions on guns. 'Moving operations to states that support our culture of individual liberties and personal responsibility is important,' Magpul Chief Executive Richard Fitzpatrick said in a statement on Thursday. Magpul threatened last year to leave in response to new state laws that ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, require universal background checks for gun buyers and force gun buyers to pay for their own background checks.... Texas Governor Rick Perry welcomed Magpul.... 'In Texas, we understand that freedom breeds prosperity, which is why we've built our economy around principles that allow employers to innovate, keep more of what they earn and create jobs,' Perry said in a statement." CW: "Freedom" + "personal responsibility" = firearms that hold more than 15 rounds. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear repeating rifles and semi-automatic shotguns, shall not be infringed."

Congressional Race

Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade: "Gay singer and 'American Idol' runner-up Clay Aiken is actively considering a bid to represent North Carolina's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House, according to two Democratic sources familiar with his plans."

Right Wing World

Space Aliens! Invading Canadians! And Chinese! Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: "Jim Garrow today appeared on [Fox "News" contributor] Erik Rush's radio show..., where he predicted that President Obama will try to distract Americans from his supposed scandals ... by claiming that he is now in touch with alien life. This must be Obama's Plan B, as Garrow previously claimed that Obama almost launched a devastating nuclear attack on the US with the goal of killing 90% of Americans in order to help George Soros make money.... Another guest, Nancy Smith of the Tea Party news show 'Politichicks,' said ... 'Personally I've already heard some other sources saying the very same thing that you're saying.' ... As for the Americans who rise up against Obama and aren't deceived by his alien plot, Rush predicted that patriotic civilians and soldiers will fight Obama's Chinese-United Nations army. Garrow even said that Obama will send in troops from Canada to bring down the insurgency." With audio. CW: I invite you to read the whole post because, yes, there's more. Via Charles Pierce. ...

... Doktor Zoom of Wonkette is very concerned.

Canadian News

I've been the best mayor that this city's ever had. -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford ...

... Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star: "As he had promised, Ford was the first candidate to register for the 2014 race. Immediately after he filed his nomination papers at city hall Thursday morning, he revealed his early communications strategy: a relentless focus on money matters, a refusal to address questions about his behaviour while in office."

News Ledes

Los Angeles Times: "Phil Everly, who with his brother, Don, made up the most revered vocal duo of the rock-music era, their exquisite harmonies profoundly influencing the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Byrds and countless younger-generation rock, folk and country singers, died Friday in Burbank of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Patti Everly, told The Times. He was 74."

Washington Post: "A rejuvenated al-Qaeda-affiliated force asserted control over the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on Friday, raising its flag over government buildings and declaring an Islamic state in one of the most crucial areas that U.S. troops fought to pacify before withdrawing from Iraq two years ago."

AP: "... starting Sunday tundra-like temperatures are poised to deliver a rare and potentially dangerous sledgehammer blow to much of the Midwest, driving temperatures so far below zero that records will shatter. One reason? A 'polar vortex,' as one meteorologist calls it, which will send cold air piled up at the North Pole down to the U.S., funneling it as far south as the Gulf Coast." ...

... AP: "A blustering winter storm that dropped nearly 2 feet of snow just north of Boston, shut down major highways in New York and Pennsylvania and forced U.S. airlines to cancel thousands of flights nationwide menaced the Northeast on Friday with howling winds and frigid temperatures. The brutal weather -- which brought plummeting temperatures to some areas that forecasters predicted could see highs just above zero and wind chill readings of minus 10 degrees and colder by early Friday -- dumped 21 inches of snow in Boxford, Mass., by late Thursday and 18 inches in parts of western New York near Rochester. Up to 7 inches fell in New York City by Friday morning."

New York Times: "Months after diplomats declared that they had come up with a plan and a timetable to dispose of Syria's lethal chemical weapons -- and with the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the weapons inspectors -- the centerpiece of the mission, a workhorse American military ship that will ferry the weapons to sea for destruction, remains [in Portsmouth, Virginia], waiting like a sad bride for her groom.... Late last month, the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the group charged with the removal efforts, said in a joint statement that security conditions in Syria had 'constrained planned movements' and that bad weather had foiled plans to move the weapons out by the target date of Dec. 31. "

New York Times: "Amid the chaos of Syria's civil war, Hezbollah has been moving long-range missiles to Lebanon from bases where it had stored them inside Syria, including long-range Scud D missiles that can strike deep into Israel, according to an Israeli national security analyst."

AP: "An Australian icebreaker carrying 52 passengers who were retrieved from an icebound ship in the Antarctic was told to halt its journey home on Friday after concerns that a Chinese vessel involved in the dramatic rescue may also become stuck in the heavy sea ice."

Cute Baby Story. ABC News: Three sets of New Years twins will have a lifetime of explaining to do. In each case one baby was born on Dec. 31 and the other on Jan. 1. They're twins, yet they were born in different years." CW: One is a tax deduction for 2013; the other is not.

The Commentariat -- January 2, 2014

New York Times Editors: "Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, [Edward] Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community." ...

... Guardian Editors: "We hope that calm heads within the present administration are working on a strategy to allow Mr Snowden to return to the US with dignity, and the president to use his executive powers to treat him humanely and in a manner that would be a shining example about the value of whistleblowers and of free speech itself." CW: The Guardian's editors seem to suggest President Obama should pardon Snowden.

CW: E. J. Dionne feels a need to explain to moderates why a resurgence of progressive populism is a good thing. Frankly, I don't see a "resurgence." Elizabeth Warren, for instance, isn't "replacing" Republican Scott Brown. She retook Ted Kennedy's seat after a short, anomalous hiatus, and Kennedy was at least as progressive as Warren. And if "moderates" can't figure out why increasing Social Security benefits beats privatizing the program, then they aren't moderates.

Michael Shear & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio has signaled he may embrace a series of limited changes to the nation’s immigration laws in the coming months.... Aides to Mr. Boehner said this week that he was committed to what he calls 'step by step' moves to revise immigration laws, which they have declined to specify. " CW: Whoopdeedoo. This is what makes the top headline in the Times?

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "In temporarily blocking enforcement of the part of President Obama’s health care law that requires many employers to provide health insurance coverage for birth control or face penalties, Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday opened a second front in Supreme Court challenges to the provision. The initial front opened in November, when the justices agreed to hear a pair of cases from for-profit companies challenging that provision." ...

We defer to the Department of Justice on litigation matters, but remain confident that our final rules strike the balance of providing women with free contraceptive coverage while preventing non-profit religious employers with religious objections to contraceptive coverage from having to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for such coverage. -- Anonymous White House Official

... Sandhya Somashekhar, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration faced a fresh challenge to its health-care law just as many of its key provisions took effect Wednesday, after an 11th-hour Supreme Court ruling temporarily allowed some Catholic groups not to cover birth control in their employee health plans.... The ruling applied not only to the Little Sisters of the Poor, a nonprofit group that provides services to low-income elderly people, but also to more than 200 other faith-based groups that use insurance provided by the Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust, which adheres to Catholic principles. Most nonprofit groups that challenged the mandate already had received temporary reprieves." ...

... Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress: "According to the Department of Health and Human Services, about six million people signed up for Obamacare’s coverage expansion so far. It’s not yet clear exactly how many of those people gained new insurance on January 1; some of them may not have paid their first premium yet, and ongoing technical problems with the state marketplaces may delay some people’s coverage from kicking in immediately. Regardless of the official enrollment numbers, however, New Years Eve marked an important milestone for the health insurance industry."

I’m sure you know, the bishop has total control. -- Anonymous Doctor, describing how medical decisions are made at Roman Catholic hospitals ...

... Lori Freedman in the New Republic on medical "mistakes" directed by Catholic doctrine: "The role that bishops play in healthcare is not a narrow, niche issue. Today in the U.S., one out of six hospital patients are treated in a Catholic facility; four of the 10 largest health systems are Catholic. In many places, the Catholic hospital is the only option for care. While some argue that religious groups should be entitled to follow their own doctrine in their own hospitals, this argument is based on the antiquated notion of faith-based care. Catholic hospitals employ and treat people of all faiths with federal dollars...." Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link. Also, see today's Comments.

Mario Trujillo of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told The Associated Press in an interview that the Senate will vote Monday on a three-month extension of federal unemployment benefits. Calling the House a 'black hole of legislation,' he offered no prediction on whether the lower chamber would take up the extension as well."

Dan Vergano of the National Geographic: "A decline in ocean cloud cover projected in climate models points to more than 5.6°F (3°C) of global warming coming in this century, on the high end of past global warming estimates, warn climate scientists in a new study."

Lyle Denniston, in a National Constitution Center opinion piece: "The campaign to win marriage rights for same-sex couples that began somewhat hesitantly in Hawaii more than twenty years ago burst forth in 2013 into something close to a constitutional revolution.  The year 2014 very likely will take the issue back to the Supreme Court even as efforts continue to advance the campaign at the state level."

Steve Coll of the New Yorker discusses a new memoir by John Rizzo, a CIA lawyer for more than three decades. Rizzo counters George W. Bush's claim that he was the "decider" on harsh interrogation techniques.

Gail Collins publishes her year-end quiz -- with answers.

Local News

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Bill de Blasio, whose fiery populism propelled his rise from obscure neighborhood official to the 109th mayor of New York, was sworn into office on Wednesday, pledging that his ambition for a more humane and equal metropolis would remain undimmed." The Times has an interactive page, with video, analyzing de Blasio's inaugural address.

Bryce Covert of Think Progress: "With the new year came the implementation of a new bill: Rhode Island’s paid family leave legislation, passed in July, is now in effect. That means that three states have paid family leave programs in place, as Rhode Island joins California, whose law went into effect in 2004, and New Jersey, which started its program in 2009."

Senate Race

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Daniel K. Inouye, the most revered and powerful figure in Hawaii political history, had a deathbed wish: that Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) would appoint his protegee, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, to replace him in the Senate. But Abercrombie upended this island state’s political order by tapping the younger Brian Schatz, then the lieutenant governor. Now, a year after Inouye’s death, the former senator’s ghost lingers large over a bitter feud that is dividing Democrats along ethnic and generational lines.... With the outspoken support of Inouye’s widow, Hanabusa is giving up her House seat to challenge Schatz in the 2014 primary."

The Commentariat -- January 1, 2014

Robert Pear & Amy Goodnough of the New York Times: "Millions of Americans will begin receiving health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday after years of contention and a rollout hobbled by delays and technical problems. The decisively new moment in the effort to overhaul the country's health care system will test the law's central premise: that extending coverage to far more Americans will improve the nation's health and help many avoid crippling medical bills." ...

Graphic by the Washington Post.... Sandhya Somashekhar & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Medicaid embarks on a massive transformation Wednesday -- from a safety-net program for the most vulnerable to a broad-based one that finds itself at the front lines of the continuing political and ideological battle over the Affordable Care Act. Already the nation’s largest health-care program, Medicaid is being expanded and reshaped by the law to cover a wider array of people.... President Obama and many Democratic lawmakers initially resisted the dramatic Medicaid expansion that became part of the Affordable Care Act. But it turned out to be significantly less expensive than providing federal subsidies to lower-income people to buy private health insurance through the state and federal exchanges." ...

... Marc Levy of the AP on Republican states' refusal to accept the Medicaid expansion: "About 5 million people will be without health care [in 2014] that they would have gotten simply if they lived somewhere else in America.... More than one-fifth of them live in Texas alone, Kaiser's analysis found." ...

... ** Michael Moore, in a marvelous New York Times op-ed: "I believe Obamacare's rocky start -- clueless planning, a lousy website, insurance companies raising rates, and the president's telling people they could keep their coverage when, in fact, not all could -- is a result of one fatal flaw: The Affordable Care Act is a pro-insurance-industry plan implemented by a president who knew in his heart that a single-payer, Medicare-for-all model was the true way to go. When right-wing critics 'expose' the fact that President Obama endorsed a single-payer system before 2004, they're actually telling the truth." ...

... AP: "Only hours before the law was to take effect, Supreme Court justice [Sonia Sotomayor] on Tuesday blocked implementation of part of President Barack Obama's health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control coverage.... Sotomayor acted on a request from an organization of Catholic nuns in Denver, the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. Its request for an emergency stay had been denied earlier in the day by a federal appeals court.... Justice Sotomayor is giving the government until Friday morning to respond to her decision." ...

     ... Update: The New York Times story is here.

Susan Stellin of the New York Times: "The government's right to search travelers' electronic devices at the border was upheld in a ruling released by a federal judge on Tuesday, which dismissed a lawsuit challenging this policy.... Even if the plaintiffs did have standing [which he ruled they did not], Judge [Edward] Korman [of the Eastern District of New York] found that they would lose on the merits of the case, ruling that the government does not need reasonable suspicion to examine or confiscate a traveler's laptop, cellphone or other device at the border."

Josh Israel of Think Progress: "Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, in his annual Year-End Report on the State of the Federal Judiciary, blasted the 2011 Budget Control Act's automatic 'sequestration' federal spending cuts and warned that the cuts to the federal court system;s budget 'pose a genuine threat to public safety.' Roberts, appointed to the Supreme Court in 2005 by President George W. Bush, listed 'adequate funding for the Judiciary' as the 'single most important issue facing the courts' and offered a Dickensian look at the federal judiciary past, present, and future." Chief Justice Roberts' report is here. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link to Israel's post.

Maureen O'Connor, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, in an Akron Legal News op-ed: "The U.S. Supreme Court is now one of the last major institutions of Western civilization that has not entered the 21st century technologically. I join with those in a growing movement calling on the justices to change that [and allow cameras in the courtroom during oral arguments].

Jonathan Chait of New York: "The position of Democrats in Washington, backed by a growing mountain of economic research, is that macroeconomic and humanitarian considerations alike both argue for an extension of unemployment benefits. The position of Republicans in Washington is rather strange -- less a moral or economic argument than an expression of indifference.... What they lack is any legislative response to the economic crisis. They just want to get back to normal, and since normality has not arrived, they'd just as soon pretend it has."

The Party of Dodos. Dana Milbank: "As the country overall becomes more racially diverse and more secular, Republicans are resolutely white and increasingly devout. If current trends persist, it will be only a couple of decades before they join the dodo and the saber-toothed tiger."

Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker writes "a short history of metadata collection and the Obama Administration's response to it, as told by an assortment of the most important documents."

Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: "U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and at least one other Education Department official urged New York Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio and his team not to choose Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr as the city's next schools chancellor, according to several people knowledgeable about the selection process. It was an unusual move by the nation's top education official and came in the wake of Starr's vocal criticism of some of the Obama administration's school reform policies." CW: I hope an educator will comment on this. IMHO, Arne Duncan is a preening phony whose "ideas" come right out of Jeb Bush's school-privatization playbook; it's hardly surprising he's a vindictive weasel, too. But I could be wrong.

Local News

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Bill de Blasio was sworn in as the 109th mayor of New York City early Wednesday, at two minutes past the stroke of midnight. The oath of office was administered by Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, in a brief ceremony inside the front yard of the mayor's rowhouse in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where Mr. de Blasio stood with his family...." CW: President Bill Clinton will administer the oath to de Blasio in a ceremony later today:

... Michael Grynbaum: "The elevation of an assertive, tax-the-rich liberal to the nation’s most prominent municipal office has fanned hopes that hot-button causes like universal prekindergarten and low-wage worker benefits -- versions of which have been passed in smaller cities -- could be aided by the imprimatur of being proved workable in New York." ...

... Benjamin Wallace-Wells in New York: "Often it feels like [New York C]ity really has only two classes: those who believe they can afford the space they need to live in and those who believe they can't. The city has gotten steadily wealthier throughout the past generation, but over the last decade the change has been exceptional.... A program of the scope that [incoming Mayor Bill] De Blasio has begun to sketch out -- a symbolic remaking of the city under the banner of affordability -- is at least as vast an undertaking as Bloomberg's or Giuliani's and arguably more complicated."...

... Andy Borowitz: "As the curtain comes down on the Michael Bloomberg era, the three-term mayor of New York received fulsome praise last night from his most appreciative constituency: the people who can still afford to live there." ...

... CW: Wallace-Wells reminds us of this: "The mayor of New York is the chief executive of a city that is bigger than Israel or Switzerland; the government directly under his control is larger than that of 43 separate states, and the economy under his supervision is roughly the size of Canada's."

Soumya Karlamangla of the Los Angeles Times: "Amid controversy, a gay couple are set to be married on a float Wednesday at the 125th Rose Parade.... The AIDS Healthcare Foundation float, titled 'Living the Dream: Love Is the Best Protection,' was created to celebrate victories in 2013 for the same-sex marriage movement.... Foundation spokesman Ged Kenslea said the organization supports legally sanctioning same-sex marriage because it encourages more stable relationships as well as behavior that will prevent the spread of HIV." ...

... Brooke Adams of the Salt Lake Tribune: "The state of Utah asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon to put same-sex marriages in Utah on hold while it appeals a lower court ruling in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, saying each marriage that occurs is 'an affront' to the state's and the public's interest 'in being able to define marriage through ordinary democratic channels.'"

Wingers Explode in Outrage, Ctd.

CW: I found this segment mildly offensive:

     ... because I don't think the race of a loved one/family member is remarkable. But I'm looking at it from the perspective of a white person. I get why Harris-Perry highlighted the photo -- she often discusses racial issues on her show. Besides, in a country imbued with racism, can't black people talk about racial issues? Although she made the mistake of introducing the race of Mitt Romney's grandson into a discussion that was supposed to be comedic, the comedians' responses to her request for a photo caption were not offensive -- they made fun of Republicans, not of the family nor of the child. ...

... BUT of course, wingers exploded in outrage. Their mock outrage was offensive, and if not overtly racist, at least white-centric. That is, their assumption is that white people have a degree of free speech rights that black people don't; also, it's okay to verbally attack minorities, but not okay to make fun of white conservatives. Harris-Perry later apologized in a series of tweets & a blogpost. Few on the right are capable of such reflection, self-criticism & public apology. P.S. Tweeting is not the best way to say "I'm sorry."

Political Bloopers -- 2013 Edition

News Ledes

Epoch Times: "Boujemaa Razgui, a flute virtuoso who lives in New York City, says customs officials at JFK Airport destroyed 11 of his instruments. Razgui, a Canadian citizen with a green card employment permit, was arriving from his home in Marrakech, Morocco. He said his baggage was opened by officials who said that his instruments were 'agricultural products' and 'had to be destroyed.'"

AP: "A billowing fire engulfed a three-story building near downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday morning, sending 13 people to hospitals with injuries ranging from burns to trauma associated with falls. Officials said six of those injuries were critical, but no fatalities were reported. An explosion was reported about 8:15 a.m., and within minutes a fire raged through the building...." ...

... Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Fourteen people were injured, six critically, early Wednesday morning after an explosion caused a major fire at a grocery store and apartment building in the bustling Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in south Minneapolis. Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel said they do not know yet if all the residents are accounted for. Some made it out on their own into the subzero temperatures, but others had to be rescued with ladders." Family members say three people are unaccounted for.

AP: "The nation's first recreational pot industry opened in Colorado on Wednesday, kicking off a marijuana experiment that will be watched closely around the world. Already, it is attracting people from across the country."

AFP: "Pope Francis on Wednesday called for greater [justice and] solidarity in the world in his first New Year blessing as pontiff in front of crowds of pilgrims on St Peter's Square."

AP: "A poll suggests majorities of both Israelis and Palestinians support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but remain suspicious of the other side. The survey was released Wednesday, hours before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's return to the region. Kerry is trying to forge agreement on the outlines of a peace deal, but gaps remain."

AP: "Iran and Western negotiators on Tuesday reported they were nearing an understanding on the details of implementing the landmark interim nuclear accord reached between Tehran and world powers in November."

AFP: "President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called Russia's deadliest bombings in three years an 'abomination' as he inspected the site of twin suicide strikes that killed 34 and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. The Kremlin chief laid a thick bouquet of red roses on a heap of stuffed toys and flowers assembled at one of the blast locations and exchanged commiserations with bandaged survivors at a hospital in the shell-shocked southern city of Volgograd."

AFP: "Egypt has accused detained journalists from the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television network of belonging to a 'terrorist' group, saying they had ties with the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, the prosecution said Tuesday.... Prosecutors had earlier ordered the detention of three journalists with Al-Jazeera's English channel, including Australian Peter Greste, after their arrest on Sunday in a Cairo hotel."