New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”
To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.
Link Code: <a href="URL">text</a>
OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.
OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.
Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.
Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.
New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”
Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."
Following is a comment contributor MAG wrote in Thursday's thread. I heartily agree with MAG's sentiments, although I've omitted her Plaudit No. 1 because my mother told me it was bad form to toot my own horn. That doesn't mean I'm not ever-so-pleased when someone else does the tooting. I would add that I always look forward to reading MAG's comments: thoughtful, smart & succinct -- and often expressing a point-of-view I overlooked but am happy to adopt once MAG raises the point. -- Constant Weader
Whew! It’s almost over and I can stop seeing those detestable top 10 end-of-the-year lists. 2015’s 10 Best Law & Order ReRuns, 10 Best Restaurants off the Beaten Path, 10 Best Bratwurst Joints, et al. But, if you can’t fight’em, join’em…OK, I caved.
Here’s my 2015’s Top 10 Reality Chex-ers —in no particular sorta order:
2. @ Akheilleus, whose brilliant interpretations and witty insights continually astound and provoke—often sending me off on a Google-search for the definition of some obscure word that (of course) he uses correctly! A Greek & Latin scholar who knows rock bands from eons ago! Wow!…yet, what blew me away most recently…is the awareness of his fashionista side and how wonderfully he wordsmithed “pret-a-porter” into one of his best lines of the year: On December 21: “…with Trumpy's blowhardiness. He is a prêt–à–porter propaganda warehouse.”
3. @ Marwin S & Ken W…well-thought out analysis, obviously well read readers, checkers & researchers of the first rank.
4. @ PD Pepe feisty and given to wry phrasings. Think of her as the Madame DeFarge of RC. Surely, knitting is among her many skills, as well!
5. @ Diane… sharp input, to the point & never ever brooking nonsense!
6. @ Ophelia M. among RC’s newest…(imagine you in floating in an ethereal mist over Manhattan with iPad close at hand for ever sage observations!)
7. @ D.C. Clark always knowledgeable, besides he’s the one who has the biggest one anywhere. For Star-gazing, that is!
8. @ Kate Madison RC’s ‘in-house’ psychoanalyst who cuts through the bull—and never lets us forget the importance of the Supremes (not talking Diana, Flo & Mary)!
9. @ Barbarossa, Unwashed, Citizen625, Owen Whyte, Nisky Guy, and the Victorias (with & without the D) add their smart POVs and great links to follow! Thanks!
10. @ and to one & all who have been UNINTENTIONALLY left unmentioned, you’re still the greatest, best-est, too! (Disclaimer: this list is still incomplete) And to everyone thanks for the terrific daily reads!
Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton's campaign announced Friday that it raised $55 million in the final fund-raising period of 2015, and $112 million for the year. Clinton brought in $37 million in money specifically for use in the primary, the most for any non-incumbent in a non-election year, the campaign said, and $18 million for the general election."
*****
... AND may the new year bring an extraordinary moment like this for each & every one of us. They laughed when I sat down at the piano....
... Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: How a day in the dead of winter (in the Northern hemisphere) came to mark the beginning of each new year.
White House: "In this week's address, the President reflected on the progress of the past year, and looked forward to working on unfinished business in the coming year, particularly when it comes to the epidemic of gun violence":
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama will meet with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on Monday to finalize a set of executive actions on guns that he will unveil next week.... According to those familiar with the proposal..., the president will expand new background-check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume gun dealers. The president will also use his executive authority in several other areas, these individuals said, but the overall package has not yet been finalized."
** Paul Krugman: "... the biggest reason to oppose the power of money in politics is the way it lets the wealthy rig the system and distort policy priorities. And the biggest reason billionaires hate Mr. Obama is what he did to their taxes, not their feelings. The fact that some of those buying influence are also horrible people is secondary. But it's not trivial. Oligarchy, rule by the few, also tends to become rule by the monstrously self-centered. Narcisstocracy? Jerkigarchy? Anyway, it's an ugly spectacle, and it's probably going to get even uglier over the course of the year ahead."
David Roberts of Vox: Economic insecurity & racism, of the kind Donald Trump illuminates, are intertwined. ...
... CW: One aspect of this dynamic that Roberts barely touches -- and there's no reason he should -- is the ways legislators have worked to keep this genie in the bottle: by passing open-carry laws so white guys have instruments (and symbols) to assert their power (and by generally promoting Second Amendment rights which promise white men they can rise up together against the Man); by pressing anti-abortion (and even anti-contraception) laws to diminish the power of women, particularly poor women; by slashing the social safety-net, which (as Roberts does point out) white men perceive a a transference of their "wealth" to minorities, especially female minorities; by privileging fundamentalist Christianity over other faiths & nontheism; by giving the police -- who are overwhelmingly white men with working-class backgrounds -- the power to abuse & even murder minorities; by asserting American power abroad, especially against non-Western countries. And so forth. You look at any confederate policy agenda, & every item on it that is not specifically designed to abet the super-rich, is writ to appease & distract the angry white man. Moreover, those agenda items aimed at the super-rich are framed in terms of giving the angry white guy more power: watch Li'l Randy, for instance, claim environmental laws are a government plot to force Americans to use lo-flush toilets & lo-energy lightbulbs or any Republican pretend that every regulation on business is a jobs-killer.
Jon Swaine, et al., of the Guardian: "Young black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police officers in 2015, according to the findings of a Guardian study that recorded a final tally of 1,134 deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers this year."
Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "... while many outside the administration found the strategy [against ISIS] itself lacking, [President] Obama felt [in November] what they really needed was to do a better job of explaining it. He ordered what the official called an 'uptick in our communications tempo.'... The [administration's] new communications campaign has gone into overdrive.... So far, there is little evidence the messaging campaign is succeeding in changing opinions of the overall strategy." ...
... Paul Waldman: "Except for the occasional moment -- Obama's election, the killing of Osama bin Laden -- Republicans are almost always viewed by the public as better able to protect the country from terrorism, seemingly regardless of what's actually happening in the world or what they propose to do.... Putting aside the colorful rhetoric, the Republican presidential candidates who have tried to offer plans all propose to do almost exactly what President Obama is doing.... Barack Obama's record on keeping Americans safe from terrorism isn't just good, it's downright spectacular."
Ellen Goodman in Politico Magazine: "Death Panels: An Obituary. On January 1, Obamacare starts paying for end-of-life conversations, and a scare story finally dies.... The new Medicare rules will help encourage and normalize end-of-life conversations. Beginning Friday, doctors and other clinicians will be reimbursed for talking with all their patients -- not just sick patients -- about end-of-life care."
James Risen of the New York Times: "The United States military has sharply curtailed the use of psychologists at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in response to strict new professional ethics rules of the American Psychological Association, Pentagon officials said.... General [John] Kelly's order is the latest fallout after years of recriminations in the profession for the crucial role that psychologists played in the post-9/11 programs of harsh interrogation created by the C.I.A. and the Pentagon. The psychologists' involvement in the interrogations enabled the Justice Department in the George W. Bush administration to issue secret legal opinions that declared that the C.I.A.'s so-called enhanced interrogation program was legal, in part because health professionals were monitoring it to make sure that it was safe and that it did not constitute torture."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The vow of a novice Chicago senator to freeze out lobbyists and nail shut the revolving door ... was central to the narrative animating his 2008 campaign: a promise of wholesale change to business as usual in Washington.... But seven years into Obama's presidency, the revolving door shuttling officials out of his administration is spinning at a rapid clip, and Obama has seen his campaign promise founder against the deeply ingrained culture of selling government expertise in Washington.... The Obama administration has hired more than 70 previously registered lobbyists..., and watched many officials circle through that revolving door, as Obama's lobbying policy was weakened by major loopholes and a loss of focus over time."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Calling for 'a change in our legal culture,' Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. devoted his year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary to a plea that lawyers 'avoid antagonistic tactics, wasteful procedural maneuvers and teetering brinkmanship.' But critics said the report praised a development that will limit the amount of information individuals can obtain from companies and the government, frustrating their ability to prove their cases. The chief justice's report welcomed December's adoption of major changes to the rules governing civil litigation in the federal courts, notably limits on the pretrial exchange of information that lawyers call discovery." ...
... You can read Roberts' report, which just became available (at 6 pm ET, Dec. 31), here.
Hadas Gold of Politico: "Journalists, liberals and many in the political and labor worlds -- including presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders -- expressed regret on Thursday over the ending of Harold Meyerson's weekly column in the Washington Post." ...
Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "Iran's president denounced the United States on Thursday for suggesting the possibility of new sanctions over Iranian missiles, and he ordered his Defense Ministry to respond by swiftly building more of them. Hours after circulating a draft of proposed sanctions on Wednesday, however, the White House did not provide a timetable or even say that they would be put into effect."
Presidential Race
Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The State Department on New Year's Eve released thousands of pages of emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state, but still fell short of the number that a federal judge ordered should be made public by the end of the year." ...
... David Smith of the Guardian: "Hillary Clinton was informed [by friend Sidney Blumenthal, according to John Kornblum, a former American ambassador to Germany] that German chancellor Angela Merkelis hostile to the 'Obama phenomenon' and finds it 'contrary to her whole idea of politics', according to a newly released batch of emails from her time as secretary of state.... Meanwhile another email from former policy adviser Neera Tanden, president of the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, in May 2012 claimed that billionaire Democratic donor George Soros admitted that he regretted voting for Obama over Clinton in the 2008 party primary."
Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malleyfailed to qualify for the ballot in Ohio. A spokesman for the Ohio secretary of state confirmed to The Hill on Thursday that O'Malley did not get the necessary 1,000 signatures to appear on the March 15 ballot."
Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "It's hard to see now, but the large field of Republican candidates will almost certainly be winnowed down to three or four contenders after the voting happens in the first three states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The G.O.P. field has already been gradually compressing, as candidates who have found little support in the polls, or from donors and party insiders, have dropped out of the race. Five candidates -- Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham, and George Pataki -- have already dropped out. A few more might call it quits before the Iowa caucuses, on February 1st."
When Ya Got Nothing. In a made-for-teevee ad, Donald Trumpcriticizes President Obama for watching the latest "Star Wars" flick with children whose family members were killed in Iraq. Of course no mention of the kids in Trump's ad. ...
... "Hairspray." Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump has offered little in the way of an environmental policy during his presidential campaign, but on Wednesday he said that President Obama's concerns about the environment were infringing on his rights as a consumer.... '" You can't use hairspray because hairspray is going to affect the ozone,' Mr. Trump said during a rally in South Carolina. 'They don't want me to use hairspray, they want me to use the pump.'... Aerosol sprays were actually phased out in the United States in the 1990s, years before Mr. Obama was president, and the ban resulted from the Montreal Protocol in 1987, signed by President George H. W. Bush, which sought to curtail the damage aerosol products did to the disappearing ozone layer." ...
... CW: I'm beginning to think Donald Trump is a Larry David creation. President Obama might agree. ...
... "A Big Coincidence." Kevin Drum highlights a feature of Donald Trump's support: the geographic distribution tracks with "a map that shows where racially-charged internet searches are most common.... But remember: no fair confusing correlation and causation! This might just be a big coincidence." ...
... Steve M. makes a compelling argument that Jim Webbshould have run as a Republican "as a result of support from Scots-Irish Americans who wave the Confederate flag and take pride in their own whiteness, a group he's long championed. They might see him as an ethnic champion in the Trump mold and as the tough guy Trump and Ted Cruz pretend to be. The voters he'd be attracting might be the very people Trump is appealing to."
Can't Run Modest Campaign; Wants to Run U.S. Kyle Cheney of Politico: Ben Carson's "campaign manager Barry Bennett and communications director Doug Wattsboth resigned, effective immediately, after weeks of speculation about a shake-up.... Bennett told Politico that a slew of other senior operatives had stepped down, too, from the campaign's general counsel to its controller. Armstrong Williams, a close Carson confidant, told Politico that Robert Dees, a Carson advisor and retired Army general, will now chair the campaign, filling a leadership role that's been vacant for months.... It's unclear who will fill Bennett's post as campaign manager, handling the daily staff operation...." ...
... Robert Costa & Dave Weigel of the Washington Posthave more on the campaign staff's internal disagreements & Carson's own weird mismanagement. Their story is based, in large part, on an interview of Bennett. ...
... David Graham of the Atlantic: "The loss of Bennett and Watts doesn't just come at a terrible time for the Carson campaign -- the candidate's numbers are dropping, and the Iowa caucuses are just 32 days away. It also strips Carson of some of the few advisers he has with real, deep political experience." ...
... Dave Weigelprofiles Major Gen. Robert Dees (ret.), an evangelical Christian who will chair the remains of Carson's campaign. ...
... Onward, Christian Soldiers. For more on Dees, Weigel turns to James Bamford, who wrote about Dees in Foreign Policy: "Robert Dees [is] a retired general who believes Muslims pose a threat to the U.S., the military should spread Christianity, and Carson should be president." (CW: I may have linked to Bamford's piece in November.)
One of the things I'm going to do on my first day is office is I will put the prestige and power of the presidency behind a constitutional convention of the states. You know why? Because that is the only way that we are ever going to get term limits on members of Congress or the judiciary and that is the only way we are ever going to get a balanced-budget amendment. -- Marco Rubio ...
... ** Charles Pierce: "Dragooning the entire system of government into the pursuit of two of your hobby-horse causes — both of which, by the way, are idiotic -- would be an offense against the notion that the Constitution is the work of the entire people, and not of a collection of states. This is a states' rights move, no matter what Tom Coburn and Mark Levin say about it, an attempt to control the new demographics with the old privileges. And look at your state legislatures. That's whence your delegates to this convention will come. You see a lot of Madisons, Roger Shermans, or George Masons there? Me neither." Read Pierce's & Waldman's full comments.
Beyond the Beltway
Manny Fernandez & David Montgomery of the New York Times: "... on Friday, gun rights throughout [Texas] expanded still more, as a new law took effect that allows certain Texans to wear their handguns in holsters on their hips -- or in shoulder holsters, Dirty Harry-style -- openly displaying the fact that they are armed as they work, shop, dine and go about their day.... Gun rights will advance again in August, when students and faculty members at Texas universities will be allowed to carry concealed handguns on campus, although openly carrying them is prohibited."
digby on the arrest of a mentally-disabled Rochester man who planned a machete attck on restaurant-goers (see yesterday's News Ledes): "I do still have a few concerns about the millions of other mentally ill people and right wing yahoos who are armed to the teeth and might decide to take out a crowd of people for reasons entirely unrelated to some Muslim terrorist delusion, but there's clearly nothing we can do about that because freedom, so never mind."
Way Beyond
Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "... accounts from survivors and police officials, as well as the analysis of outside experts, make clear that there were substantial periods when the [Paris] terrorists operated with little or no hindrance from the authorities, and that France's top-heavy chain of command, which has diminished neighborhood patrols in favor of specialized units, contributed to delays."
News Ledes
Los Angeles Times: "German authorities Friday launched a manhunt for several suspects who officials believe planned suicide bombings at rail stations, as full rail transportation service in Munich resumed after being temporarily shut down as a safety precaution on New Year's Eve."
AP: "Former U.S. Rep. Mike Oxley [R-Ohio], who helped write landmark anti-fraud legislation following a wave of corporate scandals that brought down Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc., died Friday at age 71."
New York Times: "A gunman whom relatives identified as an Arab citizen of Israel opened fire in the center of Tel Aviv on Friday, killing two Israeli Jews at a crowded bar and wounding at least five others. The assault created mayhem along a busy street and led to an intense manhunt by the authorities. The suspect was still at large late Friday."
New York Times: "Natalie Cole, the Grammy Award-winning singer whose hits included 'Inseparable,' 'Pink Cadillac' and 'Unforgettable,' a virtual duet with her father, Nat King Cole, that topped the Billboard charts in 1991, died in Los Angeles on Thursday. She was 65."
Entertainment Tonight: "Actor Wayne Rogersdied on Thursday surrounded by family after suffering complications from pneumonia, his rep exclusively tells ET. He was 82 years old."
Griff Witte & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Washington Post: "Revelers in cities worldwide will ring in 2016 under extraordinary security with law enforcement agencies deploying extra police, shutting down popular venues and warning of an increased threat of terrorism following recent attacks in Paris and California."
Justin Gillis of the New York Times: "With tornado outbreaks in the South, Christmas temperatures that sent trees into bloom in Central Park, drought in parts of Africa and historic floods drowning the old industrial cities of England, 2015 is closing with a string of weather anomalies all over the world. The year [is] expected to be the hottest on record.... Rain in the central United States has been so heavy that major floods are likely along the lower Mississippi River in coming weeks. California may lurch from drought to flood by late winter. Most serious, millions of people could be threatened by a developing food shortage in southern Africa." ...
... Darryl Fears & Angela Fritz of the Washington Post: "From the top of the world to near the bottom, freakish and unprecedented weather has sent temperatures soaring across the Arctic, whipped the United Kingdom with hurricane-force winds and spawned massive flooding in South America."
Annals of Journalism. Cara Anna of the AP: "Sixty-nine journalists were killed around the world on the job in 2015. Twenty-eight of them were slain by Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The New York-based organization says Syria again was the deadliest place for journalists, though the number of deaths there in 2015 -- 13 -- was lower than in previous years of the conflict."
The Koch Party. Ken Vogel of Politico: Charles & David Koch "have quietly assembled, piece by piece, a privatized political and policy advocacy operation like no other in American history that today includes hundreds of donors and employs 1,200 full-time, year-round staffers in 107 offices nationwide. That's about 3½ times as many employees as the Republican National Committee and its congressional campaign arms had on their main payrolls last month, according to Politico's analysis of tax and campaign documents and interviews with sources familiar with the network. And the staggering sum the network plans to spend in the 2016 election run-up ― $889 million ― is more than double what the RNC spent in the previous presidential cycle."
Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic: "In America, we have decided that it is permissible, that it is wise, that it is moral for the police to de-escalate through killing.... A state that allows its agents to kill, to beat, to tase, without any real sanction, has ceased to govern and has commenced to simply rule."
Nick Corasaniti & Rachel Shorey of the New York Times: "First and last names. Recent addresses and phone numbers. Party affiliation. Voting history and demographics. A database containing this information from 191 million voter records was mysteriously published over the last week..., alarming privacy experts who say the information can be used for phishing attacks, identity theft and extortion. No one knows who built the database, or precisely where all the data came from, and whether its disclosure resulted from an inadvertent release or from hacks. The disclosure was discovered by an information technology specialist, Chris Vickery, who quickly alerted the authorities and published his findings on Databreaches.net." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers criticized the Obama administration Wednesday after a report that U.S. eavesdropping on Israeli officials during the Iran nuclear negotiations had picked up communications with members of Congress and Jewish American organizations. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced that the panel will look into the findings of the Wall Street Journal report and whether all laws and rules were followed. The House Oversight Committee asked the National Security Agency for copies of its policies on screening intercepted communications from members of Congress. Several candidates for the GOP presidential nomination also expressed alarm about the report, although it was not immediately clear whether any had participated in the intercepted phone calls with Israeli officials." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... so far, virtually all of the reaction involves two questions: (1) Should the U.S. be spying on our ally Israel?... And (2) should the Executive branch be spying, even incidentally, on the Legislative branch?... But there should be a third question raised as well: Should members of Congress be consorting with agents of a foreign government to thwart U.S. diplomacy?... It would be preferable if American politicians who want to signal to conservative Evangelicals or to Sheldon Adelson that Bibi's policies will be their own could find a way to do so without meeting with people who are under U.S. intelligence surveillance. Their hatred of Barack Obama is no excuse for disloyalty to the United States."
Sarah Wheaton & Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "President Barack Obama's bid to assert himself in his final year will begin with long-awaited executive actions on gun control which are expected to be released next week, shortly after he returns to Washington. The White House is putting finishing touches on several measures in an effort to make progress on curbing gun violence, an issue the president and close aides have found frustratingly intractable, before the race to replace him enters prime time."
"Thanks, Obama." Josh Barro of the New York Times: "Data released by the I.R.S. on Wednesday shows that tax rates on the income of America's 400 wealthiest taxpayers rose sharply to 22.9 percent in 2013, erasing a majority of the last two decades' decline in their effective tax rate. As described in an article in The New York Times on Wednesday, tax rates on America's 400 wealthiest taxpayers fell sharply from the late 1990s through 2012, when their average effective income tax rate fell to 16.7 percent from 26.4 percent.... The spike in the wealthiest people's tax rates was mostly achieved ... through initiatives of President Obama.... One was the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which extended the so-called Bush tax cuts for most taxpayers, but allowed certain breaks for people making over $500,000 to expire. The other was the Affordable Care Act, which imposed new taxes on high earners, applying to both regular income and income from capital gains The Relief Act also led to the restoration of rules, repealed under President George W. Bush, that limit the value of tax deductions (like those for mortgage interest and state income taxes paid) for people with high incomes."
Elise Labott of CNN: "The Treasury Department is preparing sanctions against a number of Iranian and other international companies and individuals for their alleged role in developing Iran's ballistic missile program, U.S. officials said Wednesday. Officials said the move was in response to Iran's test launching of two ballistic missiles in October and November."
We take only the Muslims. We don't take the Christians. If you're Christian, it's almost impossible to get into this country. -- Donald Trump, on U.S. immigration practices
... Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "Donald Trump "is strongest among Republicans who are less affluent, less educated and less likely to turn out to vote. His very best voters are self-identified Republicans who nonetheless are registered as Democrats. It's a coalition that's concentrated in the South, Appalachia and the industrial North, according to data provided to The Upshot by Civis Analytics, a Democratic data firm. Mr. Trump's huge advantage among these groups poses a challenge for his campaign, because it may not have the turnout operation necessary to mobilize irregular voters." ...
... Rajeev Syal of the Guardian: "The [British] government has responded to a petition calling for Donald Trump to be banned from coming to Britain by pointing out that it has powers to exclude foreign nationals if their presence is 'non-conducive to the public good'.... After the petition gained more than 500,000 signatures, the government released a statement that did not go as far as to say that he would be stopped from entering the UK, but did say Theresa May found Trump's remarks in relation to Muslims 'divisive, unhelpful and wrong'." ...
... Yastreblyansky, covering for Steve M.: Trump's remarks in Iowa about Ted Cruzhave "a distinct racist smell." Trump is counting on his ignorant audience not to know that Cruz is as whitey-white as they are. CW: Also, too, tho Yastreblyansky doesn't mention it, Cruz's loony father Rafael is an evangelical, & a preacher at that. So I'm not sure what Trump was talking about when he told the good white people, "In all fairness, to the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of Cuba, OK?"
... Dexter Thomas of the Los Angeles Times: "Donald "Trump is ... a white-people problem. ... White people should ... feel ashamed -- as white people -- of Donald Trump. Whites need to stand up and say that they will not allow Trump to hijack their culture, or to conduct his racist politics in their name.... This year, a community has begun to organize around their whiteness and a desire to return to a (largely fictional) vision of what used to be, to 'make America great again.' The challenge now is for whites who care about social justice to create an alternative movement. They'll need to vow to work with their neighbors -- for many of whom America was never particularly 'great' -- to make America better."
Scott Higham & Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post: "When Marco Rubio was majority whip of the Florida House of Representatives, he used his official position to urge state regulators to grant a real estate license to his brother-in-law, a convicted cocaine trafficker who had been released from prison 20 months earlier.... In July 2002, Rubio sent a letter on his official statehouse stationery to the Florida Division of Real Estate, recommending [his brother-in-law] Orlando Cicilia 'for licensure without reservation.'... Rubio did not disclose in the letter that Cicilia was married to his sister, Barbara, or that the former cocaine dealer was living at the time in the same West Miami home as Rubio's parents. He wrote that he had known Cicilia 'for over 25 years,' without elaborating." ...
... CW: Some while back, when the Post published a story about Rubio's brother-in-law, who is ten years Rubio's senior, I argued that Rubio should not be held responsible for what his in-law did when Rubio was a boy. That's still true. But this story poses an entirely different matter. ...
... Charles Pierce: "Marco RubioHas Gone Full Neocon. Invade here! Invade there! Invade everywhere! And don't forget the waterboard."
Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "... Jeb Bushis canceling reserved advertising time in Iowa and South Carolina, the latest reminder of his struggles to connect with voters -- and a sign of possible fundraising troubles. The decision will keep Bush from paying for roughly $3 million of reserved TV time in January -- a little more than $1 million in Iowa just under $2 million in South Carolina. Instead, Bush plans to redeploy roughly 50 staffers to the four states that hold the first contests next year."
Big Midwestern Cities (& Black Police Shooting Victims) Look All Alike. Margaret Hartmann: Jeb!confuses Cleveland with Chicago, reminds everyone how bad the last Bush presidency was by nicknaming a state senator "Hurricane Katrina."
Ed Kilgore: Former New York Gov. George "Pataki was seeking the presidency via a 'moderate lane' that no longer exists. Yes, there are genuinely moderate Republican voters, and a lot more conservative voters who self-identify as 'moderate' to distinguish themselves from the fire-breathing fanatics who used to be found only in the fever swamps of the John Birch Society and other far-right groups. But the constellation of heavily funded ideological groups exerting power in the Republican Party, and the structure of the nominating process, make something like a Pataki candidacy a nonstarter...."
Beyond the Beltway
Ryan Felton of the Guardian: "Michigan governor Rick Snyderapologized on Tuesday for the debacle that caused the city of Flint's water supply to be poisoned by lead, while the top state environment official resigned in light of a report that chiefly placed the blame for the crisis on his department.... Flint has been embroiled in a never-ending stream of water quality issues that began in April 2014, when the city started pulling water from a local river as a cost-saving measure. The switch took place while Flint was operated by a state-appointed emergency manager...." Read the whole story. (Also linked yesterday.)
Christine Hauser & Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "The authorities in Pennsylvania announced criminal charges on Wednesday against the entertainer Bill Cosby stemming from a woman's accusation that he drugged and sexually abused her at his home in a suburb north of Philadelphia, in 2004. Kevin Steele, Montgomery County's district attorney-elect, said that Mr. Cosby faces a felony charge of aggravated indecent assault. He said the investigation involved a 'relationship' between Mr. Cosby and the woman, Andrea Constand, that came about from her work with the basketball team at Temple University, Mr. Cosby's alma mater." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The criminal complaint against Cosby is here. ...
... Colin Moynihan & Graham Bowley of the New York Times: "While dozens of women have come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct by Mr. Cosby, the Constand case is unique, not only because it is the singular case that has resulted in criminal charges, but also because there exists so many documentary, albeit conflicting, accounts of what took place."
AP: "Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Wednesday that Chicago police must be better trained to distinguish between when they can use a gun and when they should use a gun, after a series of shootings by officers sparked protests and complaints that police are too quick to fire their weapons. Emanuel announced changes in police training and department policies on use of force during a news conference. He also said the police department will double the number of Tasers available to officers...." ...
... ** Rick Perlstein, writing in the New Yorker, takes a brief look at Rahm's brilliant career. Perlstein credits Rahm with screwing up the Democratic party for the past two decades. CW: In fairness, Rahm had a lot of help.
Richard Winton & James Queally of the Los Angeles Times: "Enrique Marquez Jr., the man who purchased two of the weapons used to kill 14 people inside a San Bernardino social services center earlier this month, was indicted Wednesday on additional charges related to the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors unveiled a superseding indictment that brings the total number of charges against Marquez to five. He faces up to 50 years in federal prison if convicted."
Katherine Krueger of TPM: "A loosely organized group of self-styled patriots is convening in rural Oregon Saturday in hopes of provoking another showdown with the federal government, this time in support of a father and son ranching duo convicted of torching public land. Dwight Hammond Jr., 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, are due to report to federal prison Jan. 4 for starting a series of wildfires on federal lands in 2012.... Now a cast of right wing-rabble rousers are coming to their defense, including the infamousanti-MuslimactivistJon Ritzheimer and Ammon Bundy, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.... The decentralized group has called on Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward to create a sanctuary so the Hammonds won't have to surrender to federal authorities, The Oregonian reported. After Ward refused, he received death threats and was labeled an 'enemy of the people.'"
Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "Federal marshals said on Wednesday that it was uncertain whenEthan Couch, the Texas teenager known for using an 'affluenza' defense in a fatal drunken-driving case, would be returned to the United States from Mexico to face charges of violating his parole. Mr. Couch, 18, and his mother, Tonya, 48, were arrested Monday night in Puerto Vallarta after the United States Marshals Service tipped off the Mexican authorities to their location. He was made famous by the successful defense that he should not go to prison for killing four people in an accident because he suffered from too much privilege stemming from his family's wealth."
Way Beyond
Milan Schrueur of the New York Times: "In the six weeks since the Paris terrorist attacks, law enforcement agencies in Brussels, where most of the attackers lived or had ties, have been denounced as slow, unresponsive, disorganized and even incompetent. To this list of woes, another was added on Wednesday: Officials are investigating accounts of an alcohol-fueled 'orgy' at a police station one night last month while Brussels, the Belgian capital, was nearly shut down over fears of a copycat terrorist attack." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ceylan Yeginsu of the New York Times: "A major Turkish military operation to eradicate Kurdish militants in Turkey's restive southeast has turned dozens of urban districts into bloody battlefields, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians and shattering hopes of reviving peace as an old war reaches its deadliest level in two decades."
News Ledes
Reuters: Emanuel L Lutchman, "a 25-year-old man accused of planning to attack a restaurant in [Rochester in] upstate New York on New Year's Eve, has been arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State militant group, the US Department of Justice said on Thursday."
AP: "Belgian authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of a 10th person in connection with last month's bloodbath in Paris and said six others have been detained for questioning over a suspected plot to stage new attacks in Brussels during the holidays."
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