The Commentariat -- January 13, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Jerry Markon & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "The escalating tensions between Democrats and the Obama administration over its deportation raids targeting Central American immigrants burst into public view on Tuesday, with more than 140 House members blasting the round ups and the White House dispatching a top official to Capitol Hill in a vain effort to quell the furor."

Louise Story of the New York Times: "Concerned about illicit money flowing into luxury real estate, the Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would begin identifying and tracking secret buyers of high-end properties. The initiative will start in two of the nation's major destinations for global wealth: Manhattan and Miami-Dade County. It will shine a light on the darkest corner of the real estate market: all-cash purchases made by shell companies that often shield purchasers' identities."

*****

... Here is the President's speech as prepared. I'll link a transcript when one becomes available. He did ad lib. Update: Here's the transcript, via the New York Times. ...

... Christi Parsons & Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama launched his final year in office with a valedictory State of the Union address Tuesday night that painted a portrait of a prosperous and secure America but warned of peril ahead if the country can't break the political logjam in Washington." ...

... Julie Pace of the AP: "Eyeing the end of his presidency, Barack Obama urged Americans Tuesday night to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow election-year fear and division to put economic and security progress at risk." ...

... Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "President Obama focused Tuesday on the pessimism coursing through an electorate now preparing to replace him, recasting the campaign-trail anger as a simple fear of change and a growing danger to the country." ...

... CW: The theme of the SOTU speech, in case you didn't notice, was a restatement of then-state senator Obama's 2004 red-state/blue-state convention speech. An agent of change need not change himself in fundamental ways. ...

... "America Is Great Again Already." Suzy Khimm of the New Republic: "Tuesday night's address was a reprise of the Obama of Hope and Change to counter the culture of fear that Trump has exploited so successfully." ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: President Obama "spoke of the possibility that the great U.S. democratic experiment will turn in on itself, in an orgy of partisanship, nativism, and money politics. In delivering this jeremiad, Obama was, in part, merely returning to the platform that he ran on in 2008. But he was also speaking as a wised-up, gray-haired President who has witnessed, firsthand, the consequences of the politics of dysfunction and brutalism -- and who now sees, in the 2016 Presidential race, things going from bad to worse.... Having identified the danger -- Trumpism and all that has given rise to it -- Obama warned that American democracy itself is at stake." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "... Trump did not absorb all of Obama's jibes. The president drew clear lines of distinction against the other two leading Republicans, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.... 'American leadership in the 21st century is not a choice between ignoring the rest of the world  -- except when we kill terrorists; [Cruz] or occupying and rebuilding whatever society is unraveling.' [Rubio]"

... David Fahrenthold & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama used his final State of the Union address to consider himself as an ex-president -- talking in conversational, contemplative and backward-looking terms at the country he would leave behind, and warning not-very-subtly that the country shouldn't pick Donald Trump to take his place." ...

... Vice President Biden, in Medium: "Three months ago, I called for a 'moonshot' to cure cancer. Tonight, the President tasked me with leading a new, national mission to get this done. It's personal for me. But it's also personal for nearly every American, and millions of people around the world." ...

... Scott Bixby of the Guardian: "Barack Obama has channeled John Kennedy's space race with the Russians to pledge a new 'moonshot', led by vice-president Joe Biden at 'mission control', for the United States to win a new global health race and find a cure for cancer.... Inspired and led by Biden, who lost his eldest son, Beau, to brain cancer last year, the White House's bold pledge follows the path laid forward by the vice-president when he declined to run to replace Obama in the White House." ...

... Dr. Jill Biden & White House staff invite guests to sit with Michelle Obama at the SOTU:

... Oh, that's nice. Anti-gay clerk Kim Davis will be at the SOTU, too, a sort of accidental guest of Rep. Jim Jordan (RTP-Phio). I'm sure she's not the only horrible guest of Congressional Republicans. ...

... Ben Dreyfuss of Mother Jones: "Matt Lauer asked President Barack Obama if he could imagine Donald Trump giving a State of the Union address. His response: 'Well, I can imagine it in a Saturday Night [Live] skit.'... Obama also dismissed Trump's chances of winning the presidency":

... Rachel Bade of Politico: "South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, a potential 2016 vice presidential running-mate for the GOP nominee, offered a not-so-subtle rebuke of Donald Trump's fiery immigration rhetoric as part of her response to President Barack Obama's Tuesday State of the Union speech":

... David Jackson of USA Today: "Another State of the Union tradition played out Tuesday: Criticism of the president from the opposition party, particularly Republican candidates seeking his job this election year." CW: Here's my favorite: "[Rand] Paul, who did not attend speech, tweeted at one point during the president's remarks that 'I just yelled, "you lie" really loud. Good thing I'm not there.'" I guess Li'l Randy remembers how successful Joe Wilson (RTP-S.C.) was in raising funds off his classy 2009 outburst. AND, of course, this was just the kind of childish behavior President Obama admonished politicians to reject. ...

... Ah, well, the usual suspects panned Nikki Haley, too.

We Won't Have Another President Like This. Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "Vice President Biden said in an interview broadcast Monday night that President Obama offered him financial help when his son Beau Biden was suffering from cancer.... 'He said "I'll give you the money. Whatever you need, I'll give you the money. Don't, Joe. Promise me. Promise me,'" Biden told CNN":

Burgess Everett & John Bresnahan of Politico: "King Abdullah of Jordan will spurn the GOP's invitation to address House and Senate Republicans at their retreat in Baltimore on Wednesday night, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Though Abdullah was never confirmed, the optics of meeting with Republicans and not having a face-to-face with President Barack Obama may have proven to be too much. Abdullah met with Vice President Biden today but in the words of a senior administration official, Obama had 'scheduling conflicts, including the State of the Union address' that made a meeting between the two leaders impossible this week."

"The ... 50-State Solution." Thomas Edsall of the New York Times: "While the presidential race captures our attention -- and as the left has withdrawn from low-level combat -- conservatives have overseen the drawing of legislative and congressional districts that will keep Republicans in power over the next decade. In this way, through the most effective gerrymandering of legislative and congressional districts in the nation's history, the right has institutionalized a dangerous power vacuum on the left." ...

... David Nasaw reviews Jane Mayer's book Dark Money for the New York Times. "When the Supreme Court in the 2010 Citizens United case permitted nonprofits to spend money on political campaigning, the Koch brothers funded their own political machine, which, in size, dollars and sophistication, rivaled that of the two major parties. Their success in the 2010 midterm election was remarkable, and, Ms. Mayer says, took the Democrats by surprise."

Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "... the American far right -- a diverse, sometimes contradictory landscape of radical ideologies -- [is flourishing].

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court found Florida's unique system of imposing a death sentence unconstitutional on Tuesday, saying it gives power to judges that is rightfully reserved for juries.... [In an 8-1 decision,] Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Florida's process reduces the jury's role to an advisory one and leaves the work of finding the special circumstances that render a murderer eligible for the death penalty up to a judge. That is the reverse of what the court in 2002 said was required, she wrote."

Marin Cogan of the New Yorker: Attorney General Loretta Lynch "may be the lowest-profile attorney general in recent memory." But that could change: ... "with just a year left in his administration, no one will be more central to the president's political ambitions and legacy than Lynch."

Richard Kahlenberg in a New York Times op-ed: "Public sector unions — representing teachers, firefighters and the like -- are the remaining bright spot in America's once-thriving trade union movement. In the case before the Supreme Court, Rebecca Friedrichs, a dissident teacher in Southern California, argues that she should be able to accept the higher wages and benefits the union negotiates, but not help pay for the costs.... During the Cold War, Republicans as well as Democrats fought for union endorsements and recognized that unions were critical civic organizations because they serve as a check on arbitrary government power; help sustain a middle-class society necessary for a stable democracy; serve to acculturate workers to democratic norms; and, in the case of teachers unions, support a public school system that helps children become thoughtful and reflective citizens." ...

... Steve M.: "Kahlenberg appears to be under the mistaken impression that modern conservatives actually want to strengthen democracy. They want no such thing. Conservatism thrives when economic inequality is increasing. The formula is simple: Take good jobs at good wages from blue-collar whites. When they express anger and anxiety, blame non-white recipients of social services provided by 'big government.' Lather. Rinse. Repeat, ad infinitum."

Thomas Gibbons-Neff & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Two small U.S. Navy vessels appear to be in Iranian custody, but their crews will be released promptly, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday. Two U.S. naval craft were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain when they disappeared from the Navy's scopes. The incident marks the latest run-in between Iranian and U.S. crews." ...

     ... AP Update: "Iran accused the sailors of trespassing but American officials said Tehran has assured them that the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly." ...

     ... Update 2: Ali Dareini & Adam Schreck of the AP: "All 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran after drifting into its territorial waters a day earlier have been freed, the U.S. and Iran said Wednesday. The Navy said the American crewmembers returned safely and there were no indications they had been harmed while in custody.... The sailors departed [Farsi Island] at 0843 GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said."

Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times: "Powerball fever has gripped the country, as one might expect with a jackpot of $1.5 billion at stake in Wednesday's drawing.... Powerball officials can't be surprised; they changed the rules last July precisely to produce this outcome -- a huge pot, and a stampede of buyers.... It's also well-understood that in economic terms, the people who are exploited by this mismatch of expectations tend to be disproportionately low-income and less educated. Yes, lotteries are effectively a tax on the poor."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "H.F. Lenfest, the owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com, announced on Tuesday that he had donated the publications to a newly formed nonprofit journalism institute. With the agreement, Mr. Lenfest cedes ownership of Philadelphia Media Network, which controls the three news outlets, to The Institute for Journalism in New Media. The institute was created at Mr. Lenfest's behest and will operate under the Philadelphia Foundation. The publications will run independently."

Presidential Race

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders is breaking away from Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and is edging ahead of her in Iowa, according to new polls that show him solidifying the support of Democrats ahead the first two 2016 presidential primary election contests." ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post analyzes the Sanders-Clinton polls. ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic suggests some of the possible reasons for Sanders' surge. ...

... Patrick Healy & Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "Iowa Democrats are displaying far less passion for Hillary Clinton than for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont three weeks before the presidential caucuses, creating anxiety inside the Clinton campaign as she scrambles to energize supporters and to court wavering voters. The enthusiasm gap spilled abundantly into view in recent days, from the cheering crowds and emotional outpourings that greeted Mr. Sanders, and in interviews with more than 50 Iowans at campaign stops for both candidates. Voters have mobbed Mr. Sanders at events since Friday, some jumping over chairs to shake his hand, snap a selfie or thank him for speaking about the middle class." ...

... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The liberal political group MoveOn.org threw its endorsement to Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential contest, backing him after its officials spent months in search of an alternative to Hillary Clinton and invested $1 million in ads to draft Senator Elizabeth Warren for the race." ...

... Ilya Sheyman of MoveOn.org: "With a record-setting 78.6 percent of 340,665 votes cast by the MoveOn membership, Senator Bernie Sanders has won MoveOn.org Political Action's endorsement for president with the largest total and widest margin in MoveOn history."

... Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union will endorse Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, giving the Democratic candidate a welcome boost as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire show Senator Bernie Sanders gaining ground." ...

... Stupid Question. Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register: "... Hillary Clinton declined on Monday to say if she has been in communication with any of the women involved in the sex scandals during Bill Clinton's presidency. Asked if she has had any interactions with them, or feels empathy for any of them, Clinton told The Des Moines Register: 'No, I have nothing to say and I will leave it to voters to determine whether any of that is at all relevant to their decision.'" ...

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Hillary Clinton on Tuesday dismissed the notion from Bernie Sanders that her campaign is in 'serious trouble.' But at the same time, she signaled she was hunkering down for a 'long, hard, challenging' primary ahead -- a marked contrast from the optimism her campaign was projecting last fall." ...

... Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "With Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont taking the lead in a new Iowa caucus poll, Hillary Clinton sharply challenged his core political message on Tuesday, saying his denunciations of big-money special interests were undercut by his 2005 congressional vote for a bill granting legal immunity for gun manufacturers -- a bill backed by the National Rifle Association." ...

... When the Going Gets Tough, Clinton Gets Nasty. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "With her lead in the Democratic presidential race in Iowa effectively vanished, Hillary Clinton tore into insurgent rival Bernie Sanders [in Ames, Iowa,] Tuesday over a litany of issues from health care to gun control.... Clinton's speech to a few hundred supporters on the campus of Iowa State University was striking in its sharp tone and the breadth of her attacks against Sanders.... Clinton appeared to relish laying into Sanders." ...

... CW: This is the Hillary Clinton you didn't vote for in the 2008 primary. ...

... AND Joe whacks Hillary:

Trump Nation. Don't Let the Kids Out. Antonio Olivo of the Washington Post: "Officials in Virginia's largest jurisdiction want to close public schools during the Super Tuesday presidential primary elections, saying they fear supporters of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump could cause mayhem at the polls. The concerns stem mainly from a Republican Party of Virginia requirement that the March 1 primary voters affirm they are Republicans before voting for a presidential candidate.... Trump has blasted the pledge on social media.... Trump supporters have sued both the state and the state party, saying the pledge violates their civil rights. [Fairfax County electoral board chairman Katherine] Hanley said the potential for arguments or fights over the issue unnecessarily places schoolchildren at risk inside the 167 schools that will be used as polling stations." ...

     ... Nolan McCaskill: "Fairfax County is denying a Washington Post report that it may close its public schools during Virginia's primary voting for fear of Donald Trump supporters causing chaos at the polls." ...

... Birtherism, Ctd. Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Now that he has raised questions about Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) Canadian birth and American citizenship, Donald Trump has started playing Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' before campaign rallies...." ...

... No-Information Voters. Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "PPP's newest Iowa poll continues to find a very close Republican race in the state- Donald Trump's at 28% to 26% for Ted Cruz, 13% for Marco Rubio, 8% for Ben Carson, and 6% for Jeb Bush. … The poll finds that the 'birther issue' has the potential to really hurt Ted Cruz. [pdf] Only 32% of Iowa Republicans think someone born in another country should be allowed to serve as President, to 47% who think such a person shouldn't be allowed to serve as President.... Despite all the attention to this issue in the last week, still only 46% of Iowa Republicans are aware that Cruz was not born in the United States. In fact, there are more GOP voters in the state who think Cruz (34%) was born in the United States than think Barack Obama (28%) was. Donald Trump knows what he's doing when he repeatedly brings up this issue...." ...

... Mary Brigid McManamon, a constitutional law professor, in the Washington Post: "Donald Trump is actually right about something: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is not a natural-born citizen and therefore is not eligible to be president or vice president of the United States.... The concept of 'natural born' comes from common law, and it is that law the Supreme Court has said we must turn to for the concept's definition. On this subject, common law is clear and unambiguous. The 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, the preeminent authority on it, declared natural-born citizens are 'such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England,' while aliens are 'such as are born out of it.'... Congress simply does not have the power to convert someone born outside the United States into a natural-born citizen." ...

... Laurence Tribe, in a Boston Globe op-ed: "This narrow definition reflected 18th-century fears of a tyrannical takeover of our nation by someone loyal to a foreign power -- fears that no longer make sense. But the same could be said of fears that a tyrannical federal army might overrun our state militias. Yet that doesn't lead Cruz -- or, more importantly, the conservative jurists he admires -- to discard the Second Amendment's 'right to bear arms' as a historical relic, or to limit that right to arms-bearing by members of today's 'state militias,' the national guard.... When Cruz was my constitutional law student at Harvard, he aced the course after making a big point of opposing my views in class -- arguing stridently for sticking with the 'original meaning' against the idea of a more elastic 'living Constitution' whenever such ideas came up.... At least he was consistent in those days. Now, he seems to be a fair weather originalist, abandoning that method's narrow constraints when it suits his ambition." ...

... Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly: "If some people want to be sticklers, I think they have that right. I don't feel like being a stickler.... I will laugh my ass off if the Republicans discover that after falsely accusing the current president of being born in another country they wind up having a problem electing a president because he actually was born in another country." ...

... Steve M.: "I don't like Ted Cruz, but I don't believe this decision [in the Haley case David Brooks cited in a column linked in yesterday's Commentariat] was his alone to make. Attorney General Greg Abbott was in his corner. And then so was the Supreme Court, including two liberal justices [Ginsburg & Breyer]. That's our system. There's brutalism all around." ...

... Paul Campos in LG&M: "What’s interesting about all this is that we can pretty safely assume that Brooks is carrying water for the GOP establishment (I'm pretty sure this obscure 12-year-old case didn't pop up for Brooks during some random internet surfing).... This suggests that, to some of the powers that be at least, Trump is actually preferable to Cruz." ...

... CW: There's no doubt that "Brooks is carrying water for the GOP establishment," but that doesn't mean he favors Trump over Cruz -- much more likely Kasich over Cruz.

... Amanda Marcotte in Salon: David Brooks' "latest column, titled 'The Brutalism of Ted Cruz,' [is] a piece that so hilariously misunderstands the motives of Christian conservatives that it leads one to wonder if Brooks has ever, in all his travels, met a single member of this tribe that his beloved Republican Party relies on for votes.... 'Compassionate conservatism' was never a real thing. It was always a feint, a beautiful sheep costume layered over the flea-bitten hide of the zealotry-driven wolves of Christian conservatism.... Brooks isn't wrong that Christianity is supposed to espouse 'humility, mercy, compassion and grace,' but for the Christian right, that's always just been a handy disguise to wear while working on the true mission, which is control, punishment, deprivation, and abuse." ...

... CW: Actually, I know & have known some very nice Christian conservatives. We disagree on most issues, but I don't consider them less "decent" than I am. And they do exhibit "humility, mercy, compassion & grace." (Update: ... which is sorta what President Obama said in his SOTU address.) One of the nice Christian conservatives I know is not Ben Carson, (a) because I don't know him, & (b) because he's not very nice. ...

... AP: "... Ben Carson is criticizing President Barack Obama for allowing representatives of a Muslim civic group to attend the State of the Union address, saying their actions are 'not pro-American.' Democratic lawmakers have invited two members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to attend Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday night. Speaking to CNN Tuesday morning, Carson said he has called for an investigation of the group...." ...

... As I was saying. Miranda Blue of Right Wing Watch: "In a rambling interview with a Catholic news network over the weekend..., Ben Carson derided marriage equality and protections for transgender people as 'extra rights' for 'a few people who perhaps are abnormal,' warning that if the next president's Supreme Court nominees protect LGBT rights, you can 'say goodbye to America.'"

Matt Arco of NJ.com: "Boasting about saving New Jersey from the brink of economic calamity, Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday credited Republican principles and his bold leadership with making the state 'strong and growing stronger every day.' In a State of the State address aimed at a national audience as he campaigns for president, Christie also warned the state's gains are in jeopardy if the Democratic-controlled Legislature strays from the path he forged over the last six years."

Beyond the Beltway

Elections Matter. Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Louisiana's new Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, on Tuesday signed an executive order to expand Medicaid in the state under ObamaCare.... President Obama will be touting Louisiana's move on Medicaid expansion, which the White House says will provide coverage to 193,000 uninsured people, when he visits the state on Thursday as part of his post-State of the Union travel."

Luke Hammill of the Oregonian: "The armed militants occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge announced Tuesday morning that they will drive into Burns at the end of the week to hold a community meeting and inform residents when they will leave." CW: Lah-de-dah. ...

... Les Zaitz of the Oregonian: Police believe militants are following local people who have some family connection to law enforcement or opposition to the militants' causes. Zaitz cites several individuals' accounts. ...

... Maxine Bernstein of the Oregonian on why the feds don't try to oust the militia. CW: I'm not buying some of the "it's just protesters" excuse. I'm pretty sure if I commandeered a federal building, however remote, the "authorities" would oust me right quick. ...

... Sam Levin of the Guardian: "A local judge in Oregon has raised the prospect of making the armed militia occupying a federal wildlife refuge pay as much as $75,000 a day for the toll the standoff is costing the rural county. Harney County judge Steve Grasty, a vocal critic of the militia, estimates that the armed occupation led by cattle rancher Ammon Bundy cost the community roughly $60,000 to $75,000 each day of the first week of the occupation. Grasty, an administrative judge, proposed making Bundy and his associates pay the expenses at a community meeting on Monday night in Burns, the closest town to the ongoing occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge."

Worse Than the Washington Redskins. Elizabeth Doran of the Syracuse Post-Standard: "Whitesboro[, New York,] residents voted Monday night to keep the village's controversial seal, rather than replace it with a new image. Of 212 votes cast, 157 of them were in favor of retaining the current seal.... The controversial village seal, which dates back to 1883, shows a white settler with his hands apparently choking a Native American man." CW: It's tradition!

CW: AND NOW I must go paint the ceiling in my in-progress new solarium.

The Commentariat -- Jan. 12, 2016

Josh Lederman of the AP: "President Barack Obama will deliver a final State of the Union address Tuesday brimming with optimism -- far more than most Americans possess."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed poised on Monday to deliver a severe blow to organized labor. The justices appeared divided along familiar lines during an extended argument over whether government workers who choose not to join unions may nonetheless be required to help pay for collective bargaining. The court's conservative majority appeared ready to say that such compelled financial support violates the First Amendment.... The best hope for a victory for the unions had rested with Justice Antonin Scalia, who has written and said things sympathetic to their position. But he was consistently hostile on Monday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Dana Milbank: "Just in time for the 2016 election, the Roberts Court has found yet another way to stack the deck in favor of the rich. By all appearances at Monday's argument, the five Republican-appointed justices are ready to upend a 40-year precedent guiding labor relations in favor of a new approach that will deplete public-sector unions' finances and reduce their political clout. The case, from California, involves arcane issues of 'agency fees' and member opt-outs, but make no mistake: This is about campaign finance, and, in particular, propping up the Republican Party.... The only real counterweight to Republican super PACs in this new era is union money. And the Supreme Court is about to attack that, too." Read the whole column.

Maura Dolan of the Los Angeles Times: "A military veteran persuaded a federal appeals court Monday to overturn his conviction for wearing a medal he didn't earn. An 11-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said a portion of a federal law that made it a crime to wear an unearned military medal violated freedom of speech rights. The panel found that wearing a medal conveys a message, which is protected by the 1st Amendment."

Jared Bernstein in the Washington Post: "One of the most destructive ideas in poverty policy is what supporters, such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, call 'opportunity grants' and what the rest of us call block grants.... The main reason this idea is so destructive is that it undermines the essence of the safety net.... So back off Jeb! et al. SNAP works. In fact, it ... works for a lifetime, as research tracking children who received nutritional support when they were kids finds a spate of positive outcomes in adulthood...." ...

... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post:In reality, block-granting is just a way federal politicians can strip poor people of much-needed services without actually taking the blame for the resulting suffering.... In recent decades, Washington has created 13 block-grant programs targeting low-income Americans. According to a recent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities study, in all but one case the program shrank substantially in inflation-adjusted terms. This happened despite initial assurances that block-grant programs would get the same funding as the programs being replaced.... Just throwing up your hands and telling the states 'I dunno, you fix it' isn't leadership. It's cowardice."

Niraj Chokshi of the Washington Post: "From Republican front-runner Donald Trump to evangelical Franklin Graham, many on the political right are pointing to the shocking wave of sexual assaults in Germany as a justification of their concerns of Muslim immigration." See also Tim Hume's CNN report linked under Way Beyond the Beltway.

Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: "Almost 75 years after they were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the remains of five U.S. sailors who perished when their battleship was sunk have been identified, the Pentagon said Monday. The five men, who were exhumed last year from their graves in Hawaii and examined in special military laboratories, were among 429 sailors and Marines killed when the USS Oklahoma was torpedoed and capsized. They had been buried as 'unknowns.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "The father of the billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch helped construct a major oil refinery in Nazi Germany that was personally approved by Adolf Hitler, according to a new history of the Kochs and other wealthy families. The book, 'Dark Money,' by Jane Mayer, traces the rise of the modern conservative movement through the activism and money of a handful of rich donors: among them Richard Mellon Scaife, an heir to the Mellon banking fortune, and Harry and Lynde Bradley, brothers who became wealthy in part from military contracts but poured millions into anti-government philanthropy." ...

... Nazi Boyz. Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "... Mayer writes that the family patriarch, Fred Koch, admired German discipline so much in the 1930s that he hired a fervent Nazi as a governess for his eldest boys. 'Dark Money' suggests that the experience of being toilet trained by a Nazi may have contributed to Charles Koch's antipathy toward government today."

** Kevin Drum: "My Right to Die."

Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "George Washington University's president announced Monday that the honorary degree presented to Bill Cosby in the 1990s would be revoked,... GW's decision was an about-face from the position the university took in the fall...."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The Whims of a Wealthy Young Man. Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "Chris Hughes, the Facebook co-founder who bought The New Republic in 2012 and prompted a revolt among staff members and contributors when he tried to remake it, said on Monday that he had decided to put the magazine up for sale." ...

... "Chainsaw Chris." Josh Marshall of TPM: "... it's hard not to see this as a perfect inversion of the classic private equity model: a few years of transformative ownership in which his team managed to radically increase costs while completely destroying the company's brand equity.... The New Republic, as anything like what it's been for a century, was never going to be a profit-making operation, certainly not a vertically integrated media cineplex or whatever they were trying to make it.... I will say that having decided to upend the entire operation and trigger a radical disruption and disjuncture with its history going back a generation, it seems a bit precipitous and unlovely for Hughes to kick it to the corner now and deprive it of the deep pockets which is now really its only asset." ...

... Scott Lemieux in LG&M: "... it's not a shock that [Hughes's] attempt to bring a TOTALLY DISRUPTIVE new proactive paradigm to a field he knew nothing about was a spectacular failure on its own terms. (I hope his next move isn't to get involved with higher ed.)"

Presidential Race

Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "Hillary Clinton ... and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who are locked into close primary races in Iowa and New Hampshire, sharpened their attacks on one another over gun control, tax policy and Wall Street reform at the Iowa Black and Brown Forum, hosted by Univision at Drake University in Des Moines on Monday.... Yet the presidential forum drew as many laughs as contrasts.... When asked if it was 'off-brand' for a democratic socialist to live in a mansion like the White House, Sanders replied: 'I would consider it more like public housing.'" ...

... Making Up Stuff. Abby Phillip & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "After days of attacking Sen. Bernie Sanders over his record on guns, Hillary Clinton on Monday expanded her critique of the Vermont Senator to include his health-care plan. Speaking at an event in Iowa, Clinton pointedly contrasted her health-care plan with Sanders's, claiming that his proposal would turn over health insurance to Republican governors." ...

... Paul Waldman: "Sanders says he has no idea what she's talking about, because he hasn't proposed turning health insurance over to the states, other than a general commitment to a federal single-payer program. Indeed, he doesn't have an actual health care plan at all. Also strange: I always assume that when Clinton comes out with a new line like this, her campaign has polled it within an inch of its life, but I find it hard to believe that a single-payer plan isn't quite popular with Democratic voters." ...

... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Intensifying her gun control argument against Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton will accept the endorsement of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence at a campaign stop in Ames, Iowa on Tuesday, according to a campaign aide." ...

... Bernie Becker of Politico: "Hillary Clinton [Monday] proposed a 4 percent surtax on the highest-earning Americans, as she seeks to boost taxes for the wealthiest Americans. The proposal, which she announced in Iowa, would raise an estimated $150 billion over a decade, a Clinton aide said, and comes after the Democratic front-runner said that she would build on the so-called Buffett Rule that seeks to ensure that the middle class doesn't pay a higher tax rate than top earners.... Clinton's camp says she will roll out more proposals this week to force the wealthy to pay more in taxes." CW: Obviously, the latest intra-party polls shook up Hillary. ...

     ... Update. CW: Gee, Bernie agrees with me. (He so often does.) Liz Goodwin of Yahoo News: "Sen. Bernie Sanders accused Hillary Clinton of taking an increasingly aggressive stance against him because she's nervous that he is beating her in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. 'It could be that the inevitable candidate for the Democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today,' Sanders said at the Iowa Brown & Black Forum in Des Moines Monday night."

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge has dismissed a pair of lawsuits aimed at forcing the government to act more aggressively to recover emails that Hillary Clinton kept on a private server while serving as secretary of state. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Monday that the suits filed by two conservative organizations are moot because the State Department and the National Archives have done all they are legally required to do to obtain messages pertaining to her four-year tenure as America's top diplomat." ...

... Josh Gerstein: "The State Department has agreed to process for public release an archive of 29,000 pages of emails longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin sent or received on a private account while working as deputy chief of staff to Clinton from 2009 to 2013."

Nick Gass of Politico: "Donald Trump on Monday pleaded, with slight jest, for the FBI to go after Hillary Clinton for exclusively using a private email server which she was secretary of state, declaring that he would rather run against Bernie Sanders in the general election." ...

... Benjamin Wallace-Wells in the New Yorker: "In many ways, [Donald Trump's] argument is that government should be run more directly by élites. Trump's complaint with Washington is that it sends 'political hacks' to negotiate with foreign countries, rather than ... the smartest guys on Wall Street.' Trump's version of the Oval Office is one in which Carl Icahn will appear from behind a door to solve any crisis. What strange form of populism is this?"

David Corn of Mother Jones: "On Friday night, New York Times columnist David Brooks, a mild conservative, and I were on the PBS Newshour, and our discussion of [Ted] Cruz's recent surge in Iowa really ticked off some within the right-wing press.... I don't know about Brooks, but I was besieged on Twitter by conservatives who hurled angry how-dare-you tweets at me. Some accused me of committing a hate crime (the victims: Christians). But this was yet another exercise of false right-wing outrage, and a demonstration of rather poor reading comprehension on the right." ...

... CW: Okay, I guess I have to run this (I avoided it yesterday):

     ... ** UPDATE: In today's NYT column, Brooks eviscerates Ted Cruz. You wouldn't let Cruz take out your garbage or clean your gutters after reading Brooks' column.

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: Jeb! was a lousy candidate in 1994, too, when he ran -- and lost -- for governor of Florida. Then, he had the excuse of being a rookie. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

And Then There Were Seven. Steven Shepard & Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina have been booted to the undercard in Thursday night's Republican primary debate as the number of main-stage candidates was cut to seven by stricter polling criteria. Paul, who is struggling to gain traction in the presidential race, immediately cried foul, and vowed to not participate in the event. Fox Business Network, which will televise the sixth GOP presidential debate this week, announced the debate fields on Monday evening, after weeks of speculation that Paul would for the first time not make the cut for the primetime event. The seven candidates who will appear on the main stage in North Charleston, S.C., are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and John Kasich. Kasich qualified as a result of his strength in New Hampshire." ...

... Speaking of Fiorina, as we seldom do nowadays ... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Carly Fiorina says she finds it odd it took so long for Ted Cruz to renounce his Canadian citizenship, and listed his renouncement in 2014 as one of the reasons people are so fed up with politicians."

Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "The super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush plans to spend nearly $3 million on a TV ad campaign painting Marco Rubio as 'just another Washington politician' who has repeatedly changed his mind on immigration. The ad campaign by Right to Rise PAC represents an escalation of a long-simmering feud between the two Floridians vying for the Republican presidential nomination. The ad will run starting Monday night in Iowa and South Carolina, and on Fox News nationally...."

CW response to D.C. Clark, in today's thread: Total disqualifer:

Beyond the Beltway

David Roberts of Vox: The Aliso Canyon gas leak "is widely being hailed as the worst environmental disaster since the BP oil spill. And SoCal Gas says the leak likely won't be contained until March at the earliest." Roberts explains the details. ...

Another American Tragedy. Paul Kix of the New Yorker on how a wrongful conviction in Texas led to criminal justice reform. And Rick Perry signed the bills!

Kate Mather of the Los Angeles Times: "Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck has recommended criminal charges against an officer who killed an unarmed homeless man in Venice, marking the first time as chief that Beck has called for charges in a fatal on-duty shooting. LAPD investigators concluded that Brendon Glenn was on his stomach, attempting to push himself off the ground, when Officer Clifford Proctor stepped back and fired twice, hitting the 29-year-old in the back, Beck told The Times." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Luke Hammill of the Oregonian: "Militants presiding over an armed occupation of a federal bird sanctuary destroyed a portion of a fence Monday afternoon that they said was installed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- using the agency's own equipment." ...

... Fedor Zarkhin of the Oregonian: "Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward accused militias Monday of harassing law enforcement officials and federal employees. Though there haven't been physical threats, he said, the alleged behavior is clearly meant to intimidate.... Since the occupation began, there have been reports of law enforcement being followed home or watched, Sheriff Ward said in a written statement."

The LePage Fan Club Has a New Member. Sara Jerde of TPM: "Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke on Friday said Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) was right to say that drug dealers, who Duke referred to as 'Puff Diddies,' who travel from New York defile white women in the state."

Way Beyond

Tim Hume, et al., of CNN: "Gangs of men have attacked and injured two Pakistanis and a Syrian man in Cologne, Germany, in the aftermath of an unprecedented wave of mob sex assaults on women in the city on New Year's Eve. Cologne police said a gang of 20 men attacked at least six Pakistani nationals Sunday, with two of the victims hospitalized. Five men later attacked and injured a man of Syrian descent, police said." CW: So now I'm waiting for Donald Trump & Franklin Graham to propose banning German immigrants -- or maybe Christian immigrants, if we find out members of these gangs are Christians. Oh, hell, just build that wall around the whole damned country.

News Ledes

AP: "Mexico is investigating the meeting that then-fugitive drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman held with Sean Penn and actress Kate del Castillo in October to see if any crimes were committed."

AP: "A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the heart of Istanbul's historic district on Tuesday, killing 10 foreigners -- most of them German tourists -- and wounding 15 other people in the latest in a string of attacks by the Islamic extremists targeting Westerners.... Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the bomber was a member of IS and pledged to battle the militant group until it no longer 'remains a threat' to Turkey or the world."

Los Angeles Times: "Oil prices tumbled to their lowest level in 12 years Tuesday -- at one point dropping below $30 a barrel -- in response to fears of slumping demand in China and a strengthening U.S. dollar."

The Commentariat -- January 11, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed poised on Monday to deliver a severe blow to organized labor. The justices appeared divided along familiar lines during an extended argument over whether government workers who choose not to join unions may nonetheless be required to help pay for collective bargaining. The court's conservative majority appeared ready to say that such compelled financial support violates the First Amendment.... The best hope for a victory for the unions had rested with Justice Antonin Scalia, who has written and said things sympathetic to their position. But he was consistently hostile on Monday."

Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: "Almost 75 years after they were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the remains of five U.S. sailors who perished when their battleship was sunk have been identified, the Pentagon said Monday. The five men, who were exhumed last year from their graves in Hawaii and examined in special military laboratories, were among 429 sailors and Marines killed when the USS Oklahoma was torpedoed and capsized. They had been buried as 'unknowns.'"

Kate Mather of the Los Angeles Times: "Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck has recommended criminal charges against an officer who killed an unarmed homeless man in Venice, marking the first time as chief that Beck has called for charges in a fatal on-duty shooting. LAPD investigators concluded that Brendon Glenn was on his stomach, attempting to push himself off the ground, when Officer Clifford Proctor stepped back and fired twice, hitting the 29-year-old in the back, Beck told The Times."

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: Jeb! was a lousy candidate in 1994, too, when he ran -- and lost -- for governor of Florida. Then, he had the excuse of being a rookie.

*****

Dan Lamothe & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: President & Michelle Obama's guest list for the State of the Union address 'reflects the president's determination to adopt a defiant pose during his speech to the nation. While the first lady's box provides a visual representation of what he has done in office, it also shows where lawmakers have blocked his agenda: One seat will be left vacant to symbolize the Americans killed and injured by guns each year. White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said in an interview that the first lady's guests represent both the trajectory of Obama's presidency and the role everyday citizens have had in shaping it."

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama has invited a Syrian refugee to sit in the first lady's box for the State of the Union address on Tuesday, the White House said Sunday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Margaret Talbot of the New Yorker: "In part, [President] Obama is trying to reframe the gun discussion not as a Second Amendment issue but as one of public health."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The Senate returns to Washington on Monday, opening a 2016 in which Republicans will move cautiously on the legislative front to try to protect their endangered incumbents and their Senate majority. The first order of business is to approve the long-delayed nomination of Luis Felipe Restrepo of Pennsylvania to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a relatively rare vote on an appeals court judge given Republican reticence to allow President Obama to fill more judicial vacancies in his final months."

Jeffrey Jones of Gallup: "In 2015, for the fifth consecutive year, at least four in 10 U.S. adults identified as political independents. The 42% identifying as independents in 2015 was down slightly from the record 43% in 2014. This elevated percentage of political independents leaves Democratic (29%) and Republican (26%) identification at or near recent low points, with the modest Democratic advantage roughly where it has been over the past five years."

Paul Krugman: "... none of the dire predicted consequences of [President Obama's] policies have materialized. It's not just that overall job creation in the private sector -- which was what Mr. Obama was supposedly killing -- has been strong. More detailed examinations of labor markets also show no evidence of predicted ill effects. For example, there's no evidence that Obamacare led to a shift from full-time to part-time work, and no evidence that the expansion of Medicaid led to large reductions in labor supply."

The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling. Larry Summers in the Washington Post: "Because of China's scale, its potential volatility and the limited room for conventional monetary maneuvers, the global risk to domestic economic performance in the United States, Europe and many emerging markets is as great as any time I can remember. It is time for policymakers to hope for the best and plan for the worst." See also Emily Rauhala's story linked under Way Beyond.

Elizabeth Bruenig of the New Republic: "On Monday, January 11, the Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case that began working its way through California courts in the spring of 2013. Ostensibly concerned with protecting the free speech rights of public sector workers, Friedrich's outcome will in reality decide the viability of public sector unions in the future." ...

... Noam Scheiber of the New York Times looks at the anti-union moneybags/groups backing the Friedrichs case.

Judith Shulevitz of the New York Times: "As Marx might have said had he deemed women's work worth including in his labor theory of value (he didn't), 'reproductive labor' (as feminists call the creation and upkeep of families and homes) is the basis of the accumulation of human capital. I say it's time for something like reparations.... The universal basic income is a necessary condition for a just society, for it recognizes the fact that most of us -- men, women, parents and nonparents -- do a great deal of unpaid work to sustain the general well-being.... Basic income proposals are sprouting up again, from the right as well as the left." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Yanan Wang of the Washington Post: "Mark Zuckerberg gets baby vaccinated. Anti-vaxxers go nuts." Zuckerberg's Facebook page announcing the trip to the doctor received more than 70,000 comments, both for & against vaccinations. CW: Maybe it's a coincidence, but the first anti-vaxxer comment Wang cites showed a poor command of English by someone I would guess is an English-speaker.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: After Rolling Stone published an interview of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera in an essay by actor Sean Penn, "questions have been raised about the ethics for the magazine in dealing with Mr. Guzmán, a criminal being sought on charges of drug trafficking and murder, and in allowing him to approve what would ultimately be published about him.... The reporting and editing of the article were closely held, in part, to avoid the authorities.... As for giving Mr. Guzmán final approval over the article, [Rolling Stone founder Jann] Wenner said: 'I don't think it was a meaningful thing in the first place. We have let people in the past approve their quotes in interviews.'... Steve Coll, the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, said he was concerned by the editorial approval offered to Mr. Guzmán. But, he said, 'scoring an exclusive interview with a wanted criminal is legitimate journalism no matter who the reporter is.'" ...

... Peter Holley of the Washington Post: Mexican journalists note the dangers they have faced covering Guzman & his cartel. "... nobody prints anything without cartel approval, including -- it would seem -- Sean Penn." ...

... Andy Borowitz: "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terror group known as ISIS, has cancelled a long awaited meeting with the actor Sean Penn, a spokesman for the group announced on Sunday. The spokesman gave no reason for the abrupt cancellation, but said that al-Baghdadi no longer felt that meeting with Penn would be 'prudent.'"

Driftglass: "It must have been a great relief for NBC's Shuck Todd to finally give up trying to walk upright and get 'answers' from Donald Trump and instead content himself with tossing softballs, nodding at the reply and then moving on. The rest of us are screwed, of course, but when has that not been true?"

Presidential Race

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "There are two significant presidential debates over the next seven days, falling as the races hurtle toward the first casting of votes. Each debate will take place in Charleston, S.C." CW: The Republican debate is Thursday night. I won't be watching because the candidates make me sick. The Democratic debate is Sunday night. I won't be watching because "Downton Abbey." Which is how the Debbie Wasserman-Schultz planned it.

Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "White House chief of staff Dennis [sic.] McDonough on Sunday said President Obama will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary race.... He added that Obama will be 'out there' campaigning after the primary to support the eventual nominee." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "President Barack Obama has met privately with Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton several times in recent months, but his chief of staff said Sunday that he's powwowed with her chief rival, Bernie Sanders, too. 'He has seen Senator Sanders, both with the Senate Democratic Caucus and privately,' Denis McDonough said on NBC's Meet the Press. 'And so, we'll continue to do that. He's obviously a leading senator in our caucus and we'll continue to do just that.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Kyle Cheney: "Hillary Clinton continued to thrash Bernie Sanders ... over his past support for legislation cheered by the NRA that protects gun manufacturers from liability for shootings. 'I think he has been consistently refusing to say that he would vote to repeal this absolute immunity from any kind of responsibility or liability,' she said Sunday on 'Face the Nation' on CBS, noting that she joined President Barack Obama in opposition to the legislation while they were both in the Senate.... Sanders sought to defend his record on guns separately during an appearance on ABC's 'This Week.' He argued that his support for the earlier legislation was partly because of how 'complicated' it was, and he said he's open to revising it to ensure that large manufacturers can be penalized if they deliver guns they know are being used in crimes." ...

... Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton on Sunday defended instructing an aide to send information to her through a 'nonsecure' channel, saying the data she requested was not classified and accusing her presidential rivals of seeking to score political points over a non-issue."

... AP: "... Planned Parenthood is endorsing Hillary Clinton in the race to become the Democratic presidential candidate, but says that will not mean negative campaigning against her primary opponents.... Accepting the endorsement on Sunday in New Hampshire, Clinton sought to energise her Democratic base with a passionate pledge to always protect reproductive rights. She painted a dark picture of women's health care under a Republican president, singling out two of the top Republican contenders."

Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords will endorse Hillary Clinton, a person familiar with her plans confirmed." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Maggie Haberman: "Hillary Clinton holds a three-point edge over Senator Bernie Sanders in Iowa, a tightening of the race with roughly three weeks until voting begins, according to a new set of surveys of likely voters from NBC/The Wall Street Journal/Marist." Haberman also reports other polling results. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Easley: "... Hillary Clinton said Sunday that attacks against her husband over past infidelities and allegations of sexual abuse 'won't work,' calling them a 'dead end' and a 'blind alley' for her rivals. Speaking Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Clinton was asked to respond to an ad released last week by GOP front-runner Donald Trump in which he sought to highlight Bill Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinskey [sic.]. 'If he wants to engage in personal attacks from the past, that's his prerogative. So be it," Clinton said...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hadas Gold of Politico: "ABC is cutting off their partnership with the New Hampshire Union Leader for the Republican primary debate on Feb. 6, an ABC spokesperson has confirmed. The paper was set to have a co-branding relationship for the debate, though it was going to be a comparatively minor role, without any representative on stage asking questions on behalf of the newspaper. In a series of tweets on Sunday, [Donald] Trump took credit for ABC's move, saying he asked for ABC to remove the paper from the debate."

Ben White of Politico: "Many economists say Donald Trump's proposals -- from big import tariffs to mass deportations -- would hurt the very demographic that supports him in the greatest numbers: less educated voters struggling in a tepid U.S. economy. If Trump policies actually went into effect, these economists say, prices for goods lower-income Americans depend on could soar and a depleted low-end labor force could trigger a major downturn.... [In addition,] according to the Tax Policy Center, Trump's tax plan would reduce federal revenue by $9.5 trillion over the next decade. It would also provide an average $1.3 million tax cut for the top 0.1 percent of earners, the Tax Policy Center found. The Trump campaign has disputed these findings." ...

... Bradford Richardson: "Donald Trump says President Obama's irresponsible use of executive orders has paved the way for him to also use them freely if he wins the presidential race. 'I won't refuse it. I'm going to do a lot of things,' Trump said when asked if he would use executive orders in an interview Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... digby, on Trump's praising North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un for his brutality: "This isn't actually a joke. It's not really a Reality TV show. This guy has millions of Americans cheering him and what he's saying very clearly is that America needs a strongman dictator. Him.... What's amazing is that most of the people who are supporting him also wave around the Constitution like it was handed down directly from God." ...

... CW: Taking together all of his various promises & his admiration for notorious despots, it is clear that Trump thinks the U.S. presidency also is or should be an absolute, unchecked position of power. It's not possible to know what he would actually do if he became president, but there's every reason to think he would try to run roughshod over the other branches of government, the military, the administrative bureaucracy & the Constitution. I'm not certain impeachment could pry him out of the White House. ...

     ... ** Update: In a Salon piece, Digby catalogues some of Trump's authoritarian pronouncements. We haven't heard a parade of horribles like this in a long time..

Birtherism, Ctd. Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "The legal and constitutional issues around qualification for the presidency on grounds of US citizenship are 'murky and unsettled', according to [Laurence Tribe,] the scholar cited by Donald Trump in his recent attacks on Ted Cruz.... Tribe taught both Cruz and Barack Obama at Harvard Law School.... In his emails to the Guardian, Tribe discussed Cruz's own approach to constitutional issues, noting that under 'the kind of judge Cruz says he admires and would appoint to the supreme court -- an "originalist" who claims to be bound by the historical meaning of the constitution's terms at the time of their adoption -- Cruz wouldn't be eligible because the legal principles that prevailed in the 1780s and 90s required that someone be born on US soil to be a "natural born" citizen."'" Read on. ...

... Bradford Richardson: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says the upper chamber won't issue a resolution on whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is constitutionally eligible to run for president.... The Senate previously issued a resolution confirming then-nominee John McCain's eligibility to serve as president. The Arizona senator was born on a [U.S.] military base in Panama to American parents." ...

... CW: Because senators really don't like Ted & would enjoy watching him twist in the wind. ...

... The Cheez Stands Alone. Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Having broken with Trump, Cruz finds himself almost friendless in the Republican Party. And now that Trump has made Cruz birtherism an issue, many others are eager to join in the pile-on." ...

... Kristen East of Politico: "In an interview this weekend with PBS, [NYT columnist David] Brooks tells host Judy Woodruff that Cruz’s world is 'combative,' 'angry,' and 'apocalyptic.' And while he continues to rise in state and national polls, Brooks said other candidates, like Marco Rubio, are starting to use similar rhetoric.... Co-panelist David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, said he believed the satanic tones actually come from Cruz's dad, Rafael Cruz, who is an evangelical pastor."

Gary Legum of Salon: "This weekend, a few of the Republican candidates for president gathered at the Jack Kemp Foundation to discuss which one of their administrations would screw over poor people the hardest.... There were the usual conservative buzzwords for fighting poverty: empowerment, education (by providing school vouchers, of course), expanding opportunity.... [Jeb] Bush illustrated what everyone should by now know: The GOP has no ideas."

Beyond the Beltway

Benjamin Mueller & Nate Schweber of the New York Times: "Three teenagers suspected of taking turns raping an 18-year-old woman at a Brooklyn playground after ordering her father to leave her side were taken into custody on Sunday, a law enforcement official said.... Charges against them were pending.... The father ran to get help, but the police official said it took him roughly 20 minutes to come upon two officers in a patrol car.... In an area filled with public housing high-rises, delis and other stores, it is unclear why the father was not able to get help from bystanders or call the police. The Police Department said in a statement on Sunday night that no one called 911 in connection with the attack, and that the officers 'immediately responded and located the victim' after being alerted by the father.... Elected officials also questioned whether the police notified the public quickly enough after the attack."

Luke Hammill of the Oregonian: "As law enforcement has continued to take a 'wait-them-out' approach to the occupation [of the Malheur wildlife refuge], more and more outsiders -- many of them armed -- have descended on this remote corner of Eastern Oregon. Many of them are well-meaning and want to help bring the situation to a peaceful resolution. Some are reveling in the international media attention. Others are inspired by the militants and have come to join the protest. Few, if any, of them have been welcomed with open arms by law enforcement." ...

Another guy "protecting the peace."... Sam Levin of the Guardian: "The heavily armed rightwing groups who descended on rural Harney County in eastern Oregon on Saturday -- to protect the peace, they said -- made clear they had no intention of leaving, as the occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge entered its second week. Observers, meanwhile, noted that many such groups were extremist entities with histories of promoting bigotry, racism and violence."

... Luke Hammill: "In the latest bizarre turn of events surrounding the ongoing armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge, an Oregon state legislator from outside Harney County arrived here Saturday with out-of-state elected officials in tow and met with the protesters. Oregon Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republican from Ontario, and Harney County Judge Steven E. Grasty said that they tried to warn state Rep. Dallas Heard against traveling to Burns. But Heard, a Republican from Roseburg, arrived anyway, they said, and brought officials elected to state office in Washington, Idaho and Nevada with him." ...

... Mike Rogoway of the Oregonian: "Oregon Public Broadcasting visited the [Malheur refuge] compound Friday and reported that militants appeared to be using federal computers inside the compound, machines that can be accessed only with employees' ID badges. Lists of names and Social Security numbers were visible, alongside government ID cards." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sara Burnett of the AP: "A former U.S. attorney will conduct an independent review of the division of Chicago's law department that defends police after a judge last week accused a city attorney of hiding evidence in a lawsuit over a fatal police shooting, the department's chief said Sunday.... [Mayor Rahm] Emanuel said Tuesday that he didn't think it was necessary to expand the investigation to include the city's law department. Two days later, he announced there would be an independent review, but didn't disclose details.

Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: "Two days after a Philadelphia cop was shot by a man who said he had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State, the city's police and the FBI are investigating a tip that the man was part of a group with radical beliefs that might still pose a threat."

Way Beyond

Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "China's stock slide showed no signs of easing Monday, steamrolling over attempts by Beijing regulators to stem a dive that has battered markets around the world. The Shanghai Composite dropped more than 5 percent, dragging down Asian and European markets and extending last week's losses."

Anthony Faiola & Stephanie Kirchner of the Washington Post: "The Islamist extremist who staged a failed attack on a Paris police station last week had been living in a home for asylum seekers in western Germany, police said, deepening fears that militants may be infiltrating Europe disguised as migrants." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "Islamic State militants attacked a shopping mall in eastern Baghdad on Monday evening, killing at least 17 people and turning the neighborhood into an urban war zone at rush hour, with helicopters hovering overhead and snipers taking positions on nearby rooftops."

New York Times: "David Bowie, the infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday."