The Commentariat -- Dec. 22, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Tim Arango of the New York Times: "On land and at sea, Turkey's borders, long a revolving door of refugees, foreign fighters and the smugglers who enable them, are at the center of two separate yet interlinked global crises: the migrant tide convulsing Europe and the Syrian civil war that propels it. Accused by Western leaders of turning a blind eye to these critical borders, Turkey at last seems to be getting serious about shoring them up. Under growing pressure from Europe and the United States, Turkey has in recent weeks taken steps to cut off the flows of refugees and of foreign fighters who have helped destabilize a vast portion of the globe,from the Middle East to Europe."

Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: Virginia "Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) announced Tuesday that Virginia will no longer recognize concealed carry handgun permits from 25 states that have reciprocity agreements with the commonwealth. Under the policy, Virginians with a history of stalking, drug dealing or inpatient mental-health treatment cannot obtain a permit in a state with comparatively lax laws and carry a handgun legally at home." ...

     ... Voting Saves Lives. CW: If you recall, Herring won election by "a mere 165 votes out of more than 2 million cast." This is why you vote Democratic, even if the candidate isn't super-progressive.

*****

** Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "In the past decade, Missouri has been a natural experiment in what happens when a state relaxes its gun control laws.... In the first six years after the state repealed the requirement for comprehensive background checks and purchase permits, the gun homicide rate was 16 percent higher than it was the six years before. During the same period, the national rate declined by 11 percent. After ... controll[ing] for poverty and other factors that could influence the homicide rate..., the result was slightly higher, rising by 18 percent in Missouri.... Before the repeal, from 1999 to 2006, Missouri's gun homicide rate was 13.8 percent higher than the national rate. From 2008 to 2014, it was 47 percent higher.... Other measures suggested that criminals had easier access to guns after the permit law was repealed." ...

     ... CW: Those sanctimonious right-to-lifers are killing our children as surely as if they pulled the triggers themselves.

David Remnick of the New Yorker writes a readable, engaging profile of John Kerry, which contributor Diane recommended yesterday. CW: My favorite sentence: "As a diplomat, Kerry is duty-bound to describe raw reality in upholstered platitudes." I have thought for decades that Kerry represented noblesse oblige in its finest form. Yes, he can be an insufferable bore, but he means well & he works hard at it.

Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: Human Rights Watch, "a leading human rights organization, is urging Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to investigate the U.S. bombing of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan as a potential war crime."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is setting up the Senate for an early 2016 fight over the acceptance of refugees in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. Don Stewart, a spokesman for the Republican leader, said that McConnell 'confirmed for the Speaker that the Senate will take up and consider legislation concerning the security of the refugee admission process, in particular, refugees from Syria, in the first quarter of next year.'"

American "Justice"/Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "... debt buyers are using the courts to sue consumers and collect debt, then preventing those same consumers from using the courts to challenge the companies' tactics.... The use of arbitration by the companies is the latest frontier in a legal strategy orchestrated by corporations in recent years. By inserting arbitration clauses into the fine print of consumer contracts, they have found a way to block access to the courts and ban class-action lawsuits, the only realistic way to bring a case against a deep-pocketed corporation."

Peter Henning of the New York Times: "The indictment of Martin Shkreli ... was described by a F.B.I. official as the 'securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit and greed.'... What makes the case interesting is that a lawyer, Evan Greebel, has been charged as an accomplice for not protecting his corporate client that Mr. Shkreli is accused of using essentially as a personal piggy bank.... When legal advice pushes over the line into enabling fraud, then a lawyer can wind up on the wrong side of the law." ...

... Samantha Masunaga of the Los Angeles Times: "South San Francisco drug company KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday that it terminated its chief executive, Martin Shkreli, last week. KaloBios also said Shkreli resigned from his position on the company's board of directors." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

CW: Shkreli seems to be working on amassing particulars for an insanity defense.

Ovetta Wiggins & Bill Turque of the Washington Post: "The NAACP on Monday filed a federal civil rights complaint against Maryland, alleging that the state discriminated against African American residents in Baltimore when Gov. Larry Hogan killed the Red Line rail project and diverted state money to road and bridge projects elsewhere." ...

... CW: This is a reminder that there are many, many ways to discriminate against the have-nots, & poor public transportation is one way that often goes unnoticed. There's nothing worse for the environment, BTW, than crummy or nonexistent public transportation systems. And a good public transportation system is one way governments can provide a big boost to the economy -- not that Republicans can grasp this highly complex concept. ...

... MEANWHILE. Luz Lazo of the Washington Post: "The planned Metro station in Alexandria's growing Potomac Yard community is officially part of the region's passenger rail system. The cheapest home for sale in Potomac Yard was more than half a million bucks in 2012. And so it goes.

Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "On Tuesday, the number of refugees and migrants that arrived in Europe this year passed the one million mark, according to the International Organization for Migration."

The Trump Card

Part 1. Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "In a country that has become not just polarized, but also atomized; in which we root unwaveringly for our own political 'teams' composed of those who look, think, vote and raise children exactly as we do; and in which we treat opposing viewpoints as motivated by malice or stupidity rather than honest disagreement, perhaps it is not so surprising that so many Americans have come down with a serious case of dictator envy, a longing for a political strongman (such as, say, Donald Trump) who will put our neighbors in their place and skirt the pluralistic niceties and nonsense of democracy." ...

Part 2. Peter Holley & Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: Donald Trump "has become a great outreach tool [for white nationalists like the KKK], providing separatists with an easy way to start a conversation about issues that are important to the dying white supremacist movement.... For ... a growing number of white nationalists flocking to the campaign's circus-like tent, the billionaire sounds familiar, like a man fluent in the native tongue of disaffected whites.... During Trump's meteoric rise to the top of the Republican field, white supremacist groups have enthusiastically embraced him." CW: Bear in mind, this is a straight news story in the relatively conservative Washington Post, not something you read in the Daily Worker.

Presidential Race

Dan Merica of CNN: "Hillary Clinton will roll out a plan to combat Alzheimer's disease in Fairfield, Iowa, on Tuesday, pledging to spend $2 billion annually to fight the disease and research a cure, according to a Clinton aide." ...

... Hillary Clinton IS Fighting Dirty -- For No Good Reason. Ryan Cooper of the Week: "Instead of laying low and playing it cool, [Hillary] Clinton is running as though the race were very close, tax-baiting [Bernie] Sanders with Republican talking points, and allowing a proxy to blow up a huge fight with the Sanders campaign over a data breach. It's a mystifying and risky way to run a campaign.... A promise of no tax increases means she cannot support Kirsten Gillibrand's paid leave proposal. Clinton's stance also basically rules out badly needed increases in Social Security.... Her 2008 campaign repeatedly stooped to outright race-baiting against Obama. In the grand scheme of politics, this data-breach story is small potatoes. Yet instead of trying to smooth over the dispute -- as Sanders himself did for Clinton's email problem -- her only response was to insist on a full accounting of her campaign data.... The DNC never would have gone so far as suspending access, even temporarily, if Clinton did not tacitly approve."

... Eliza Collins of Politico: John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, went on a "Twitter spree," attacking Donald Trump for being ISIS's "Recruiter-in-Chief."

Liar of the Year. Angie Holan, et al., of PolitiFact: "In considering our annual Lie of the Year, we found our only real contenders were [Donald] Trump's -- his various statements also led our Readers' Poll. But it was hard to single one out from the others. So we have rolled them into one big trophy.... We've rated 76 percent of them Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire, out of 77 statements checked. No other politician has as many statements rated so far down on the dial."

David Lauter of the Los Angeles Times: "Donald Trump leads the GOP presidential field in polls of Republican voters nationally and in most early-voting states, but some surveys may actually be understating his support, a new study suggests." ...

... Jonathan Allen in the New York Daily News: "For the first few months, the Trump deniers ... could be called wishful thinkers. With the primaries just around the corner, as many otherwise smart political analysts keep waiting, aching, for conventional order to be restored, it's time to call them what they are: delusional. He's sitting on a double-digit lead in New Hampshire, holds a 20-point edge in South Carolina and runs 27 points ahead of his nearest competitor in Georgia. Though he's probably going to lose Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus to Cruz, who's leading in the polls there, Trump could finish a strong second." ...

... Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump used vulgar language as he attacked Hillary Clinton during a rally on Monday night, saying her use of the restroom at the last Democratic debate was 'too disgusting' to talk about and that in 2008 she got 'schlonged' by Barack Obama when he defeated her in the Democratic primary." CW: Hard to say if these remarks would seem more dignified if delivered in a posh British accent. (See video in December 19 Commentariat.) Nonetheless, it's lovely to hear words like "schlong" being introduced into presidential discourse. ...

    ... Justin Moyer of the Washington Post conducts a "linguistic investigation" of the use of "schlong" as a verb.

... Dana Milbank: Donald "Trump and his fellow Republican presidential candidates have connected political correctness to virtually every issue.... The notion of political correctness ... has recently grown into the mother of all straw men. Once a pejorative term applied to liberals' determination not to offend any ethnic or other identity group, it now is used lazily by some conservatives to label everything classified under 'that with which I disagree.'"

... Good news for the Fourth Estate: Trump hates "some of them," but promises not to kill reporters.

... Emily Atkin of Think Progress: "On Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Aside from former New York governor George Pataki -- who has consistently polled at zero percent and has failed to get his name on primary ballots in multiple states -- Graham was the only person in the crowded Republican field who admitted that the planet is warming, that the warming is harmful, and that humans are the primary cause." ...

... AND. Sahil Kapur: "With Graham’s exit, the GOP field has zero candidates who support a comprehensive immigration overhaul with a path to citizenship." Via Paul Waldman. ...

... Daniel Strauss catalogues the best one-liners Lindsey Graham delivered during the undercard debates.

Mandy Patinkin on Ted Cruz. If a candidate cannot embrace Patinkin's point, s/he is not qualified for high public office. Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link:

Beyond the Beltway

John Flesher of the AP: "A new study provides the strongest evidence yet of a link between elevated blood-lead levels in children living in Flint, Michigan, and the struggling city's water system, a pediatrician who first raised alarms about the matter said Monday."

CBS San Francisco: "A neighborhood in Richmond[, California] had to be evacuated Sunday when police say a man was making explosives in his home with the intent of harming the Muslim community.... Police removed a device from the home [in Richmond]..., and the Walnut Creek bomb squad detonated a device before neighbors were allowed to return to their homes." ...

     ... CW: Why is it I don't think the right will freak out over this particular (alleged) terrorist? ...

... Oh, and just by pure, accidental, serendipitous coincidence, the suspect -- one William Celli -- is a Donald Trump supporter.

Sarah Kaplan & Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: "Lakeisha Holloway, "the homeless woman who plowed a car into pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip, killing at least one person and injuring dozens more, later told investigators that she was stressed out after security guards repeatedly ran her off their properties, where she'd been trying to sleep in her sedan.... Holloway is expected to be charged with murder with a deadly weapon among other charges, prosecutors said Monday."

Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Grand jurors in Texas declined on Monday to indict anyone in connection to the July death of a Chicago-area woman, Sandra Bland, who was found hanged in her cell at the Waller County jail, one of the special prosecutors assigned to the case said."

Blame the Victims. Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times: "Striking back legally against one of his many accusers, Bill Cosby on Monday filed a defamation suit against model Beverly Johnson, saying that she lied about him in an attempt to 'resuscitate her own career.'... Last week, he filed a countersuit against seven women suing him for defamation, accusing them of making false accusations for financial gain."

Way Beyond

Lindsay Murdoch of the Sydney Morning Herald: "... Brunei has banned public celebrations of Christmas, including sending festive greetings and the wearing of Santa Claus hats. Muslims seen celebrating Christmas and non-Muslims found to be organising celebrations could face up to five years jail. However the country's non-Muslims, who comprise 32 per cent of the 420,000 population, can celebrate Christmas in their own communities on the condition that the celebrations are not disclosed to Muslims." CW: Somebody might want to point out to Bill O'Reilly what a real War of Christmas looks like, but he would probably say the Brunei edict was President Obama's idea.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Besieged Afghan forces were struggling to head off a complete Taliban takeover of the critical southern district of Sangin on Tuesday, and a new deployment of British troops was rushed in to help direct an increasingly pressed battle across the surrounding province of Helmand."

Washington Post: "Iraqi forces broke into Ramadi's city center on Tuesday, pushing closer to its main government buildings in what commanders hope will be a final push to recapture the key provincial capital from Islamic State militants."...

... The New York Times story is here.

The Commentariat -- Dec. 21, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Samantha Masunaga of the Los Angeles Times: "South San Francisco drug company KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday that it terminated its chief executive, Martin Shkreli, last week. KaloBios also said Shkreli resigned from his position on the company's board of directors."

*****

Doyle Rice of USA Today: "The winter solstice -- marking the longest night and shortest day of the year -- is Monday night. The solstice occurs at the same instant everywhere on Earth. In the United States, it happens at 11:48 p.m. ET Monday (or 10:48 p.m. CT, 9:48 p.m. MT and 8:48 p.m. PT). In Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, that means the solstice actually comes on Tuesday."

Harry Goes Out with a Billion-Dollar Bang. Eric Lipton & Liz Moyer of the New York Times: "As congressional leaders were hastily braiding together a tax and spending bill of more than 2,000 pages, lobbyists swooped in to add 54 words that temporarily preserved a loophole sought by the hotel, restaurant and gambling industries, along with billionaire Wall Street investors, that allowed them to put real estate in trusts and avoid taxes. They won support from the top Senate Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, who responded to appeals from executives of casino companies, politically powerful players and huge employers in his state. And the lobbyists even helped draft the crucial language. The small changes, and the enormous windfall they generated [$1BB in future tax obligations], show the power of connected corporate lobbyists to alter a huge bill that is being put together with little time for lawmakers to consider. Throughout the legislation, there were thousands of other add-ons and hard to decipher tax changes."

Jonathan Chait: "People Who Were Certain Climate Change Is Fake Are Now Certain That Paris Can't Stop It." ...

... Here's one for contributor Marvin S. Jessica Prois of the New Republic: "Voluntary Birth Control Is A Climate Change Solution Nobody Wants To Talk About.... Access to voluntary birth control -- which typically means pills, condoms and IUDs -- to reduce the 40 percent of unintended pregnancies per year worldwide will cut our collective human carbon footprint, and an increasing number of countries are factoring this in to their climate change plans, experts point out."

Benjamin Siegel of ABC News: "President Obama said [Donald Trump] ... is 'exploiting' Americans' anxieties about the economy and American society.... The president also called [Ted] Cruz's plan to 'carpet bomb' ISIS 'terrible for our national security.'... In a wide-ranging interview before leaving for Hawaii, Obama also discussed the fight against ISIS, and the threat the group poses to the United States.... " Here's the full interview, by Steve Inskeep of NPR:

AP: "President Obama on Sunday paid tribute to Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old high-school football player from Tennessee who died on Thursday night after he shielded three girls from gunfire. 'Zaevion Dobson died saving three friends from getting shot,' Obama said, using Twitter. 'He was a hero at 15. What's our excuse for not acting?'"

Anthony Faiola & Souad Mekhennet of the Washington Post: "The recent terrorist attacks in Paris have brought into sharper focus the rise of a new breed of jihadists, one that blurs the line between organized crime and Islamist extremism, using skills honed in lawbreaking in the service of violent radicalism. The Islamic State is constructing an army of loyalists from Europe that includes an increasing number of street toughs and ex-cons.... Rather than leave behind lives of crime, some adherents are using their illicit talents to finance recruiting rings and travel costs for foreign fighters even as their backgrounds give them potentially easier access to cash and weapons, posing a new kind of challenge to European authorities." ...

...AFP: "The Islamic State group may have stolen 'tens of thousands' of blank passports that it could use to smuggle its fighters into Europe as refugees, a German newspaper reported Sunday. The Welt am Sonntag cited Western intelligence sources as saying that IS could have acquired the stolen travel documents in areas of Syria, Iraq and Libya it now controls."

Presidential Race

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "The debate was lively, informative, and civil.... And excluding, for a moment, Martin O'Malley, it reaffirmed the choice facing Democratic voters: experience, moderate reformism, and vigorous engagement abroad (Hillary Clinton) versus passion, an assault on privilege, and an abiding skepticism about overseas military engagements (Bernie Sanders)." ...

... Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "When [President] Obama was mentioned [during the Democratic debate], it was generally in passing.... On foreign policy, [Hillary] Clinton distanced herself even more from Obama. As she has in the past, she noted that Obama rejected her advice on what to do about Syria when the civil war there first started.... There is a natural tension between Obama's interest in polishing his legacy and emphasizing every achievement in his final months in office and Clinton's strategic need to respond to the real problems that voters face. But if the balance gets too out of whack, Clinton risks running a campaign that seems more like a repudiation of Obama than one that defines her as his natural heir."

The Ghosts of Campaigns Past:

Chris Danner of New York: Hillary Clinton's campaign reps Sunday walked back her debate claim that Donald Trump has been a feature of ISIS recruitment videos. "... it's also worth noting that extremist expert Seamus Hughes told Reuters that ISIS's official propaganda channels haven't mentioned Trump or his comments at all, and as the Associated Press notes, ISIS-linked attackers typically point to Western airstrike campaigns in Syria as their primary motivation. So while it's possible that Trump[s comments are being used in some kind of official recruiting capacity -- and that's definitely something ISIS-watchers are worried about -- the evidence may be limited, and even if a Trump-citing recruitment video exists, Clinton's campaign seems to be making it clear that she hasn't seen it."

Paul Krugman: "... [Donald] Trump, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz — now commands the support of roughly 60 percent of the primary electorate.... The antiestablishment candidates now dominating the field, aside from being deeply ignorant about policy, have a habit of making false claims, then refusing to acknowledge error.... Bluster and belligerence as substitutes for analysis, disdain for any kind of measured response, dismissal of inconvenient facts reported by the 'liberal media' ... have long been key elements of the [Republican] party brand.... While [George W.] Bush;s debacles in Iraq and New Orleans eventually ended America's faith in his personal gut, the elevation of attitude over analysis only tightened its grip on his party, an evolution highlighted when John McCain ... chose the eminently unqualified Sarah Palin as his running mate. So Donald Trump as a political phenomenon is very much in a line of succession that runs from W. through Mrs. Palin, and in many ways he's entirely representative of the Republican mainstream.... In case you're wondering, nothing like this process has happened on the Democratic side."

Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump defended Russian President Vladimir Putin against accusations that he has assassinated political adversaries and journalists, responding to criticism from his rivals over his embrace of praise from the Russian leader. 'Nobody has proven that he's killed anyone. ... He's always denied it...,' Trump said on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday. 'You're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country. It has not been proven that he's killed reporters.'" CW: Sure, Donald, because the Russian justice apparatus would definitely haul Putin before a tribunal. Read the whole story: Trump goes on about Hillary, even criticizing her for taking too long in the bathroom. There is, BTW, a good explanation for Clinton's late return to the debate podium -- it's the same one women experience all the time: restrooms for women in sports (and some other) venues are afterthoughts. Thus, Donald has added a sexist criticism to an already-sexist reality.

Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump says the Republican National Committee (RNC) should disqualify candidates from primary debates who have failed to file paperwork to get their names on the ballots in major states." CW: He's right. Except it isn't necessary to insult low-polling candidates to the make the point, as Trump does: "When you're at like, this guy [former New York governor George] Pataki, he's been at zero for months. He couldn't get elected dog-catcher in New York. The guy's at zero for months. And he keeps on staying and staying."

Queen for a Moment. Justin Moyer of the Washington Post: Even a beauty pageant can turn into disaster without Donald Trump's direction. The host of the Miss Universe pageant -- which Trump sold shortly after Univision dropped the pageant in the wake of Trump's derogatory remarks about Mexicans -- crowned the wrong woman.

Donald Trump is the Cicero -- or the 8-year-old -- of the Republican party. Shon Arieh-Lerer of Slate compiles the evidence.

Kira Lerner of Think Progress: "Six of the Republican candidates vying for the presidency ... Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee ... have signed a pledge promising to support legislation during their first 100 days in the White House that would use the guise of 'religious liberty' to give individuals and businesses the right to openly discriminate against LGBT people."

NEW. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) ended his long-shot presidential bid Monday, telling supporters in a web video that he succeeded in changing the conversation about how to fight the Islamic State." CW: Sadly, it seems certain now that I will never be First Lady. Lindsey was my last, best chance. Not that Hillary won't leave Bill & marry me. Always look on the bright side. Even if she won't let me pick out the china.

Why Ted Cruz's Senate colleagues hate him.

Beyond the Beltway

Jesse McKinley & James McKinley of the New York Times: "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Sunday that he would seek out and pardon thousands of people who were convicted of nonviolent crimes as teenagers but have since led law-abiding lives. Envisioned as a way to remove stubborn barriers to employment, housing and other services, the pardons would be available to anyone who was found guilty of a nonviolent felony or misdemeanor that was committed while they were 16 or 17, provided they have spent at least a decade without any additional convictions. Under his plan, Mr. Cuomo intends to invite those people to apply for -- and virtually be assured of receiving -- a governor's pardon, as long as they meet several other criteria."

Drill, Baby, Drill? Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "In recent months, at least 93 coastal communities -- from small beach towns on the Delmarva Peninsula to the wealthy and politically powerful cities of Charleston and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina and Savannah, Ga. -- have joined a revolt against a pro-drilling movement that once seemed unstoppable in the Republican-dominated South.... The Obama administration is expected to finalize by early spring a plan that could allow limited oil and gas development off the coasts of four Southeastern states -- Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. All four have heavily supported drilling in the past.... Many of the region's most prominent elected officials continue to support offshore drilling, which industry officials say would bring thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic revenue.... But other politicians, regionally and nationally, have spoken against the [Obama administration] plan."

AP: "A St Louis police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old VonDerrit Myers Jr last year has resigned after being accused of driving his patrol car while intoxicated and crashing into a parked vehicle."

Way Beyond

Sam Borden of the New York Times: "Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, two of the most powerful figures in global soccer, were barred from the sport for eight years on Monday morning after being found guilty of ethics violations. The suspensions were imposed by the independent ethics committee of FIFA, soccer's international governing body. Mr. Blatter, who is FIFA's longtime president, as well as Mr. Platini, who is the president of UEFA, European soccer's governing body, are prohibited from taking part in any soccer-related activities while barred -- a sanction which, in Mr. Platini's case, seemingly ends any chance that he will be able to run in February's special election to fill the post Mr. Blatter has already said he would vacate."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Six members of the NATO military mission in Afghanistan were killed by a Taliban suicide bomber on Monday while on patrol near Bagram Air Base, the largest remaining American military base in the country, officials said." ...

     ... New Lede: "In one of the deadliest attacks against American forces in Afghanistan this year, a Taliban suicide bomber on a motorcycle drove into a military convoy near Bagram Air Base on Monday, killing six American soldiers, United States officials said."

CNN: "Just hours after his 28-year-old grandson [Jeremy Carter] died, a shaken former President Jimmy Carter broke the news to his Plains, Georgia, church and then taught Sunday School according to the church's minister."

The Commentariat -- Dec. 20, 2015

Internal links removed.

Presidential Race

Thank you, good night, and may the force be with you. -- Hillary Clinton, closing the debate

Philip Rucker & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "The Democratic presidential candidates presented competing visions for defeating Islamic State terrorists and clashed passionately at a debate here Saturday night over tax policy, the power and wealth of Wall Street, gun control and other domestic issues."

Dan Roberts & Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "Deep divisions between the Democratic presidential candidates opened up in New Hampshire on Saturday night, as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders sparred over military intervention in the Middle East, healthcare, taxes and their support for big business."

Alan Yuhas of the Guardian highlights key points that emerged during the debate.

Jonathan Martin & Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton largely looked past her Democratic rivals in Saturday night's debate, instead repeatedly assailing the Republican field, led by Donald J. Trump. She called Mr. Trump a threat to the nation's safety, saying he was fast 'becoming ISIS' best recruiter.' Deflecting persistent attacks from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland over gun control, Wall Street and foreign military entanglements, she accused Mr. Trump of undermining the fight against terrorism."

CW: It struck me that one person who didn't get much mention during this debate was Barack Obama.

The Guardian is liveblogging the debate. The Los Angeles Times' liveblog is here. ...

... The Washington Post is running an annotated transcript.

He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists. -- Hillary Clinton, during the debate ...

... Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton has claimed that ISIS is showing videos of Donald Trump's comments about Muslims in an effort to 'recruit more radical jihadists.'... It is unclear whether the former secretary of State was speaking metaphorically or had evidence to back up the specific charge that footage of Trump was being used." ...

... Louise Jacobson of PolitiFact: "We were unable to find any evidence to support this. The Clinton campaign did not provide any evidence that this is already happening -- only that it could be happening, or that it may in the future. If ISIS was using Trump for recruitment videos, we would expect a frenzy of media coverage over it."

Here's the Washington Post's fact-check of claims candidates made during the debate.

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Bernie Sanders apologized to Hillary Clinton on Saturday night for his campaign's inappropriate viewing of proprietary voter information that was gathered by her campaign.... Sanders was critical of the DNC's response -- temporarily shutting off his campaign's access to the database -- which he said he said had the effect of 'crippling our campaign.'" CW: Very disappointing. I was hoping for a childish brawl.

Hadas Gold of Politico: "Whether grilling Bernie Sanders for details of his single-payer health proposal or nearly leaping out of her chair to challenge Hillary Clinton on the merits of her proposed no-fly zone in Syria, ABC's Martha Raddatz was an animating force of Saturday's Democratic debate."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: How to Watch the Debate: "On television: ABC is kicking off its programming at 8 p.m. eastern and the two-hour debate is expected to start around 8:30 p.m. Online: The debate will be streaming on www.abcnews.com/live and it will be available for viewing on the network's mobile apps, and on Apple TV, Roku and Xbox One. Login credentials or other forms of authentication will not be required. On the radio: People who prefer hearing but not seeing the political action can listen to the debate on ABC Radio. Social media: Facebook and Twitter will be buzzing with #DemDebate chatter for anyone looking to monitor the conversation surrounding the debate in real-time." ...

... CW: Also, too, you can watch it on a New York Times page.

Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "... intentional or not, O'Malley and Sanders are right...: A small ABC audience helps Clinton, who leads the nominating race by 25 points nationally and by about that same amount in Iowa (New Hampshire is closer). She's the default nominee and has been for, well, years. For voters to latch on to someone else, they need to see someone else. And to see someone else, they need to be watching Bernie and Martin, not Dorothy and Toto."

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post previews some of the issues that may come up in Saturday's Democratic debate. Tops on her list: the voter data breach. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Democratic National Committee laid out a detailed timeline Saturday of what happened when Senator Bernie Sanders's campaign aides gained access to and copied Hillary Clinton's proprietary voter data during a technological glitch, revealing new details to explain why it had blocked Mr. Sanders's team from seeing its own data.... During Saturday night's debate, Mr. Sanders repeated his complaint that the punishment was unfair, but he also apologized to Mrs. Clinton. His campaign also said Saturday that it had suspended two aides over the matter. It had earlier fired its national data director." ...

... The DNC's defense of its actions -- described above as a timeline -- is here. ...

... ** David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "... it's undeniable that the Sanders campaign gleaned valuable information.... It's also quite clear that most of the statements the Sanders campaign made as the story progressed -- from the claim that the staffers only did it to prove the security breach, or that only one staffer had access -- were simply not true.... In this context, it made sense for Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC to suspend the Sanders campaign's access to the data until it could determine the extent of the damage, and the degree to which the Clinton campaign's private data had been compromised. As it turns out the ethical breach by Sanders operatives was massive, but the actual data discovery was limited.... The Sanders camp's reactions have been laughable.... The Clinton camp did nothing wrong in any of this. Sanders campaign operatives did, and then Wasserman-Schultz compounded it by overreacting." ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: [Bernie] "Sanders's supporters responded to the dispute [with the DNC & the Clinton campaign] by opening their wallets. By the end of the day Friday, the campaign had collected more than $1 million, the vast majority of it over the Internet, according to the person close to the campaign...." ...

... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Bernie Sanders has gotten more individual donations than any other presidential candidate ever through the campaign's off-year -- topping President Barack Obama's mark of 2,209,636 donations through Dec. 31, 2011 -- his team announced following Saturday night's Democratic debate. Sanders passed Obama's re-election total during the debate, his communications director Michael Briggs said."

Since we're talking about the Democrats' debate, might as well reprise the last GOP debate:

Apparently, this actual ad ran during the airing of SNL:

... Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. Steve M.: "On one level, this is cringe-inducing. On another level, the ad ... makes him seem like a harmless suburban dad.... The jokes are the usual tiresome right-wing attacks -- Lois Lerner! Obamacare! -- but done up this way, they seem almost gentle.... Cruz has been working hard to make himself seem human and relatable.... This is scary. Cruz could be the nominee, and much of the public really might fall for this sort of thing and imagine that he's not really a bad guy, and certainly not the dangerous extremist he actually is.... Because most people don't follow politics very closely, Cruz's awfulness is not self-evident to the broad public." ...

... Whaddaya Mean, "Dangerous Extremist"? Kevin Cirilli of Bloomberg: "... Ted Cruz said Saturday that he wants one of the Senate's most vocal opponents of illegal immigration as his homeland security secretary. 'For anyone who wonders, "Can we really secure the border?" I've got three words for you: Secretary Jeff Sessions'; Cruz told a Saturday rally in the Alabama, the state that Sessions has represented for four terms in the Senate." CW: In 1986, Ronald Reagan couldn't get out of committee Sessions' nomination to a federal judgeship. Maybe the Senate wouldn't confirm Sessions to a Cabinet post either. Of course it was a very different Senate back in the day; for one thing, Sessions wasn't a member.

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump doubled down Friday on his love for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and said there's 'a lot of truth' to earlier comments he made about the U.S. killing people like Russia." Includes audio, sadly, absent a British accent (see yesterday's Commentariat). ...

... Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Saturday that anyone who criticizes the warm compliments he has swapped with Russian President Vladimir Putin is simply 'jealous as hell.' Although Putin has been accused of a lengthy list of human rights violations, Trump has maintained that Russia could be a powerful partner for the United States -- and one that could help the country save some money." ...

... Benjamin Oreskes of Politico: "Four years ago Mitt Romney... definitively stated that Russia was America's biggest 'geopolitical foe.' This week, the far-and-away Republican poll leader Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin a big, wet kiss.... Trump's warm embrace of the Russian president has shocked and alarmed the Republican establishment.... As the United States and its allies try to beat back Russia's intrusions into Ukraine and Syria, Trump has ruffled countless feathers by cozying up to the Russian leader.... 'Important distinction: thug Putin kills journalists and opponents; our presidents kill terrorists and enemy combatants,' Romney tweeted."

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: Jeb!'s "strategy to save his faltering campaign now involves attacking Mr. Trump, forcefully and frequently.... Nonetheless, Mr. Bush still sits in single digits in the polls, and New Hampshire has become a must-win state for him." ...

... OR, as Joanna Walters of the Guardian suggests, Jeb!, after asserting that "you can't insult your way to the presidency" a la the Donald Trump model, tries to insult his way to the presidency by calling Trump a "jerk" & other stuff.

Other News & Opinion

** Andrew O'Hehir of Salon on the U.S. political landscape. Hint: it's mighty bleak. I'm sure some of you can find nits to pick with O'Hehir's assessment, but I find it depressingly accurate.

** Carlos Lozada of the Washington Post: "Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America explains the U.S. today.

Eric Yoder of the Washington Post: "President Obama has finalized a pay raise for federal employees in January, the last step in a year-long process that started and ended at the same number, 1.3 percent. Obama issued an order Friday evening making the raise effective for most federal employees, as of the first full biweekly pay period of the new year, which will start Jan. 10 for most." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine published Friday, [former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel] said he remains puzzled why [Obama] White House officials tried to 'destroy' him personally in his last days in office, adding that he was convinced the United States had no viable strategy in Syria and was particularly frustrated with National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who he said would hold meetings and focus on 'nit-picky' details." The interview is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "For the past two years, the Pentagon has acknowledged having a severe problem with sexual assault in the ranks. Military leaders have promised Congress, the White House and their own troops that they are redoubling efforts to protect victims and punish offenders. But those pledges­ have been undermined by a string of previously undisclosed cases­ in which soldiers entrusted with key roles in the campaign against sexual assault and harassment have, in turn, been accused of committing those very offenses, according to a Washington Post investigation.... Last year, the [Army] fired or reassigned 588 people from their jobs as victim counselors, military recruiters and 'positions of trust' after background checks revealed a history of sex crimes, child abuse, drunken driving and other offenses."

Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post: "Spooked by a year of high-profile rampages, hundreds of companies and organizations ... are racing to train their workers how to react to a shooter in their workplaces. And after decades of telling employees to lock down and shelter in place, they are teaching them to fight back if evacuating is not an option. The idea: Work as a team to disrupt and confuse shooters, opening up a split second to take them down. The paradigm shift in response -- from passive to active -- has been endorsed and promoted by the Department of Homeland Security."

Where Assault Rifles are "Good, Clean Fun." Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "In his Oval Office address on Dec. 6, [President] Obama expressed the exasperation shared by millions of Americans: How can we not limit weapons that can kill dozens in minutes? Why would any sport shooter need extra hand grips and a magazine holding 30 or even 100 cartridges? Many gun enthusiasts express deep exasperation of their own. They argue that most non-shooters do not understand the technology and appeal of modern weapons that are widely used for target shooting and, increasingly, hunting. They say proposed bans would do nothing to prevent crime or even lessen the toll of mass shootings.... Variants of the AR-15 design, a civilian version of the military's M-16 without the capacity to fire in automatic bursts, have in recent years been the highest-selling rifles in the country...."

Brian Bennett, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "The Pentagon is considering increasing the pace and scope of cyberattacks against Islamic State, arguing that more aggressive efforts to disable the extremist group's computers, servers and cellphones could help curtail its appeal and disrupt potential terrorist attacks. Military hackers and coders at Cyber Command, based at Fort Meade, Md., have developed an array of malware that could be used to sabotage the militants' propaganda and recruitment capabilities, said U.S. officials...." ...

     ... CW: Weirdly, I think this is kinda what Donald Trump has in mind when he says he wants to "shut down parts of the Internet," even though he doesn't know what he's talking about. Hillary Clinton, who admitted she didn't know how to cut off ISIS's lines of communication, suggested something similar in last night's debate, tho she isn't stupid enough to have described the process as "shutting down parts of the Internet."

Beyond the Beltway

Elahi Izadi of the Washington Post: "Old Dixie Highway is no more in Riviera Beach, Fla. Instead, motorists are driving on President Barack Obama Highway. Riviera Beach officials renamed the portion of the highway in their city limits, and the new sign carrying the name of the nation's first black president went up Thursday. Old Dixie, officials said, paid homage to an era that glorified slavery." CW: Old Dixie Highway is the main street of many towns along Florida's east coast. Here's hoping other towns get with the Riviera Beach program. (But I'm not counting on it.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

AP: "Kenyan authorities are interrogating several suspects who were on an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris that was forced to land early Sunday in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa after a device suspected to be a bomb was found in a lavatory. A few passengers are being questioned, said Kenya's Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery, speaking at a press conference at the Mombasa airport. Bomb experts are inspecting the device to see if it was an explosive, he said."