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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Wednesday
Nov182015

The Commentariat -- Nov. 19, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Aurelein Breeden, et al., of the New York Times: "Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian militant suspected of orchestrating the Paris terrorist attacks, was killed in a police raid in the northern Paris suburb of St.-Denis early Wednesday, the French authorities announced on Thursday. The confirmation of Mr. Abaaoud's death followed fingerprint analysis, the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said in a statement. Mr. Abaaoud's body was heavily riddled with wounds from gunfire and a grenade detonated during the raid. 'We do not know at this stage whether Abaaoud blew himself up or not,' Mr. Molins's office said" ...

... Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post: "...French lawmakers gave their backing to extend state-of-emergency powers for three months even as officials across Europe sought suspected plotters in the Paris bloodshed and suggested other sites could be targets, including St. Peter's Basilica." ...

... Karen DeYoung & Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "French President François Hollande called on world powers Wednesday to overcome their 'sometimes diverging interests' to unite in the fight against the Islamic State. On Tuesday, he will make his case in Washington to President Obama and then travel to Moscow with the same message for President Vladi­mir Putin.... So far, U.S.-Russian cooperation extends only to 'deconfliction' notifications to ensure that their warplanes are not operating in the same airspace at the same time. The Obama administration remains leery of Putin's eagerness to form a grand military coalition, to include intelligence sharing, against the Islamic State...." CW: Look for Hollande to be greeted like Lafayette. ...

... Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama insisted Thursday that any political solution to end the bloody Syrian civil war must include Bashar Assad stepping down from power, rebutting Russian suggestions that the U.S. could bend on a key demand in the interests of aligning efforts to take on Islamic State.... 'It is unimaginable that you can stop the civil war here when the overwhelming majority of people in Syria consider him to be a brutal, murderous dictator,' Obama said. 'He cannot regain legitimacy.'... Obama has said that Assad's status remained a sticking point to such coordination with Russia...." ...

... Steven Mufson & William Booth of the Washington Post: "Belgian authorities had close contact with some of the men believed to be behind the bloody terrorist attacks in Paris last week, a pattern that raises questions about how the suspects could slip through the fingers of law enforcement officials. Over the past year, Belgian security forces tapped at least one bomber's telephone and briefly detained and interviewed at least two other suspects -- one for his travels to Syria and the other for his radical views, according to law enforcement officials here." ...

... Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post: "A massive police raid Wednesdays killed the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks during a blitz-style sweep, two senior European intelligence officials said, after investigators followed leads that the fugitive militant was holed up north of the French capital and could be plotting another wave of violence. More than 100 police and soldiers stormed the building during a seven-hour siege that left two dead including the suspected overseer of the Paris bloodshed, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian extremist who had once boasted he could slip easily between Europe and the Islamic State strongholds in Syria." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... BUT. Lilia Blaise, et al., of the New York Times: "When it was all over, the police had swept eight people into custody and found at least two mangled bodies. [Abdelhamid] Abaaoud had not been taken alive, the authorities said -- and it was not clear whether one of the bodies was his. 'I am not able to give you the definitive number and identities of the people who were killed,' the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said, adding that neither Mr. Abaaoud nor Salah Abdeslam, another suspected Paris attacker who has been on the loose, was among those arrested." ...

... Today's Guardian's liveblog on the aftermath of the Paris attacks is here. ...

... Rouba El Husseini of AFP: "The Islamic State group said Wednesday it had killed a Chinese and a Norwegian hostage, as French and Russian air strikes on its Syrian stronghold were reported to have left 33 fighters dead." ...

... Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "French media reported that the woman who set off a suicide blast as security forces closed in Wednesday during an anti-terrorism raid in Saint-Denis was Hasna Aitboulahcen. The 26-year-old French citizen was a cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected architect of the Paris attacks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

David Graeber of the Guardian: "Not only has [Turkey's President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan done almost everything he can to cripple the forces actually fighting Isis; there is considerable evidence that his government has been at least tacitly aiding Isis itself.... How could Isis be eliminated? In the region, everyone knows. All it would really take would be to unleash the largely Kurdish forces of the YPG (Democratic Union party) in Syria, and PKK (Kurdistan Workers' party) guerillas in Iraq and Turkey." Thanks to Keith H. for the link. ...

... Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "... one lesson of Iraq (and Libya) is that wars are always more complicated than they sound and often create new sanctuaries — which then also, somehow, must be destroyed." ...

... Rukimini Callimachi & Robery Mackey of the New York Times: "The Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula last month, released an image that purports to show the improvised explosive device used to kill all 224 people aboard the flight from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. In the latest issue of Dabiq, the Islamic State's glossy online magazine, first disseminated through Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, a picture shows what ISIS says were the components of an IED: A Gold Schweppes Pineapple tonic water can and two devices containing wires that appear to be the detonator and the switch." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Frank McGurty of the AP: "New York City police are aware of a newly released Islamic State video that suggests that the largest U.S. city was a potential target of attacks such as those in Paris last week, but that there are no current or specific threats, the department said on Wednesday." ...

... Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times: "The Paris attacks, the deadliest in France to date, have sharpened the focus on the inability of security services to monitor the large and growing number of young European Muslims who have fought alongside the Islamic State or to spot terrorist plots in their early stages, even when the participants are well known to them. It appears so far that as many as six of the assailants who killed 129 people with guns, grenades and suicide bombs at six sites last Friday were Europeans who had traveled to Syria and returned to carry out attacks at home -- precisely the nightmare scenario security officials have been warning about for the past two years." ...

... Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "House Republicans are moving forward with a plan that would prevent Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States unless the government can verify they don't pose a security a threat.... But the Obama administration on Wednesday issued a veto threat, arguing the legislation 'would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people' and only 'create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program that satisfies both humanitarian and national security objectives.'" ...

... "Regular Disorder." Dana Milbank: "Three weeks ago, Paul Ryan accepted the speaker's gavel with a vow to return to 'regular order,' in which the Congress runs by deliberation rather than fiat and lawmakers have loose rein to amend and shape legislation.... That dream died about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday night. That's when House leaders announced they would take up a never-before-seen piece of legislation, written that very day, to rewrite the rules of the U.S. refugee program for those coming from Syria and Iraq. There had been, and would be, no hearings or other committee action before the legislation was rushed Thursday to the House floor, where no amendments would be allowed. H.R. 4038, the 'American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act' (a contrivance to produce the abbreviation 'SAFE Act') ... was drafted in response to panic whipped up by Republican presidential candidates after the terrorist attacks in Paris."

... Profiles in Cowardice, Ctd. Cameron Joseph & Larry McShane of the New York Daily News: "The NRA -- and their gun-loving Republican cohorts -- are refusing once more to stop terrorists intent on getting armed in the U.S.A. A legal loophole allows suspected terrorists on the government's no-fly list to legally buy guns, but a bill to fix that will likely wither on the vine. The federal Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, even in the wake of last week's terrorist killing of 129 people in Paris, remains a long shot due to its rabid pro-gun opponents.... More than 2,000 suspects on the FBI's Terrorist Watchlist bought weapons in the U.S. over the last 11 years, according to the federal Government Accountability Office."...

... Seung Min Kim of Politico: "A core group of Senate Democrats are preparing a response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, in an effort to focus attention on what the Democrats say are more pressing potential security threats even as Congress remains largely focused on the nation's refugee resettlement program. The plan, according to a source close to the negotiations among Democratic senators, would reform the visa waiver program and shut off the so-called 'terror gap,' which would specifically bar members of terrorist organizations from possessing or buying firearms. The source noted that the Democrats' plan would not endorse pausing the current refugee resettlement program...." ...

... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, on Tuesday said it may be necessary to halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States. Republicans immediately seized on Schumer's comment, which breaks with other Democrats who have argued against halting the program." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ABC News: "French President Francois Hollande today promised that 'France will remain a country of freedom,' defending his decision to honor a commitment to accept migrants and refugees despite Friday's deadly terrorist attacks in Paris." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

** Juan Cole: "Top ten reasons governors are wrong to exclude Syrian refugees." Something to commit to memory to try to shut down your Neanderthal relatives at Thanksgiving. Yeah, I know, good luck with that.

... ** Lydia DePillis of the Washington Post: "... would keeping refugees out actually make anybody safer? Few experts deny that it's possible for terrorists to conceal themselves among large crowds of refugees in some areas -- for example, Al-Shabaab has infiltrated the flow of Somalis fleeing conflict into Kenya. But even fewer think that sealing off borders is likely to prevent future attacks, either." ...

... The Center for American Progress outlines the 21 steps a refugee must pass through to gain refugee status in the U.S. ...

... The other day a contributor asked about sponsoring a Syrian refugee. In the U.S., it can't be done. Canada has a private-sponsorship program. ...

... Paul Waldman: "It took about a day and a half for Republican politicians to move from 'What happened in Paris was awful!' through 'Barack Obama is weak on evildoers!' to 'Terrorist foreigners are coming to kill your children!'... [The] hurricane of xenophobia and cynical opportunism makes for a truly odious display. But sadly, it's also good politics for Republicans, at least in the short term.... Someone who wanted to come to the U.S. to commit a terrorist act could do so with a student visa or a tourist visa; there'd be no point in going through the lengthy, multi-layered vetting process to gain refugee status, which ... requires up to a two-year wait."

... Paul Krugman: "It took no time at all for the right-wing response to the Paris attacks to turn into a vile caricature that has me feeling nostalgic for the restraint and statesmanship of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney." Krugman points to remarks by "the reasonable wing of the modern right." ...

... Dionne Searcey & Marc Santora of the New York Times: "Boko Haram, the militant group that has tortured Nigeria and its neighbors for years, was responsible for 6,664 deaths last year, more than any other terrorist group in the world, including the Islamic State, which killed 6,073 people in 2014, according to a report released Wednesday tracking terrorist attacks globally."

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve, setting aside its habitual reticence, is issuing increasingly explicit warnings that it is likely to start raising its benchmark interest rate in December."

Gail Collins: "In honor of the coming vacation travel season, the Senate is working on a bill that would loosen the requirement that pilots take medical examinations.... 'The U.S. Senate has an excruciatingly difficult time doing anything, and here they're dismantling something that's been working pretty well,' complained Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.... More than two-thirds of his colleagues are co-sponsors.... The bill's lead sponsor, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, is a very enthusiastic 81-year-old pilot who starred in an exciting airborne adventure about five years ago, when he landed his Cessna at an airport in Texas despite A) The large 'X' on the runway, indicating it was closed, and B) The construction crew working on said runway, which ran for their lives when he dropped in.... Some small-minded observers suspect he also has personal skin in the game, what with having had quadruple bypass heart surgery and all."

K-Men. Jane Mayer of the New Yorker comments on Ken Vogel's big scoop about the "Koch Intelligence Agency." The boyz have been doing covert surveillance on perceived enemies for a long time.

Brady McCombs of the AP: "A Utah county prosecutor said Wednesday he is investigating U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada in connection with a pay-to-play scheme involving two former Utah attorneys general. Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings, a Republican, said in a statement that he's looking into allegations related to the Democratic senator. Rawlings declined to disclose the allegations.... Reid, who hasn't been charged, fired back at Rawlings in a statement from his spokeswoman Kristen Orthman. She said Rawlings is using "Sen. Reid's name to generate attention to himself and advance his political career, so every few months he seeks headlines by floating the same unsubstantiated allegations."

Presidential Race

Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "On Thursday..., Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver an in-depth speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York about her national security proposals and how she would combat the Islamic State...." ...

... Matea Gold, et al., of the Washington Post: "Over four decades of public life, Bill and Hillary Clinton have built an unrivaled global network of donors while pioneering fundraising techniques that have transformed modern politics and paved the way for them to potentially become the first husband and wife to win the White House. The grand total raised for all of their political campaigns and their family's charitable foundation reaches at least $3 billion, according to a Washington Post investigation." The reporters provide an in-depth look at how the Clintons did it. ...

... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Following comments that his city should reject refugees in the way the U.S. interned Japanese-American citizens during World War II the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, has lost his spot on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's Virginia Leadership Council. Davis Bowers had been on the Virginia committee since early October.... A Clinton campaign spokesman slammed Bowers' comments in a statement." See related story linked under Beyond the Beltway.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Dogged for months by questions about being a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders will address the subject of his political philosophy head on in a long-awaited speech on Thursday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

William Saletan of Slate: "Guilty Until Proven Christian. For Republicans, if you are Muslim, you are out of luck." Saletan amasses the bigoted remarks that have come out of the mouths of GOP presidential candidates. His post is one appalling list of horribles.

Ben Carson has a plan to defeat ISIS, which the Washington Post has published. CW: (1) I'll eat my surgical cap if Ben Carson wrote what the headline describes as "My Plan"; (2) most of the plan is "we have to beat them"; (3) jamming their social media, which Carson suggests, might be something worth trying. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update. Toljaso. Plus Ole Doc Tells Another Big Fib. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "A foreign policy adviser whom Ben Carson publicly distanced himself from after the adviser criticized Mr. Carson's grasp of the Middle East provided input for an opinion column Mr. Carson published online in The Washington Post on Wednesday about defeating the Islamic State. The campaign called the adviser, Duane R. Clarridge, on Monday for help with the opinion piece that was conceived to counter poor impressions Mr. Carson had made in a 'Fox News Sunday' interview the day before.... Mr. Carson said on Tuesday evening in an interview on 'PBS NewsHour' that Mr. Clarridge ... was 'not my adviser."" ...

Ben Carson -- Lying, Pandering Coward. CW: Last week I gave Carson kudos for suggesting that Republicans -- including then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, BTW -- overreached in inserting into Terri Schiavo's right to die with dignity. Turns out I spoke too soon. Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "... Ben Carson on Wednesday sought to walk back a controversial comment he made last week about the ethical and legal battles surrounding Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who died in 2005 amid a protracted family dispute over keeping her alive in a vegetative state.... 'When I used the term "much ado about nothing," my point was that the media tried to create the impression that the pro-life community was nutty and going way overboard with the support of the patient,' he [said Wednesday]." You can chalk that up as One More Doc Ben Lie. Here's what he actually said last week: "We face those kinds of issues all the time, and while I don't believe in euthanasia, you have to recognize that people that are in that condition do have a series of medical problems that occur that will take them out. Your job [as a doctor] is to keep them comfortable throughout that process and not to treat everything that comes up." ...

... Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "Happy Geography Awareness Week!... Ben Carson's presidential campaign ... Tuesday night ... took to social media to share a map of the United States in which five New England states were placed in the wrong location. The campaign deleted the Twitter and Facebook posts Wednesday morning after media outlets and social media users pointed out the error." Also, he gave part of Virginia to Maryland. CW: Yeah, I trust the Middle East plan of a guy who can't find Massachusetts. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Nine things that happened during Donald Trump's visit to Worcester[, Massachusetts.] The presidential candidate cursed, promised, joked and called a protester fat." ...

... Greg Sargent: Donald Trump keeps upping the ante in his anti-immigration crusade, and Republican voters apparently view that as evidence of "strong leadership." ...

... Christopher Massie of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump said on Wednesday that, if he or somebody else with a gun had been present during last Friday's attacks in Paris, things would have gone differently. 'So they were just shooting people: "Next! Next!"' the former reality TV star told Boston radio host Jeff Kuhner. 'Just people were totally defenseless. If you had a guy like you or me, or some other guys in that room that had guns, it wouldn't have been that way....' Trump made the comments after saying that, because of French gun laws, 'nobody had a gun' to shoot the attackers, adding that 'the only ones that had the guns are the bad guys.'" CW: I want me one a those Donald Trump Action Hero dolls. Or, better yet, a video game where you run up points on how many guys with assault rifles & bombs strapped to their chest the Donald takes out with his little platinum-plated pistol. (The game does not allow the terrorists to hit anyone, of course.) ...

... Jordan Sargent of Gawker: "This is, of course, a grand conservative fantasy: the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a big orange buffoon with a gun, or whatever. Trump is bringing that fantasy to its most logical extreme, daydreaming about whipping out a pistol and taking out terrorists armed with machine guns. All of this is to say that if Donald Trump had stood up in the crowd at the Bataclan he would been murdered immediately, and his stupid James Bond fantasy nonsense is an insult to those who really did die there." ...

... Still, compared to the Donald, Tailgunner Ted turns out to be a wuss:

... Dare & Double-Dare You, Obummer. Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: Sen. Ted Cruz, responding to President Obama's criticism of Republican rhetoric of the Islamic State, challenged the president to a debate on refugee policy. 'If you want to insult me, you can do it overseas, you can do it in Turkey, you can do it in foreign countries but I would encourage you, Mr. President, come back and insult me to my face. Let's have a debate on Syrian refugees right now,' Cruz said Wednesday." CW: A debate? With a befuddled weakling? C'mon, Ted.

Ben Brody of Bloomberg: "Jeb Bush elaborated Wednesday on his proposal to put a limited number of U.S. ground troops in combat against the Islamic State. One day after the Florida governor told Bloomberg's Mark Halperin that the U.S. is 'going to have to have ground troops' to fight the terrorist group, Bush, speaking at The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina, urged the U.S. to go beyond the bombing sorties already underway in the region." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charles Pierce: "John Kasich, the sensible choice for sensible Republicans, all three of them. He has managed in his own 'moderate' way to come up simultaneously with the worst original idea of the 2016 presidential campaign.... Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment but leave enough room for Radio Free Jesus. Kasich has lost his mind. Leave aside the obvious First Amendment Establishment problems this idea has in this country. The one thing that the Middle East doesn't need is more Judaeo-Christian proselytizing."

Beyond the Beltway

Mahita Gajanan of the Guardian: "The mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, has invoked President Franklin Roosevelt's decision to place Japanese Americans in internment camps during the second world war as a way to justify keeping Syrian refugees out of the US. 'I'm reminded that President Franklin D Roosevelt felt compelled to sequester Japanese foreign nationals after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and it appears that the threat of harm to Americans from Isis now is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then, Mayor David Bowers said in a statement released on Wednesday." CW: Because the internment of innocent Americans was such a high point in our history that the U.S. Congress officially apologized for it & paid reparations to the victims. Bowers is a Democrat. And evidently dumber than a post. ...

What did occur in the wake of Pearl Harbor was an irrational response to wartime hysteria, and I would say that the way that the local discourse is going on right now is we're allowing the word, the notion of Syrian refugees, to be conflated with terrorism. -- Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.)

... Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times: "A Virginia mayor ignited a backlash Wednesday after he cited America's mass detention of Japanese Americans during World War II as support for his call to deny Syrian refugees the opportunity to resettle in the United States." ...

... Jeff Guo of the Washington Post: "Its well-known now, of course, that the Japanese-Americans posed little security threat. But what might surprise casual readers of history is that even back then, the government knew this was a low-risk population. Declassified military documents show that the nation's leaders embarked on this vast incarceration project mostly to quell the fears of the the public."

David Boucher of the Tennessean: "A top Tennessee Republican lawmaker believes the time has come for the National Guard to round up any Syrian refugees who have recently settled in the state and to stop any additional Syrian refugees from entering Tennessee. 'We need to activate the Tennessee National Guard and stop them from coming in to the state by whatever means we can,' said House GOP Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Franklin, referencing refugees." CW: So who's scarier -- Syrian refugees or Casada? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Possible American Terrorist Shuts Down College for Weeks, No Reaction from Congress, GOP Candidates. AP: "Washington College in Maryland announced on Wednesday it would be closed through the Thanksgiving holiday while authorities continue searching for missing 19-year-old sophomore Jacob Marberger."

Comments Off
Tuesday
Nov172015

The Commentariat -- Nov. 18, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post: "A massive police raid Wednesdays killed the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks during a blitz-style sweep, two senior European intelligence officials said, after investigators followed leads that the fugitive militant was holed up north of the French capital and could be plotting another wave of violence. More than 100 police and soldiers stormed the building during a seven-hour siege that left two dead including the suspected overseer of the Paris bloodshed, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian extremist who had once boasted he could slip easily between Europe and the Islamic State strongholds in Syria." ...

... Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "French media reported that the woman who set off a suicide blast as security forces closed in Wednesday during an anti-terrorism raid in Saint-Denis was Hasna Aitboulahcen. The 26-year-old French citizen was a cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected architect of the Paris attacks." ...

... Rukimini Callimachi & Robery Mackey of the New York Times: "The Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula last month, released an image that purports to show the improvised explosive device used to kill all 224 people aboard the flight from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. In the latest issue of Dabiq, the Islamic State's glossy online magazine, first disseminated through Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, a picture shows what ISIS says were the components of an IED: A Gold Schweppes Pineapple tonic water can and two devices containing wires that appear to be the detonator and the switch." ...

... ABC News: "French President Francois Hollande today promised that 'France will remain a country of freedom,' defending his decision to honor a commitment to accept migrants and refugees despite Friday's deadly terrorist attacks in Paris."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Dogged for months by questions about being a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders will address the subject of his political philosophy head on in a long-awaited speech on Thursday."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, on Tuesday said it may be necessary to halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States. Republicans immediately seized on Schumer's comment, which breaks with other Democrats who have argued against halting the program."

David Boucher of the Tennessean: "A top Tennessee Republican lawmaker believes the time has come for the National Guard to round up any Syrian refugees who have recently settled in the state and to stop any additional Syrian refugees from entering Tennessee. 'We need to activate the Tennessee National Guard and stop them from coming in to the state by whatever means we can,' said House GOP Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Franklin, referencing refugees." CW: So who's scarier -- Syrian refugees or Casada?

Ben Brody of Bloomberg: "Jeb Bush elaborated Wednesday on his proposal to put a limited number of U.S. ground troops in combat against the Islamic State. One day after the Florida governor told Bloomberg's Mark Halperin that the U.S. is 'going to have to have ground troops' to fight the terrorist group, Bush, speaking at The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina, urged the U.S. to go beyond the bombing sorties already underway in the region."

Ben Carson has a plan to defeat ISIS, which the Washington Post has published. CW: (1) I'll eat my surgical cap if Ben Carson wrote what the headline describes as "My Plan"; (2) most of the plan is "we have to beat them"; (3) jamming their social media, which Carson suggests, might be something worth trying. ...

... Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "Happy Geography Awareness Week!... Ben Carson's presidential campaign ... Tuesday night ... took to social media to share a map of the United States in which five New England states were placed in the wrong location. The campaign deleted the Twitter and Facebook posts Wednesday morning after media outlets and social media users pointed out the error." Also, he gave part of Virginia to Maryland. CW: Yeah, I trust the Middle East plan of a guy who can't find Massachusetts.

*****

Apparently they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America. At first, they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three year old orphans. That doesn't seem so tough to me. -- President Obama, on GOP presidential candidates, referring to a remark by Chris Christie not to admit any Syrian refugees, including "orphans under five" (video clip here) ...

... Video of the full press conference is here. ...

... David Nakamura & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama on Wednesday angrily accused Republicans of feeding into the Islamic State's strategy of casting the United States as waging war on Muslims, saying the GOP's rhetoric has become the most 'potent recruitment tool' for the militant group. Obama was responding to recent calls from Republicans, including presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), to block Syrian refugees' entrance into the United States. Bush and Cruz have suggested welcoming Christian refugees, but not those who are Muslims." ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "The White House defended the administration's approach toward fighting the Islamic State on Wednesday.... 'The first thing that's important for people to understand is that the United States has been involved with carrying out military strikes inside of Syria for more than a year now,' press secretary Josh Earnest said in an interview with CNN's 'New Day.'... 'And it is only because of the significant investments that this president made and ordered, in terms of collecting intelligence, carrying out military airstrikes inside of Syria -- that is what allows France to now ramp up their contribution to our effort and to carry out some strikes themselves,' Earnest said, speaking from Manila.... 'We certainly appreciate the contribution from our French allies, but none of this would be possible without the logistical support, the air refueling and the intelligence that's been collected by the United States.'" ...

... Vladimir Isachenkov & Josh Lederman of the AP: "In a striking shift, President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are embarking on a tentative path toward closer ties and possible military cooperation, as the bitter rift over Ukraine gives way to common cause against the Islamic State group." ...

... Tal Kopan & Jim Acosta of CNN: "White House officials held a call with governors Tuesday evening about Syrian refugees as a growing number of state executives are saying they will not welcome resettling them in their states over terror concerns. Top staff from the White House, Department of Homeland Security and the State Department fielded questions from the governors for 90 minutes and reassured them that they were doing the most thorough vetting possible of Syrian refugees, according to brief notes from the call provided by the White House." ...

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama called on China on Wednesday to halt its construction on reclaimed islands in the South China Sea, raising the contentious issue at the start of a two-day economic summit meeting at which he and other Pacific Rim leaders also discussed trade and climate change." ...

... Lilia Blaise, et al., of the New York Times: "After a series of gun battles early Wednesday, the French police arrested five people hiding out in an apartment in [the] northern Paris suburb [of St.-Denis] in an operation aimed at detaining the Belgian man suspected of organizing the terrorist attacks on Friday night. One woman died in the raid, when she detonated an explosive vest." ...

... The Washington Post's liveblog is here. ...

     ... Anthony Faoila, et al., of the Washington Post: "The operation began around 4:30 a.m., and left several police officers wounded and at least two suspects dead. The dead included a woman who blew herself up, according to the Paris prosecutor's office." ...

... AP: "Overnight raids by French police across France have resulted in 25 arrests and the seizure of 34 weapons." ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "Two Air France flights headed from the United States to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris were diverted on Tuesday night due to anonymous threats. Both planes have landed safely. Air France said in a statement that there was a 'bomb scare' on Flight 55 out of Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. That flight landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Flight 65 from Los Angeles International Airport was diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport." ...

... Andrew Higgins & Kimoko de Freytas of the New York Times: "When the family of Abdelhamid Abaaoud received word from Syria last fall that he had been killed fighting for the Islamic State, it rejoiced at what it took to be excellent news about a wayward son it had come to despise." ...

... Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "... German officials evacuated a soccer stadium over an apparent plan to set off a powerful bomb. Authorities in Hanover, Germany, abruptly called off a friendly soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands that Chancellor Angela Merkel had planned to attend to show resolve against terrorism and support for the victims of the Nov. 13 attacks [in Paris]...." ...

... Reuters: "Honduran authorities have detained five Syrian nationals who were trying to reach the United States using stolen Greek passports, but there are no signs of any links to last week's attacks in Paris, police said." ...

... Tuesday's New York Times live updates related to the terror attacks in Paris are here.

     ... From the liveblog @ 6:50 pm ET: "Soccer fans in a packed stadium [at Wembley Stadium in London] were in strong voice on Tuesday night as they sang 'La Marseillaise,' the French national anthem, in an emotional ceremony before an exhibition match between England and France."

Jake Sherman of Politico: "The House is likely to vote Thursday on legislation aimed at strengthening the oversight of Syrian and Iraqi refugees who want to come to the United States. The measure is expected to force the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to certify that each potential refugee is not a threat to U.S. security. Top GOP leaders said they expect some Democratic support in the House. Republican leaders moved swiftly to draft the legislation to halt President Barack Obama's plan to accept thousands of refugees from Syria.... Later Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) endorsed putting a hold on the Syrian refugee resettlement program." ...

... Mike DeBonis & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday called for a 'pause' to the admittance of Syrian refugees into the United States, citing the national security risks in the wake of the Paris attacks. 'Our nation has always been welcoming, but we cannot let terrorists take advantage of our compassion,' Ryan (R-Wis.) said after emerging from a closed door meeting for House Republicans. 'This is a moment where it's better to be safe than to be sorry.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dana Milbank: "Congressional Republicans unveiled a new strategy Tuesday morning to defeat the Islamic State: We will kill it with clichés." ...

... David Smith of the Guardian: "Terrorists traveling from Europe without a visa pose a bigger threat to US security than refugees from Syria, according to the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee. Senator Richard Burr supported calls to consider a 'pause' in admitting Syrian asylum seekers but insisted this is not the most probable route open potential terrorists. 'I'm probably more concerned with the visa waiver programme today,' Burr told reporters.... 'Because were I in Europe already and I wanted to go the United States and I was not on a watch list or a no fly list, the likelihood is I would use the visa waiver programme before I would try to pawn myself as a refugee and try to enter under false documents,' he said."

Don Melvin & Matthew Chance of CNN: "The Russian passenger jet that crashed over Sinai, Egypt, was brought down by a bomb estimated to contain 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service said Tuesday, and the Russian government is offering a $50 million reward for information about those who brought it down." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate voted on Tuesday to block President Obama's tough new climate change regulations, hoping to undermine his negotiating authority before a major international climate summit meeting in Paris this month. The Senate resolution, which passed 52 to 46, would scuttle a rule that would significantly cut heat-trapping carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants.... A second resolution, which also passed 52 to 46, would strike a related E.P.A. rule designed to freeze construction of future coal-fired power plants. Three Democrats from states in which coal plays a major role in the economy, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, broke party ranks to vote in favor of the resolutions. But three moderate Republicans who are up for re-election next year, Senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois, broke from their party to vote against the resolutions and back the environmental regulations. If the resolutions reach the president's desk, Mr. Obama has promised a veto.... The House is expected to pass a companion resolution by early December, forcing a veto just as the negotiations in Paris are beginning."

Koch Ops. Ken Vogel of Politico: "The political network helmed by Charles and David Koch has quietly built a secretive operation that conducts surveillance and intelligence gathering on its liberal opponents, viewing it as a key strategic tool in its efforts to reshape American public life. The operation, which is little-known even within the Koch network, gathers what Koch insiders refer to as 'competitive intelligence' that is used to try to thwart liberal groups and activists, and to identify potential threats to the expansive network."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post (Nov. 16): "The Supreme Court turned aside an antiabortion organization's attempt Monday to get more information about a Planned Parenthood contract with the federal government. The court said it would not review an appeals court decision that said the Freedom of Information Act did not allow New Hampshire Right to Life access to Planned Parenthood's Manual of Medical Standards and Guidelines."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court's decisions protecting gay rights were not rooted in the Constitution, and their logic could as easily apply to child molesters, Justice Antonin Scalia told a room filled with first-year law students at Georgetown University on Monday. 'What minorities deserve protection?' he asked. 'What? It's up to me to identify deserving minorities?' He said those decisions should generally be made by the democratic process rather than by judges." ...

... CW: Allow me to assist, Nino. If any group of law-abiding citizens is regularly or occasionally subject to discrimination -- via either laws or practices -- based upon some aspect of who they are, then they're easy to "identify" as "deserving." Just to be clear, since you seem to find this concept so difficult, that does not include child molesters, whom you ludicrously describe as a "deserving minority." P.S. Since I know you love to go to the dictionary & often cite it in your hilarious opinions, do look up the meaning of "deserving." Jerk. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The Washington Post story, by Robert Barnes, is here.

Sportswriter Bill Simmons interviews President Obama for GQ. Sports metaphors & comparisons liberally applied. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race

Je Suis Désolée. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a onetime rising Republican star whose popularity has plummeted in his own state, abruptly dropped out of the presidential race on Tuesday, conceding that he was unable to find any traction."

Brian Beutler: "Trump and Carson certainly do have the wrong temperament for the presidency.... It's good that some Republican operatives are aware of it. Yet those same operatives seem completely unperturbed by the fact that their less impetuous candidates are courting failure in more mundane ways, overcommitting themselves such that whether they have a presidential temperament or not, the presidency will have the wrong temperament for them."

Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "There is broad if inchoate agreement within the Republican Party about how the United States should respond to the Paris attacks: ramp up military engagement to defeat Islamic State terrorists and close the door to some if not all Syrian refugees. But the urgent return of national security to the forefront of debate on Capitol Hill and in the presidential race has quickly laid bare stark differences in pitch and attitude among Republican leaders. While some are urging restraint and sobriety, others are raising the decibel level to tap into the fears and anxieties that the Paris bloodshed has stoked in many Americans." ...

... Eliza Collins of Politico: "The Obama administration is deliberately sending Syrian refugees to states led by Republican governors, Donald Trump alleged Tuesday. Trump, who was speaking to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, said of the refugees, 'They send them to the Republicans, not to the Democrats, you know because they know the problem ... why would we want to bother the Democrats?'" CW: I'd like to know his source for that allegation. ...

     ... Steve M. explains arithmetic to Donald Trump & Eliza Collins. "So, yes, there are 1316 Syrian refugees in states with Republican governors and 508 in states with Democratic governors [maybe because there are nearly twice as many states with Republican governors than with Democratic ones] But there are 1154 Syrian refugees in states that voted Obama twice (plus 41 in states that voted for him once), and only 629 in states that never voted for him." ...

... Nick Gass: "The United States will have 'absolutely no choice' but to close down some mosques where 'some bad things are happening,' Donald Trump said in a recent interview...."

... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee have seized on an odd argument to argue against taking Syrian refugees: The U.S. is too cold for them. Huckabee and Trump both cited Minnesota as being too cold for refugees."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Donald Trump on Tuesday named Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) when asked about his possible running mate in 2016. 'Ted Cruz is now agreeing with me 100 percent,' he said when asked about his vice presidential pick...."

Patrick O'Connor of the Wall Street Journal: "Florida Sen. Marco Rubio leveled pointed charges Monday at a pair of Republican presidential rivals who backed efforts to overhaul U.S. bulk collection of phone records. The Florida senator criticized Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky for advocating efforts earlier this year to overhaul the National Security Agency's controversial program to collect the personal communications of millions of Americans, campaign-trail attacks that carry more weight in the aftermath of Paris." (Story is not firewalled.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ted Cruz, who has said that the United States should not allow Syrian Muslim refugees into the country but should provide safe haven to fleeing Christians, plans to introduce legislation that would bar Syrian refugees from entering the country." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday panned the idea of favoring Christian refugees from Syria over Muslims, delivering a rebuttal to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a GOP presidential candidate. McCain said using a religious test on Syrian refugees, especially children, makes no sense."

** Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Ben Carson's remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State. 'Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,' Duane R. Clarridge, a top adviser to Mr. Carson on terrorism and national security, said in an interview.... What is unusual is the candor of those who are tutoring him about the physician's struggle to master the subject." CW: Read the whole story. It's a hoot. Unless Carson should become president. ...

... Pamela Engel of Business Insider: "Carson's campaign pushed back ... and suggested the paper was taking 'advantage of an elderly gentleman [Duane Clarridge]. Mr. Clarridge has incomplete knowledge of the daily, not weekly briefings, that Dr. Carson receives on important national security matters from former military and State Department officials,' Doug Watts, a Carson campaign spokesman, told Business Insider in an email." ...

... Oh Really? Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "In a phone chat with the Erik Wemple Blog, [Armstrong] Williams [-- Carson's campaign & business manager --] struck a somewhat different tone -- one that expressed no criticism of the New York Times. It was Williams himself who passed along to Gabriel the name of Clarridge.... Clarridge, says Williams, has been working with Carson for the past two years or so." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Ben Carson has now topped the Republican primary polls long enough that, perhaps in combination with the recent attack in Paris, his advisers now appear genuinely terrified that he might be elected president and are doing everything in their power to stop it. Or else they hate him.... Let's sum up what we have learned. The candidate's advisers are saying on the record he doesn't know anything, has trouble learning anything, and cannot seem to recall even what little information he has managed to assimilate. I don't see how a Carson presidency could go wrong." ...

... Wait, Wait! The Carson campaign has a new excuse for Carson's recent deer-in-the-headlights moment. David Knowles of Bloomberg: "Hours after being quoted in a New York Times article saying Carson 'froze' during an interview with Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace, Carson adviser Armstrong Williams offered another take on the Republican presidential contender's seeming inability to name which allies he would reach out to first to defeat the Islamic State terrorist network. 'Dr. Carson is very dismissive of the question,' Williams said Tuesday on Bloomberg's With All Due Respect. 'It was a hypothetical, and Dr. Carson does not like answering hypotheticals and so he intentionally did not answer the question.'" CW: By this logic, Carson will not answer (or will repeat his "homina, homina, homina" moment) every time an interviewer asks him what he would do as president. So, see, it's gonna be a Surprise Presidency!

Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "As part of a broad national security plan to defeat ISIS, Republican Presidential candidate John Kasich proposed creating a new government agency to push Judeo-Christian values around the world. The new agency, which he hasn't yet named, would promote a Jewish- and Christian-based belief system to four regions of the world: China, Iran, Russia and the Middle East." CW: Let's send everybody tiny Bibles. And Kasich is the "sensible" GOP candidate. ...

Jeb!, Master of the Metaphor. CW: Frogs, crabs, whatever. Every one of the GOP candidates is a joke.

Brian Mahoney & Marianne Levine of Politico: "The powerful union behind the fast food workers' wage movement endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Tuesday. The 2-million-member Service Employees International Union approved the endorsement through a vote by its executive board."

Annie Karni of Politico: "Bernie Sanders' ballyhooed speech on socialism is now on indefinite hold. Details about how Sanders would pay for his proposed single-payer national health insurance program to provide Medicare for all Americans have yet to be fleshed out -- even though a July 30 post on his campaign website says the Vermont senator would file legislation on single-payer 'perhaps as soon as next week.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... the planted axiom that a single-payer health care system or a more progressive tax system represents 'socialism' is absurd. Harry Truman proposed a single-payer system seventy years ago this Thursday, a few months before his 'Iron Curtain' speech." CW: Actually, I found the whole article absurd. The gist is that Sanders can't handle the big leagues. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Gubernatorial Race

Never Let a Crisis Go Unexploited. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Louisiana's race for governor is set to end on November 21, one week after the Paris bombings. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), the struggling Republican nominee, is trying to make the race turn on one issue: Whether to let Syrian refugees settle in the United States. His closing argument depends on making Democratic nominee John Bel Edwards, a state representative who responded cautiously to the refugee aspect of the crisis, into a refugee-hugging accomplice of President Obama." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Josh Israel of Think Progress: "A Texas state legislator [Rep. Tony Dale (R)] wants the U.S. to stop allowing Syrian refugees into the country. His reasoning: They might be able to buy guns in his state.... But Dale is one of the Texas legislature's most fervent gun-rights advocates.... He and his colleagues in the state legislature have blocked mandatory background checks for all gun purchases.... The NRA frequently claims that restrictions on gun purchases are unnecessary because 'criminals don't legally purchase firearms.'" Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the lead. ...

... "Gun Rights Are White Rights." Erik Loomis of Lawyers, Guns & Money: "The modern gun rights movement and white rights movement have always been intertwined. These connections need a lot more exploration than the occasional note that some Texas state legislator is freaking out about Muslims buying guns but wants all the whites in his state to be armed to the teeth."

Rees Shapiro & Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "Washington College closed its Maryland campus Tuesday morning until further notice as police and the FBI intensified the search for a 'despondent' sophomore who is believed to be armed. It was the second day the Eastern Shore campus has been on high alert, going from a shelter-in-place order Monday to a full evacuation on Tuesday. Authorities are trying to find Jacob Marberger, whose parents called college officials early Monday to report that he had left their home in Pennsylvania with a gun and that they were not able to reach him." CW: Another lovely example of white-boy terrorism.

Nicky Woolf of the Guardian: "Jamar Clark, the 24-year-old shot on Sunday morning following an altercation with police, died in hospital from his injuries on Monday night, police have confirmed. Clark was shot in the head by police early on Sunday morning following an altercation with officers and paramedics. Police said at first that Clark was shot following a struggle, but eyewitnesses have said he was already in handcuffs when he was shot. Family members have described Clark's shooting as 'execution-style'."

Comments Off
Monday
Nov162015

The Commentariat -- Nov. 17, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Annie Karni of Politico: "Bernie Sanders' ballyhooed speech on socialism is now on indefinite hold. Details about how Sanders would pay for his proposed single-payer national health insurance program to provide Medicare for all Americans have yet to be fleshed out -- even though a July 30 post on his campaign website says the Vermont senator would file legislation on single-payer 'perhaps as soon as next week.'" ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... the planted axiom that a single-payer health care system or a more progressive tax system represents 'socialism' is absurd. Harry Truman proposed a single-payer system seventy years ago this Thursday, a few months before his 'Iron Curtain' speech." CW: Actually, I found the whole article absurd. The gist is that Sanders can't handle the big leagues.

Don Melvin & Matthew Chance of CNN: "The Russian passenger jet that crashed over Sinai, Egypt, was brought down by a bomb estimated to contain 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service said Tuesday, and the Russian government is offering a $50 million reward for information about those who brought it down."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court's decisions protecting gay rights were not rooted in the Constitution, and their logic could as easily apply to child molesters, Justice Antonin Scalia told a room filled with first-year law students at Georgetown University on Monday. 'What minorities deserve protection?' he asked. 'What? It's up to me to identify deserving minorities?' He said those decisions should generally be made by the democratic process rather than by judges." ...

... CW: Allow me to assist, Nino. If any group of law-abiding citizens is regularly or occasionally subject to discrimination -- via either laws or practices -- based upon some aspect of who they are, then they're easy to "identify" as "deserving." Just to be clear, since you seem to find this concept so difficult, that does not include child molesters, whom you ludicrously describe as a "deserving minority." P.S. Since I know you love to go to the dictionary & often cite it in your hilarious opinions, do look up the meaning of "deserving." Jerk.

Patrick O'Connor of the Wall Street Journal: "Florida Sen. Marco Rubio leveled pointed charges Monday at a pair of Republican presidential rivals who backed efforts to overhaul U.S. bulk collection of phone records. The Florida senator criticized Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky for advocating efforts earlier this year to overhaul the National Security Agency's controversial program to collect the personal communications of millions of Americans, campaign-trail attacks that carry more weight in the aftermath of Paris." (Story is not firewalled.)

Mike DeBonis & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday called for a 'pause' to the admittance of Syrian refugees into the United States, citing the national security risks in the wake of the Paris attacks. 'Our nation has always been welcoming, but we cannot let terrorists take advantage of our compassion,' Ryan (R-Wis.) said after emerging from a closed door meeting for House Republicans. 'This is a moment where it's better to be safe than to be sorry.'"

Never Let a Crisis Go Unexploited. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Louisiana's race for governor is set to end on November 21, one week after the Paris bombings. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), the struggling Republican nominee, is trying to make the race turn on one issue: Whether to let Syrian refugees settle in the United States. His closing argument depends on making Democratic nominee John Bel Edwards, a state representative who responded cautiously to the refugee aspect of the crisis, into a refugee-hugging accomplice of President Obama."

Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ted Cruz, who has said that the United States should not allow Syrian Muslim refugees into the country but should provide safe haven to fleeing Christians, plans to introduce legislation that would bar Syrian refugees from entering the country."

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee have seized on an odd argument to argue against taking Syrian refugees: The U.S. is too cold for them. Huckabee and Trump both cited Minnesota as being too cold for refugees."

Sportswriter Bill Simmons interviews President Obama for GQ. Sports metaphors & comparisons liberally applied.

The Guardian is liveblogging developments related to the Paris terrorist attacks.

*****

Aurelien Breeden, et al., of the New York Times: "The Belgian man suspected of plotting the Paris terrorist attacks was a target of Western airstrikes on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, as recently as last month, according to a European security official. The man, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, a fighter for the Islamic State, is believed to have escaped to Syria after the authorities in January foiled another terrorist plot, which had targeted the eastern Belgian city of Verviers, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational details." ...

... Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "France and Russia launched a punishing wave of attacks against Islamic State targets in Syria on Tuesday, as French leaders invoked an emergency pact to demand European allies join an intensifying military response to last week's terrorist carnage in Paris. The Syrian strikes -- which appeared to include Russian cruise missiles -- took place as French police carried out dozens of additional raids, and investigations in France and Belgium revealed new details of the attackers' movements prior to the coordinated assaults on Friday." ...

... Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "Russia confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that a homemade bomb brought down a Russian charter jet over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt more than two weeks ago, killing all 224 people aboard. 'We can say definitely that this was a terrorist act,' Alexander V. Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., said....

Aurelien Breeden, et al., of the New York Times: "President François Hollande of France called on Monday for constitutional amendments to fight potential terrorists at home and for an aggressive effort to 'eradicate' the Islamic State abroad. His call to arms -- 'France is at war,' he said at the opening of his remarks to a joint session of Parliament -- came as security forces in France and Belgium zeroed in on a suspect they said was the architect of the assault that killed 129 people Friday night in Paris. The suspect, a 27-year-old Belgian, has fought for the Islamic State in Syria and has been linked to other terrorist attacks." ...

... Missy Ryan & Daniela Dean of the Washington Post: "France launched new airstrikes on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in Syria Tuesday while French police carried out more than 120 anti-terrorism raids throughout France four days after the devastating terrorist attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people." ...

... Jon Henley of the Guardian: "In a dramatic escalation of France's war against Islamic State, François Hollande has pledged to intensify his country's airstrikes against the terror group, as the mastermind suspected of organising Friday's carnage in Paris was revealed to be a notorious Belgian-born Isis extremist living in Syria. Unveiling a raft of hardline measures to counter domestic extremism on Monday, the French president told an exceptional assembly of both houses of parliament at the Palace of Versailles: 'France is at war ... But we are not engaged in a war of civilisations, because these assassins do not represent any civilisation.'" ...

... Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met [in Antalya, Turkey,] for the first time since Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, struggling to get past their strained personal and political relationships and hoping to craft a coordinated response to the crisis in Syria and the rise of the Islamic State. Hopes for the meeting were muted.,,, Obama and Putin met Sunday for about half an hour on the sidelines of the two-day Group of 20 summit at this Turkish Mediterranean resort." ...

... Scott Shane of the New York Times: "In response to the Paris attacks, a top American intelligence official on Monday renewed a debate on government surveillance and privacy, denouncing 'hand-wringing' over intrusive spying and saying that leaks of classified information had made it harder to identify terrorists. John O. Brennan, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, appeared to be speaking in part about the National Security Agency's mass surveillance of phone and Internet communications that were disclosed by Edward J. Snowden in 2013. Those disclosures prompted sharp criticism and new restrictions on electronic spying both in the United States and in Europe. Mr. Brennan also seemed to be pushing back against complaints from privacy advocates in light of a growing threat from the Islamic State against Western countries...." With video. ...

... Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "A growing political war of words over whether to take in Syrian refugees in the wake of last week's terror attack in Paris may be morphing into the next government shutdown showdown. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions sent a letter to colleagues Monday urging them to support adding language to the next government spending bill that would effectively block President Barack Obama's plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year. Obama on Monday said he intends to go forward with his plan, despite numerous calls from Republican presidential candidates and governors that he scrap it. Sessions is proposing that Congress explicitly prohibit any funding for Syrian refugee resettlement unless Congress approves it and finds money to offset the cost." ...

... Eliza Collins of Politico: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein sharply contradicted President Barack Obama on Monday, disagreeing with his claim that the Islamic State is 'contained.' 'I've never been more concerned,' the California Democrat and Intelligence Committee ranking member told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC Monday. 'I read the intelligence faithfully. ISIL is not contained. ISIL is expanding. They just put out a video saying it is their intent to attack this country. I think we have to be prepared,' she continued." CW: Sen. Feinstein should have watched the video or read the transcript of what President Obama said before she lit her hair on fire. (See yesterday's Commentariat.) ...

... Josh Gerstein & Nick Gass of Politico: "CIA Director John Brennan said on Monday that officials had 'strategic warning' about the terrorist attacks in Paris that claimed the lives of more than 130 and injured hundreds more, also saying that Islamic State likely has more operations in the pipeline." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Steve Benen: President Obama's critics complain he is 'weak' & 'leading from behind,' etc. "What's puzzling about this is the degree to which the criticisms ignore current events. According to statistics from the Pentagon, since President Obama launched a military offensive against ISIS targets 15 months ago – his 'deep seated aversion to using military force' notwithstanding -- the United States military has carried out 6,353 airstrikes. Every other country on the planet combined has carried out 1,772.... If we narrow the focus to Syria specifically, as of late last week, France had carried out four airstrikes. The United States, acting on orders from President Obama, had carried out 2,658." CW: Useful stats to have at the ready for that Thanksgiving Day discussion about the feckless president. ...

... The Syrians Are Coming! The Syrians Are Coming! ... Robert Costa & Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "Nearly two dozen Republican governors moved Monday to close off their states to Syrian migrants as leading GOP presidential candidates outlined positions that would discriminate against Muslims seeking refuge in the United States. The efforts come as heightened fears among Republicans, and some Democrats, that the tens of thousands of people flowing from Syria's civil war are sheltering potential terrorists.... Several governors acknowledged that they do not have the ability to stop the federal government from accepting and financing the resettlement of refugees. Non-profit agencies who work with the federal government on resettlement said that while the cooperation of states and localities helps in the process, no governor can impede the movement of refugees once they have legal status." ...

"American Gothic." AP photo. Not photoshopped.

... Kyle Blaine of BuzzFeed: "Several state governors announced on Monday that they will not accept Syrian refugees following the attacks in Paris, citing concerns for security. The governors of Louisiana, Indiana, Massachusetts, Texas, and Arkansas announced measures on Monday to stop or oppose Syrian refugees from resettling in their states. Alabama and Michigan made similar announcements on Sunday." CW: Not even Christian Syrians, Bobby Jindal? I know that the requirement to grandstand for your bigot base makes you stupid, but I'd be pretty surprised if there were "legal means" for a state to kick out a person because of his refuge status. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update. Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "... there is no lawful means that permits a state government to dictate immigration policy to the president in this way. As the Supreme Court explained in Hines v. Davidowitz, 'the supremacy of the national power in the general field of foreign affairs, including power over immigration, naturalization and deportation, is made clear by the Constitution.' States do not get to overrule the federal government on matters such as this one.... President Obama has explicit statutory authorization to accept foreign refugees into the United States ... under the Refugee Act of 1980.... This power to admit refugees fits within the scheme of 'broad discretion exercised by immigration officials' that the Supreme Court recognized in its most recent major immigration case, Arizona v. United States." ...

     ... Let's Watch the Clown Car Drive up the Hill. At the end of this post, Steve M. takes a look at a provision of the Refugee Act that ensures Congress will have "an ideal opportunity to prey on voters' fears, they'll do it, relentlessly. So this is going to be a losing battle for the White House." ...

     ... Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: "That's not saying these profile-in-courage governors -- which sadly include at least one Democrat, New Hampshire's Maggie Hassan -- can't find ways to make it more difficult for the federal government to settle refugees in their states, or make life more difficult for the refugees (think of Gov. Bobby Jindal's promise to send law enforcement after any Syrians who happen to end up in Louisiana). But they can't flat-out refuse." CW: You can bet I sent Miss Maggie a "shame on you" letter. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... the dumbest reaction we've heard, by far, and it seems to be the most common from Republican governors and presidential candidates, is to treat Syrian refugees as putative terrorists, or worse yet, to distinguish them by religious tests. This last proposal is the signature 'idea' of the Great Big Grown-Up and Establishment icon Jeb Bush. Ted Cruz, more predictably, thinks that's an excellent suggestion as well." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "According to the French government, the Islamic State perpetrated Friday's attacks. [Marco] Rubio, however, said what occurred in Paris is a 'clash of civilizations.' But ISIS isn't a civilization. In parts of Iraq and Syria, it's a self-declared, though unrecognized, state.... Rubio ... is ... doing exactly what the Islamic State wants: He's equating ISIS with Islam itself." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Conservative Michael Gerson of the Washington Post: "Islamic State terrorists have goals ... to discredit the Syrian refugees (whom they hate) and to encourage the perception of a civilizational struggle between Islam and the West. They are succeeding at both.... All our efforts are undermined by declaring Islam itself to be the enemy, and by treating Muslims in the United States, or Muslims in Europe, or Muslims fleeing Islamic State oppression, as a class of suspicious potential jihadists.... If U.S. politicians define Islam as the problem and cast aspersions on Muslim populations in the West, they are feeding the Islamic State narrative. They are materially undermining the war against terrorism and complicating the United States' (already complicated) task in the Middle East. Rejecting a blanket condemnation of Islam is not a matter of political correctness." ...

... Marcus Walker & Noemie Bisserbe of the Wall Street Journal: "Mystery deepened over a Paris attacker who traveled to Europe via Greece and the Balkans, after French officials said Monday that the Syrian passport he had used was indeed a fake.... Whoever the man was, he posed as one of the many refugees fleeing Syria's war -- including the violence of Islamic State -- to enter Europe through its lightly controlled frontier in the Aegean Sea." ...

... Justin Salhani of Think Progress: "All of the attackers from Friday's massacre in Paris so far have been identified as European Union nationals, according to a top EU official. The announcement further casts doubt on the validity of a Syrian passport found near the bodies of a slain attacker. Let me underline, the profile of the terrorists so far identified tells us this is an internal threat,' Federica Mogherini, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs ... of the European Commission, said after a meeting with EU foreign ministers. 'It is all EU citizens so far. This can change with the hours, but so far it is quite clear it is an issue of internal domestic security.'" ...

... CW: While we're busy "taking out the bastards" in this "clash of civilizations," maybe civilization of the Western persuasion should also take account of how it is treating Muslims who live within its borders. Just a thought. If the young perps of the Paris attack were happy campers, we would not be having this conversation, & -- more importantly -- innocent lives would still be lived.

... Hans von der Burchard & Laurens Cerulus in Politico Magazine: "Officials said the Paris plot increasingly looked like it was hatched in the Belgian capital. 'It's likely we're dealing with a network,' said Françoise Schepmans, the mayor of the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean commune [in Brussels]....' The possible presence of a terrorist den, barely a couple kilometers from the city's European quarter, has added sharp urgency to oft-voiced concerns about radicalization within Belgium's Muslim community and the government's track record on counterterrorism." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

A Hero in Lebanon. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Adel Termos, a young father, fell on a suicide bomber in Beirut, Lebanon, saving the lives of dozens of intended victims. "The bomb went off, killing Termos, but saving countless others, including his daughter's."

Fred Kaplan of Slate suggests a multi-part prescription for defeating ISIS. "There is more common ground for an active anti-ISIS coalition, among otherwise incompatible actors, than anyone might have thought possible until this overreach. But nothing is inevitable; ISIS is weakening, but it won't be defeated unless the powers all around it act together in ways that would be unnatural, even inimical to national or sectarian interests, in ordinary times. These are not ordinary times, and it's the obligation of the major regional and global powers to act accordingly."

War on Science. Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Scientists and top officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have agreed to start interviews akin to depositions this week with House investigators, who are demanding to know their internal deliberations on a groundbreaking climate change study.But the interviews may not be enough to placate the chairman of the House science committee, a global warming skeptic who last week stepped up the pressure on the Commerce Department to comply with his subpoena for e-mails that NOAA has refused to turn over."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Your American Press Corps at Work:

I guess the question is, and if you'll forgive the language, but why can't we take out these bastards? -- Jim Acosta of CNN to President Obama at his press conference yesterday

Well, Jim, I just spent the last three questions answering that very question, so I don't know what more you want me to add.... And so we are going to continue to pursue the strategy that has the best chance of working, even though it does not offer the satisfaction, I guess, of a neat headline or an immediate resolution. And part of the reason, as I said, Jim, is because there are costs to the other side.... When we send troops in, those troops get injured, they get killed; they're away from their families; our country spends hundreds of billions of dollars. And so given the fact that there are enormous sacrifices involved in any military action, it's best that we don't shoot first and aim later. -- President Obama

... if I could ask you to address your critics who say that your reluctance to enter another Middle East war, and your preference of diplomacy over using the military makes the United States weaker and emboldens our enemies. -- Jim Avila of ABC News

If folks want to pop off and have opinions about what they think they would do, present a specific plan. If they think that somehow their advisors are better than the Chairman of my Joint Chiefs of Staff and the folks who are actually on the ground, I want to meet them.... But what I'm not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning, or whatever other slogans they come up with that has no relationship to what is actually going to work to protect the American people, and to protect people in the region who are getting killed, and to protect our allies and people like France. I'm too busy for that. -- President Obama

... Steve M.: "... the mainstream media ... doesn't want to fact-check [the right's] characterization of what Obama is doing because the liberal-conservative conflict narrative is such a great news peg." Also, Steve provides the short answer to Jim Acosta's "take out the bastards" question: "The obvious answer is: Because real life is not a freaking Michael Bay movie, you idiot. Armed conflicts don't get wrapped up in a two-hour running time." ...

... John Mirkinson in Slate: "'Take out these bastards.' This is the hyper-macho language of some two-bit action movie, not a foreign policy strategy. It's also evidence of the way that a supposedly 'objective' press can reinforce one very narrow view of the world through its own ideological insularity.... [Jim] Acosta ...was speaking for a press corps whose thirst for an apocalyptic confrontation with ISIS has been let loose by last Friday's attacks in Paris. Ever since [Friday]..., much of the establishment media has eagerly reverted to its default position when it comes to foreign policy: the more hawkish, the better."

Charles Pierce reviews the Sunday showz. Even with Peggy Noonan & the WashPo's Jennifer Rubin in the mix, Pierce gives the House Cup to Marco Rubio, who "put on his largely imaginary soldier's suit and called for other people's children to put on real soldiers suits so we can turn the Turks back at Tours. Or something."

Justin Peters of Slate: "... 'home team' bias has been particularly evident in the Western media's disparate treatment of the Beirut and Paris attacks."


Jason Samenow of the Washington Post: "The El Niño event of 2015-2016 is making history, wreaking weather havoc around the world and forecast to unleash many weather surprises through the coming winter. As of [Monday], the warm ocean temperatures that define El Niño have surged to a stunning three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal in the central tropical Pacific, the highest level ever measured."

AP: "Baseball legends Willie Mays and the late Yogi Berra will be honored with the country's highest civilian award, the presidential medal of freedom. They are among 17 people who will be recognized by Barack Obama at a 24 November ceremony. They are among 17 people who will be recognized by Barack Obama at a 24 November ceremony."

Presidential Race

Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "'I come from the '60s, a long time ago,' Hillary Clinton said at Saturday's Democratic presidential debate, in response to a question about student activism. Supposedly this comment -- an appalling admission that she had the gall to be alive 50 years ago -- was among the biggest missteps of her campaign. Republican strategists went wild.... I confess I don't understand what's all that damning about a politician accurately naming the decade in which she went to college.... Just consider how much conservative rhetoric relies on nostalgia for bygone eras, when men were men and America Was Still Great.... To middle-aged and older voters -- you know, people who 'come from the '60s' -- denunciations of Clinton's supposed gaffe may merely smack of ageism."

Ryan Cooper of the Week takes a fond look back at Republicans' effort to reform the party to be more welcoming to Latino immigrants, more responsive to middle class concerns & more sensible about monetary policy. "On immigration, Republicans have moved from pretending as though immigration reform never passed the Senate, to frontrunner Donald Trump loudly defending his plan to deport 11 million people by favorably comparing it to President Eisenhower's 'Operation Wetback' from 1954.... On middle-class policy, all the candidates have proposed truly awesome tax cuts for the rich.... Ted Cruz went full goldbug during the last debate, and nobody challenged him on it."

Dana Milbank: "The attacks in Paris have inspired a xenophobic bidding war among Republican presidential candidates.... This growing cry to turn away people fleeing for their lives brings to mind the SS St. Louis, the ship of Jewish refugees turned away from Florida in 1939. It's perhaps the ugliest moment in a primary fight that has been sullied by bigotry from the start. It's no exaggeration to call this un-American. Or un-Christian. Among those distressed by the latest turn in the GOP primary is the National Association of Evangelicals.... For all the criticism of [President Obama's] approach to the Islamic State, several supposed alternatives are things that have already been tried: airstrikes, arming the opposition, special forces, social-media propaganda."

... Steve M.: "On foreign policy and terrorism, nearly every Republican -- Establishment or outsider -- talks in Fox-ready (and in many cases Fox-crafted) simplistic soundbites. America must lead!... The president and the rest of the 'Democrat' Party won't say 'radical Islam'...! It's how they talk about everything.... Obama wants to take all your guns! Obama hates capitalism! Obama is deliberately trying to create a dependency culture in which everyone is hooked on 'free stuff'! Black Lives Matter wants to kill cops!... And that's the real reason Trump and Carson are leading the Republican race. If, for years, the vast majority of your party's utterances have been finger-pointing bumper-sticker slogans, then of course your voters are going to be ready to embrace a wealthy rabble-rouser or a beloved holy fool who's incapable of anything beyond simple-minded that sort of demagoguery." ...

... Paul Rosenberg in Salon: "Unable to come up with anything remotely positive for the American people to rally around, [Republican presidential candidates] are eager to take the utmost advantage of fear, forming a blatant de facto partnership with the terrorists by amplifying the terror their acts inspire.... Those who use the phrase ['clash of civilizations'] today escape from this incoherence by adopting another: Western Civilization is both universal and uniquely American, depending entirely on context, mood, and which day of the week (or hour of the day) it is. Hence the GOP candidates near-unanimity in conflating anti-immigrant rhetoric with anti-terrorist rhetoric.... One thing's for certain: if anyone's eager to embrace the 'clash of civilizations' rhetoric, it's ISIS.... As David Shariatmadari pointed out for the Guardian, 'Isis hates Middle Eastern civilisation too.'..."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump issued another call for more scrutiny of mosques in the United States as fresh fears of terrorism, spurred by the attacks in Paris, dominated the presidential campaign conversation on Monday. Mr. Trump, who said last month that he would be open to shutting down mosques as part of the fight against Islamic State militants, reiterated on Monday that the idea should be 'studied.'" ...

... Kevin Drum: "... Donald Trump is crowing that (a) Obama just told Putin how important the Russian airstrikes against ISIS have been and (b) now we're attacking the oil, just like he said a long time ago. "I TOLD YOU SO!" he tweeted. Except that (a) Obama actually told Putin he would like Russia to start striking ISIS, and (b) we've been attacking ISIS oil convoys all along. According to the Pentagon, we've carried out three or four airstrikes per week against ISIS oil infrastructure. And anyway, didn't Trump actually recommend that we encircle the ISIS oil fields?.... We're now entering a period in which conservatives are going to start playing 'Can You Top This?' on ISIS. A week ago they talked big but were afraid to actually commit themselves to any serious action. Now, we're in a war of civilizations and soon they'll be outbidding each other on how many divisions they're willing to ship overseas and how best to describe the complete and total inaction that the appeaser Obama has been engaged in."

What a Jokester! of ABC News: Ben Carson said he was only kidding when he claimed last week that his intel was better than that of the national security apparatus. That's funny, because "Carson's evidence, which the campaign recently released to ABC News, includes Google satellite images of alleged Chinese-made radar systems and photos of a Syrian fighter standing in front of Chinese made SUVs. Along with the images, his campaign released a brief summary of its evidence." ...

... Here's another good rebuttal of Carson's (revised) claims, by Zack Beauchamps of Vox. CW: Not that Google satellite images aren't dispositive. They're maybe half as good as those grainy photos Colin Powell showed the U.N. to "prove" Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction.

Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Sen. Rand Paul announced Monday that he was introducing legislation calling for an 'immediate moratorium' on the United States issuing visas to refugees from about 30 countries with a 'significant jihadist movement.'"

Profiles in Scaremongering Cowardice, Ctd. Let the Scary Babies Die. Sophia Tesfaye of Salon: "In an apparent reversal of his position from two months ago, [Chris] Christie now says that the United States is not capable of accepting any Syrian refugees for fear of importing terrorism, not even 'three year old orphans.'... 'We saw the image of that 4-year-old little boy drowned in Syria,' Christie said back in September, referring to the harrowing image of a young child laying [sic.] motionless on a beach shore. 'We can't have those kinds of things.'"

Crackpot Rep. Steve King (RTP-Iowa) endorses crackpot Sen. Ted Cruz for president. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Amy Forliti & Kyle Potter of the AP: "More than 50 people were arrested during the second day of protests in Minneapolis over the shooting of a black man by a police officer during an apparent struggle." ...

... Ciara McCarthy of the Guardian: "The mayor of Minneapolis has asked the Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation into the police shooting of Jamar Clark, a young black man whose potentially fatal injuries have led to protests. Mayor Betsy Hodges made the request following a day of demonstrations by activists who say that Clark, 24, was unarmed and in handcuffs when a police officer shot him in the head. Protesters made a series of demands including an independent federal inquiry."

AP: "A Utah judge who had ordered a baby girl taken away from her lesbian foster parents and placed with a heterosexual couple has removed himself from the case as criticism mounted into calls for his impeachment. Judge Scott Johansen reversed his order last week to remove the nine-month-old baby from the home of April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce and allowed the girl to stay with the married couple. But there were concerns he could still have the baby removed from their home ... during a custody hearing set for 4 December."

AP: "Authorities say six people have been killed at a Texas campsite, with one woman surviving the murders and calling 911.Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor says a suspect has been arrested in the weekend homicides. The bodies were found in rural Anderson County, southeast of Dallas. Thirty-three-year old William Hudson is charged with one murder count 'for the moment,' the sheriff's office said...."

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