The Commentariat -- Feb. 1, 2013

Noah Bierman of the Boston Globe: "Scott Brown ... announced Friday afternoon that he will not enter the special election to replace John F. Kerry. Brown's announcement was unusual. Rather than a formal press conference or statement, he initially released the news to the Boston Herald in a text message that said 'U are the first to know.' His spokesman later confirmed the news to the Globe in a text that read 'Not running.' No explanation was given. Brown's decision leaves the Republican Party scrambling to find a viable candidate for the June 25 election."

Friday News Dump. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The Obama administration proposed yet another compromise on Friday in an effort to address the concerns of religious organizations that object to its policy requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives for women at no charge.... Under the proposal, the administration said, 'eligible organizations would not have to contract, arrange, pay or refer for any contraceptive coverage to which they object on religious grounds.' Female employees of such organizations would receive contraceptive coverage through separate individual health insurance policies, without having to pay premiums or co-payments. The proposed rule is somewhat ambiguous about exactly who would pay the costs."

Mark Singer wrote a piece published in the New Yorker in December 2012, on Ed Koch. Here's the trailer for the documentary, by Neil Barsky, which Singer mentions:

... Kevin Roose of New York magazine: "... for Koch, appealing to Main Street was less a political play than an expression of who he truly was." ... And the magazine has pulled together some uniquely Koch quotes. Here's one:

Have you ever lived in the suburbs? ... It's sterile. It's nothing. It's wasting your life, and people do not wish to waste their lives once they've seen New York! ... This rural American thing -- I'm telling you, it's a joke. -- Ed Koch

Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times: "Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee to be secretary of defense, came under sharp and sometimes angry questioning Thursday on a wide range of issues from fellow Republicans at his Senate confirmation hearing, including from his old friend, Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who is still smoldering about their break over the Iraq war." ...

... Ernesto Londoño of the Washington Post: "Chuck Hagel ... confronted withering criticism during a marathon confirmation hearing Thursday, but administration officials said they felt confident that the Republican-led attacks did not derail his bid to lead the Pentagon." The Post has some low-lights videos here. ...

... AND all this, as contributor MAG points out, made Hagel very sad. ...

... BUT then, Chuck Hagel always looks sad, even when things are going well. ...

... Spencer Ackerman of Wired: "If Chuck Hagel wins approval in the Senate to run the Pentagon..., it'll be despite his performance in his confirmation hearing on Thursday, not because of it." ...

... Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy: "Several more Republican senators tell [me they] have decided to oppose the confirmation of Chuck Hagel ... after hearing him testify Thursday." ...

... Nick Turse of TomDispatch: Chuck Hagel's concern for American troops unnecessarily put in harm's way does not seem to extend to civilians -- even chilidren -- living in enemy territory.

** John Boehner Does Not Live in the Rational World. Greg Sargent: "Politico's Glenn Thrush reports ... that Republicans believe the GDP report showing the economy is shrinking gives them political 'leverage' over Obama, since bad economic news is terrible for the President. But ... this shouldn't be the case, since the contraction was the result of a drop in spending, which in theory should undermine the GOP argument that we should cut spending as deeply as possible.... The economic contraction was driven largely by a steep drop in defense spending. As Ezra Klein details, this shows that 'government is hurting the recovery' by 'spending and investing too little.' .... Yet Republicans are responding to the news of the economic contraction by suggesting it validates their view that we need to further cut spending to help the economy." ...

... Steve Benen criticizes Thrush's report, as well he should; the Politico headline, on which Thrush elaborates, is "Obama's GOP Problem. Benen writes, "It's almost as if facts, evidence, reason, and a cursory understanding of economic policy no longer matters at all.... Through much of 2010 and 2011, we saw state and local governments pursue austerity measures, slashing public investments and laying off public-sector workers.... But as 2012 drew to a close, we saw similar cuts in federal spending, and the result was yesterday's report showing an economy that's shrinking for the first time since 2009. is incredibly easy to fix -- policymakers can invest in the economy, lower unemployment, and inject capital into the system. But that's not going to happen...." ...

... "Looking for Mr. Goodpain." Paul Krugman: "... the [austerian] doctrine that has dominated elite economic discourse for the past three years is wrong on all fronts. Not only have we been ruled by fear of nonexistent threats, we've been promised rewards that haven't arrived and never will. It's time to put the deficit obsession aside and get back to dealing with the real problem -- namely, unacceptably high unemployment." ...

... Neil Irwin of the Washington Post explains why the Flock of the Deficit Hawks can't understand Paul Krugman, other economists, the Fed, bankers & business forecasters.

Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Federal authorities are scrutinizing private consultants hired to clean up financial misdeeds like money laundering and foreclosure abuses, taking aim at an industry that is paid billions of dollars by the same banks it is expected to police.... On Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Representative Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, announced that they would open an investigation into the foreclosure review...."

New York Times Editors: "... at the opening Senate hearing on gun controls this week..., Judiciary Committee members seemed to have largely swallowed gun lobby propaganda that the evidence shows the original 10-year ban on assault weapons was ineffective." It ain't so. ...

... ** Gun Rights Are Not Women's Rights. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "'Guns make women safer,' Gayle Trotter of the conservative Independent Women's Forum, told the Senate Judiciary Committee at its Wednesday hearing.... The facts suggest precisely the opposite. First, women are far more likely to be the victims of gun violence than to benefit from using a gun in self-defense. Second, the restrictions under discussion would not harm women." ...

... Jon Stewart comments on the hearing:

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "The Senate Ethics Committee is reviewing allegations that Sen. Robert Menendez accepted inappropriate gifts from a Florida doctor who has flown the New Jersey Democrat to his estate in the Dominican Republic, a senior member of the panel confirmed Thursday." ...

... Raymond Hernandez & Frances Robles of the New York Times on Menendez's financial entanglements with Dr. Salomon Melgen, a wealthy Florida eye surgeon. CW: I'm not seeing a lot of "public service" here. ...

... Steve Kornacki of Salon on what the Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) scandal could mean to Senate Democrats. If Menendez is forced to resign, guess who gets to appoint his replacement? ...

... Okay, Kornacki didn't count on this. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera may run for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 2014 as a Republican, Rivera told his radio show on Thursday...." Fortunately, Geraldo has no underaged-hooker problem: "In his book 'Exposing Myself,' the former Jerry Rivers boasted of affairs, flings and flirtations with Margaret Trudeau, then the estranged wife of Canada's Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Marian Javits, widow of New York's Republican Sen. Jacob Javits. The list also included Liza Minelli, Bette Midler, Chris Evert and Judy Collins." CW: if Menendez steps down, there's no reason Geraldo couldn't run for his seat. Bob Menendez may join a long line of corrupt, avaricious sex-crazed, lying, cheating pricks a/k/a New Jersey Democrats, but theists have a strong case here: there is a god, she is a Democrat, and she has a sense of humor. Thanks to Kate M. for the heads-up.

Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches: "John J. DiIulio, the first director of George W. Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, has taken to the Washington Post to laud President Obama's White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.... Less than a year into his own tenure, DiIulio resigned in disgust.... He notoriously coined the term 'Mayberry Machiavellis' to describe Bush insiders, who ... 'winked at the most far-right House Republicans' in attempting to pass legislation for the faith-based office." Read Posner's whole post. Obama's OFBNP routinely grants waivers to participants who don't want to comply with anti-discrimination employment laws. DiIulio thinks that's great, but Posner writes. "... feeding hungry children is an essential goal. But since it could be done without raising these constitutional issues, why isn't it?" Why, indeed? Via Jonathan Bernstein.

Right Wing World

Tim Egan: "Fox and friends can still crush their own, as Obama noted [in a remark this week]. But that only drives the Republican Party further to the fringes. Virtually everything the broadcast bullies are against -- sensible gun measures, immigration reform, raising taxes on the rich -- are favored by a majority of Americans."

News Ledes

AP: "A Milan appeals court has convicted a former CIA station chief in Rome and two other Americans in the 2003 rendition kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric. The court on Friday sentenced former CIA station chief Jeff Castelli to even years, and handed sentences of six years each to Americans Betnie Madero and Ralph Russomando. All three had been acquitted in the first trial due to diplomatic immunity."

New York Times: "A county prosecutor in [Kaufman, Texas, a] small town southeast of Dallas was fatally shot on Thursday morning near the courthouse by one or perhaps two gunmen, whom witnesses described as wearing masks, black clothing and tactical-style vests.... Lawyers and prosecutors throughout North Texas were stunned by the attack." CW: excuse me; you live in Texas & you're "stunned" by gun violence in Texas?

AP: "Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan, is stepping down. Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed."

CNBC: "An encouraging U.S. jobs report propelled blue-chip stocks above the closely watched 14,000 bulwark on Friday, with investors momentarily downplaying fears about the economic recovery."

Boston Globe: "Senator John F. Kerry will be sworn in as secretary of state by Associate Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan in a small, private ceremony Friday afternoon, State Department officials said." ...

... Boston Globe: "Kerry said President Obama offered him the job of secretary of state a week before United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice withdrew her name from contention, an earlier timeline than has been previously reported."

Boston Globe: "... a top university official said Friday that more than half of the Harvard students investigated by a college board have been ordered to withdraw from the school."

AP: "A suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosive Friday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, [Turkey,] killing himself and a guard at the entrance gate, officials said.U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardione told reporters that a Turkish citizen was also wounded in the 1:15 p.m. blast in the Turkish capital."

AP: "U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs in January, and hiring was stronger over the past two years than previously thought, providing reassurance that the job market held steady even as economic growth sputtered. The mostly upbeat Labor Department report Friday included one negative sign: The unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in December."

New York Times: "Edward I. Koch, the master showman of City Hall, who parlayed shrewd political instincts and plenty of chutzpah into three tumultuous terms as mayor of New York with all the tenacity, zest and combativeness that personified his city of golden dreams, died Friday morning at age 88."

Los Angeles Times: "Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez on Thursday announced dramatic actions in response to the priest abuse scandal, saying that Cardinal Roger Mahony would no longer perform public duties in the church and that Santa Barbara Bishop Thomas J. Curry has stepped down. Gomez said in a statement that Mahony -- who led the L.A. archdiocese from 1985 to 2011 -- 'will no longer have any administrative or public duties.' Gomez also announced the church has released a trove of confidential church files detailing how the Los Angeles archdiocese dealt with priests accused of molestation." The New York Times story is here.

The Commentariat -- Jan. 31, 2013

Frank Phillips of the Boston Globe: "Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has picked William 'Mo' Cowan, his former chief of staff, to serve as the state's interim US senator until the successor to John F. Kerry is chosen by the voters in a June 25 special election." ...

... "The Barney Brush-off." Charles Mahtesian of Politico: the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which supported former Rep. Barney Frank for the interim appointment, was not amused by Gov. Patrick's choice. ...

... Martin Finucane of the Boston Globe: "If former US senator Scott Brown decides to run against US Representative Ed Markey in the special election for Senate, the two would be locked in a statistical tie, a new poll finds. The Republican Brown would get 48 percent of the vote, while Markey, a Democrat, would get 45 percent of the vote, if the election were held today, according to the poll released by Public Policy Polling. But the gap between the two fell within the survey's margin of error, plus or minus 3.6 percentage points." ...

... David Uberti of the Boston Globe: "Democrat John Kerry, delivering a long and emotional farewell speech in the Senate Wednesday, warned that political gridlock in Washington threatens America's reputation abroad." ... You can read the text of Kerry's long & emotional speech here. ...

... This could be the best bit:

AND, in other Senate News.... Jonathan Tamari of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez [D] denied allegations reported online that he used prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, issuing a statement Wednesday afternoon after the FBI raided the offices of a friend also tied to the accusations. 'Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated right-wing blog and are false,' said a statement from Menendez's office. The Democrat was forced to respond to the issue after FBI agents raided the offices of a financially troubled West Palm Beach, Fla. eye doctor Tuesday night who has faced accusations involving ties to Menendez." ...

... Here's more from Frances Robles of the New York Times. "... Dr. [Salomon] Melgen, who is best known for his association with Democratic politicians, including Senator Menendez, owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $10 million. The raid came just four days after a conservative Web site alleged that the F.B.I. was looking into accusations that Mr. Menendez and Dr. Melgen frequented under-age prostitutes in the Dominican Republic." ...

... Via Politico, the accusing Website is Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller. CW: with Kerry's resignation, Menendez became chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Nice to know even though a new kid is heading this important committee, he's one who is experienced in foreign relations. ...

     ... UPDATE. Pete Yost of the AP: "Sen. Robert Menendez's office says he reimbursed a prominent Florida political donor $58,500 on Jan. 4 of this year for the full cost of two of three trips Menendez took on the donor's plane to the Dominican Republic in 2010. Details of Menendez's trips emerged as his office said unsubstantiated allegations that the senator engaged in sex with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic are false."

Gail Collins looks back at Hillary Clinton's career.

Donna Cassata of the AP: Chuck Hagel "is the lone witness at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday that could be crucial in determining whether he will win Senate confirmation to succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Obama's second-term national security team. Two former committee chairmen -- Democrat Sam Nunn and Republican John Warner -- will introduce the nominee."

Charles Pierce notes that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is "runnin' a'skeered" on accounta not being quite crazy enough for his witless constituency, & who just got through accusing Hillary Clinton of murder, is "going to get a crack at Chuck Hagel on Thursday, which may bring about the mother of all public tantrums."

Like if you put a speed limit on a highway, pretty soon they're going to take your car away from you. -- David Corn of Mother Jones on the NRA's "slippery slope" argument

Peter Applebome of the New York Times: "In riveting testimony [in Newtown, Connecticut,] repeatedly interrupted by standing ovations, parents, public officials, law enforcement officers and school employees issued a full-throated call on Wednesday night for strengthening the nation's gun laws in the wake of the massacre of 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December."

** Dana Milbank: Wayne LaPierre, who portrays himself as a Renaissance man (really, he does!), sure acts like a lying, bullying, violent cartoon villain. ...

... Susan Page of USA Today: "The powerful National Rifle Association will urge lawmakers to vote against mandating universal background checks for gun buyers, NRA President David Keene told USA TODAY on Wednesday. That raises questions about the enactment of many gun-control measures in the wake of last month's shootings in Newtown, Conn." ...

... CW: If you had asked me what headline I had dreamed of seeing coming out of Wednesday's Senate hearings on gun safety, this would be it: "Gabrielle Giffords' husband smacks down Wayne LaPierre." So thank you, Greg Sargent, and thank you, Mark Kelly: "During the hearing, LaPierre repeatedly voiced the talking point that there's no need to expand the background check system because criminals don't cooperate with background checks. Kelly responded: "... My wife would not have been sitting here today if we had stronger background checks." Read the entire response. ...

... Meanwhile, Kelly broke the news to people in the hearing room of a shooting in Phoenix that took place during the hearing. Kelly's remarks are here. Alex Johnson of NBC News has the story: "Three people were shot and wounded Wednesday, one of them with life-threatening injuries, when a gunman opened fire at a Phoenix office complex, authorities said. The two other people had less severe injuries, police said, correcting their earlier report that all three had been critically injured." ...

... "Guns Don't Kill People, Video Games Do." Jed Lewison of Daily Kos: "United States Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, mak[es] the case that ... video games are 'a bigger problem than guns' because unlike guns, 'video games affect people.'" Includes video.

... Charles Pierce takes a look at the illogical fears, perceptions & prejudices of American evangelicals, all of which would be mere sociological observations about intellectual pathologies if not for the fact that "We have allowed our politics -- and one of the only two political parties we allow ourselves -- to be hijacked by a kind of religiosity that depends on its adherents being even bigger suckers than the rest of their fellow citizens."

Thomas Edsell, in the New York Times, has a very good piece refuting right-wing "experts"' claims that America's poor are really lucky duckies who are buying a lot of cheap electronics & investing in well-priced cosmetic surgery.

Steve Benen: Congressional Republicans are doubling down on the sequester, insisting it is inevitable. Ferinstance, Paul "Ryan, who used to believe sequestration would 'devastate' the economy, added, '[W]e can't lose those spending cuts.'"

Michael Shear & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "While aides say Mr. Obama is open to some negotiation over the contours of the immigration changes he laid out Tuesday in Las Vegas, senior administration officials are convinced that there is little risk in pushing hard for Mr. Obama's immigration priorities, betting that Republicans will think twice about voting down a bill championed by a president who is highly popular among the very voters they covet. The principles Mr. Obama embraced this week differ in some central ways from the effort under way in the Senate...." ...

... E. J. Dionne: "Until Obama was reelected, party competition translated into Republican efforts to block virtually everything the president wanted to accomplish. On immigration, at least, the parties are now competing to share credit for doing something big. It's wonderful to behold.... By going slightly to the progressive side of the senators, Obama may ease the way for Republicans to strike a deal since they will be able to claim they stayed to the president's right." ...

... Here's the Rachel Maddow segment on how to become a legal immigrant now, to which contributor Diane referred in today's Comments:

Jamelle Bouie of American Prospect: "Unlike citizens in every other advanced democracy -- and many other developing ones -- Americans don't have a right to vote. Popular perception notwithstanding, the Constitution provides no explicit guarantee of voting rights.... A right-to-vote amendment would raise the standard of constitutional review for voter-identification laws and other measures that deplete the pool of voters."

Ryan Cooper has a terrific piece in the Washington Monthly on Shirley Sherrod who is still working to help poor Georgia farmers. CW: Obama should nominate her for agriculture secretary. Seriously. ...

... Cooper also has a short post contrasting Sherrod with that other person suddenly thrust upon the national stage: Miss Alaska Governor Pageant Winner 2006.

Ramsey Cox of The Hill: "A group of Democratic senators came to the floor Wednesday to urge the passage of a bill that would help women fight for equal pay. Democratic Sens. Barbara Mikulski (Md.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Mark Begich (Alaska) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.) called for the Senate to take up the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would require businesses to show the range of compensation for all positions, allowing women to see if they are on the lower end of the pay scale. Employers would also not be able to retaliate against employees for discussing how much they make with coworkers."

Sam Baker of The Hill: "The Obama administration took new steps Wednesday toward implementing the individual mandate in its signature healthcare law, downplaying the scope of the unpopular provision by stressing rules that allow exemptions from the requirement to purchase insurance."

Right Wing World

Jillian Rayfield of Salon: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney shoots down latest right-wing conspiracy theory: there in "Rahm Emanuel's Chicago," somebody will be tearing down Ronald Reagan's childhood home -- an apartment building his family lived in for about a year when Reagan was three -- to put up a parking lot ---- for the Obama presidential library. A blogger who runs a blog called "Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home" also wrote that he had local information disputing the conspiracy story. CW: Sorry, sane people, facts are not going to interfere with a good plotline, one I wish were true.

One of [politicians'] favorite ways to increase their power is by creating programs that dispense subsidized government benefits, such as Medicare, Social Security, and outright welfare (Medicaid, food stamps, subsidized housing, and the like). These programs make people dependent on government. And once people are dependent, they feel they can't afford to have the programs taken away, no matter how inefficient, poorly run, or costly to the rest of society. -- Kenny Cuccinelli, former ward of Kate Madison ...

... Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: Virginia AG & gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli's new book, to be released February 12 & "a must-read for every patriot," according to its Amazon blurb, "uses language akin to Mitt Romney's famous '47 percent' comment."

... ** Robert Schlesinger of U.S. News: "Votes from 'center cities' should be discounted when considering who won a mandate in last November's elections, according to GOP megadonor Foster Friess. Apparently urban votes are insufficiently in tune with the pro free market movement which is sweeping the country and, in his view, handed the GOP a mandate in the 2012 elections even though they took national losses across the board.... When I asked him if he was saying that votes from "center cities" should be discounted, his answer, in full, was: 'Yes.'" ...

... CW: Yes, Foster Aspirins-as-Contraceptives Friess is an idiot, but as Schesinger correctly develops his commentary, Friess is speaking inartfully for the actual views of prominent & ordinary Republicans. They think giving "urban people" 3/5ths of a vote is way too much. All of the voter suppression efforts we've seen/are seeing are not just good for Republicans; they are good for the country. Voter suppression isn't a dirty trick; it's patriotic. "Urban people" should not have the right to vote. See also Jamelle Bouie above.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Former [New York City] Mayor Edward I. Koch, who has been hospitalized since Monday with lung problems, was placed in the intensive care unit on Thursday afternoon, his spokesman said."

AP: "... violent storms raked the Southeast, leaving two people dead before the vast storm front moved on to pummel the East Coast.... Along a path pocked by shattered homes and businesses, the storm unleashed tornadoes and dangerous winds, easily flipping cars and trucks in Georgia. The heavy rains moving across the East Coast also raised flash flood fears and forced water rescues in Virginia and Maryland near the nation's capital. In the Northeast, utilities reported power outages affecting about 74,000 in Connecticut and feared more outages elsewhere as the potent storm races out over the Atlantic. Forecasters said snowfall was possible in varying amounts from the Great Lakes region through the Northeast."

Market Watch: "The number of people who filed new applications for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed 38,000 to a seasonally adjusted 368,000 in the week ended Jan. 26, putting them at a one-month high...."

Reuters: "American incomes rose in December by the most in eight years, a positive sign for consumer spending that could help the economy sustain momentum early this year. Personal income for Americans rose 2.6 percent last month, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That was the biggest increase since December 2004 and well above analysts' expectations for a 0.8 percent gain."

New York Times: "Israeli warplanes carried out a strike deep inside Syrian territory on Wednesday, American officials reported, saying they believed the target was a convoy carrying sophisticated antiaircraft weaponry on the outskirts of Damascus that was intended for the Hezbollah Shiite militia in Lebanon."

Reuters: "U.N. human rights investigators called on Israel on Thursday to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all half a million Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank, saying that its practices could be subject to prosecution as possible war crimes. A three-member U.N. panel said private companies should stop working in the settlements if their work adversely affected the human rights of Palestinians...."

Reuters: "French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday backed the idea of sending a United Nations peacekeeping force into Mali, saying France would play a role in any such plan. The U.N. Security Council is to begin discussing the possibility of deploying U.N. troops in the stricken West African nation, envoys said of an idea it had previously been uncomfortable with before France's recent military intervention."

AP: "Police are hunting for an 'armed and dangerous' 70-year-old man suspected in a Phoenix office complex shooting that left one person dead and two wounded. Arthur Douglas Harmon allegedly opened fire at the end of a mediation session Wednesday morning at a three-story office complex in north-central Phoenix, police said."

AP: "A gunman holed up in a bunker with a 5-year-old hostage kept law officers at bay Wednesday in an all-night, all-day standoff that began when he killed a school bus driver and dragged the boy away, authorities said. SWAT teams took up positions around the gunman's rural property and police negotiators tried to win the kindergartener's safe release."

Chicago Tribune: "With outrage over Hadiya Pendleton's slaying spreading from City Hall to the White House, the 15-year-old became a symbol Wednesday of escalating violence in Chicago while fueling the national debate over guns and crime. A little more than a week after performing with the King College Prep band in Washington during President Barack Obama's inauguration festivities, Hadiya was fatally shot Tuesday afternoon in a park about a mile north of Obama's Kenwood home. Two other teens were wounded."

The Commentariat -- Jan. 30, 2013

Sequestration Express Expected to Arrive on Schedule. Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: Congress is too stubborn to stop the trainwreck they engineered for the purpose of stopping the trainwreck. CW: I cannot understand why the public has a low opinion of Congress.

Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "The Senate confirmed Senator John Kerry as secretary of state on Tuesday, filling a key position on President Obama's retooled national security team. The nomination was approved by a vote of 94 to 3. Only three senators, all Republicans, opposed the nomination: Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas, and James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma. Mr. Kerry voted present.... Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose last day as secretary of state is Friday, said at a global forum at the Newseum on Tuesday that she expected Mr. Kerry to undertake a new effort to narrow differences between Israel and the Palestinians.... No date has been set for Mr. Kerry's resignation from the Senate. The governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, a Democrat, will make an interim appointment to succeed Mr. Kerry...."

Damon Wilson, a "centrist foreign policy wonk" who has worked closely with Chuck Hagel, writes in a Washington Post op-ed that Hagel "has demonstrated acceptance and support for all employees, including LGBT employees." Wilson, who is gay, supports Hagel's nomination as Secretary of Defense.

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Seizing on a groundswell of support for rewriting the nation's immigration laws, President Obama challenged Congress on Tuesday to act swiftly to put 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States on a clear path to citizenship. He also praised a bipartisan group of senators, who proposed their own sweeping immigration overhaul a day earlier, saying their plan was very much in line with his own proposals, and suggested there was a 'genuine desire to get this done soon'":

... The White House lays out the main principles of the President's proposal. ...

... Adam Serwer of Mother Jones was kind enough to read both sets of proposals & has a handy guide to four differences between Obama's plan & the one by the Senate Machismo (No-Girls-Allowed) Immigration Amigos Association. ...

... New York Times Editors: "Mr. Obama released his own list of immigration-reform principles separately on Tuesday, and it is far better than the plan put forward by the senators. Besides the forceful language on citizenship, it offers ways to end backlogs in family-sponsored immigration, urges more staffing and improvements in immigration courts and added protections for immigrants who assert their labor rights. It also declares that members of same-sex couples should have the same opportunities to sponsor their partners for visas that others do."

"President Obama announces an additional $155 million in humanitarian aid for those affected by the violence of the Assad regime. This aid from the American people is providing food, clean water, medicine, medical treatment, immunizations for children, clothing, and winter supplies for millions of people in need inside Syria and in neighboring countries":

Jillian Rayfield of Salon: "Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s Executive Vice President, plans to rail against universal background checks during his testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "When it comes to the issue of background checks, let's be honest -- background checks will never be 'universal' -- because criminals will never submit to them," he plans to say. LaPierre is one of several speakers set to testify before the Senate in a gun violence hearing on Wednesday, which will also include Mark Kelly, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' husband, Baltimore's Chief of Police, and other expert witnesses." ...

... Andy Borowitz: "In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, National Rifle Association C.E.O. Wayne LaPierre warned that the N.R.A. would vigorously oppose any legislation that 'limits the sale, purchase, or ownership of politicians.'"

... Monica Davey of the New York Times on how Chicago, with its strict gun laws & high gun violence rate, exemplifies the problems created by weak national gun safety laws & weak prosecution of violators of the laws which do exist. CW: don't let gun advocates tell you that Chicago is "proof" that strict gun laws don't work: "Chicago is not an island,' said David Spielfogel, senior adviser to [Chicago Mayor Rahm] Emanuel. 'We're only as strong as the weakest gun law in surrounding states.'" ...

... Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday declined to voice support for Democratic legislation that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips." ...

... Jackie Kucinich of USA Today: "A bipartisan coalition of senators is working on a proposal to strengthen and expand background checks for potential gun purchasers in an attempt to break the partisan gridlock holding up regulations on gun ownership. Members of the group, which includes Republicans Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mark Kirk of Illinois and Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have declined to discuss specifics of the talks or of a potential bill." ...

... CW: is this yet another No-Girls-Allowed Club? If so, it's the 3rd in recent years: the 2011 Gang of Six, the Machismo Amigos Club (see above), & now the Pistol Packers. I'm getting fairly annoyed here.

Paul Krugman on the towering stupidity of Members in Good Standing of the Deficit Closed Feedback Loop: "... at this point, of course, all the Very Serious People have committed their reputations so thoroughly to the official doctrine that they almost literally can't hear any contrary evidence." CW: I don't think I've ever seen a "public intellectual" embarrass himself more than Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations did in his ignorant effort to refute Krugman. ...

... A good summary of the standoff from David Wagner of The Atlantic. ...

... Update: don't miss Krugman's follow-up post. It's 140 characters or fewer.

CW: a novel -- to me -- idea from Matt Yglesias of Salon: while interest rates remain at rock bottom, the federal government should issue perpetual bonds (i.e., they have no redemption date). "The government could borrow money without adding to the national debt. Instead of obsessing over the debt-to-GDP ratio, we could tackle the present-day problem of unemployment and the medium-term barriers to growth." Another advantage Yglesias doesn't mention: they might shut up the deficit scolds -- or at least force them to find a new excuse for cutting the social safety net. ...

... ALSO from Yglesias: "... the payroll tax holiday seems to have done more to goose consumption than workers themselves expected." CW: here's what we learned in school today: lowering taxes on the poor helps the economy. (Lowering taxes on the rich? i.e., trickle-down economics. Not so much.

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that she is 'not inclined' to run for president in 2016 but left the door open for what is widely considered her likely return to politics after she steps down as secretary of state."

Hillary Clinton got away with murder. -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), on the assassinations in Benghazi

A perfect bookend, Lindsey. As Clinton began her career on the national stage, Republicans accused her of murdering her friend Vince Foster, who committed suicide. Now as she exits, you accuse her of murdering another friend, Chris Stevens. -- Constant Weader

Right Wing World

My, my, it appears young Rubio did indeed stand his ground against the Rolling Pile of Suppository Jelly who prefers to be called Rushbo. Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Rubio got some coveted praise from the influential host, who declined to label him a RINO squish for negotiating with Democrats over a new blueprint for a sweeping overhaul of immigration laws that would provide a new path to citizenship for illegal immigrants." CW: could it be that when a handsome young man with presidential plans phones in, the Jelly Roll loses the thrust it has when attacking a female student? And -- in regard to Sandra Fluke -- isn't Rush guilty of verbal rape? Once again, Radio Jelly Man proves bullies are cowards. ...

     ... Update: if you think you might find the Rubio-Rushbo conversation fascinating, here's the transcript according to Rush.

Andy Rosenthal of the New York Times: "... in Kentucky, a group styling itself the United Kentucky Tea Party announced that it would to try to unseat Senator Mitch McConnell — the Republican minority leader and architect of the just-say-no approach to President Obama -- in the primary in 2014." ...

... AND, no Sen. McConnell, President Obama is not going to confiscate your guns. Which is a shame.

Rob Boston of AlterNet, in Salon: creative creationists in state legislatures, school distrists & classrooms keep sneaking literal Bible teachings into "science" classes on evolution.

News Ledes

New York Times: "A Roman Catholic priest and a former Catholic school teacher were convicted on Wednesday on nine charges relating to the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy at different times more than a decade ago. A jury in Common Pleas Court here found the teacher, Bernard Shero, guilty of five charges, including rape and involuntary deviant sexual intercourse.... The jury also convicted the Rev. Charles Engelhardt on four counts, including indecent assault and endangering the welfare of a child."

New York Times: "Patty Andrews, the last of the Andrews Sisters, the jaunty vocal trio whose immensely popular music became part of the patriotic fabric of World War II America, died on Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 94."

Washington Post: "Israeli aircraft struck inside Syria on Wednesday for the first time since 2007, U.S. and Syrian officials said, raising concerns that the Syrian civil war could escalate into a regional conflict. There were conflicting reports about the early-morning attack, and Israeli officials refused to comment on it." ...

... Al Jazeera: "The Syrian army has said that Israeli jets crossed into Syria below the radar level at dawn and hit a military research centre in Jamraya, near Damascus. 'Israeli fighter jets violated our airspace at dawn today and carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence,' the army's general command said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA on Wednesday evening.... The strike came 'after terrorist groups made several failed attempts in the past months to take control of the site,' the statement added...."

New York Times: "Speaking slowly but with discernible passion, former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically injured in a mass shooting in Arizona in 2011, addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in its first hearing since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., last month." ...

... The New York Times is liveblogging the hearings here. Includes NBC News livefeed.

Business Insider: "The economy contracted 0.1 percent in [the 4th quarter 2012] versus economists' consensus expectations of a 1.1 percent expansion. Personal consumption growth came in at 2.2 percent -- slightly higher than consensus estimates of 2.1 percent -- but was driven largely by a 13.9 percent advance in the consumption of durable goods.Government spending was the largest driver of the economic contraction in the fourth quarter, subtracting 1.33 percentage points from Q4 GDP growth and falling 6.6 percent. Federal spending fell 15.0 percent, led by a 22.2 percent drop in defense spending. Federal spending on nondefense items was actually up 1.4 percent. State and local spending fell 0.7 percent." CW: I'm looking forward to seeing what deficit scolds make of this.

AP: "Egypt's liberal opposition leader on Wednesday called for a broad national dialogue with the Islamist government, all political factions and the powerful military, aimed at stopping the country's eruption of political violence that has left 60 dead the past week. Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei's appeal appeared to be aimed at responding to a sharp warning by the head of the armed forces a day earlier that Egypt could collapse unless the country's feuding political factions reconcile."

New York Times: "French troops took control overnight of the airport at the last major northern Mali town still in rebel hands, officials said on Wednesday, after Islamist militants abandoned two other principal settlements in the vast, desert region where residents' relief and elation has given way to some measure of reprisal and frustration."

New York Times: South Korea on Wednesday succeeded in thrusting a satellite into orbit for the first time, achieving its ambition of joining an elite club of space technology leaders, seven weeks after the successful launching of a satellite by rival North Korea."

New York Times: "Even before two battery failures led to the grounding of all Boeing 787 jets this month, the lithium-ion batteries used on the aircraft had experienced multiple problems that raised questions about their reliability."