;)
The Commentariat -- Nov. 18, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post: "A massive police raid Wednesdays killed the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks during a blitz-style sweep, two senior European intelligence officials said, after investigators followed leads that the fugitive militant was holed up north of the French capital and could be plotting another wave of violence. More than 100 police and soldiers stormed the building during a seven-hour siege that left two dead including the suspected overseer of the Paris bloodshed, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian extremist who had once boasted he could slip easily between Europe and the Islamic State strongholds in Syria." ...
... Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "French media reported that the woman who set off a suicide blast as security forces closed in Wednesday during an anti-terrorism raid in Saint-Denis was Hasna Aitboulahcen. The 26-year-old French citizen was a cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected architect of the Paris attacks." ...
... Rukimini Callimachi & Robery Mackey of the New York Times: "The Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula last month, released an image that purports to show the improvised explosive device used to kill all 224 people aboard the flight from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. In the latest issue of Dabiq, the Islamic State's glossy online magazine, first disseminated through Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, a picture shows what ISIS says were the components of an IED: A Gold Schweppes Pineapple tonic water can and two devices containing wires that appear to be the detonator and the switch." ...
... ABC News: "French President Francois Hollande today promised that 'France will remain a country of freedom,' defending his decision to honor a commitment to accept migrants and refugees despite Friday's deadly terrorist attacks in Paris."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Dogged for months by questions about being a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders will address the subject of his political philosophy head on in a long-awaited speech on Thursday."
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, on Tuesday said it may be necessary to halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States. Republicans immediately seized on Schumer's comment, which breaks with other Democrats who have argued against halting the program."
David Boucher of the Tennessean: "A top Tennessee Republican lawmaker believes the time has come for the National Guard to round up any Syrian refugees who have recently settled in the state and to stop any additional Syrian refugees from entering Tennessee. 'We need to activate the Tennessee National Guard and stop them from coming in to the state by whatever means we can,' said House GOP Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Franklin, referencing refugees." CW: So who's scarier -- Syrian refugees or Casada?
Ben Brody of Bloomberg: "Jeb Bush elaborated Wednesday on his proposal to put a limited number of U.S. ground troops in combat against the Islamic State. One day after the Florida governor told Bloomberg's Mark Halperin that the U.S. is 'going to have to have ground troops' to fight the terrorist group, Bush, speaking at The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina, urged the U.S. to go beyond the bombing sorties already underway in the region."
Ben Carson has a plan to defeat ISIS, which the Washington Post has published. CW: (1) I'll eat my surgical cap if Ben Carson wrote what the headline describes as "My Plan"; (2) most of the plan is "we have to beat them"; (3) jamming their social media, which Carson suggests, might be something worth trying. ...
... Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "Happy Geography Awareness Week!... Ben Carson's presidential campaign ... Tuesday night ... took to social media to share a map of the United States in which five New England states were placed in the wrong location. The campaign deleted the Twitter and Facebook posts Wednesday morning after media outlets and social media users pointed out the error." Also, he gave part of Virginia to Maryland. CW: Yeah, I trust the Middle East plan of a guy who can't find Massachusetts.
*****
Apparently they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America. At first, they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three year old orphans. That doesn't seem so tough to me. -- President Obama, on GOP presidential candidates, referring to a remark by Chris Christie not to admit any Syrian refugees, including "orphans under five" (video clip here) ...
... Video of the full press conference is here. ...
... David Nakamura & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama on Wednesday angrily accused Republicans of feeding into the Islamic State's strategy of casting the United States as waging war on Muslims, saying the GOP's rhetoric has become the most 'potent recruitment tool' for the militant group. Obama was responding to recent calls from Republicans, including presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), to block Syrian refugees' entrance into the United States. Bush and Cruz have suggested welcoming Christian refugees, but not those who are Muslims." ...
... Nick Gass of Politico: "The White House defended the administration's approach toward fighting the Islamic State on Wednesday.... 'The first thing that's important for people to understand is that the United States has been involved with carrying out military strikes inside of Syria for more than a year now,' press secretary Josh Earnest said in an interview with CNN's 'New Day.'... 'And it is only because of the significant investments that this president made and ordered, in terms of collecting intelligence, carrying out military airstrikes inside of Syria -- that is what allows France to now ramp up their contribution to our effort and to carry out some strikes themselves,' Earnest said, speaking from Manila.... 'We certainly appreciate the contribution from our French allies, but none of this would be possible without the logistical support, the air refueling and the intelligence that's been collected by the United States.'" ...
... Vladimir Isachenkov & Josh Lederman of the AP: "In a striking shift, President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are embarking on a tentative path toward closer ties and possible military cooperation, as the bitter rift over Ukraine gives way to common cause against the Islamic State group." ...
... Tal Kopan & Jim Acosta of CNN: "White House officials held a call with governors Tuesday evening about Syrian refugees as a growing number of state executives are saying they will not welcome resettling them in their states over terror concerns. Top staff from the White House, Department of Homeland Security and the State Department fielded questions from the governors for 90 minutes and reassured them that they were doing the most thorough vetting possible of Syrian refugees, according to brief notes from the call provided by the White House." ...
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama called on China on Wednesday to halt its construction on reclaimed islands in the South China Sea, raising the contentious issue at the start of a two-day economic summit meeting at which he and other Pacific Rim leaders also discussed trade and climate change." ...
... Lilia Blaise, et al., of the New York Times: "After a series of gun battles early Wednesday, the French police arrested five people hiding out in an apartment in [the] northern Paris suburb [of St.-Denis] in an operation aimed at detaining the Belgian man suspected of organizing the terrorist attacks on Friday night. One woman died in the raid, when she detonated an explosive vest." ...
... The Washington Post's liveblog is here. ...
... Anthony Faoila, et al., of the Washington Post: "The operation began around 4:30 a.m., and left several police officers wounded and at least two suspects dead. The dead included a woman who blew herself up, according to the Paris prosecutor's office." ...
... AP: "Overnight raids by French police across France have resulted in 25 arrests and the seizure of 34 weapons." ...
... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "Two Air France flights headed from the United States to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris were diverted on Tuesday night due to anonymous threats. Both planes have landed safely. Air France said in a statement that there was a 'bomb scare' on Flight 55 out of Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. That flight landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Flight 65 from Los Angeles International Airport was diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport." ...
... Andrew Higgins & Kimoko de Freytas of the New York Times: "When the family of Abdelhamid Abaaoud received word from Syria last fall that he had been killed fighting for the Islamic State, it rejoiced at what it took to be excellent news about a wayward son it had come to despise." ...
... Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "... German officials evacuated a soccer stadium over an apparent plan to set off a powerful bomb. Authorities in Hanover, Germany, abruptly called off a friendly soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands that Chancellor Angela Merkel had planned to attend to show resolve against terrorism and support for the victims of the Nov. 13 attacks [in Paris]...." ...
... Reuters: "Honduran authorities have detained five Syrian nationals who were trying to reach the United States using stolen Greek passports, but there are no signs of any links to last week's attacks in Paris, police said." ...
... Tuesday's New York Times live updates related to the terror attacks in Paris are here.
... From the liveblog @ 6:50 pm ET: "Soccer fans in a packed stadium [at Wembley Stadium in London] were in strong voice on Tuesday night as they sang 'La Marseillaise,' the French national anthem, in an emotional ceremony before an exhibition match between England and France."
Jake Sherman of Politico: "The House is likely to vote Thursday on legislation aimed at strengthening the oversight of Syrian and Iraqi refugees who want to come to the United States. The measure is expected to force the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to certify that each potential refugee is not a threat to U.S. security. Top GOP leaders said they expect some Democratic support in the House. Republican leaders moved swiftly to draft the legislation to halt President Barack Obama's plan to accept thousands of refugees from Syria.... Later Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) endorsed putting a hold on the Syrian refugee resettlement program." ...
... Mike DeBonis & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday called for a 'pause' to the admittance of Syrian refugees into the United States, citing the national security risks in the wake of the Paris attacks. 'Our nation has always been welcoming, but we cannot let terrorists take advantage of our compassion,' Ryan (R-Wis.) said after emerging from a closed door meeting for House Republicans. 'This is a moment where it's better to be safe than to be sorry.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dana Milbank: "Congressional Republicans unveiled a new strategy Tuesday morning to defeat the Islamic State: We will kill it with clichés." ...
... David Smith of the Guardian: "Terrorists traveling from Europe without a visa pose a bigger threat to US security than refugees from Syria, according to the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee. Senator Richard Burr supported calls to consider a 'pause' in admitting Syrian asylum seekers but insisted this is not the most probable route open potential terrorists. 'I'm probably more concerned with the visa waiver programme today,' Burr told reporters.... 'Because were I in Europe already and I wanted to go the United States and I was not on a watch list or a no fly list, the likelihood is I would use the visa waiver programme before I would try to pawn myself as a refugee and try to enter under false documents,' he said."
Don Melvin & Matthew Chance of CNN: "The Russian passenger jet that crashed over Sinai, Egypt, was brought down by a bomb estimated to contain 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service said Tuesday, and the Russian government is offering a $50 million reward for information about those who brought it down." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate voted on Tuesday to block President Obama's tough new climate change regulations, hoping to undermine his negotiating authority before a major international climate summit meeting in Paris this month. The Senate resolution, which passed 52 to 46, would scuttle a rule that would significantly cut heat-trapping carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants.... A second resolution, which also passed 52 to 46, would strike a related E.P.A. rule designed to freeze construction of future coal-fired power plants. Three Democrats from states in which coal plays a major role in the economy, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, broke party ranks to vote in favor of the resolutions. But three moderate Republicans who are up for re-election next year, Senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois, broke from their party to vote against the resolutions and back the environmental regulations. If the resolutions reach the president's desk, Mr. Obama has promised a veto.... The House is expected to pass a companion resolution by early December, forcing a veto just as the negotiations in Paris are beginning."
Koch Ops. Ken Vogel of Politico: "The political network helmed by Charles and David Koch has quietly built a secretive operation that conducts surveillance and intelligence gathering on its liberal opponents, viewing it as a key strategic tool in its efforts to reshape American public life. The operation, which is little-known even within the Koch network, gathers what Koch insiders refer to as 'competitive intelligence' that is used to try to thwart liberal groups and activists, and to identify potential threats to the expansive network."
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post (Nov. 16): "The Supreme Court turned aside an antiabortion organization's attempt Monday to get more information about a Planned Parenthood contract with the federal government. The court said it would not review an appeals court decision that said the Freedom of Information Act did not allow New Hampshire Right to Life access to Planned Parenthood's Manual of Medical Standards and Guidelines."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court's decisions protecting gay rights were not rooted in the Constitution, and their logic could as easily apply to child molesters, Justice Antonin Scalia told a room filled with first-year law students at Georgetown University on Monday. 'What minorities deserve protection?' he asked. 'What? It's up to me to identify deserving minorities?' He said those decisions should generally be made by the democratic process rather than by judges." ...
... CW: Allow me to assist, Nino. If any group of law-abiding citizens is regularly or occasionally subject to discrimination -- via either laws or practices -- based upon some aspect of who they are, then they're easy to "identify" as "deserving." Just to be clear, since you seem to find this concept so difficult, that does not include child molesters, whom you ludicrously describe as a "deserving minority." P.S. Since I know you love to go to the dictionary & often cite it in your hilarious opinions, do look up the meaning of "deserving." Jerk. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The Washington Post story, by Robert Barnes, is here.
Sportswriter Bill Simmons interviews President Obama for GQ. Sports metaphors & comparisons liberally applied. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Presidential Race
Je Suis Désolée. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a onetime rising Republican star whose popularity has plummeted in his own state, abruptly dropped out of the presidential race on Tuesday, conceding that he was unable to find any traction."
Brian Beutler: "Trump and Carson certainly do have the wrong temperament for the presidency.... It's good that some Republican operatives are aware of it. Yet those same operatives seem completely unperturbed by the fact that their less impetuous candidates are courting failure in more mundane ways, overcommitting themselves such that whether they have a presidential temperament or not, the presidency will have the wrong temperament for them."
Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "There is broad if inchoate agreement within the Republican Party about how the United States should respond to the Paris attacks: ramp up military engagement to defeat Islamic State terrorists and close the door to some if not all Syrian refugees. But the urgent return of national security to the forefront of debate on Capitol Hill and in the presidential race has quickly laid bare stark differences in pitch and attitude among Republican leaders. While some are urging restraint and sobriety, others are raising the decibel level to tap into the fears and anxieties that the Paris bloodshed has stoked in many Americans." ...
... Eliza Collins of Politico: "The Obama administration is deliberately sending Syrian refugees to states led by Republican governors, Donald Trump alleged Tuesday. Trump, who was speaking to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, said of the refugees, 'They send them to the Republicans, not to the Democrats, you know because they know the problem ... why would we want to bother the Democrats?'" CW: I'd like to know his source for that allegation. ...
... Steve M. explains arithmetic to Donald Trump & Eliza Collins. "So, yes, there are 1316 Syrian refugees in states with Republican governors and 508 in states with Democratic governors [maybe because there are nearly twice as many states with Republican governors than with Democratic ones] But there are 1154 Syrian refugees in states that voted Obama twice (plus 41 in states that voted for him once), and only 629 in states that never voted for him." ...
... Nick Gass: "The United States will have 'absolutely no choice' but to close down some mosques where 'some bad things are happening,' Donald Trump said in a recent interview...."
... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee have seized on an odd argument to argue against taking Syrian refugees: The U.S. is too cold for them. Huckabee and Trump both cited Minnesota as being too cold for refugees."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Donald Trump on Tuesday named Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) when asked about his possible running mate in 2016. 'Ted Cruz is now agreeing with me 100 percent,' he said when asked about his vice presidential pick...."
Patrick O'Connor of the Wall Street Journal: "Florida Sen. Marco Rubio leveled pointed charges Monday at a pair of Republican presidential rivals who backed efforts to overhaul U.S. bulk collection of phone records. The Florida senator criticized Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky for advocating efforts earlier this year to overhaul the National Security Agency's controversial program to collect the personal communications of millions of Americans, campaign-trail attacks that carry more weight in the aftermath of Paris." (Story is not firewalled.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ted Cruz, who has said that the United States should not allow Syrian Muslim refugees into the country but should provide safe haven to fleeing Christians, plans to introduce legislation that would bar Syrian refugees from entering the country." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday panned the idea of favoring Christian refugees from Syria over Muslims, delivering a rebuttal to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a GOP presidential candidate. McCain said using a religious test on Syrian refugees, especially children, makes no sense."
** Trip Gabriel
... Pamela Engel of Business Insider: "Carson's campaign pushed back ... and suggested the paper was taking 'advantage of an elderly gentleman [Duane Clarridge]. Mr. Clarridge has incomplete knowledge of the daily, not weekly briefings, that Dr. Carson receives on important national security matters from former military and State Department officials,' Doug Watts, a Carson campaign spokesman, told Business Insider in an email." ...
... Oh Really? Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "In a phone chat with the Erik Wemple Blog, [Armstrong] Williams [-- Carson's campaign & business manager --] struck a somewhat different tone -- one that expressed no criticism of the New York Times. It was Williams himself who passed along to Gabriel the name of Clarridge.... Clarridge, says Williams, has been working with Carson for the past two years or so." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Ben Carson has now topped the Republican primary polls long enough that, perhaps in combination with the recent attack in Paris, his advisers now appear genuinely terrified that he might be elected president and are doing everything in their power to stop it. Or else they hate him.... Let's sum up what we have learned. The candidate's advisers are saying on the record he doesn't know anything, has trouble learning anything, and cannot seem to recall even what little information he has managed to assimilate. I don't see how a Carson presidency could go wrong." ...
... Wait, Wait! The Carson campaign has a new excuse for Carson's recent deer-in-the-headlights moment. David Knowles of Bloomberg: "Hours after being quoted in a New York Times article saying Carson 'froze' during an interview with Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace, Carson adviser Armstrong Williams offered another take on the Republican presidential contender's seeming inability to name which allies he would reach out to first to defeat the Islamic State terrorist network. 'Dr. Carson is very dismissive of the question,' Williams said Tuesday on Bloomberg's With All Due Respect. 'It was a hypothetical, and Dr. Carson does not like answering hypotheticals and so he intentionally did not answer the question.'" CW: By this logic, Carson will not answer (or will repeat his "homina, homina, homina" moment) every time an interviewer asks him what he would do as president. So, see, it's gonna be a Surprise Presidency!
Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "As part of a broad national security plan to defeat ISIS, Republican Presidential candidate John Kasich proposed creating a new government agency to push Judeo-Christian values around the world. The new agency, which he hasn't yet named, would promote a Jewish- and Christian-based belief system to four regions of the world: China, Iran, Russia and the Middle East." CW: Let's send everybody tiny Bibles. And Kasich is the "sensible" GOP candidate. ...
Jeb!, Master of the Metaphor. CW: Frogs, crabs, whatever. Every one of the GOP candidates is a joke.
Brian Mahoney & Marianne Levine of Politico: "The powerful union behind the fast food workers' wage movement endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Tuesday. The 2-million-member Service Employees International Union approved the endorsement through a vote by its executive board."
Annie Karni of Politico: "Bernie Sanders' ballyhooed speech on socialism is now on indefinite hold. Details about how Sanders would pay for his proposed single-payer national health insurance program to provide Medicare for all Americans have yet to be fleshed out -- even though a July 30 post on his campaign website says the Vermont senator would file legislation on single-payer 'perhaps as soon as next week.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Ed Kilgore: "... the planted axiom that a single-payer health care system or a more progressive tax system represents 'socialism' is absurd. Harry Truman proposed a single-payer system seventy years ago this Thursday, a few months before his 'Iron Curtain' speech." CW: Actually, I found the whole article absurd. The gist is that Sanders can't handle the big leagues. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Gubernatorial Race
Never Let a Crisis Go Unexploited. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Louisiana's race for governor is set to end on November 21, one week after the Paris bombings. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), the struggling Republican nominee, is trying to make the race turn on one issue: Whether to let Syrian refugees settle in the United States. His closing argument depends on making Democratic nominee John Bel Edwards, a state representative who responded cautiously to the refugee aspect of the crisis, into a refugee-hugging accomplice of President Obama." (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Josh Israel of Think Progress: "A Texas state legislator [Rep. Tony Dale (R)] wants the U.S. to stop allowing Syrian refugees into the country. His reasoning: They might be able to buy guns in his state.... But Dale is one of the Texas legislature's most fervent gun-rights advocates.... He and his colleagues in the state legislature have blocked mandatory background checks for all gun purchases.... The NRA frequently claims that restrictions on gun purchases are unnecessary because 'criminals don't legally purchase firearms.'" Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the lead. ...
... "Gun Rights Are White Rights." Erik Loomis of Lawyers, Guns & Money: "The modern gun rights movement and white rights movement have always been intertwined. These connections need a lot more exploration than the occasional note that some Texas state legislator is freaking out about Muslims buying guns but wants all the whites in his state to be armed to the teeth."
Rees Shapiro & Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "Washington College closed its Maryland campus Tuesday morning until further notice as police and the FBI intensified the search for a 'despondent' sophomore who is believed to be armed. It was the second day the Eastern Shore campus has been on high alert, going from a shelter-in-place order Monday to a full evacuation on Tuesday. Authorities are trying to find Jacob Marberger, whose parents called college officials early Monday to report that he had left their home in Pennsylvania with a gun and that they were not able to reach him." CW: Another lovely example of white-boy terrorism.
Nicky Woolf of the Guardian: "Jamar Clark, the 24-year-old shot on Sunday morning following an altercation with police, died in hospital from his injuries on Monday night, police have confirmed. Clark was shot in the head by police early on Sunday morning following an altercation with officers and paramedics. Police said at first that Clark was shot following a struggle, but eyewitnesses have said he was already in handcuffs when he was shot. Family members have described Clark's shooting as 'execution-style'."
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