The Commentariat -- Dec. 19, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post previews some of the issues that may come up in tonight's Democratic debate. Tops on her list: the voter data breach.

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."

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.

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.)

"My Fair Donald." Prejudice & vitriol sounds evah-so much more palatable when delivered with an upper-crust British accent. British English comedian and actor Peter Serafinowicz provides the voice. Thanks to MAG for the link:

*****

White House: "In this week's address, the President celebrated the end of the year tradition of list-making with a year-in-review list of his own":

Sarah Parvini, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "During a stop on their way to Hawaii for the holidays, [President] Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama came to [San Bernardino to] meet privately with the families of the 14 victims killed two weeks ago in the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001."

Camila Domonoske of NPR: "President Obama wrapped up 2015 by taking another round of questions from the press. At the traditional end-of-year news conference Friday afternoon, Obama began with a list of achievements, including the legalization of same-sex marriage across America and progress made toward addressing global climate change":

Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "President Obama commuted the sentences of 95 drug offenders Friday, more than double the number of commutations he granted earlier this year in July, in an effort to reduce prison crowding and give relief to drug offenders who were harshly sentenced in the nation's war on drugs." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Bill Chappell of NPR: "President Obama has signed a $1.1 trillion funding bill that will keep the federal government running until Sept. 30, 2016. Earlier on Friday, the Senate gave final congressional approval to the bill, which includes nearly $700 billion in tax breaks." ...

... David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Congress on Friday morning overwhelmingly gave final approval to a sweeping, year-end fiscal package that includes a $1.15 trillion spending measure as well as $620 billion in tax breaks for businesses and low-income workers. The bill now goes to the White House, where President Obama has said he will sign it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) "said Friday that he would block the nomination of the Navy's second-ranking civilian leader until the service reconsiders its decision not to punish a prominent admiral accused of retaliating against several whistleblowers.... The move ... escalates the pressure on Navy leaders to take action against Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey, the commander in charge of the service's SEAL teams and other elite units.... Losey, a prominent figure in the military's secretive Special Operations forces, once commanded SEAL Team 6, the clandestine unit known for killing terrorist targets such as Osama bin Laden. He now leads the Naval Special Warfare Command and previously served as a top military aide to the White House."

Julia Preston of the New York Times: Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-TP-Va,), "the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is raising new questions about the fiancé visa granted to the Pakistani woman who with her husband carried out the massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., saying her application shows she may not have met a core requirement for the visa.... Mr. Goodlatte is a fierce critic of the Obama administration and has argued that visa vetting is lax."

David Chen of the New York Times: "When Hunter College High School announced in March that it had received a $1 million donation -- the largest ever in its century-long history -- from a member of the Class of 2001, many graduates were stunned to learn who the young donor was: Martin Shkreli, a multimillionaire pharmaceuticals executive.... If the charges against Mr. Shkreli are true, his flunking out of Hunter, the prestigious Upper East Side school known for its Ivy League-bound students, was just the first in a series of failures that he would try to overcome with money, his own or other people's.... When asked this week whether Hunter was considering returning the money, a press officer declined to comment." ...

... Guardian: Community Solutions, a homeless charity "that was given a donation worth thousands of dollars by notorious pharmaceuticals entrepreneur Martin Shkreli has said it is giving the money back on moral grounds." ...

... Sarah Karlin of Politico: "Martin Shkreli, who became a lightning rod for criticism about drug price gouging, resigned as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company announced this afternoon, a day after he was charged in a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme unrelated to the company." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Reuters: "After deliberating for most of the year, Isis Pharmaceuticals has announced it will change its name to avoid being confused with the militant group Islamic State, also known as Isis. The biotechnology company said it will be called Ionis Pharmaceuticals starting 22 December and also changed its stock exchange ticker symbol to 'IONS' from 'ISIS'."

Christian Davenport of the Washington Post tells the story of Blake Percival, the whistleblower who exposed USIS for doing background checks on only a portion of the federal government hirees the company had contracted to vet. "USIS, the government contractor that had done the background checks on Edward Snowden and Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, filed for bankruptcy and went out of business." After four-and-a-half years, Percival just received a $6 million award for reporting USIS, which had fired him for trying to end their practice of dumping cases the company was hired to investigate. "After the attorneys' cut, Percival's share before taxes would be $3.3 million, he said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Liberals Can Be Creeps, Too. Anna Merlan of Jezebel: "Major progressive public relations firm FitzGibbon media abruptly shut down [Thursday] amid numerous allegations that its founder Trevor FitzGibbon sexually harassed and sexually assaulted female staffers. One woman who says she was harassed during a job interview said Friday that FitzGibbon obliquely propositioned her for sex and demanded nude photos of her, and when she declined, the job offer disappeared." ...

... Here's an earlier, related story by Merlan.

Somini Sengupta & David Sanger of the New York Times: "For the first time since the nearly five-year-old Syrian civil war began, world powers agreed on Friday at the United Nations Security Council to embrace a plan for a cease-fire and a peace process that holds the distant prospect of ending the conflict. A resolution adopted unanimously by the Security Council reflected a monthslong effort by American and Russian officials, who have long been at odds over the future of Syria, to find common national interests to stop the killing, even if they cannot yet agree on Syria's ultimate future."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

James DeHaven, et al., of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "Just over a month before Sheldon Adelson's family was revealed as the new owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, three reporters at the newspaper received an unusual assignment passed down from the newspaper's corporate management: Drop everything and spend two weeks monitoring all activity of three Clark County judges. The reason for the assignment and its unprecedented nature was never explained. One of the three judges observed was District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez, whose current caseload includes Jacobs v. Sands, a long-running wrongful termination lawsuit filed against Adelson and his company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., by Steven Jacobs, who ran Sands' operations in Macau." ...

... Ravi Somaiya & Barry Meier of the New York Times: "The assignment was handed down by corporate management over the objections of the newsroom, the paper reported. No reason was specified for the assignment, the paper's editor, Michael Hengel, said in an interview on Friday, and the material, which the paper said amounted to 15,000 words, was never published."

Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor: "A Times article Sunday reported that the U.S. government had missed something that was right out there in the open: the jihadist social-media posts by one of the San Bernardino killers.... It was certainly damning -- and it was wrong.... The executive editor, Dean Baquet ... said that some new procedures need to be put in place, especially for dealing with anonymous sources, and he said he would begin working on that immediately.... He said [the reporters'] sources apparently did not know the difference between public and private messages on social-media platforms.... The Times need to fix its overuse of unnamed government sources. And it needs to slow down the reporting and editing process.... If this isn't a red alert, I don't know what will be." (Emphasis added.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... CW: Excellent. The Times is relying on anonymous sources so ignorant don't know the difference to a private e-mail & a public Facebook post. And nobody at the Times thought even to ask for the URLs of the alleged public postings to see for themselves that they actually existed (which they didn't). This is incredible. I've been a source for reporters at less prestigious newspapers than the Times, & the reporters always check out my tips or allegations. I would be horrified if they didn't. ...

... digby: "'Mr. Baquet rejected the idea that the sources had a political agenda that caused them to plant falsehoods. "There's no reason to think that's the case," he said,' [citing Sullivan]. That ... is just absurd. There is every reason to think that law enforcement sources who consistently leak erroneous information that is politically harmful to one party might have a political agenda. It's certainly happened before." ...

... Hunter of Daily Kos: "... the New York Times helped lead the nation to war by promoting false stories from 'anonymous' sources that merely sought to use the paper as an influential mouthpiece for their own claims -- an effort the Times eventually, begrudgingly itself admitted the error of -- and for us to be back in that same position now, with editors still quite certain in multiple front-page stories that their 'sources' didn't mean any harm by passing on the incendiary-but-false information -- suggests that such editorial skepticism is remarkably difficult to come by." ...

... Gary Legum of Salon: The Times story "feeds the general climate of paranoia and fear of Muslims that has taken hold in the country, particularly on the right wing.... Mistakes of this sort are like tossing gasoline on a fire." ...

... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "The New York Times has attached a three-paragraph editor's note to a front-page Sunday story on the abilities of the U.S. government to surveil the online communications of the San Bernardino, Calif., assailants, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik.... There's a problem here.... The New York Times is attempting to preserve the structure and feel of a story about federal government misfeasance in a world where there appears to be little or no misfeasance. Consider the new-look lede: It appears to fault immigration officials for failing to uncover Malik's online views on jihad. Well of course they failed in that pursuit: Those views were expressed in private -- and quite possibly encrypted -- communications. There should be no expectation that they would be uncovered by immigration officials.... This is an attempt to retrofit a factually poisoned article with replacement parts that don't fit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race

Alvin Chang of Vox: "'Tis six days before Christmas and at 8 o'clock at night, Democrats have a debate -- and viewership may be light. But seriously, folks, debates have never been scheduled like this before.... Usually the national parties want people to see their candidates onstage, which is why we've never had a debate this close to Christmas, much less on a Saturday. It is free media.... Republican debates are garnering record viewership, and it's paying off as far as engaging their party." The most charitable explanation is that the DNC is incompetent. "But there's some speculation that the Democratic National Committee scheduled debates on times people don't watch specifically to protect frontrunner Hillary Clinton." ...

... Deck 'em All with Boughs of Holly (or other available bludgeons). CW: Yes, but tonight, maybe Hillary & Bernie will get in a fight! ...

Ben Jacobs & Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign has regained access to the Democratic party's master voter file after a day of conflict and litigation between the insurgent Vermont senator and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).... In a statement, the campaign announced that the DNC 'capitulated' and expressed its confidence that it would be able to return to normal by Saturday morning.... The lawsuit filed with a federal court in Washington reveals that the agreement to use a shared computer system for voter registration and supporter data included a provision for a 10-day notice period for any changes to access." ...

... Maggie Haberman & Nick Corasantini of the New York Times: "A fight between the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party's leadership went public on Friday, on the eve of the year's final primary debate, as the Sanders camp accused the party of actively trying to help Hillary Clinton." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... New Lede: "A fight between the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders and the Democratic leadership went public on Friday as the party punished the campaign over a data breach and the Sanders camp sued the party and accused it of actively trying to help Hillary Clinton.... Late Friday night, the national committee and the Sanders campaign said they had come to an agreement to restore the campaign's access to the voter file by Saturday morning. The D.N.C., however, will continue to investigate the breach, according to a statement from the chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida." ...

... Josh Feldman of Mediaite: "Brian Fallon, a Clinton campaign spokesman, called into CNN [Friday] night, very angry about the reported 24 separate intrusions by the Sanders campaign. He said this was a clear 'act of theft, stealing data from the Clinton campaign,' and Sanders isn't living up to that 'different kind of campaign' he promised. 'They were very productive,' Fallon told Wolf Blitzer. 'They were like kids in a candy store, Wolf. They had about 40 minutes where they ran wild.'" ...

... Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed: "Hillary Clinton’s campaign is calling for rival Bernie Sanders to undergo an 'independent review' following the data breach that her top officials described on Friday evening as theft and a possible 'violation of the law.' Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, and spokesman, Brian Fallon, laid out the demands in a conference call with reporters on Friday...." ...

... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Bernie Sanders' campaign on Friday threatened to sue the Democratic Party for suspending its access to the national voter database, saying the move threatens to undermine the Vermont senator's presidential run. Jeff Weaver, Sanders' campaign manager, held a press conference on Friday in which he described how the Democratic National Committee was unfairly choking off the 'lifeblood' of the campaign." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Maryalice Parks, et al., of ABC News: "Now, it has come to light that the Sanders staffer may have downloaded and exported the Clinton campaign's data, and it may have been more than one Sanders staffer that accessed the information, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said today. Sanders campaign officials defended themselves during a news conference today, saying they are running a 'clean' campaign and that they in fact 'alerted' the DNC two months ago that campaign data was available to others." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Greg Sargent: "... based on what we know at this point about what happened, preventing the Sanders camp from accessing voter data for any meaningful length of time is not tenable.... One point that can be made right now is that the DNC needs to restore Sanders' access to the data as quickly as possible." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "PPP's newest national Republican primary poll finds Donald Trump holding his largest lead yet in the wake of Tuesday night's debate. He's at 34% to 18% for Ted Cruz, 13% for Marco Rubio, 7% for Jeb Bush, 6% for Ben Carson, 5% for Chris Christie, 4% each for Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee, 2% each for John Kasich and Rand Paul, 1% each for Lindsey Graham and Rick Santorum, and less than 1% each for Jim Gilmore and George Pataki.... To put some of these findings about real modern day issues and Trump voters in context, 41% of his voters think Japanese internment was a good thing, to 37% who don't. And 41% of his supporters would favor bombing Agrabah to only 9% who are opposed to doing that. Agrabah is the country from Aladdin." ...

... Elizabeth Brown of Reason suggests six other fictional countries "we should bomb once we're done with Agrabah." Ferinstance, Candyland: "Obesity epidemic, hello." ...

... Eric Peoples: "We should set up a no fly(ing carpet) zone at least." Via Daily Kos.

** Dana Milbank cites some horrible, bigoted messages he received from Trump backers after he wrote that Trump was a bigot & a racist. And, no, his mail wasn't all against "Mo-slimes," as some writers called Muslims. Because Milbank is Jewish, he was treated to many slurs of Jews, too. "... the Trump-backers' venom is without precedent. His supporters surely aren't all bigots -- but he is bringing the bigoted in from the cold.... Is this what Republicans stand for? Is this conservatism?" ...

... CW: Milbank's column puts the lie to the notion that fear is the basis for Republicans' "unease" with a pluralistic society in which they are about to become a minority. Milbank's "correspondents" are consumed with hatred for all manner of people they perceive to be somewhat unlike themselves. No one who can be "otherized" -- and almost all of us can be -- is immune to their animosity. Trump -- and to only a slightly lesser extent, the entire Republican establishment -- has made hatred of "others" not just acceptable but desirable. It's "traditional." Republicans are "real Americans." The party has been running on bigotry for decades. All Trump has done is more clearly expose the twisted soul of the party.

Gail Collins: "Modern tradition holds that you can't win Iowa (first in the nation!) without selling your soul on ethanol.... This season, the trick for Republicans is to oppose the ethanol program on principle, while simultaneously making it clear they don't intend to do anything about it.... The most hard-core anti-ethanol candidate is Ted Cruz.... 'Oil companies give him a lot of money,' [Donald] Trump sniped.... The Cruz campaign says its man is a principled enemy of 'all energy-specific subsidies.' This is arguably true if you buy the extremely convenient theory that humongous tax breaks don't count."

David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: For a "consistent conservative," Ted Cruz changes his mind a lot.

Sean Sullivan & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: Marco Rubio "often seems to advocate two positions at once. He tells voters that he has a personal view on the subject -- whether abortion, immigration, Syrian refugees or gay marriage. But he also has a view of what is politically possible. Which, usually, is not what he personally wants. That tactic allows Rubio to offer two right answers to the same question, and lets him carve out wiggle room on topics where none seemed possible.... But the extent of his equivocation on key issues has left many Republicans, including his supporters, wondering what he really believes." ...

... CW: Besides, it doesn't matter too much what Marco thinks, because as a senator, half the time he doesn't vote anyway. No, that's not an exaggeration. ...

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Marco Rubio missed Friday's Senate vote approving a massive $1.8 trillion end-of-the-year spending bill and tax package -- a day after he suggested that he could try to slow the legislation down. The Florida Republican ... was the only 2016 contender to miss the vote, which is the Senate's final vote of the year. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), three other presidential candidates, all voted against the legislation. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a fourth GOP presidential candidate from the Senate, backed the bill.... [Rubio] has missed more than half of the Senate's votes since October." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rebecca Shabad of CBS News: "Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, on Friday defended his decision to skip a major vote in the Senate that afternoon to fund the government through September, and he took a swipe at a GOP rival [Rand Paul] who called on him to resign from Congress.... 'Here's the other point about Senator Paul.... He's the only person running who likes politics so much, he's running for two offices at the same time. I mean he wants to be a senator and president,' Rubio said."

Beyond the Beltway

Lisa Foderaro of the New York Times: "... some critics [of Donald Trump's] are demanding that his name be removed from ... a state park. The park is in Westchester and Putnam Counties in New York, straddling the Taconic State Parkway. Called (no surprise) Donald J. Trump State Park, the property was donated to the state in 2006 after Mr. Trump's plan to develop a golf course there was derailed by environmental and permitting roadblocks. Since then, the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has made virtually no investment in the 435-acre park, which has no dedicated maintenance staff and, unlike most Trump properties, exudes a feeling of decay and abandonment."

Matt Grubs & Chris McKee of KRQE Albuquerque: Gov. Susana Martinez (R-N.M.) told a 911 dispatcher to "call off" the cops who were responding to a noise complaint at a Santa Fe hotel where the governor was holding a staff party. "On several occasions, Martinez pressures the dispatcher and hotel staff to reveal the identity of who made the complaint. The dispatcher and hotel staff refuse." Martinez later apologized for her "mistake." "The Governor also denies that she was intoxicated during the incident."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Kurt Masur, the music director emeritus of the New York Philharmonic, who was credited with transforming the orchestra from a sullen, lackluster ensemble into one of luminous renown, died on Saturday in Greenwich, Conn. He was 88."

New York Times: "An airstrike that mistakenly killed Iraqi troops on Friday was carried out by an American plane, United States officials said on Saturday. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said he had expressed his condolences to the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi. Mr. Carter did not offer a detailed explanation for the errant airstrike, which the Iraqi government said killed at least nine Iraqi soldiers, but said, 'It seemed to be a mistake that involved both sides.'"

The Commentariat -- Dec. 18, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Congress on Friday morning overwhelmingly gave final approval to a sweeping, year-end fiscal package that includes a $1.15 trillion spending measure as well as $620 billion in tax breaks for businesses and low-income workers. The bill now goes to the White House, where President Obama has said he will sign it." ...

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Marco Rubio missed Friday's Senate vote approving a massive $1.8 trillion end-of-the-year spending bill and tax package -- a day after he suggested that he could try to slow the legislation down. The Florida Republican, who is running for president, was the only 2016 contender to miss the vote, which is the Senate's final vote of the year. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), three other presidential candidates, all voted against the legislation. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a fourth GOP presidential candidate from the Senate, backed the bill.... [Rubio] has missed more than half of the Senate's votes since October."

Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "President Obama commuted the sentences of 95 drug offenders Friday, more than double the number of commutations he granted earlier this year in July, in an effort to reduce prison crowding and give relief to drug offenders who were harshly sentenced in the nation's war on drugs."

Edda Lederer & Cara Anna of the AP: "U.N. Security Council members have reached agreement on a resolution they plan to adopt on Friday endorsing the way forward on a possible end to Syria's civil war, Russia's deputy foreign minister said."

Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Bernie Sanders' campaign on Friday threatened to sue the Democratic Party for suspending its access to the national voter database, saying the move threatens to undermine the Vermont senator's presidential run. Jeff Weaver, Sanders' campaign manager, held a press conference on Friday in which he described how the Democratic National Committee was unfairly choking off the 'lifeblood' of the campaign." ...

... Maggie Haberman & Nick Corasantini of the New York Times: "A fight between the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party’s leadership went public on Friday, on the eve of the year's final primary debate, as the Sanders camp accused the party of actively trying to help Hillary Clinton."

... Maryalice Parks, et al., of ABC News: "Now, it has come to light that the Sanders staffer may have downloaded and exported the Clinton campaign's data, and it may have been more than one Sanders staffer that accessed the information, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said today. Sanders campaign officials defended themselves during a news conference today, saying they are running a 'clean' campaign and that they in fact 'alerted' the DNC two months ago that campaign data was available to others." ...

... Greg Sargent: "... based on what we know at this point about what happened, preventing the Sanders camp from accessing voter data for any meaningful length of time is not tenable.... One point that can be made right now is that the DNC needs to restore Sanders' access to the data as quickly as possible."

Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor: "A Times article Sunday reported that the U.S. government had missed something that was right out there in the open: the jihadist social-media posts by one of the San Bernardino killers.... It was certainly damning -- and it was wrong.... The executive editor, Dean Baquet ... said that some new procedures need to be put in place, especially for dealing with anonymous sources, and he said he would begin working on that immediately.... He said [the reporters'] sources apparently did not know the difference between public and private messages on social-media platforms.... The Times need to fix its overuse of unnamed government sources. And it needs to slow down the reporting and editing process.... If this isn't a red alert, I don't know what will be." (Emphasis added.) ...

... CW: Excellent. The Times is relying on anonymous sources so ignorant don't know the difference to a private e-mail & a public Facebook post. And nobody at the Times thought even to ask for the URLs of the alleged public postings to see for themselves that they actually existed (which they didn't). This is incredible. I've been a source for reporters at less prestigious newspapers than the Times, & the reporters always check out my tips or allegations. I would be horrified if they didn't. ...

... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "The New York Times has attached a three-paragraph editor's note to a front-page Sunday story on the abilities of the U.S. government to surveil the online communications of the San Bernardino, Calif., assailants, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik.... There's a problem here.... The New York Times is attempting to preserve the structure and feel of a story about federal government misfeasance in a world where there appears to be little or no misfeasance. Consider the new-look lede: It appears to fault immigration officials for failing to uncover Malik's online views on jihad. Well of course they failed in that pursuit: Those views were expressed in private -- and quite possibly encrypted -- communications. There should be no expectation that they would be uncovered by immigration officials.... This is an attempt to retrofit a factually poisoned article with replacement parts that don't fit."

Christian Davenport of the Washington Post tells the story of Blake Percival, the whistleblower who exposed USIS for doing background checks on only a portion of the federal government hirees the company had contracted to vet. "USIS, the government contractor that had done the background checks on Edward Snowden and Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, filed for bankruptcy and went out of business." After four-and-a-half years, Percival just received a $6 million award for reporting USIS, which had fired him for trying to end their practice of dumping cases the company was hired to investigate. "After the attorneys' cut, Percival's share before taxes would be $3.3 million, he said."

Sarah Karlin of Politico: "Martin Shkreli, who became a lightning rod for criticism about drug price gouging, resigned as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company announced this afternoon, a day after he was charged in a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme unrelated to the company."

Here's a trailer for "The Big Short." See Krugman's column, linked below:

*****

Julie Pace of the AP: "The White House is promising President Barack Obama will deliver a 'non-traditional' State of the Union address next month, eschewing the standard litany of policy proposals for a broader discussion on the challenges facing the country." ...

... Peter Baker & Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "President Obama told a group of news columnists this week that he now realizes he was slow to respond to public fears after terrorist attacks in Paris and California, acknowledging that his low-key approach led Americans to worry that he was not doing enough to keep the country safe. But he said his refusal to send large numbers of ground forces back to the Middle East was rooted in the grim assumption that the casualties and costs would rival the worst of the Iraq war. A major recommitment of troops could result every month in the deaths of 100 Americans and $10 billion spent, the president said. Mr. Obama said that if he did send troops to Syria, as some Republicans have urged, he feared a slippery slope that would eventually require similar deployments to other terrorist strongholds like Libya and Yemen, effectively putting him in charge of governing much of the region. He told the columnists that he envisioned sending significant ground forces to the Middle East only in the case of a catastrophic terrorist attack that disrupted the normal functioning of the United States." ...

... AP: "President Barack Obama said Thursday that U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials have received no specific, credible information suggesting a potential terrorist attack against the United States. He said Americans must be vigilant this holiday season":

Richard Serrano & Richard Winton of the Los Angeles Times: "Enrique Marquez, the friend of terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook, was arrested Thursday and charged with conspiring to give material support to a terrorist plot, according to federal charges that allege the two men planned to attack Riverside Community College and a busy freeway during rush hour.... The three-count criminal complaint against Marquez represents a major development in the widening investigation of the third foreign terror attack in the U.S. this year, and the deadliest since 2001." ...

... NEW. Niraj Chokshi & Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: "Marquez was cooperating with law enforcement officials in their investigation, and a newly released criminal complaint appears to show that he has turned into an open book. [The article includes] some of the most surprising and interesting details from the complaint. (You can read the entire thing here.)"

In the Spirit of the Season. Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: "Hate crimes against Muslim Americans and mosques across the United States have tripled in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., with dozens occurring within just a month, according to new data. The spike includes assaults on hijab-wearing students; arsons and vandalism at mosques; and shootings and death threats at Islamic-owned businesses, an analysis by a California State University research group has found." CW: Never mind all that Prince of Peace crap. Also, too, the First Amendment protects Christianists only. ...

... OR, Just Repeal the First Amendment. Alex Griswold of Mediaite: "Conservative documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz released a video in conjunction with Fox News showing Yale University students agreeing to sign a petition that would repeal the First Amendment":

Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post: "The House on Friday passed a year-end spending bill that would keep the government funded through September and that the Senate is expected to clear for the president's signature later in the day. There was concern until earlier this morning that there would not be enough support for the bill, but last minute lobbying efforts by leadership secured far more than the needed votes. The vote was 316 to 113, with 150 Republicans and 166 Democrats supporting the measure." ...

... Scott Wong & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "The House is poised to pass a bipartisan $1.1 trillion bill to fund the government, with GOP and Democratic whip teams going into overdrive to boost their numbers before the Friday morning vote. Democratic leaders have voiced numerous objections to the package, particularly the inclusion of an end to a ban on crude oil exports and the failure to address Puerto Rico's debt crisis. But with the White House urging support -- and dozens of conservatives expected to buck GOP leaders and vote no -- the Democrats are also scrambling to convince wary rank-and-file members that the current package is the best they can get." ...

... Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post: "The House on Thursday passed the tax portion of the year-end budget deal as Congress seeks to quickly wrap up its remaining business with members itching to head home for the holidays. The vote was 318 to 109.... House Republicans provided most of the needed votes, 241, to pass the tax package, which House Democratic leaders oppose because they say it is too expensive and does not do enough for low-income workers.... The House vote on the appropriations package, which will occur Friday morning, could be close. If both bills pass the House, they will be rolled into one package that the Senate is expected to clear for the president's signature as early as Friday afternoon." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Devin Henry of the Hill: "In a victory for the Obama administration, the spending package released by congressional leaders on Wednesday won't block American financial contributions to an international climate fund for poorer nations. The bill, greens and Democrats say, doesn't explicitly appropriate funding for President Obama's pledged contribution to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). But since the legislation doesn't formally block money for the GCF either, Obama is expected to be able to use current discretionary funding streams to send American money to it.... Democrats were able to include an amendment allowing the funding in a Senate spending bill." CW: Looks like a victory for Mother Earth. ...

... Paul Waldman: "... whether you're happy with the overall balance of line items in the [spending] bill, one thing's for sure: it will increase the deficit rather substantially.... Despite all their talk about what we're handing to the next generation and how government should balance its books just like a family does, when it comes down to actually making choices, Republicans are no more concerned about deficits than Democrats are.... All the Republicans running for president have tax plans that would send the deficit into the stratosphere.... [In contrast,] the biggest Democratic policy initiative in recent years was the Affordable Care Act, which was completely paid for through taxes and budget cuts within Medicare. The ACA not only didn't increase the deficit, it decreased it."

SOP. An Example of Why It's So Hard for Congress to Do Anything. John Bresnahan of Politico: "Sen. Richard Shelby loaded up the $1.1 trillion spending bill with pet provisions, including one measure worth hundreds of millions to a rocket manufacturer with operations in his home state.... But in an only-in-Congress twist, Shelby, a very senior member on the Appropriations Committee, still plans to vote against the sprawling omnibus package. He's citing the lack of language to restrict Syrian refugees as the reason. The move ... could make the Republican senator the unofficial chairman of the 'hope yes, vote no' caucus on Capitol Hill."

The visa scrutiny story is complicated. Ari Melber & Safia Ali of MSNBC: "Top officials at the Department of Homeland Security considered a specific policy to strengthen security screenings for foreign visa applicants' social media accounts, but the proposal was ultimately not adopted, according to an internal department memo obtained by MSNBC.... DHS officials did not dispute the internal memo [which Melber & Ali publish] when asked about it, but emphasized more recent efforts to vet social media accounts.... Current U.S. policy does not include a formula for when to vet social media. Administration officials have emphasized they are taking a 'very close look' at visa screenings. In addition, Secretary of State John Kerry recently acknowledged 'social media has placed a whole new burden and a whole new set of questions' on the process. Those concerns have continued even as FBI officials have clarified that Tashfeen Malik, the San Bernardino shooter, did not publicly post support for terrorism on social media, as some originally reported."

Lolita Baldor of the AP: "U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged on Thursday that he used a personal email account to conduct some government business until 'a few months ago.' 'I should have known better,' Carter told reporters traveling with him in Irbil, Iraq, the regional capital of the Kurds. "It's not like I didn't have the opportunity to understand what the right thing to do was. I didn't do the right thing.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that his committee would conduct a review to determine whether Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter had sensitive government information on the personal email account he used to conduct a portion of his government work. 'With all the public attention surrounding the improper use of personal email by other administration officials, it is hard to believe that Secretary Carter would exercise the same error in judgment,' Mr. McCain, a Republican, said in a statement, adding that his committee had requested copies of Mr. Carter's emails to conduct the review." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... CW: Okay, Sen. McCain. That's just fine. Now where's the outrage on the Times story about the Pentagon covering up & dismissing charges that Navy SEALS abused prisoners & killed a detainee? Isn't that worse? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "While fighting grinding wars of attrition in Afghanistan and Iraq, [Navy SEALS] Team 6 performed missions elsewhere that blurred the traditional lines between soldier and spy. The team's sniper unit was remade to carry out clandestine intelligence operations, and the SEALs joined Central Intelligence Agency operatives in an initiative called the Omega Program, which offered greater latitude in hunting adversaries.... Its activities have also spurred recurring concerns about excessive killing and civilian deaths.Afghan villagers and a British commander accused SEALs of indiscriminately killing men in one hamlet; in 2009, team members joined C.I.A. and Afghan paramilitary forces in a raid that left a group of youths dead and inflamed tensions between Afghan and NATO officials. Even an American hostage freed in a dramatic rescue has questioned why the SEALs killed all his captors." As an old Navy man, Sen. McCain, you might want to look into just how this team operates & if the claimed indiscriminate killings really is "keeping us safer."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "For the first time in more than 60 years, firearms and automobiles are killing Americans at an identical rate, according to new mortality data released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2014, the age-adjusted death rate for both firearms (including homicides, suicides and accidental deaths) and motor vehicle events (car crashes, collisions between cars and pedestrians, etc) stood at 10.3 deaths per 100,000 people. The convergence of the trend lines above is driven primarily by a sharp drop in the rate of motor vehicle fatalities since 1950.... Over the same period, gun deaths rose, but by a considerably smaller amount. Gun homicide rates have actually fallen in recent years, but those gains have been offset by rising gun suicide rates.... Innovations in gun safety are hard to come by, in large part because of Congress's longstanding ban on many types of federal gun research."

Jim Rutenberg in the New York Times Magazine, on Republican efforts to suppress the Hispanic vote in Texas & elsewhere.

Movie Review. Paul Krugman: "'The Big Short' is based on the Michael Lewis book of the same name, one of the few real best-sellers to emerge from the financial crisis. I saw an early screening, and I think it does a terrific job of making Wall Street skulduggery entertaining, of exploiting the inherent black humor of how it went down.... While the movie gets the essentials of the financial crisis right, the true story of what happened is deeply inconvenient to some very rich and powerful people. They and their intellectual hired guns have therefore spent years disseminating an alternative view that the money manager and blogger Barry Ritholtz calls the Big Lie. It's a view that places all the blame for the financial crisis on -- you guessed it -- too much government, especially government-sponsored agencies supposedly pushing too many loans on the poor.... Sure enough, 'The Big Short' has already been the subject of vitriolic attacks in Murdoch-controlled newspapers...." ...

... CW: As a refresher, you might want to read Mike Konczal's 2013 debunking of the Big Lie, which Krugman links in his column.

Several days ago, a commenter wrote that the GAO's claim that the EPA was engaging in "covert propaganda" seemed bogus. Steve Benen agrees: "... the Obama administration's EPA this week appears, at least at first blush, to have been caught up in a similar kind of controversy. The New York Times' front-page headline certainly seems dramatic: 'E.P.A. Broke Law With Social Media Push for Water Rule, Auditor Finds.'... The allegations here are pretty thin. The EPA created a social-media message, it disseminated that message, and it made no effort whatsoever to hide its authorship of the message.... Apparently, investigators at the Government Accountability Office determined that as the EPA's message worked its way around the Internet, it might not have been entirely clear that the EPA created the message. Ergo, there was a potential for 'covert propaganda.'"

Michael Crowley of Politico: "When Secretary of State John Kerry convenes Syria peace talks in New York on Friday, the fate of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad will be a main topic of debate. But despite widespread agreement that Assad has committed shocking war crimes -- and a new report chronicling the atrocities -- U.S. officials say the question of bringing Assad to justice is off the table for now. Western allies have reached a similar conclusion. While hoping Assad might face a criminal trial one day, they concede that bringing Assad to justice is a lower priority than ending the carnage in Syria as soon as possible." ...

... Charles Pierce: [John Kerry] is a statesman. [Chris Christie] is really going to make Putin pay at recess. Meanwhile, John McCain ... [has] sought refuge from his confusion in the latest production of Bad Historical Analogy Theater." ...

... CW: More & more, I see politics as a battle between grown-up & adolescent minds. As you have no doubt learned from personal experience or from critiquing your own parents, the grown-ups don't always get it right, but oftentimes they do. The teens, by contrast, nearly always get it wrong.

Presidential Race

Rosalind Helderman, et al. of the Washington Post: "Officials with the Democratic National Committee have accused the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders of improperly accessing confidential voter information gathered by the rival campaign of Hillary Clinton, according to several party officials. Jeff Weaver, the Vermont senator's campaign manager, acknowledged that a low-level staffer had viewed the information but blamed a software vendor hired by the DNC for a glitch that allowed access. Weaver said one Sanders staffer was fired over the incident. The discovery sparked alarm at the DNC, which promptly shut off the Sanders campaign's access to the strategically crucial list of likely Democratic voters.... Maintaining the master list is one of the prime responsibilities of the national party committee...." ...

     ... CW: Yeah, I'm alarmed, too. If this isn't a purposeful set-up, then the DNC used its own error to hurt the Sanders campaign. Fire Wasserman-Schultz. But make her apologize to Bernie first. ...

... Dan Merica of CNN: "The Bernie Sanders campaign staffer who was fired for accessing data unique to the Hillary Clinton campaign's vote file, told CNN on Friday that he was only trying to 'understand how badly the Sanders campaign's data was exposed' and not attempting to take data from the Clinton campaign.... He added, 'To the best of my knowledge, nobody took anything that would have given the (Sanders) campaign any benefit.'"

Alan Rappeport: "As in the previous Democratic debate, which was held at the same time as an important college football game, the candidates will clash on Saturday night with the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys." CW: And Christmas. Reruns of "It's a Wonderful Life" will probably get more viewers than the debate.

Jonathan Easley & Tim Devaney of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) picked up a major endorsement Thursday from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), becoming the third national union to back him." ...

... Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "The progressive group Democracy for America will endorse Bernie Sanders, the first presidential primary endorsement in the history of the group, which boasts more than 1 million members. The Vermont senator won 88 percent of the group's online vote, far beyond the two-thirds majority needed to trigger an endorsement. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton won just 10 percent of the vote, with former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley finishing with 1 percent."

David Neiwert, in a Southern Poverty Law Center report: "Four candidates participated in [a forum organized & run by anti-Muslim extremist Frank Gaffney], three of them (Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson) via videotaped messages, and one -- Rick Santorum -- in person. The procession underscored the extent to which [Gaffney's Cemter for Security Policy's] extremism has been embraced by ostensibly mainstream conservatives.... By the end of the eight-hour conference, attendees had been treated to a nonstop cavalcade of extremism and conspiracy."

E.J. Dionne: "It was billed as a foreign policy debate, but Tuesday’s encounter among Republican presidential candidates was in large part an acting competition over who could convey the impression of being the baddest, meanest foe of the terrorists -- and of Hillary Clinton and President Obama.... There was something genuinely appalling that candidates who so often claim to be devout Christians allocated the bulk of their time to warfare, to throwing people out of our country and to walling them off." ...

... Conservative Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post: "The overwhelming bulk of what the GOP candidates had to say [Tuesday] night was pure, unadulterated horses***.... What was startling about the debate was just how so many candidates could say so many wrong things about American foreign policy in two hours.... Only two candidates didn't say anything flatly wrong about foreign policy the whole night: Jeb Bush and Rubio.... Oh, and both of them were far more hawkish on the use of force in the Middle East than the other candidates, which is less than comforting.... When it comes to American foreign policy, what was said in Vegas should stay in Vegas." ...

... Fred Kaplan of Slate: "One thing was clear from this debate. None of these nine candidates had any remotely plausible ideas on how to defeat ISIS, or prevent terrorist attacks on American soil, beyond what []President Obama is already doing -- except doing it louder, or with a scarier scowl, or maybe doing more of it." Aw, c'mon Fred, carpetbombing (Cruz), putting Petraeus i& "the warrior class" in charge again (Fiorina), prosecuting ISIS (Christie) & shutting down parts of the Internets (Trump) are plausible strategies.

Tim Egan: Climate change is "a hoax, says Donald J. Trump, with all the practiced hucksterism of the swampland salesman. He may feel different when one of his resorts is below the sea. He's got Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, rooms with a view of a tomorrow that won't answer to his bluster. His colleagues in science denial, gathered at a fake palazzo in Las Vegas, with a fake canal mimicking a real city that may soon be underwater, could have benefited from a field trip to nearby Lake Mead. This is the nation's largest reservoir, allowing a city of 1.3 million to sprout in a desert that gets about four inches of rain a year. This summer, Lake Mead fell to its lowest level since it was initially filled. It has dropped nearly 150 feet in the last 14 years." ...

... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "Donald Trump said on Thursday it was a 'great honor' to be complimented by 'highly respected' Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond,' the GOP presidential front-runner told supporters at a rally in Columbus, Ohio." CW: Very diplomatic, Donald. Too bad you weren't so diplomatic about the leader of a country that is one of our actual allies. But then Angela Merkel did beat you out for that very important title of Time's Person of the Year. So she deserves the flak. ...

... Kevin Drum: "... this 'highly respected' man is now directly threatening American military forces in a crucial area of Syria. ...

... Colin Campbell of Business Insider: "During a Friday-morning interview with Donald Trump, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was baffled by the Republican front-runner's embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin.... 'Well, I mean, it's also a person who kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries. Obviously that would be a concern, would it not?' Scarborough asked.... 'He's running his country, and at least he's a leader,' Trump replied. 'Unlike what we have in this country.'... Several of Trump's Republican presidential rivals criticized the billionaire businessman on Thursday for saying it was a "great honor" to receive Putin's praise." CW: Hey, if you have to kill a few opponents, invade a few countries, what the hell. That's leadership:

Brian Beutler: Marco & Ted are engaged in a duel over who is meaner to undocumented immigrants. And the winner is Donald Trump.

Tim Alberta of the National Review: "James Dobson, founder of the Christian group Focus on the Family and one of the nation's most influential evangelicals, will endorse Ted Cruz for president today, according to sources briefed on the announcement." Via Paul Waldman. CW: Buh-bye, Ole Doc Ben.

Ed Kilgore of New York: Chris "Christie was a federal prosecutor in a state near New York in the months and years after 9/11. Thanks to some revisionist history, he's recasting his prosecutorial career as one long fight against terrorism.... As Olivia Nuzzi explains in a Daily Beast column, this isn't the take on his prosecutorial career that Christie himself -- or Christie watchers -- has presented in the past, most notably when he ran for governor in 2009. Until it suddenly became convenient to his presidential campaign to put a different spin on it, Christie the prosecutor was focused like a laser on fighting crime and corruption."

Jebmentum! Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Buoyed by an aggressive performance in Tuesday's Republican debate, Jeb Bush is intensifying his strategy of attacking Donald J. Trump's fitness for the presidency, which his aides believe is setting him apart from the sprawling field just as voters begin to make up their minds in early voting states."

A Note on the Huckster. Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign, struggling with its low standing in the polls and underwhelming fundraising, slashed the salaries of senior staffers amid the departure of its top communications aide.... Mr. Bush plans to make New Hampshire, the first primary state, his second home as the holidays approach, and to spend more than half his time there in the seven weeks before the Feb. 9 primary." ...

... Paul Waldman: "... so he should be returning soon to his other, more lucrative career of scamming old people out of their money by selling them phony Bible-based cancer cures."

In case you had any doubts, Ben Carson Is. Still. Crazy.

Beyond the Beltway

Jaime Fuller of New York: "Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceuticals CEO who raised the price of a drug that helps people with HIV or cancer from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill..., pleaded not guilty to the seven counts — which include securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud -- and was released on $5 million bond Thursday afternoon. According to CNBC, Shkreli had to give up his passport and isn't allowed to leave New York. The charges aren't related to the price-gouging at Turing Pharmaceuticals, his current company -- being the 'most hated man in America' is not necessarily illegal."

Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "A state court in Massachusetts has ruled that a Catholic preparatory school violated the state's antidiscrimination law when it rescinded a job offer to a man because he was married to another man. Matthew Barrett had accepted a job as Food Service Director at the Fontbonne Academy, a Catholic girls school. On his employment forms, he listed his husband as his emergency contact -- a move that led the school to rescind the job offer."

Yasmeen Abutaleb of Reuters: "Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who opened fire on a San Bernardino holiday party earlier this month, were buried Tuesday in a quiet, graveside funeral. Many of those who attended mosque with the couple refused to attend, two mosque members said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Fear of Calligraphy. Vernon Freeman of WTVR: "Augusta County[, Virginia,] schools and all administrative offices are closing Friday December 18, after parental objections to a controversial high school geography assignment involving Arabic.... The controversy stems from a homework assignment at Riverheads High School that some parents called Islamic indoctrination."

News Ledes

AP: "Mother Teresa, the tiny, stooped nun who cared for the poorest of the poor in the slums of India and beyond, will be declared a saint next year after Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to her intercession. The Vatican on Friday set no date for the canonization, but it is widely believed that it will take place in the first week of September to coincide with the 19th anniversary of Mother Teresa's death and during Francis' Holy Year of Mercy."

Washington Post: "American-led airstrikes killed at least 180 Islamic State fighters as local Kurdish forces­ scrambled to repel a bold, multi-pronged assault by the militants, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. At least four coordinated attacks by more than 300 heavily armed militants kicked off the most intense fighting that northern Iraq has seen this year, illustrating the extremist group's continued potency despite a year-long air campaign by the United States and its allies."

The Commentariat -- Dec. 17, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post: "The House on Thursday passed the tax portion of the year-end budget deal as Congress seeks to quickly wrap up its remaining business with members itching to head home for the holidays. The vote was 318 to 109.... House Republicans provided most of the needed votes, 241, to pass the tax package, which House Democratic leaders oppose because they say it is too expensive and does not do enough for low-income workers.... The House vote on the appropriations package, which will occur Friday morning, could be close. If both bills pass the House, they will be rolled into one package that the Senate is expected to clear for the president's signature as early as Friday afternoon."

Lolita Baldor of the AP: "U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged on Thursday that he used a personal email account to conduct some government business until 'a few months ago.' 'I should have known better,' Carter told reporters traveling with him in Irbil, Iraq, the regional capital of the Kurds. "It's not like I didn't have the opportunity to understand what the right thing to do was. I didn't do the right thing.'" ...

... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that his committee would conduct a review to determine whether Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter had sensitive government information on the personal email account he used to conduct a portion of his government work. 'With all the public attention surrounding the improper use of personal email by other administration officials, it is hard to believe that Secretary Carter would exercise the same error in judgment,' Mr. McCain, a Republican, said in a statement, adding that his committee had requested copies of Mr. Carter's emails to conduct the review." ...

     ... CW: Okay, Sen. McCain. That's fine. Now where's the outrage on the Times story about the Pentagon covering up & dismissing charges that Navy SEALS abused prisoners & killed a detainee? Isn't that worse? ...

... Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "While fighting grinding wars of attrition in Afghanistan and Iraq, [Navy SEALS] Team 6 performed missions elsewhere that blurred the traditional lines between soldier and spy. The team's sniper unit was remade to carry out clandestine intelligence operations, and the SEALs joined Central Intelligence Agency operatives in an initiative called the Omega Program, which offered greater latitude in hunting adversaries.... Its activities have also spurred recurring concerns about excessive killing and civilian deaths.Afghan villagers and a British commander accused SEALs of indiscriminately killing men in one hamlet; in 2009, team members joined C.I.A. and Afghan paramilitary forces in a raid that left a group of youths dead and inflamed tensions between Afghan and NATO officials. Even an American hostage freed in a dramatic rescue has questioned why the SEALs killed all his captors." As an old Navy man, Sen. McCain, you might want to look into just how this team operates & if the claimed indiscriminate killings really is "keeping us safer."

Yasmeen Abutaleb of Reuters: "Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who opened fire on a San Bernardino holiday party earlier this month, were buried Tuesday in a quiet, graveside funeral. Many of those who attended mosque with the couple refused to attend, two mosque members said."

*****

GREAT commentary & links from everyone yesterday & Tuesday. Thank you all so much. Also, thanks to the woman in Danbury, Connecticut, with the reindeer antlers on the hood of her car. If not for her, I'd still be in Danbury. But I'm not. I'm home! Glad Nisky Guy made it, too -- AND in time to contribute.

Today in Responsible Government. David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Congressional negotiators introduced a sweeping year-end spending and tax-break package Wednesday that bursts through previously agreed budget limits with $66 billion in new spending for 2016. It also makes permanent an array of tax benefits at a cost of adding more than a half-trillion dollars to the deficit. The legislation, which President Obama is expected to sign, showed Republicans and Democrats reluctantly bowing to the unsatisfying realities of a divided government." ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The White House gave a thumbs-up on Wednesday to a sweeping year-end deal on taxes and government funding." ...

... Uh-oh. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "The $1.1 trillion omnibus bill includes language that would dramatically increase the number of visas available for foreign workers, setting off alarm bells among conservatives and labor unions. Congressional leaders quietly slipped the provision into the 2,009-page funding bill, with rank-and-file lawmakers only discovering it Wednesday morning. The move immediately sparked protests from both ends of the political spectrum. The provision could more than triple the number of H-2B visas for foreign workers seeking jobs at hotels, theme parks, ski resorts, golf courses, landscaping businesses, restaurants and bars. The move is intended to boost the supply of non-agricultural seasonal workers." ...

... Mike DeBonis & Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post on what-all else is in that big ole spend-and-give-away package. ...

... Everything Old Is New Again. (But It Wears a Beard.) Jim Newell of Slate: "When Paul Ryan was handed the speaker's gavel in late October, he pledged to restore normal order to the People's House and eliminate the sort of backroom deals that rank-and-file members complain are shoved down their throats at the 11^th hour. So, late Tuesday night, Ryan unveiled a few thousand pages of consequential tax, spending, and regulatory legislation costing roughly $2 trillion and gave Congress and the public two whole days to review everything.... The agreement Ryan reached with fellow congressional negotiators also looks much like one [former Speaker John] Boehner would have reached.... Republicans made all sorts of business tax breaks permanent without any new way to pay for them, so, hooray!"

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would raise short-term interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis, a decision it described as a vote of confidence in the American economy even as much of the rest of the world struggles. The widely anticipated announcement -- that the Fed would raise rates to a range between 0.25 percent and 0.5 percent -- signals the beginning of the end for the central bank's stimulus program. Fed officials emphasized that they intended to raise rates gradually, and only if economic growth continues. Short-term rates will rise by about one percentage point a year for the next three years, Fed officials predicted. Interest rates on mortgages and other kinds of loans, and on savings accounts and other kinds of investments, are likely to remain low for years to come."

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Cuba and the United States reached an agreement Wednesday night that will allow U.S. commercial airlines to begin operating flights to the island for the first time in decades, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the discussion."

Our American Heroes Abroad. Nicholas Kulish, et al., of the New York Times: In 2012, Navy SEALS apparently beat to death an Afghan detainee & abused other. The Pentagon covered up the incident. "Even before the beatings, some of the SEALs had exhibited troubling behavior. According to the soldiers and Afghan villagers, they had amused themselves by tossing grenades over the walls of their base, firing high-caliber weapons at passing vehicles and even aiming slingshots at children, striking them in the face with hard candy." ...

... BUT Wait! We have more important things to discuss:

... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter relied on a personal email account to conduct a portion of his government business during his first months at the Pentagon, according to White House and Defense Department officials and copies of Mr. Carter's emails obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Carter continued the practice, which violated Defense Department rules, for at least two months after it was publicly revealed in March that Hillary Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account as secretary of state, the officials said.... In a written statement on Wednesday, a spokesman for Mr. Carter said that the defense secretary had determined that he had been wrong to use the personal account."

** Christie Smythe & Keri Geiger of Bloomberg: "A boyish drug company entrepreneur [Martin Shkreli], who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested by federal agents at his Manhattan home early Thursday morning on securities fraud related to a firm he founded.... Federal prosecutors accused Shkreli of engaging in a complicated shell game after his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, lost millions. He is alleged to have made secret payoffs and set up sham consulting arrangements. A New York lawyer, Evan Greebel, was also arrested early Thursday. He's accused of conspiring with Shkreli in part of the scheme." CW: But, but, I thought Capitalism Was Awesome. Could this possibly mean that regulations are a good thing? ...

     ... Update. Here's the New York Times story, by Stephanie Clifford & Andrew Pollack.

** Adam Goldman, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.S. law enforcement officials said that gun charges are expected to be announced Thursday against Enrique Marquez, who bought the assault rifles used in the deadly San Bernardino attack. It is not clear if Marquez, 24, has been arrested yet."

Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama will travel to San Bernardino on Friday to join in mourning the 14 victims of the Dec. 2 mass shooting that he has called an act of terrorism, the White House said Wednesday."

Emma Green of the Atlantic: "Williamson County, Tennessee, embodies demographic stereotypes about the South: The county just south of Nashville is overwhelmingly white, Christian, and Republican. But this fall, a curious controversy emerged there. Parents and school-board members have voiced worries about alleged Islamic indoctrination in the public schools.... How has Islamic indoctrination become a point of controversy in a county that's chock full of churches?... In the absence of Muslim neighbors, it's easier to see those who practice Islam as fundamentally foreign, and to elide their faith with violence."

Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: "The fortunes of the wonder fuel that promised to help clean the environment, secure America and save small family farms have steadily dwindled as environmentalists, food advocates and auto enthusiasts sour on its promise. Now that fuel, corn-based ethanol, finds itself threatened with a defection that was once unthinkable: Iowa voters." CW: Ya coulda fooled me. I spent a lot of time at gas pumps these past couple of days, what with dragging that trailer up the East Coast, & every place I filled up, no matter the brand, promised to put up to 10 percent ethanol in my tank.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Dan Primack of Fortune: "For nearly a week, the media and political worlds have been wondering who paid $140 million to purchase Nevada's largest daily newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal. The primary buyer had taken great pains to remain anonymous, but Fortune has learned from multiple sources familiar with the situation that it is Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp.... Adelson, a major Republican Party donor who hosted Tuesday night's debate at his Venetian property, had been widely rumored to be the buyer including by employees at the Review-Journal itself, which this morning ran a front-page story that detailed Adelson's ties to Michael Schroeder, a regional Connecticut newspaper publisher who was the only person listed on regulatory filings related to the sale." ...

... CW: Somehow I missed the news that Adelson was the lovely host. If there was any question in anyone's mind as to whether or not the GOP is bought & paid for, the question now has a definitive answer. ...

... Ravi Somaiya & Sydney Ember of the New York Times have more on the secret purchase. ...

... Brian Stelter of CNN Money: "'I have no personal interest' in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson said Tuesday night, in his first public comments about the mysterious sale of Nevada's biggest newspaper. Speaking with me on the sidelines of the CNN debate, Adelson batted away speculation that he is one of the new owners of the newspaper. He repeatedly indicated that he is not. He seemed to be enjoying the guessing game."

Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The fierce debate over screening visa applicants in the wake of the San Bernardino attacks was thrown into question Wednesday after the head of the FBI said the married couple responsible for the shooting did not, as has been widely reported, make public social media posts supportive of jihad. FBI director James Comey said there is no evidence to suggest the couple, who killed 14 people in California this month, were part of a terrorist cell and that while they had communicated 'a joint commitment to jihad and to martyrdom', those were private messages rather than open social media postings." Thanks to Ophelia M. for the lead. ...

... All the News That's Fit to Invent. Kevin Drum: "So where did this notion come from, anyway? The answer is a New York Times story on Sunday headlined "U.S. Visa Process Missed San Bernardino Wife's Zealotry on Social Media." It told us that Tashfeen Malik 'talked openly' on social media about jihad and that, 'Had the authorities found the posts years ago, they might have kept her out of the country.' The story was written by Matt Apuzzo, Michael Schmidt, and Julia Preston. Do those names sound familiar? They should. The first two were also the authors of July's epic fail claiming that Hillary Clinton was the target of a criminal probe over the mishandling of classified information in her private email system. In the end, virtually everything about the story turned out to be wrong.... Coincidentally or not, their source(s) have provided them with two dramatic but untrue scoops that make prominent Democrats look either corrupt or incompetent." ...

... CW: Yes, and ain't it another amazing coincidence that the Times published this fake story perfectly timed to give the GOP presidential debaters an easy-to-understand "example" of how President Obama's "politically correct" ISIS strategy is completely stupid?

Thanks to Ken. W. (and his daughter-in-law) for this message brought to you by more owners of the GOP:

Presidential Race

Rebecca Traister of New York: "This moment, this election, these years represent the death throes of exclusive white male power in the United States.... And while the resistance may be symptomatic of death throes, a rage at the dying of the white male light, it nonetheless presents a very real threat -- there is the possibility that the old and angry may triumph over the new and different.... If [Hillary Clinton] wins, she -- and we -- will be forced to do battle with this rising, chilling, ever more open threat from those who feel enraged that their country is no longer their own. I fear that there's a lot more terror ahead of us."

Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton on Wednesday picked up the endorsement of the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who gave his backing to her while calling for increased taxes on the country's highest wage earners. Mr. Buffett began his remarks at an event in Omaha with some stark statistics. In 1992, the top 400 wage earners in the United States made an average of $48.6 million each, compared with $335.7 million in 2012, Mr. Buffett said, using the most recent statistics available based on income tax returns." ...

... Monica Alba & Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News (Dec. 15): "Hillary Clinton further detailed her plan to defeat ISIS Tuesday, and specifically spoke to the threat of homegrown radicalization in a city that has been on the front lines, while also warning that Islamophobia is not just offensive but harmful to American national security."

Via Greg Sargent:

Paul Krugman: "Somehow there seems to be a pattern in this chart from the editor of PolitiFact, but I can't quite put my finger on it:"

Gail Collins watched the debate so we of lesser fortitude would not have to: "In summary: Kill the families. Screw the orphans. Carpet-bomb Syria, but in a targeted way." CW: It was hard to imagine, when I was a young person, that when I got all growed up here in the USA, we would have a viable candidate for president who was so insane that we could laugh at his plans to "carpet-bomb into oblivion" hundreds of thousands of Iraqis & Syrians. That's partly because Ted's "plan" does not involve actual carpet-bombing (because he doesn't know what carpet-bombing is or that the Pentagon would probably instigate a coup before they would approve it) & partly because we are in denial of such a bellicose ignoramus having any chance to becoming POTUS. Wake up, folks. "Dr Strangelove" is alive! Also, will "the sand glow" only in "targeted" areas?

David Sanger of the New York Times: "In a surprisingly substantive debate on foreign policy Tuesday night, Republican presidential candidates had a chance to present their alternative to what was portrayed as President Obama's failed approach to the upheaval in the Middle East. But in their effort to demonstrate their skills at analysis and leadership, the politics and history of the region often eluded them.... For most -- with Jeb Bush apparently an exception -- the strategy to defeat the Islamic State largely seemed to boil down to this: Drop your bombs first and figure out the diplomacy later, if at all."

"For Republicans, Bigotry Is the New Normal." Washington Post Editors: "THE REPUBLICAN Party, once small government's champion, is now the party that breeds presidential contenders who would monitor schools and mosques, shut down parts of the Internet and exclude certain immigrants for no reason beyond the faith they profess. In the GOP debate Tuesday, those ideas -- along with can-you-top-this rhetorical barrages aimed at illegal immigrants and Syrian refugees -- received a generally polite reception, with constitutional, legal and practical questions contemptuously dismissed as 'political correctness.'... Today the fringe candidates have stormed center stage, brandishing their zeal and hyperbole and, disturbingly, dragging the mainstream along with them."

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The presidential debate ... crystallized the Republican Party's growing consensus on national security and its strikingly hawkish response to threats at home and abroad, with the candidates vividly channeling the alarm and fear coursing through the GOP base.... Using bellicose language at a moment of pitched voter anxiety, many of the candidates committed themselves to a confrontational set of policies that, while energizing conservative activists, could prove difficult to carry out internationally and pose the risk of a backlash from war-weary swing voters next fall.... Pollster Geoff Garin, who advises a super PAC backing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, said the GOP debate opens the door for Clinton to be 'the strong and steady grown-up in the room.'"

I Know It Must Be True Because I Saw It at the Picture Show. Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: Ted "Cruz and, to varying extents, other candidates onstage appeared to view the Middle East as a kind of set for 'American Sniper' -- a woebegone place of dusty towns crawling with bad guys and not much else. What else can explain the willingness to entertain such civilian casualties? What else can explain the rather strange talking point from Donald Trump, the current front-runner, that the United States should simply 'take the oil' lying around in Iraq and Syria?"

Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches: "The Republican presidential field has forgotten all about how marriage equality is going to force them into intentional Benedictine communities, or how nuns and craft stores would have to pay 'crippling' fines rather than violate their religious convictions. They've been blinded by another kind of fear. [The Tuesday] debate, which was focused on foreign policy, further revealed the Republican field's selective use of both the First Amendment, and, in a brief and probably since-forgotten moment, the Bible." CW: The First Amendment protects the Christian religion (& Jewish religion, insofar as it jibes with Christianity.)

Thomas Edsall of the New York Times: "Despite what liberals might think, [Donald] Trump's success in capitalizing on voter animosity to immigration and to political correctness has shocked many conservative Republicans.... The extended aftermath of the financial collapse of 2008 has given Trump the opportunity to exploit a political opening: the shift to the right that predictably follows such crises.... The dynamic interaction of three current trends -- voter anger over immigration, over offshoring and robotization, and over damage wrought by the economic meltdown of 2008 -- has been crucial to Trump's success." ...

... CW: Edsall is carrying water for the GOP elite, who -- after giving lip service to & outright encouraging the basest instincts of their baser & baser base since the 1970s -- are now shocked, shocked that's there's extremism going on here. "Blah" people, "Kenyan" economics, "well, Obama says he's a Christian"; the gay "agenda" will ruin your straight marriage, "convert" your straight children & gays will have sex in your living room; women will abort their "babies" right up to their due dates & have sex in your living room with random partners, Planned Parenthood sells baby parts; Mexicans are taking all the good jobs, Muslims will impose Sharia law, Christians are losing their freedoms; etc., etc. etc. -- all this malarkey is coming from "establishment" candidates, the same fellows these so-called elites have been supporting for decades. ...

... Chumps Won't Dump Trump. Paul Krugman: "... it's becoming increasingly plausible that [Trump] will go all the way. Why? One answer -- probably the most important -- is what Greg Sargent has been emphasizing: the majority of Republican voters actually support Trump's policy positions. After all, he's just saying outright what mainstream candidates have implied through innuendo.... I would, however, add a casual observation: at this point Trump has been the front-runner for long enough that it's very hard to imagine his supporters suddenly losing faith, because it would be too embarrassing.... For the Trump bubble to burst, many people ... would have to slap their foreheads and say, 'Wow, he's not a serious person! What was I thinking?' And very few people ever do that sort of thing."

Yay, Joe Scarborough has a Trump-Cruz conspiracy theory (begins about 35 sec. in):

Pamela Engel of Business Insider: "After [Richard Burr (R-N.C.).] the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said his staff was looking into whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) referenced classified information during Tuesday night's Republican debate on CNN, the committee issued a statement saying that is not the case." Thanks to P. D. Pepe for linking to an earlier story on this.

The GOP's hilariously inept, mendacious presidential candidates:

(Part 1) CW: Last winter, when it came out that Chris Christie had accepted a personal $30,000 gift from King Abdullah II of Jordan, he claimed it was all okay because he & Abdullah were friends & the Christie & Abdullah families just wanted to have a nice get-together. Usually, a person will remember the name of a friend -- especially if that "friend" also is, like, royalty! -- who gives him a $30,000 gift. Apparently, Christie, unlike the Donald, does not have "the world's greatest memory" -- because in Tuesday's debate, Christie said, "'When I stand across from King Hussein of Jordan, I say to him, "You have a friend again, sir, who will stand with you to fight this fight," he'll change his mind,' Mr. Christie said. It might be a tough conversation: King Hussein died in 1999; Mr. Christie would be talking with his eldest son, King Abdullah II."

(Part 2)

One of the things I would immediately do in addition to defeating them here at home is bring back the warrior class: Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know, every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. -- Carly Fiorina, during Tuesday's debate ...

... Jordyn Phelps of ABC News: "... Carly Fiorina said she did not misspeak during Tuesday night's debate when she said that Gen. Jack Keane retired early because he 'told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear.' But Keane, who served during the Bush administration, retired before Obama became president. Keane, now a FOX News contributor, came forward to say that Fiorina got the facts wrong surrounding his retirement. 'No, I have never spoken to the president,' Keane said on FOX News. 'That's not accurate, and I never served this administration. I served the previous administration.' When asked Wednesday if she misspoke, Fiorina dug in on the accuracy of her statement.... Gen. David Petreaus' retirement, for instance, followed revelations that he shared classified information with his biographer and alleged mistress. Gen. Stanley McChrystal ... retired soon after he was quoted directly criticizing the president and his policies in a 'Rolling Stone' article. Though McChrystal did have disagreements with the president, it was the publicity of the discord -- and not the internal disagreements themselves -- that preceded his early retirement." Emphasis added. ...

... Shakezula in Lawyers, Guns & Money: "Keane retired in 2003. When Obama was still in the Illinois General Assembly.... Good thing none of these dudes is dead or she'd be Vince Foster Conspiracy Theorying up a storm and we'd all die laughing. But the fact she has no idea why Petraeus was 'retired early' and thinks he should be brought back was even more of a howler than the initial claim about Keane. And while the chance that she'll be nominated ranks down there with the chance Ted Cruz will stop reminding everyone of that terminally damp guy who stares at girls on the train, don't expect to see the back of her until sometime after the election. Whoever does get the nomination may well pick her as VP. Unless team GOP stays confused about who it's running against and picks Dr. Carson." Emphasis added.

Paul Waldman: Marco Rubio is no Barack Obama. Even if he were, his timing is off & his party is totally not into change they can believe in.

Michael Gerson, former Dubya speechwriter, now WashPo columnist: All the GOP candidates screwed up -- except Jeb!" This would have been a good (and ethical) place for Gerson to mention his former job as a Bush hack, but he didn't. ...

... Tough Talk from Low-Energy Candidate. Alex Isenstadt & Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "Prior to the debate, senior Bush aides began looking into the possibility of making a clear break with Trump -- potentially with the candidate stating that, if Trump were the nominee, Bush would not support him. The former Florida governor didn't go that far, but the option may still be on the table." CW: Well, okay, not tough talk. But his advisors, unwilling to speak on the record, are hinting that someday Jeb! might think about getting tough." ...

... Eliza Collins of Politico: "Trump's bottom line: I don't want his support anyway." CW: AND Jeb! can't come to my inaugural ball. Which will be yuuuuge! ...

     ... Update. Besides, which as Akhilleus points out in today's thread, Trump has a more important endorsement. Andrew Roth of the Washington Post: "Putin said Russia would work with 'whomever the American voters choose,' but singled out Trump. 'He's a very lively man, talented without doubt,' Putin said according to the Interfax news service after the three-hour news conference. He added that Trump is the 'absolute leader in the presidential race.' 'He's saying he wants to go to another level of relations, closer, deeper relations with Russia,' Putin continued. 'How can we not welcome that? Of course we welcome that.' Trump in October gave a similar assessment of Russia's leader, saying he could 'get along very well with' Putin despite differences."

Beyond the Beltway

Reuters: "A New York man has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for his role in a plot to build a remote-controlled radiation-emitting 'death ray' intended to harm Muslims and the president, Barack Obama. Eric Feight, 55, pleaded guilty in January to a federal charge of providing material support to terrorists. He admitted helping Glendon Scott Crawford, a self-proclaimed Ku Klux Klansman, in modifying an industrial-grade radiation device, which tabloid newspapers dubbed a 'death ray,' and building a switch to operate it from a distance."

Lynh Bui, et al., of the Washington Post: "Jurors deliberated more than 16 hours over three days but still could not reach a verdict in the trial of the first officer to face prosecution in Freddie Gray's death, forcing an already-weary Baltimore to continue waiting for any resolution in a case that has strained the city for months. Hours after Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams declared a mistrial on Wednesday, court officials announced that he would meet with attorneys Thursday to determine a new trial date."

Ryan Felton of the Guardian: "Last week, Larycia Hawkins, an associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, announced her decision to wear a hijab as a demonstration of 'human solidarity' with Muslims.... Wheaton, a private evangelical liberal arts college in Chicago's west suburbs, placed the professor on administrative leave, pending a review the college said she's entitled to receive as a tenured faculty member." Thanks to Marvin S. for the lead. ...

... CW: I wonder what, if anything, would happen if dozens of people wearing Muslim dress started showing up at Trump rallies -- just sitting there, together, saying nothing. Maybe dozens of Central American workers, fresh off their jobs & still wearing their work clothes also stood together. I know the kidz like to make a racket, but sit-ins can be mighty effective.