The Commentariat -- August 18, 2014

Internal links, defunct video removed.

Julie Pace of the AP: "President Barack Obama returned to Washington just after midnight Monday for a two-day break from a summer vacation, during which airstrikes in Iraq and violent clashes in a St. Louis suburb intruded on his golf and beach plans."

Anna Palmer & Carrie Brown of Politico: "Senior White House officials are in talks with business leaders that could expand the executive actions President Barack Obama takes on immigration.... The outreach is an effort to broaden the political support for Obama's decision to go it alone on immigration...."

Thomas Frank, in Salon, suggests a few things President Obama could do to salvage his presidency: 1. "... instruct his Attorney General to start enforcing the nation's antitrust laws the way Democrats used to do.... 2. Investigate and prosecute fraud committed during the housing bubble.... 3. Make it clear that he will no longer tolerate the college tuition price spiral." CW: Sorry, Presidential Candidate Audacity turned out to be mostly talk & not much walk. But, hey, maybe he returned to Washington for two days to follow through on Frank's suggestions.

AND Now We'll Take a Short Break for Some Good News. Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: "The recovery in America's job market is finally spreading to industries with good pay after years of being concentrated in fields with low wages. Hiring has picked up steam in areas such as construction, manufacturing and professional services in recent months -- sectors with a median hourly wage of at least $20. Nearly 40 percent of the jobs created over the past six months have been in high-wage industries, compared with just a quarter during the last half of 2013...."

Jill Lepore in the New Yorker: It appears corruption -- depending upon the definition of corruption -- is now a First Amendment right.

Paul Krugman: "War in the preindustrial world was and still is more like a contest among crime families over who gets to control the rackets than a fight over principles. If you're a modern, wealthy nation, however, war -- even easy, victorious war -- doesn't pay." But some leaders -- Vladimir Putin -- appear to use war as a distraction from troubles at home, like a faltering economy.

Lenika Cruz of the Atlantic: "All of the U.S. Treasurers Since 1949 Have Been Women," six of them Latina & one African-American. The position is largely ceremonial. All of the U.S. treasury secretaries have been white men.

Steve M.: Not everyone on the right is all Rand Paul-y about the militarization of our police forces. Wingers -- including His Holiness's Emissary to the New York Times Ross Douthat -- are claiming that heavyhanded policing & sentencing are holding down the crime rate. Douthat applauds Paul & writes,

I want lower incarceration rates and fewer people dying when a no-knock raid goes wrong. (CW: Yes, Ross, it's such a shame when police knock down the wrong door & shoot some innocent people.) I want lower incarceration rates and fewer people dying when a no-knock raid goes wrong. But there may be trade-offs here: In an era of atomization, distrust and economic stress, our punitive system may be a big part of what's keeping crime rates as low as they are now, making criminal justice reform more complicated than a simple pro-liberty free lunch.

... CW: There are numerous factors that may reduce the crime rate. Policing-after-the-fact & incarceration are two of them. They are neither the most desirable nor the most cost-effective.

Beyond the Beltway

Now Soldiers. Alan Blinder & Tanzina Vega of the New York Times: "Gov. Jay Nixon announced early Monday that he would deploy the Missouri National Guard to [Ferguson] as part of a fresh attempt by the authorities to quell the unrest that has paralyzed the town....Mr. Nixon said in a statement that he chose to activate the National Guard because of 'deliberate, coordinated and intensifying violent acts.' 'Tonight, a day of hope, prayers and peaceful protests was marred by the violent criminal acts of an organized and growing number of individuals, many from outside the community and state, whose actions are putting the residents and businesses of Ferguson at risk,' Mr. Nixon said. The governor's decision came after the worst night of violence since the unrest began. On Sunday night, hours before the start of a second day of a mandatory curfew that the governor had ordered, police officers came under assault from gunfire and firebombs and responded with their largest show of force so far." ...

... Gov. Nixon's official statement is here. ...

... Alex Altman of Time: "'These people are not protestors. This is something different and it has little to do with #JusticeForMikeBrown,' tweeted Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman and community leader who has emerged as an important mediator. French and others believe the provocateurs are doing damage to a heartfelt cause. The images of looting and rioting threaten to rob Ferguson's peaceful majority of political sympathy.... The peaceful majority are trying to assert control." ...

... Cops Will Be Cops. Gabrielle Bluestone of Gawker: "Police in Ferguson were caught on camera Sunday night threatening to mace one reporter and shoot another. At least two other journalists also claim they were arrested while following police orders." With video. CW: Worth a click. ...

     ... More from Margaret Hartmann & Abraham Riesman of New York. Video & tweets. ...

     ... CW: Worth noting: that nice Capt. Johnson appears to be right in there arresting reporters. ...

... Frances Robles & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "Michael Brown ... was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, a preliminary private autopsy performed on Sunday found. One of the bullets entered the top of Mr. Brown's skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr. Michael M. Baden, the former chief medical examiner for the City of New York, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family's request to conduct the separate autopsy. It was likely the last of bullets to hit him, he said." ...

... On Sunday, Captain Ronald Johnson spoke at a memorial service for Michael Brown at Greater Grace Church in Ferguson:

... Julie Bosman & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Sunday that the Justice Department would conduct its own autopsy of Michael Brown, the unarmed African-American teenager who was fatally shot more than a week ago by a white police officer. A Justice Department spokesman, Brian Fallon, said in a statement that the autopsy, which would be in addition to a state autopsy, had been ordered because of 'the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case and at the request of the Brown family.'" ...

... Jerry Markon, et al., of the Washington Post: Missouri "State officials on Sunday defended their tough response to the chaos that enveloped this St. Louis suburb on the first night of a curfew and imposed a second night of restrictions as signs emerged of heightened federal involvement in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager." ...

... Chuck Raasch of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "In multiple appearances on national television Sunday morning, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon repeatedly emphasized the role of the federal investigation over the local one in the shooting death of Michael Brown. He said that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, who has publicly criticized Nixon's decision to bring in the Missouri Highway Patrol, has an opportunity to 'step up here and do his job.' Nixon appeared on four morning talk shows.... The governor said that his conversation on Thursday with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had led to the deployment of 40 more FBI officers to investigate the shooting.... Nixon also told ABC's 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos' that his office was unaware that Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson was going to release on Friday a videotape showing what is alleged to be Brown, 18, in what police have called a 'strong-armed' robbery of cigars in a convenience store shortly before he was killed. 'We were certainly not happy with that bring released, especially in the way that it was,' Nixon said. 'It appeared to cast aspersions on a young man that was gunned down in the street. It made emotions raw.'"

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in Time: "Ferguson is not just about systemic racism — it's about class warfare and how America's poor are held back." CW: There's a short, straight line between Abdul-Jabbar's essay & Jill Lepore's, linked above. ...

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Emily Smith & Stephanie Smith of the New York Post: "Ousted 'Meet the Press' anchor David Gregory was paid $4 million to leave NBC and signed a contract not to speak out against the network, sources told Page Six.... A source said Gregory's contract extended into next year, so NBC had to pay him for the rest of the term, plus an extra fee to ensure his silence. In return, he was asked to sign a nondisparagement clause, which explains -- despite the drama behind the scenes -- his saccharine message on Twitter to announce his departure.... But quietly, sources say, Gregory is 'angry and humiliated' at the way he was treated by NBC suits...." CW: Bear in mind, this is "Page Six" so not necessarily reliable, but the story at least sounds plausible. Via Caroline Bankoff of New York.

Senate Race

I know that this state is know for its wind energy, for corn, for soybeans, but that woman is an onion of crazy. Every time you peel back a layer, you find something more disturbing about her views. -- Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), on Iowa U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst. Wasserman-Schultz was speaking at the Iowa State Fair.

Presidential Election

Annie Lowrey in New York on "why Hillary Clinton doesn't really have a Mitt problem": "What has been strange about Clinton's responses to the questions about the many tens of millions she and her husband have pulled in of late is that there is an elegant and obvious rich-Democrat way to answer them. She simply has to say, 'Yes, we're really lucky. And I know first-hand that we don't need a tax break for our millions in earnings or our private jet.' It's a well-worn response, too, given by Barack Obama and Bill Clinton among many others. But it is a response that Mitt Romney, whose economic policies would probably have slashed his own taxes while raising them for lower-income Americans, could never give." ...

     ... CW: I dunno. I think if you're planning to run for president, & you know your party is going to push you toward a populist message, traveling around like a queen is not the best "optic."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "James M. Jeffords, the former U.S. senator from Vermont who gave Democrats control of the closely divided chamber in 2001 when he left the Republican Party to become an independent, died Aug. 18 at a retirement residence in Washington. He was 80."

New York Times: "Separatists rebels on Monday attacked a caravan of cars carrying refugees trying to flee war-ravaged eastern Ukraine, killing 'dozens' of people in a devastating barrage of artillery fire, Ukrainian military officials said, though rebel leaders denied there had been any attack at all."

Guardian: "The US State Department banned a senior member of the Islamic State (Isis) on Monday.... Now banned from any financial dealings in the United States or with people in the United States is the group's spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, a Syrian whose given name is Taha Sobhi Falaha. Also banned was Said Arif, an Algerian member of the rival Nusra Front who escaped house arrest in France and was linked to a plot to bomb the Eiffel Tower."

AP: "Aided by U.S. and Iraqi airstrikes, Kurdish forces Sunday wrested back part of Iraq's largest dam from Islamic militants who had captured it less than two weeks ago, security officials said." ...

... Reuters: "Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Iraqi counter-terrorism forces have pushed Islamic State militants out of Mosul dam, state television reported on Monday.... An independent verification was not immediately possible."

Reuters: "Russia on Monday said all objections to it sending a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine had been resolved but said no progress had been made in Berlin talks toward a ceasefire between government and rebel forces in the east of the country."

Reuters: "Israeli troops on Monday demolished the homes of two Palestinians it suspects of the abduction and killing of three teenagers in the occupied West Bank in June, the army said."

Guardian: "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said he 'will be leaving the embassy soon' during a press conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has sought asylum for more than two years."

The Commentariat -- August 17, 2014

Defunct video removed.

Sebastian Payne of the Washington Post: "Many social conservatives say they feel politically isolated as the country seems to be hurtling to the left, with marijuana now legal in Colorado and gay marriage gaining ground across the nation. They feel out of place in a GOP increasingly dominated by tea party activists and libertarians who prefer to focus on taxes and the role of government and often disagree with social conservatives on drugs or gay rights."

A lot of people still think this is some kind of game or signal or spin. They don't want to believe that Obama wants to crack down on the press and whistle-blowers. But he does. He’s the greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation. -- James Risen, New York Times reporter, who fox six years has been under subpoena to reveal a source ...

... Maureen Dowd: Why is the Obama administration still pursuing Jim Risen?

Beyond the Beltway

Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," featuring Emerson, Lake & Palmer & the Neue Philharmonie Frankfort. Seems appropriate. Thanks to Bonita for sending along the link:

DeNeen Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "Gun violence, tear gas and armored vehicles marked the first night of a controversial curfew imposed in this St. Louis suburb where the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager has kicked over a caldron of frustration and anger. What some hoped would be an evening of calm was instead one of chaos that ended with a shooting victim, seven arrests and an early morning heavy rain that finally helped clear the streets." ...

     ... St. Louis Dispatch: "Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson said in a briefing just before 3 a.m. that police began using smoke bombs early this morning after learning that men were on the roof of Red's BBQ. Police were going to walk West Florissant Avenue in teams, but that plan changed with the report of men on the roof." ...

     ... The New York Times story, by Julie Bosman & Alan Blinder, is here. ...

... Jerry Markon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Saturday declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew on the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, marking a definitive crackdown by authorities on rioting that has erupted since an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a white police officer. Speaking at a tense press conference marked by yelling from members of the public, Nixon, a Democrat, said the curfew would take effect at midnight and run until 5 a.m." ...

... Brian Beutler: "Ferguson presents an unusually extreme and condensed example of this sort of racial-civic polarization. But you can find expressions of the same basic dynamic -- of white public officials using their power to socially weaken black constituents -- all across the country." Read the whole essay.

Manny Fernandez & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "A defiant Gov. Rick Perry vowed on Saturday to fight his indictment for abuse of power, calling it a 'farce' and a 'political' prosecution. In his first appearance since a grand jury indicted him on two felony counts on Friday for trying to pressure the district attorney here, a Democrat, to step down by threatening to veto state funding for her office, Mr. Perry said, 'I wholeheartedly and unequivocally stand behind my veto.]' He added, 'We don't settle political differences with indictments in this country.'" (See yesterday's Commentariat .) ...

... Rick Perry Is a Ham Sandwich. Jonathan Chait: "I do not have a fancy law degree from Harvard or Yale or, for that matter, anywhere. I am but a humble country blogger. And yet, having read the indictment, legal training of any kind seems unnecessary to grasp its flimsiness.... The theory behind the indictment is flexible enough that almost any kind of political conflict could be defined as a 'misuse' of power or 'coercion' of one[s opponents." ...

... CW: Again, I'm not sure Chait is right. As he says, governors & presidents are always threatening vetoes of pending legislation they don't like. That's the way the system is supposed to work. But suppose President Obama threatened to veto every bill (as if there were all that many) unless John Boehner resigned his speakership because Obama claimed Boehner was incompetent (& there's ample evidence for that). That seems analogous. It also seems outrageous.

Senate Race

Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Montana's Democrats, scrambling to salvage their political fortunes after plagiarism charges forced Senator John Walsh to end his election bid, chose a high school math teacher and one-term state legislator on Saturday as their nominee for a fiercely contested Senate seat. The nominee, Amanda Curtis, 34, who grew up in a family stalked by poverty and tragedy, cast the stakes of the election in stark economic terms, saying it was about 'millionaires versus the middle class.' As the daughter of a union worker whose family sometimes relied on food stamps to buy groceries, Ms. Curtis said she knew what it meant to worry about bills and the price of gas." ...

... The Missoulian story, by Mike Dennison, is here.

News Ledes

AP: "Ukraine's government said Sunday that separatists shot down a Ukrainian fighter plane after army troops entered deep inside a rebel-controlled city in the east in what could prove a breakthrough development in the four-month long conflict." ...

... Reuters: "Ukrainian rebels are receiving new armoured vehicles and fighters trained in Russia, with which they plan to launch a major counter-offensive against government forces, a separatist leader said in a video released on Saturday. The four-month conflict in eastern Ukraine has reached a critical phase, with Kiev and Western governments watching nervously to see if Russia will intervene in support of the increasingly besieged rebels - an intention Moscow denies."

Reuters: "The Islamic State militant group has executed 700 members of a tribe it has been battling in eastern Syria during the past two weeks, the majority of them civilians, a human rights monitoring group and activists said on Saturday." ...

... Guardian: "Kurdish forces supported by American warplanes have mounted an offensive to retake Iraq's largest dam from jihadi fighters, as reports emerged of another grisly episode of mass slaughter perpetrated by the extremists in a village in northern Iraq." ...

     ... UPDATE: "The US on Sunday launched two waves of air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) militants in northern Iraq, in the most extensive American military operations in the country since the withdrawal of ground troops in 2011. The strikes supported an offensive by Kurdish peshmerga fighters which aimed to regain control of the strategically important Mosul dam. Early in the day US aircraft, for the first time including land-based bombers, carried out 14 strikes. Later, US Central Command confirmed further strikes had been carried out by 'fighter and attack aircraft'.... In [a] letter to Congress, [President] Obama said the strikes had been authorised in order to 'recapture the Mosul dam'. He added: 'These military operations will be limited in their scope and duration....'"

AP: "A Palestinian negotiator said Sunday his side is 'less optimistic' about indirect talks with Israel over the Gaza war as a deadline on a temporary cease-fire looms. The Palestinian team reassembled in Cairo on Sunday after members returned from consultations in Qatar, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East. The Israeli team also returned Sunday to resume the Egyptian-mediated talks. A current five-day cease-fire is due to end late Monday."

The Commentariat -- August 16, 2014

Internal links removed.

SNAFU. Reed Abelson & Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: "The Obama administration's declared war on health care fraud, costing some $600 million a year..., is not close to defeating the fraudsters.... An array of outside contractors used by the government is poorly managed, rife with conflicts of interest and vulnerable to political winds, according to interviews with current and former government officials, contractors and experts inside and outside of the administration. Authority and responsibilities among the contractors are often unclear and in competition with one another. Private companies -- like insurers and technology companies -- have responsibility for enforcement, often with little government oversight."

Dylan Byers of Politico: "Former Vice President Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt have filed a lawsuit against Al Jazeera on charges of fraud and material breaches in their acquisition of Current Media.... Gore and Hyatt, the co-founders of Current Media, say that Al Jazeera has unlawfully refused to turn over tens of millions of dollars currently located in an escrow account. That money is owed to Current Media shareholders per the terms of the $500-million merger agreement made in January 2013, the plaintiffs say. The lawsuit was filed Friday morning by David Boies, attorney for Gore and Hyatt, in the Delaware Court of Chancery. (Boies also represented Gore in the 2000 Florida election recount battle against George W. Bush.)

Paul Waldman argues that if Tuck Chodd is going to save "Press the Meat," he'll have to make it as awful as Tim Russert did. Russert, Waldman notes, "was actually terrible at his job. He was obsequious to the people he was supposedly so 'tough' on, forever distracted by the irrelevant, and one of television's foremost blue-collar poseurs. But what is inarguable, however, is that Russert was hugely successful. He gave the Sunday show viewership exactly what they wanted, which was apparently a relentless insiderdom gripped by the conventional Washington wisdom, wrapped in a gossamer-thin veneer of tough-guy truth-seeking." CW: I have no doubt Friar Tuck there is up to the job. Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid or Chris Hayes could never pull off a Little Tim act.

Kristina Wong of the Hill: "The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee intends to review a Pentagon program that transfers surplus military equipment to police agencies, following the use of controversial police tactics in Ferguson, Mo. 'Before the defense authorization bill comes to the Senate floor, we will review this program to determine if equipment provided by the Defense Department is being used as intended,' Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said in a statement Friday." ...

... digby: "I'm hearing some nonsense that only libertarians have been talking about the militarization of the police. I am not a libertarian. I'm a liberal and a civil libertarian which isn't the same thing. And I've been talking about this for a very long time. So have a lot of other liberals." ...

... Beyond the Beltway

Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was indicted on two felony counts on Friday by a state grand jury examining his handling of a local district attorney's drunken driving arrest and the state financing for a public corruption unit under the lawyer's control." CW: So that's two Republicans governors under indictment. Do I hear a third, Gov. Christie? ...

... Here's the Dallas Morning News story, by Christy Hoppe. ...

... A copy of the indictment, via the Hill, is here. ...

... It All Started with Potato Juice. Christopher Hooks of the Texas Observer writes a very readable account of the backstory.

... Salvador Rizzo of the Star-Ledger: "New Jersey taxpayers have been billed $6.52 million so far this year by Gov. Chris Christie's private attorneys dealing with the aftermath of the George Washington Bridge scandal, according to invoices released today by acting state Attorney General John Hoffman."

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Tension between the police and demonstrators infuriated by the shooting death of Michael Brown a week ago was renewed early Saturday, as protesters barricaded a major thoroughfare and police officers in riot gear quickly responded, prompting a standoff. The police, using megaphones, were ordering the demonstrators to abandon their protest. Some demonstrators threw glass bottles toward the authorities, who repeatedly warned that they could make arrests. ...

     ... Koran Addo & Paul Hampel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report the sequence of events, which is pretty telling. The rioting & looting -- which took place in the after midnight, following hours of peaceful demonstration -- would seem to have nothing to do with Michael Brown & everything to do with rowdy boys on a Friday-night binge. Some of the protesters attempted to stop the looting by blocking the store entrances. ...

... CW: For what it's worth, I still think the police are making tactical mistakes. They should not be dressed in riot gear & standing in 18th-century-style military formation; they should not be putting up barricades. They should be in uniform, walking along the perimeters of the protest location, which would put them in front of the stores, thus deterring looting. Oh, and they should call up every black cop in Missouri to do the policing. ...

... Jerry Markon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Ferguson police said Officer Darren Wilson had shot the teen during a confrontation after [a convenience store] robbery. They said a description of [Michael] Brown had been broadcast over police radio identifying him as a robbery suspect and released security camera photos of the robbery, showing someone they identified as Brown towering over and allegedly menacing the store clerk. But as more details emerged later in the day, the connection between the robbery and the shooting ... became more tenuous. Although the simultaneous naming of Brown as a suspect and the video's release had suggested that the officer stopped Brown because of the robbery, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson later appeared to reverse himself, saying at a second news conference that their confrontation 'was not related to the robbery' at all.... Asked why police felt compelled to release the robbery photos if they were unconnected to the shooting, Jackson said it was because the media had asked for them. He then abruptly ended the news conference and was hustled away." ...

... Following are some background stories, more or less in descending chronological order:

... Cavan Sieczkowski of the Huffington Post: "The Ferguson Police Department released a video of a convenience store robbery, following the revelation of the name of the officer who shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown.... In a press conference earlier on Friday, Ferguson police released a report naming Brown as the main suspect in a convenience store robbery where a box of Swisher Sweets cigars valued at $48.99 was stolen and a clerk was allegedly shoved.... Video of the incident allegedly showing Brown, which was released to the public, 'had nothing to do with the stop' and was 'unrelated' to [Officer Darren] Wilson's contact with Brown, Jackson said." Report includes the surveillance video. ...

... Later That Same Day. Molly Hennessey-Fiske, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "Police said Friday that the police officer who shot to death an unarmed 18-year-old did not know the man was a robbery suspect and stopped him because he was walking in the street, a revelation that seemed likely to add to public anger over the death of Michael Brown.... [Ferguson Police Chief Thomas] Jackson said Wilson was not aware that Brown was suspected in a robbery before their encounter. He said [the officer, Darren] Wilson, 28, stopped Brown and another man because they were walking in the middle of the street." ...

... Robert Patrick of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "News that Michael Brown was wanted as a robbery suspect could put a fresh light on his killing by a Ferguson police officer, a use-of-force expert said Friday.... The circumstances faced by Officer Darren Wilson contained both elements, according to a description Friday by Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson. He said Wilson was aware there had been a robbery involving cigars but did not realize when he ordered two young men to stop walking in the street that they were suspects. Wilson made the connection when he noticed cigars in Brown's hand, Jackson said." ...

... Kevin McDermott of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson this morning identified Darren Wilson as the officer who shot and killed an unarmed teenager last Saturday. Wilson is a 6-year veteran of the force. He was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting."

Kimberly Kindy of the Washington Post: "St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley on Friday said he is leading an effort to remove the county prosecutor [Robert McCulloch] from investigating the Michael Brown case because he thinks the prosecutor's personal experiences and recent statements have tainted his ability to act objectively." ...

... CW: Rachel Maddow had a guest on earlier this week who said that McCulloch's office has few black ADAs. The guest, a black attorney, said she applied for a job in McCulloch's office fresh out of law school; when she was offered the job, the hiring attorney asked if she'd mind hearing fellow attorneys regularly use the "N" word.

... The Ferguson Police Department Has a History. Michael Daly of the Daily Beast: "Police in Ferguson, Missouri, once charged a man with destruction of property for bleeding on their uniforms while four of them allegedly beat him.... Henry Davis ... was ... arrested for an outstanding warrant that proved to actually be for another man of the same surname, but a different middle name and Social Security number." Read the whole story. CW P.S.: Henry Davis is black. But you knew that. ...

... Dylan Byers of Politico: "Forty-eight media organizations -- ranging from the Associated Press to Fox News to The New Yorker and the National Press Club -- sent a letter to law enforcement authorities in Ferguson, Mo., on Friday to protest the police's treatment of reporters and ask for greater transparency regarding the death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American who was shot and killed by police." A copy of the letter is here. Oddly, not a word about the tear-gassing of an Al Jazeera reporter & crew.

Congressional Elections

Cathleen Decker of the Los Angeles Times: "Surmounting yet another voting snafu, Hawaii awarded its Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate to appointed incumbent Brian Schatz late Friday, as he defeated Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in an election whose outcome was delayed nearly a week by the impact of Tropical Storm Iselle. A tally of votes released late Friday showed Schatz with 115,401 overall to Hanabusa's 113,632, a difference of less than 1,800 votes or 0.7%."

Mary Ellen Klas of the Tampa Bay Times: "Florida's congressional districts won't change by November and new elections can't be held until next year, the state's top elections officials told a circuit court judge on Friday. Responding to a court order to have a proposal in place by noon today, the Florida Association of Supervisors of Elections, in conjunction with the Florida Secretary of State, concluded that the earliest date they could conduct a special election in the 25 counties affected by the new congressional districts would be in March 17, with a general election to follow on May 26." Via Cameron Joseph of the Hill.

Gail Collins reflects on the Alaska GOP primary, where all the candidates eat salmon at least once a week, & Joe Miller, Sarah Palin's fave, charges that millions of Hispanic thugs will take away your Second Amendment rights.

Jay Newton-Small of Time: "Republican State Sen. Joni Ernst, who is running for Senate and served more than 20 years in the military, said Friday that she was sexually harassed in the military and, given her experience, is backing the removal of cases of sexual assault from the military chain of command, a position that puts her at odds with much of the GOP." CW: This is yet another instance where a Republican (and in this case a fringey right-winger) becomes a liberal on an issue where s/he has some real-world experience.

News Ledes

AP: "The European Union offered Friday to take charge of Gaza's border crossings and work to prevent illegal arms flows, insisting on a durable truce and saying a return to the status quo before the latest war 'is not an option.' As EU foreign ministers held an urgent meeting in Brussels about global conflicts, Hamas negotiators met with the Islamic militant group's leadership in Qatar to discuss a proposal for a long-term truce with Israel. An official said the group was inclined to accept the Egyptian-mediated offer."

Guardian: "The US confirmed on Saturday evening that its planes and drones had carried out air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) fighters in the area around Iraq's crucial Mosul dam."

AFP: "Jihadists carried out a 'massacre' in the northern Iraqi village of Kocho, killing dozens of people, most of them members of the Yazidi religious minority, officials said on Saturday. Jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group are carrying out attacks against minorities in Iraq's Nineveh province, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee.... Harim Kamal Agha, a senior official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party in Dohuk province, which borders Nineveh, put the death toll at 81 and said the militants had taken women to prisons they control." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The gunmen had surrounded the village for more than a week, refusing to let residents leave and saying they had limited time to save themselves by converting to Islam. When that time ran out, fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria stormed in, killing the men and rounding up the women and children, a survivor and Iraqi officials said Saturday."