The Commentariat -- August 14, 2015

Internal links removed.

Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cuba on Friday morning to attend a flag-raising ceremony at the American Embassy.... Three retired Marines who lowered the American flag when the embassy was closed in 1961 will present another to be raised by the Marines now assigned to the diplomatic post.... The embassy ceremony ... will be streamed live on the State Department website.... In the afternoon ... Mr. Kerry will have an opportunity to talk with Cuban human rights proponents and political activists at a reception at the official residence of Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who is serving as the top American diplomat in Cuba until an ambassador is nominated and confirmed." ...

... Francisco Jara of AFP: "US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Cuba Friday to raise the American flag over the newly reopened US embassy, a symbolic capstone on Washington's historic rapprochement with Havana."

"What If Barack and Bibi Are Both Right? Jim Fallows & his readers present "a set of theories for what's really behind opposition to the Iran deal in Israel and the U.S." ...

... Jonathan Weisman & Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Some of the wealthiest and most powerful donors in American politics, those for and against the accord, tried to get a word in with [Sen. Chuck] Schumer. [They succeeded.] Now, approaching a vote on President Obama's most important international priority, the fight is expanding, with tens of millions of dollars flowing into ad campaigns, and contributors leveraging access to undecided Democrats." ...

... Gershom Gorenberg, who lives in Israel, in the American Prospect: "To keep their seats safe, Chuck Schumer and [Rep.] Brad Sherman [D-Calif.] are willing to make Israel much less safe."

Emily Badger of the Washington Post: "Last week, the Department of Justice argued ... in a statement of interest it filed in a relatively obscure case in Boise, Idaho, that could impact how cities regulate and punish homelessness. Boise, like many cities -- the number of which has swelled since the recession -- has an ordinance banning sleeping or camping in public places. But such laws, the DOJ says, effectively criminalize homelessness itself in situations where people simply have nowhere else to sleep.... By weighing in on this case, the DOJ's first foray in two decades into this still-unsettled area of law, the federal government is warning cities far beyond Boise and backing up federal goals to treat homelessness more humanely."

Emily Steel of the New York Times: "The letters of the day on 'Sesame Street' are H, B and O. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit group behind the children's television program, has struck a five-year deal with HBO, the premium cable network, that will bring first-run episodes of 'Sesame Street' exclusively to HBO and its streaming outlets starting in the fall.... After nine months of appearing only on HBO, the shows will be available free on PBS, home to 'Sesame Street' for the last 45 years. It is an unexpected union: the nonprofit behind a TV show created to teach children in underserved communities matched with the premium cable network that targets affluent adults with innovative programming." ...

... CW: If you want to know what's wrong with Republicans' defunding every entity of any social value, here's an example (altho PBS overpays its CEO, IMHO). Steel doesn't mention the GOP's repeated efforts to cut public broadcast funding. In 2012, Barack Obama did:

Boston Globe: "Three months ago, Harvard student Aran Khanna was preparing to start a coveted internship at Facebook when he launched a browser application ... that used data from Facebook Messenger to map where users were when they sent messages. The app also showed the locations, which were accurate to within three feet, in a group chat.... The app capitalized on a privacy flaw that Facebook had been aware of for about three years.... Within three days, Facebook asked Khanna to disable the app ... [and] deactivated location sharing from desktops.... And the company that Mark Zuckerberg famously launched from his Harvard dorm room withdrew its internship offer from this Harvard student, who apparently made the mistake of...launching an app from his dorm room."

Paul Krugman: "China is ruled by a party that calls itself Communist, but its economic reality is one of rapacious crony capitalism.... China's economy is wildly unbalanced, with a very low share of gross domestic product devoted to consumption and a very high share devoted to investment. This was sustainable while the country was able to maintain extremely rapid growth; but growth is, inevitably, slowing as China runs out of surplus labor. As a result, returns on investment are dropping fast.... China's leadership keeps imagining that it can order markets around, telling them what prices to reach. And that's not how things work.... If [China's] leadership is really as clueless as it has been looking lately, that bodes ill, not just for China, but for the world as a whole."

Presidential Race

     ... Via Driftglass in a post titled, "Gloria in Excelsis Both Siderism."

Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "US vice-president Joe Biden is nearing an imminent decision on whether to challenge Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination as supporters report a surge in interest from potential backers.... Biden is on vacation this week on Kiawah Island in South Carolina -- an important early-voting primary state -- but a source close to his thinking confirmed a recent Wall Street Journal report that he has been using part of the trip to sound out friends and family." CW: "nearing an imminent decision?" I myself am soon-to-be close to nearing an impending imminent decision that's just around the corner. ...

... Kristen Welker of NBC News: "Vice President Joe Biden is spending part of his South Carolina vacation calling close friends to discuss a potential 2016 run, a longtime Democratic operative and a source close to Biden who had an extensive phone call with him this week confirmed to NBC News." ...

... CW Update. Now I know it must be true, because I read it in the New York Times. ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "The Clinton campaign has a little rocket booster that's probably kept stored in a small case near the entrance to its Brooklyn headquarters. It's labeled 'Joe Biden backers,' and as soon as the vice president announces that he doesn't plan to run for president -- assuming he doesn't, of course -- Team Clinton can break it out, fire it up, and widen the lead over Bernie Sanders by another couple of points." ...

... Former Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), in a Des Moines Register op-ed, endorses Hillary Clinton. ...

... Jamelle Bouie: "What's important about the email story -- what makes it so damaging for Clinton -- is that it highlights a key weakness (her secrecy and evasiveness), suggests misconduct, and is ongoing. So far, there's no end to the email saga, just a series of small revelations. Each one prompts a day's worth of coverage, and each one gives Republicans a chance to emphasize her least appealing qualities.... That Clinton used private email at all shows her flexible approach to rules and regulations and a secretive reflex for conducting official business.... She should have used her official email account, as a way to prepare for the worst and avoid undue scrutiny." ...

... Speaking of Drip, Drip. Chris Strohm of Bloomberg: "The FBI is seeking to determine whether data from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server may still exist elsewhere, a U.S. official said.... Barbara Wells, an attorney for Platte River Networks, a Denver-based company that has managed Clinton's private e-mail since 2013, said in a phone interview Thursday that the server turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation 'is blank and does not contain any useful data.' But Wells added that the data on Clinton's server was migrated to another server that still exists. She ended the interview when questioned further, declining to say whether the data still exists on that other server and who has possession of it." ...

     ... CW: From the get-go, I have believed Clinton's staff must have backed up her correspondence & other material. It doesn't make sense not to do so, especially for material of such importance. I myself have backed up my vital correspondence re: crafts projects, travel plans & gossip about the neighbors. In addition, I've learned -- from watching too many teevee crime shows -- that law enforcement can often recover a scrubbed drive (in about 60 seconds, in fictional stories).

... Steve M. makes a strong case that Hillary Clinton's campaign is living in fantasyland. In his "don't panic" memo, campaign manager Robby Mook claims that "the reality is that the GOP brand continues to erode by the day." Steve counters, "It's always like this -- the public may not agree with the GOP on issues, and may have been repulsed by the recent words and deeds of prominent Republicans, but the brand always gets refreshed, and the political mainstream always tells us that there's no rot under the new coat of paint." ...

... The memo is here. ...

Ed Kilgore: "I'd say it's likely the memo was aimed as much at the MSM as any other 'elites.' It went pretty heavily into the demographic and geographical advantages any Democratic candidate is likely to have in a presidential general election. That's a little surprising coming from a well-known semi-'centrist' front-runner, since it suggests somebody like Sanders could win as well. But perhaps it's really intended to undermine the panicky thought that Democrats needs to pull somebody else into the race (presumably Joe Biden) in case HRC's troubles worsen."

... Or some other candidate ...

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Supporters of Al Gore have begun a round of conversations among themselves and with the former vice president about his running for president in 2016, the latest sign that top Democrats have serious doubts that Hillary Clinton is a sure thing." ...

     ... Update. Michael Hirsh & Kate Bennett of Politico: "Despite some hopeful speculation among Democrats that Al Gore might jump into the 2016 presidential race in the face of Hillary Clinton's troubles, people close to the former vice president and Democratic nominee say he's not considering it."

Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "For many Americans, the Trump presidential campaign amounts to a billionaire talking endlessly, and entertainingly, on television. But here in Iowa, it's another story. Trump is trying to beat the politicians at their own game, building one of the most extensive field organizations in the Republican field. The groundwork laid by Trump's sizeable Iowa staff, with 10 paid operatives and growing, is the clearest sign yet that the unconventional candidate is looking beyond his summer media surge and attempting to win February's first-in-the-nation caucuses." ...

... Jack Shafer of Politico: "In the August 6th Republican candidates debate, Trump answered the moderators' questions with linguistic austerity. Run through the Flesch-Kincaid grade-level test, his text of responses score at the 4th-grade reading level.... All the other candidates rated higher, with Ted Cruz earning 9th-grade status. Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, and Scott Walker scored at the 8th-grade level. John Kasich, the next-lowest after Trump, got a 5th-grade score.... Trump's rejection of 'convoluted nuance' and 'politically correct norms,' mark him as authentic in certain corners and advance his cred as a plainspoken guardian of the American way.... The role Trumpspeak has played in Trump's surging polls suggests that perhaps too many politicians talk over the public's head when more should be talking beneath it...." ...

... CW: This is fascinating. The two candidates whose poll numbers rose after the big boys' debate were -- Trump & Kasich.

Presidential Candidate Exposed as Medical Doctor, Researcher. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Ben Carson defended the use of fetal tissue for medical research Thursday, after a blog published excerpts of a 1992 paper describing work the neurosurgeon-turned-presidential candidate carried out using aborted fetuses. In an interview with The Washington Post, Carson called the revelation 'desperate,' and ignorant of the way medical research was carried out.... Carson, who has risen in primary polls since last week's debate, is among the Republicans who've condemned Planned Parenthood.... In a July interview on Fox News, after the first videos broke, Carson said that there was 'nothing that can't be done without fetal tissue' and that babies aborted at 17 weeks were clearly human beings.... Asked [by the WashPo] if Planned Parenthood should cease its fetal tissue distribution, Carson demurred. He still favored defunding the group, but would not call for the end of fetal tissue research so long as the fetal tissue was available." ...

... Jen Gunter: "While opining on the uselessness of fetal tissue research to Megyn Kelly Dr. Carson neglected to mention his own paper ... published ... in 1992. The materials and methods describe using 'human choroid plexus ependyma and nasal mucosa from two fetuses aborted in the ninth and 17th week of gestation.'... As a neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson knows full well that fetal tissue is essential for medical research. His discipline would have a hard time being w[h]ere it is today without that kind of work. What is even more egregious than dismissing the multitude of researchers whose work allowed him to become a neurosurgeon is the hypocrisy of actually having done that research himself while spouting off about its supposed worthlessness." ...

... Carson justifies his own use of fetal tissue because his "intent" was not to "kill babies." CW: So let's get this straight: it is fine to use fetal tissue in medical research, but it morally reprehensible to procure & provide the fetal tissue the noble researchers use. Maybe Dr. Carson -- an evangelical Christian -- believes "dead babies" will fly into the lab on their tiny angel wings.

... Unfuckingbelievable. Andrew Kirell of Mediaite: "Appearing on Fox's Your World on Wednesday afternoon, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson suggested Planned Parenthood places its clinics in black neighborhoods as a method of controlling that population.... Carson told [host Neil] Cavuto: 'I know who [Planned Parenthood founder] Margaret Sanger is. I know that she believed in eugenics and that she was not particularly enamored with black people.... 'One of the reason that you find most of their clinics in black neighborhoods is so that you can find a way to control that population,' he continued. Indeed, Sanger's views on 'birth control' found overlap with the eugenics movement of her time (Sanger passed away in 1966), though the many differences have been repeatedly pointed out by Planned Parenthood itself." ...

     ... Charles Pierce: "This is Alex Jones stuff without the Oathkeepers. This is simply drool with verbs. He's in second place [in Iowa]. Behind Donald Trump."

Breaking. Iraq War Proclaimed a Great Success. I'll tell you, taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal.... I'm not saying this because I'm a Bush. I'm proud of what [George] did to create a secure environment for our country. -- Jeb Bush, in Iowa Thursday

... Josh Marshall of TPM: "After first saying that invading Iraq was awesome and then slinking back to 'if the intelligence hadn't fooled us', now Jeb Bush is back to saying that 'taking out' Saddam Hussein was a 'pretty good deal.'... Jeb will never get past this issue.... Even the language has that weird brand of tough guy braggadocio that can't break free of the yacht basin or even quite want to. Swaggering Biff." ...

... Sometimes a Doofus is a Lying Sack of Shit. Here is (clip) that LSoS saying, "The Iraqis wanted it to happen," where "it" refers to renegotiating Dubya's agreement for the withdrawal of U.S. troops so we could stay forevah & keep the peace. Just the opposite was true. Fred Kaplan: "... Obama did send emissaries -- among them former aides to George W. Bush -- to seek an amendment to allow a few thousand residual forces. The Iraqi government refused. Unless Obama wanted to re-invade the country, there was nothing to be done." Or, as top Army Gen. Ray Odierno put it in his "exit interview," if the U.S. had kept troops in Iraq against the wishes of the Iraqi government, "We would have been in violation of international law." Also, too, Jeb! has visited Guantanamo & observed, "this is not a torture chamber." So, nice place to stay. ...

... Paul Waldman: "What Iraq needed to secure its future was the one thing Americans couldn't give it: a political reconciliation.... It was the Maliki government's relentless sectarianism that created the opening for the Islamic State to emerge. And this is perhaps the most dangerous thing about Bush's perspective on Iraq, which can also be said of his primary opponents. They display absolutely no grasp of the internal politics of Iraq, now or in the past, not to mention the internal politics of other countries in the region, including Iran.... This was one of the key failures of imagination that led to the Iraq disaster in the first place." Read Waldman's recitation of the terms of the "good deal." ...

... AP: "Jeb Bush has declined to rule out the US resuming the use of torture -- with the Republican presidential hopeful saying brutal questioning methods might be justifiable and necessary in some circumstances.... 'I don't want to make a definitive, blanket kind of statement,' Jeb Bush told an audience of Iowa Republicans, when asked whether he would keep in place or repeal President Barack Obama's executive order banning so-called enhanced interrogation techniques by the CIA.... Jeb Bush said he believed the techniques were effective in producing intelligence but that 'now we're in a different environment.' He suggested there may be occasions when brutal interrogations were called for to keep the country safe. 'That's why I'm not saying in every condition, under every possible scenario,' Bush said. Later on Thursday in Iowa, Bush said there was a difference between enhanced interrogation and torture but declined to be specific. 'I don't know. I'm just saying if I'm going to be president of the United States you take this threat seriously.'"

... A Loaded Cigar. Lesley Clark of McClatchy News: "Former [Minnesota] Gov. Jesse Ventura says former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had a box of [Cuban] cigars delivered to his Minnesota office to keep him from complaining that that the embargo against Cuba made the cigar aficionado feel 'like a criminal.' The claim -- which Ventura says dates to when the two were both in office -- came as Ventura spoke with former Donald Trump senior advisor Roger Stone on his Ora.TV 'Off The Grid' show.... He said Bush approached him and told him 'keep it down, I'll send you all the Cuban cigars you need.'... Stone suggested the alleged incident was an example of 'elite deviance: There's a group in this country that is so wealthy and so powerful and so politically connected that the laws don't apply to them.' The cigars, however, weren't Cuban, but Dominican, Bush's campaign says.... Bush has been a staunch supporter of the embargo and opposes President Barack Obama's recent efforts to restore diplomatic efforts with Cuba.... Ventura ... has long advocated for lifting the embargo." ...

... Marc Caputo of Politico: "Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura said Thursday he was 'astounded' that Jeb Bush's campaign would deny a decades-old gift of Cuban cigars. The controversy centers on a box of Romeo y Julieta cigars Bush gave Ventura after a meeting of governors at the White House, where Ventura complained to then-president Bill Clinton about the 'ridiculous' Cuban embargo and how it should be lifted.... 'What happened to the truth?' Ventura said in a phone interview [with Politico]. 'They're trying to say that he sent me a box of Dominicans?...Why would they send me a box of Dominican cigars when I could go buy them in any cigar shop?'... Is there a chance that the cigars he got were actually from the Dominican Republic? 'No,' Ventura told Politico. 'The cigar box was sealed and the cigars each came in a silver tube that said "Cuba" on the side.'" ...

... Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Black Lives Matter has gone bipartisan. Protesters from the grass-roots movement disrupted a town hall event featuring former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in Las Vegas late Wednesday, expanding their targets after having focused in recent weeks on the Democratic presidential contenders. The disruption happened after Bush responded to a question about racial justice, saying 'we have serious problems and these problems have gotten worse in the last few years. Communities, people no longer trust the basic institutions in our society that they need to trust to create, to make things work.' Advocates in the audience then started chanting 'Black Lives Matter' as Bush left the auditorium, according to The Las Vegas Sun." CW: It isn't clear from either report whether Bush ended the session because he was through talking or left because BlackLivesMatter protesters shouted him down.

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio unabashedly promotes his expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare, shows little appetite for relitigating culture-war battles like same-sex marriage and offers not much more than a shrug when asked about Hillary Rodham Clinton's turning over her email server to the F.B.I." His approach is working in New Hampshire. "Just a month after entering the race, Mr. Kasich is rising in the polls in New Hampshire, winning head-turning endorsements and drawing new voters to his events who were impressed with his debate performance last week."

Amy Chozick & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "... many Republicans, preparing to potentially confront [Hillary] Clinton in a general election, are looking anew at [Carly] Fiorina, who rose from being a secretary to running the giant technology company HP, as the party's weapon to counter the perception that it is waging a 'war on women.'" ...

... Julie Alderman of Media Matters complains that Chozick & Gabriel "ignor[ed] how [Fiorina's] policy positions are actually harmful to women." Alderman cites a number of Fiorina's anti-woman policy prescriptions. Thanks to Diane for the link. ...

     ... CW: Alderman's complaint isn't quite true. Quite a ways down in the article, the Times reporters write, "Mrs. Fiorina, an adherent of the Silicon Valley meritocracy where she spent most of her career, believes that while employers cannot discriminate based on gender, they should be able to decide how much employees are paid. She is against federally mandated paid maternity leave, a position the Democratic National Committee portrayed as being 'worse than the maternity leave policy in war-torn Afghanistan.'" These are two of the issues Alderman cited (and thus implied the Times ignored). The Times story also notes that Fiorina is an anti-feminist. I don't think the Times is obligated to list every one of Fiorina's positions that work against women, though they should have mentioned her rabid opposition to Planned Parenthood & reproductive rights.

Beyond the Beltway

Edmund Mahony & Matthew Kauffman of the Hartford Courant: "After a sweeping two-year review, the state Supreme Court outlawed capital punishment in Connecticut Thursday, saying the state's death penalty no longer comports with evolved societal values and serves no valid purpose as punishment. The 4-3 decision would remove 11 convicts from Connecticut's death row and overturn the latest iteration of the state's death penalty, a political compromise effective April 2012 that barred death sentences going forward but allowed the execution of inmates already sentenced."

Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "A state appeals court in Colorado ruled Thursday that a baker could not cite religious beliefs in refusing to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples. The decision[, which was unanimous,] is the latest in a series of similar rulings across the country.... Lawyers for the cake shop said the appeals panel 'got it wrong' and that they would probably appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.... [The baker, Jack "Phillips, told [a gay couple] that he could not design and bake a wedding cake for them because it would violate his Christian convictions, although he would be happy to sell them other baked goods."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered his remorse for all those who died as a result Japan's World War II actions on Friday -- the eve of the 70^th anniversary of his country's surrender -- but avoided explicitly repeating the apologies of his predecessors."

CBS News: "Pentagon sources tell CBS News that reports are 'credible' that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) likely used mustard gas against Kurdish fighters in Iraq."

AP: "Greek lawmakers approved their country's draft third bailout in a parliamentary vote Friday that relied on opposition party support and saw the government coalition suffer significant dissent. The vote came after a marathon all-night session marked by procedural delays and acrimonious debate over the three-year, about 85 billion-euro ($93 billion) rescue package that includes harsh spending cuts and tax hikes."

The Commentariat -- August 13, 2015

Internal links removed.

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that he had been given a diagnosis of cancer. 'Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that is now in other parts of my body,' Mr. Carter, 90, said in a statement. 'I will be rearranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment by physicians at Emory Healthcare. A more complete public statement will be made when facts are known, possibly next week.'"

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... new genetic tests confirm for the first time that [Nan] Britton's daughter, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing, was indeed [President Warren] Harding's biological child. The tests have solved one of the enduring mysteries of presidential history and offer new insights into the secret life of America's 29th president.... The Nan Britton affair was the sensation of its age, a product of the jazz-playing, gin-soaked Roaring Twenties and a pivotal moment in the evolution of the modern White House.... Never before had a self-proclaimed presidential mistress gone public with a popular tell-all book."

** Charles Blow: "Police abuse is a form of terror.... The black community's response to this form of domestic terror has not been so different from America's reaction to foreign terror." ...

... ** In a moving essay published in the Washington Post, Malcolm Graham writes that the murder of his sister Cynthia Graham Hurd in the Emanuel AME church massacre should be memorialized with more than the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse. "That might mean opposing restrictive laws that prevent minorities in America from voting or pushing states to expand Medicaid and embrace the Affordable Care Act or fighting bias in the courts, which place too many African Americans behind bars for long sentences for minor offenses or before their cases have been heard." Graham is not optimistic. ...

... Contributor safari, via Scott Kaufman of Salon, brings to our attention this video lecture by Ty Seidule, head of the department of history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who demonstrates that slavery was the central cause of Southern states' secession & the ensuing Civil War:"

     ... See also safari's critique at the top of today's thread.

Jonathan Chait: "Black Lives Matter has had enormous success in driving police reform and raising awareness of racism, and has, on the whole, changed the country for the better. Liberals believe that social justice can be advanced without giving up democratic rights and norms. The ends of social justice do not justify any and all means. When we're debating which candidates are progressive enough to be allowed to deliver public speeches, something has gone terribly wrong."

Stephanie Armour of the Wall Street Journal: "The Obama administration has notified two states that took steps to halt Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood Federation of America that they may be in conflict with federal law. The law requires that Medicaid beneficiaries may obtain services, including family planning, from any qualified provider.... Three states said last week they will block hundreds of thousands of dollars from Planned Parenthood: Alabama and Louisiana moved to block funds under Medicaid, the state-federal health program for the poor, while New Hampshire's Executive Council is blocking state funding, so its move isn't subject to federal oversight. Planned Parenthood currently doesn't perform abortions in Louisiana but does in the two other states." Firewalled, so Google the story.

No, Mitt, et al., ObummerCare Is Not a Jobs-Killer. Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post: "President Obama's health-care reform hasn't meant less time on the job for American workers, according to three newly published studies that challenge one of the main arguments raised by critics of the Affordable Care Act. One provision of the law ... requires businesses with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance to those working at least 30 hours a week. That mandate took effect this year. Republicans, and some Democrats, worried that employers would look for ways to get around the mandate.... So far, though, researchers say employers have not changed how they hire and schedule their worker in response to the law." CW: I thought if you cried wolf three times, no one would ever listen to you again. The fable is way too optimistic.

Frank Rich on Chuck Schumer's "no" vote on the Iran deal: "... Schumer, for all his ostentatious deliberation, garbled the actual terms of the deal when announcing his opposition to it.... The whole exercise has been both disingenuous and cynical. But I can't find a single person who expected anything else from Schumer.... You can bet he would have come out for the deal in a second if he had calculated that voting "no" threatened his own political ambitions." Also, a good mini-essay on Donald & the Disappointments.

Kevin Drum: The Washington Post editors want President Obama to be nicer to people who compare him to Neville Chamberlain. "The Washington Post is unhappy with the 'certitude' with which President Obama is defending the Iran nuclear deal. Normally, the Post would prefer more certitude in Obama's foreign policy, but whatever.... [But, given Republicans' unanimous & unreasoned opposition to the international Iran deal,] Obama's best hope is to appeal at least partly to partisanship in order to keep enough Democrats in line to get the deal approved."

Slaves of New York. Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: "New York City’s slave market was second in size only to Charleston's. Even after the Revolution, New York was the most significant slaveholding state north of the Mason-Dixon line. In 1790, nearly 40 percent of households in the area immediately around New York City owned slaves -- a greater percentage than in any Southern state as a whole, according to one study." Joseph McGill, founder of of the Slave Dwelling Project, is bringing attention to this history. "Slavery in Southampton, the oldest English settlement in New York, dates almost to its founding in the 1640s.... Census records show that by 1686, roughly 10 percent of the village's nearly 800 inhabitants were slaves, many of whom helped work the rich agricultural land." ...

... CW: It has never before occurred to me that my early American ancestors, who lived in Massachusetts & other parts of New England, were slaveholders. Almost certainly, some were.

Timothy Cama of the Hill: "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning both an internal and outside investigation into how agency contractors caused a spill of 3 million gallons of mine waste in Colorado."

Presidential Race -- Big Dick Edition*

* As in Trump, Schindler, Weiner.

Panic! Niall Stanage & Kevin Cirilli of the Hill: "Democrats are worried that the furor over Hillary Clinton's private email server will be prolonged and intensified after her sudden move to hand it to the FBI. The [move] ... left Democrats scratching their heads as to why the former secretary of State had resisted turning over the server for months. Coupled with new polls that suggest Clinton is vulnerable, Democrats are nearing full-on panic mode.... The pattern seen in the email controversy -- months of stonewalling followed by an eventual concession -- has stoked worries about her flaws as a candidate. The slew of unimpressive poll numbers is exacerbating the situation. Some have shown slippage against her main left-wing rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Others have indicated her losing swing states against possible Republican opponents. Still others have revealed continuing weakness in her ratings on trustworthiness and favorability." CW: This is the Hill's top story this morning. ...

... Tom Hamburger & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The e-mail server used by Hillary Rodham Clinton when she served as secretary of state was turned over to the FBI late Wednesday afternoon from a private data center in New Jersey, according to an attorney familiar with the transfer.... The FBI's request for information about Clinton’s e-mail system followed a referral from the intelligence community's inspector general to the Justice Department in July.... In addition to obtaining the old server, the FBI recently obtained a thumb drive in the possession of Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, that contained copies of work e-mails kept on the server.... On Wednesday, [Clinton's] campaign worked to reassure donors and supporters.... In a blast e-mail, the campaign's communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, said 'this kind of nonsense comes with the territory of running for president.'" ...

Greg Gordon, et al., of McClatchy News: Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), "... the chairman of the Senate's homeland security committee, has asked a small, 13-year-old Denver technology company that managed tens of thousands of emails for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to describe what measures it took to safeguard national security information." CW: Has absolutely nothing to do with presidential race or with Johnson's Senate race, where early polls showed him trailing former senator & Democratic challenger Russ Feingold. ...

... Rachel Bade of Politico: "Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's most trusted confidante, is increasingly becoming a central figure in the email scandal that's haunting her boss on the campaign trail.... The Senate Judiciary Committee claims to have a well-informed but unnamed tipster who says Abedin is or has been investigated for criminal misconduct by the State Department inspector general...." CW: At least Bade admits her sourcing is irresponsible partisan gossip. But, hey, let's put it out there anyway. Clinton Rule: Where there's smoke.... Also, since it's Big Dick Day, let us not forget Mr. Huma Abedin. ...

... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Hillary Clinton's campaign went into damage-control mode -- again as the latest twist in the long-running saga over her private email use while serving as secretary of state opened up the Democratic front-runner to attacks on what GOP rivals called 'criminal' behavior.... 'Did she commit a crime? Yes. Will they prosecute it? Perhaps no,' Donald Trump said in an interview Tuesday night.... Neither Bernie Sanders nor Martin O'Malley -- who frequently draw contrasts with Clinton -- came near criticizing her email use...." ...

... CW: When I read the Politico story yesterday, I thought I should check around to see if Clinton was really in trouble. Wow, yes! writes John Schindler of the Daily Beast: "The Spy Satellite Secrets in Hillary's Emails. These weren't just ordinary secrets found in Clinton's private server, but some of the most classified material the U.S. government has.... People found to have willfully mishandled such highly classified information often face severe punishment. Termination of employment, hefty fines, even imprisonment can result.... Claims that they 'didn't know' such information was highly classified do not hold water and are irrelevant. It strains belief that anybody with clearances didn't recognize that NSA information." ...

... So who is John Schindler, whom the Daily Beast IDs as "a security consultant and a former National Security Agency counterintelligence officer."? J. K. Trotter of Gawker (July 2014): "Remember John Schindler, the conservative talking head, retired NSA spook, and Naval War College professor who briefly went incognito after screenshots of (what appear to be) his penis leaked onto the Internet? While he has since reappeared to Twitter -- where he first drew attention for defending domestic spying and criticizing Edward Snowden -- he has refused to comment on the mysterious emails, sent to the Naval War College by an unnamed blogger, that prompted the school to place him on leave, and his penis under official investigation." Critical of Ed Snowden? Sort of. "From nearly the outset I've stated that Snowden is very likely an agent of Russian intelligence...." A pompous blowhard? Yeah.

Gabriel Debenedetti: "In a bid to climb his way into the thick of the presidential race, Democrat Martin O'Malley will launch a three-week, more than 15-stop tour of Iowa on Friday to promote a set of new policy proposals...."

Eliza Collins of Politico: "Donald Trump has seized a commanding lead in Iowa, drawing nearly double the support of his closest competitor, in a new poll by CNN and ORC.... The poll, which was conducted after last Thursday's debate..., showed Trump leading the Republican field with 22 percent among Iowa caucus-goers. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson came in second with 14 percent, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who until recently was leading polls in Iowa, came in at 9 percent." CW: Bear in mind that the Iowa caucuses are 5-1/2 months away & that caucuses can be highly volatile, with individual caucus-goers changing their votes as the meetings proceed. In fact, only 15 percent of those polled indicated they had "definitely decided" on a candidate. As Nate Silver often notes, early poll numbers are not particularly predictive of the eventual winner. "Our emphatic prediction is simply that Trump will not win the nomination. It's not even clear that he's trying to do so." In the linked post (Aug. 11), Silver explains his reasoning. ...

... Steve M. comments on the poll results. There's a gender divide. Also, too, Iowa Republicans seem to like the non-pols better than the professional politicians. CW: I would note, tho, that if you add up the results for all of the pols, they top those of Trump & Carson, with 60% for pols & 36% for non-pols. ...

... Paul Waldman explains why insurgent candidates like Bernie Sanders & Donald Trump seldom win the nomination. "... the one insurgent candidate in the last few decades who actually won his party's nomination: Barack Obama. In 2008 he was new and different and exciting, but he also played an extraordinarily skilled inside game, garnering the support of colleagues in the Senate, key African-American members of the House, and party activists all over the country. And it turned out that Obama and the people who worked for him outperformed Hillary Clinton's campaign at all the things one normally expects the insider candidate to excel at...."

When Whiney Boys Collide. Jose DelReal & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: Rand Paul & Donald Trump hurl insults at each other. "Trump's initial response came several hours after Rand Paul's presidential campaign released an aggressive attack video Wednesday questioning Trump's conservative bona fides.... The Paul campaign said the ad would run in New Hampshire and Iowa through the weekend." Here's the ad, which was released online yesterday:

... Colin Campbell of Business Insider: "Asked about the ad during CNN interview later in the day, Trump defended his record.... Trump dismissed Paul's other attacks as 'old stuff' and then trashed his opponent. 'You look at a guy like Rand Paul: He's failing in the polls, he's weak on the military -- he's pathetic on military,' he said.... 'I actually think he's a far better doctor than he is a senator.' He also pointed to last week's indictment against pro-Paul political operatives working for a super PAC supporting his campaign. The indictment was related to their 2012 work on the campaign of Paul's father, Ron. 'Rand's campaign is failing. Hasn't his whole team been indicted?' Trump asked. "So he's a mess -- there's no question about it.'" ...

... Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said Wednesday that he disagrees with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's idea that the United States should go into Iraq and seize oil being used to fund the Islamic State militant group, saying that there are limits on what military power can do. Odierno's comments came in a wide-ranging briefing with reporters at the Pentagon as he prepares to retire as the Army's top officer after 39 years of service." ...

... The Howard Stern Primary. In light of Donald Trump's criticism of Megyn Kelly's appearance on Howard Stern's radio show some while back, Chris Moody of CNN reviewed some of Trump's conversations with the shock jock. Trump "field[ed] questions about everything from the size of his genitalia to premature ejaculation, sleeping with another man's girlfriend and his wife's bathroom habits. He's also criticized several women for their body shape, described the time he watched a celebrity sex tape, fondly recalled days before the rise in sexually transmitted diseases made condoms necessary and once compared a shrinking economy to a woman's contractions in pregnancy.... A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on this story."

Everything was going great in Iraq and victory had been achieved, until Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton threw it all away. Nothing is the fault of Republicans, or of the people who supported and launched the Iraq war, the single worst foreign policy decision in American history. George W. Bush made no mistakes that might have any lessons for us, and the answer to every foreign policy challenge is to be more bellicose and more eager to use military force. -- Paul Waldman, summarizing Jeb!'s big foreign-policy speech

... ** Fred Kaplan of Slate: Jeb Bush's "40-minute [foreign-policy] speech, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, was a hodgepodge of revisionist history, shallow analysis, and vague prescriptions." CW: Jeb!'s understanding of Syria is just as profound as his brother's grasp of Iraqi politics, so naturally he proposes -- if vaguely -- to invade Syria with tens of thousands of U.S. troops -- & who knows? -- throw cash out of helicopters. Whatever. Anyway, he's planning another "successful" surge in Syria and/or Iraq or someplace around there! I'd suggest he go back to the drawing board, but I wouldn't trust him around a pencil sharpener. What a doofus. ...

... Would-Be Bush III Would Be Bush III. Steve Benen: "His brother caused an international catastrophe, and the former governor is outraged by the way in which the Obama administration cleaned up his brother's mess. That's the Jeb Bush message in 2016 in a nutshell. According to the GOP candidate -- or at least the Bush/Cheney advisers who wrote the speech for Jeb's teleprompter -- the war in Iraq just wasn't long enough.... Gone are the days in which the Florida Republican declares himself his 'own man,' driven by his 'own ideas.'... Jeb Bush has, for reasons that deny reason, embraced his brother's foreign policy as his own."

Mary Spicuzza, et al., of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Gov. Scott Walker approved $250 million in public money for a Milwaukee Bucks arena Wednesday, paving the way for a Common Council vote on the proposal next month.... The bipartisan legislation commits taxpayers to paying half the cost of the $500 million arena over the next 20 years in exchange for the team remaining in Wisconsin's largest city. The governor ... made no changes to the bill with his powerful veto pen." ...

... Paul Waldman: "That $250 million that taxpayers will be spending for the benefit of a single private enterprise just happens to be the same amount that Walker succeeded in cutting from the state's university system this year.... One of the Bucks owners, Jon Hammes, is a national finance co-chairman of Walker's campaign and has given $150,000 to a Walker super PAC.... One might have expected more from a politician who is basing his presidential campaign on his eagerness to 'fight.'... But it turns out that he's only interested in fighting people like union members. Extortionist plutocrats, not so much.... Walker's justification -- that ponying up for the stadium will be worth it because of the economic impact -- has been disproven by just about every analysis of stadium financing.... It's another reminder that the principles of small government and fiscal responsibility that conservative politicians like Walker pledge their fealty to are highly contingent on who's benefiting and who's being hurt."

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Asked how he may appeal to Republicans who ... are uneasy about his support for a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants, support for the Common Core education standards and his expansion of Medicaid in Ohio with money from the Affordable Care Act, [Ohio Gov. John Kasich] defended himself on each issue. And then he uncorked an impassioned argument about his party's need to redefine conservatism,' [in a brief meeting with reporters in Derry, New Hampshire]. In an echo of the religious-based defense he has made of his Medicaid expansion, an argument that irritates many small-government conservatives, Mr. Kasich said, 'I think conservatism is about giving everybody a chance, demanding personal responsibility, but allowing people to pursue their God-given purpose.'"

Beyond the Beltway

John Mura & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A county clerk [in Morehead, Kentucky,] is apparently defying a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Two same-sex couples seeking licenses left the Rowan County courthouse empty-handed Thursday morning.The Rowan County clerk, Kim Davis, who says her Christian faith bars her from authorizing same-sex marriages, has refused to issue any licenses, either to same-sex or heterosexual couples...."

Way Beyond

Carolina Hawley of BBC News: "Swedish prosecutors will drop their investigation into sexual assault allegations against Julian Assange on Thursday because of the statutes of limitation, the BBC has learned. The Wikileaks founder still faces the more serious allegation of rape. But prosecutors have run out of time to investigate Mr Assange for sexual assault because they have not succeeded in questioning him. He denies all allegations and has said they are part of a smear campaign."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "A new forecast from NOAA says this El Niño is 'significant and strengthening,' with the potential to become very strong -- even rivaling the strongest on record. This is the strongest forecast NOAA has issued so far this year." ...

     ... The Los Angeles Times story is here. The New York Times story is here.

Washington Post: "A warehouse in the Chinese port city of Tianjin erupted in a series of explosions late Wednesday, killing 44 people and spewing massive fireballs and billowing clouds of smoke into the night sky. The blasts, which were powerful enough to register on earthquake monitoring scales, came from a warehouse storing 'dangerous and chemical goods' that had caught on fire, state media reported."

The Commentariat -- August 12, 2015

Internal links removed.

American "Justice," Ctd. Abu Ghraib, Stateside. Michael Schwirtz & Michael Winerip of the New York Times: "For days after [two men escaped from an upstate New York prison], corrections officers carried out what seemed like a campaign of retribution against dozens of Clinton inmates, particularly those on the honor block, an investigation by The New York Times found. In letters reviewed by The Times, as well as prison interviews, inmates described a strikingly similar catalog of abuses, including being beaten while handcuffed, choked and slammed against cell bars and walls. They were also subjected to harsh policies ordered by the State Department of Corrections.... More than 60 inmates have filed complaints with Prisoners' Legal Services of New York, an organization that assists indigent prisoners.... No prisoners have yet been linked to [the escapees]. Indeed, it is prison employees who have been implicated: One has pleaded guilty to aiding the escape; another faces criminal charges; nine officers have been suspended; and the leadership of the prison, in Dannemora, has been removed."

A New York Times reader named Barack Obama writes a letter to the editor in response to Jim Rutenberg's essay on the myriad attempts across the decades to undermine the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

David Lauter of the Los Angeles Times: "When the Affordable Care Act took effect in October 2013, there were 14 states in which more than 1 in 5 adults lacked health insurance; today only Texas remains, according to data released Monday.... Texas, whose officials have strongly resisted cooperation with the new law, had the highest level of residents lacking insurance before the law took effect and has made among the least progress of any state.... Most of the states that continue to have high levels of uninsured residents have declined Medicaid expansion, which many Republican governors and state legislators oppose."

Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "When the bipartisan advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran decided last week to mobilize opposition against the nuclear deal with Tehran, Gary Samore knew he could no longer serve as its president. The reason: After long study, Mr. Samore, a former nuclear adviser to President Obama, had concluded that the accord was in the United States' interest. 'I think President Obama's strategy succeeded,' said Mr. Samore, who left his post on Monday.... As soon as Mr. Samore left, the group announced a new standard-bearer with a decidedly different message: Joseph I. Lieberman.... Mr. Samore's quiet departure as president of the organization ... is resonating among the small community of experts who have pored over the agreement." ...

     ... CW: Steve M. tells us that Donald Trump has embraced the epithet "Donald the Whiner." Ha! The Donald will never, ever match Joe Lieberman's mastery of the Art of the Whine. ...

... Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Three dozen retired generals and admirals released an open letter Tuesday supporting the Iran nuclear deal and urging Congress to do the same. Calling the agreement 'the most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,' the letter said that gaining international support for military action against Iran, should that ever become necessary, 'would only be possible if we have first given the diplomatic path a chance.' The release came as Secretary of State John F. Kerry said U.S. allies were 'going to look at us and laugh' if the United States were to abandon the deal and then ask them to back a more aggressive posture against Iran.'" The letter is here. ...

... John Brenahan of Politico: "... Sen. Chuck Schumer has been quietly reaching out to dozens of his colleagues to explain his decision and assure them he would not be whipping opposition to the deal, according to Democratic senators and aides." CW: Yeah, then he tells them all the reasons he'll vote against the deal. But that's not lobbying!

Sarah Latimer & Abby Phillips of the Washington Post: "... a citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers ... all of them white and heavily armed -- said they were in [Ferguson Monday night] to protect someone who worked for the Web site Infowars.com, which is affiliated with talk-radio conspiracy theorist and self-described 'thought criminal against Big Brother' Alex Jones.... The Southern Poverty Law Center ... describes the Oath Keepers as a 'fiercely antigovernment, militaristic group.' 'The core idea of the group is that its members vow to forever support the oaths they took on joining law enforcement or the military to defend the Constitution,' reads the SPLC site. 'But just as central is the group's list of 10 'Orders We Will Not Obey,' a compendium of much-feared but entirely imaginary threats from the government -- orders, for instance, to force Americans into concentration camps, confiscate their guns, or cooperate with foreign troops in the United States.'" ...

... CW: Latimer & Phillips do mention the Oath Keepers' founder Stewart Rhodes, but they don't say that Rhodes is a former Ron Paul Congressional & campaign staffer, as Akhilleus noted in yesterday's thread. Rhodes founded the group in the spring of 2008 because he was worried about a President "'Hitlery' Clinton, in her 'Chairman Mao signature pantsuit.' Would readers [of his blog], he asked, obey orders from this 'dominatrix-in-chief' to hold militia members as enemy combatants, disarm citizens, and shoot all resisters?'" Justine Sharrock wrote in Mother Jones in 2010. ...

... CW: AND it's not as if this is all way-back-when & let's be fair, Ron Paul can't be blamed for the actions of some former staffer who went off the deep end. As Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch reported in April of this year, "... Ron Paul is starring in a new film about the threat of martial law in America which includes calls to join the extremist Oath Keepers militia." Oath Keepers is promoting & helping to finance the film. The film's director, James Jaeger, heads a "research institute" that "serves as a clearinghouse for anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, blaming Jews for the Holocaust and accusing them of child murders." I'm certainly not into blaming the son for the sins of the father, but if you want to know whence Li'l Randy derives his enthusiasm for curbing the NSA & demilitarizing the police, it isn't coming from some liberal itch he's scratching; these are tenets of Oath Keepers like the fellows who showed up in Ferguson to "protect citizens." In addition, Li'l Randy & Oath Keepers were joint supporters of notorious rancher-outlaw Cliven Bundy, the Oath Keepers with firearms aimed at federal agents. Randy distanced himself from Bundy only after Bundy's racist comments came to light, but still -- months after that -- Randy initiated a 45-minute meeting with Bundy to discuss property rights.

Tom Lighty of the Chicago Tribune: "Sen. Mark Kirk, who has needed help with some everyday tasks such as preparing meals and physically getting around since suffering a debilitating stroke in 2012, put his live-in caregiver onto his campaign payroll, according to records and interviews. While on Kirk's payroll, the caregiver twice came under criminal investigation -- convicted in one case while the other is still pending in court. Kirk's placement of his caregiver -- who had no prior campaign experience -- onto his campaign staff raises questions about whether Kirk used political donations to pay for personal expenses. Campaign finance records show that Kirk for Senate had paid his caregiver a salary totaling more than $43,000 from August 2013 through the end of 2014. Federal law says campaign funds cannot be used for expenses that would occur regardless of whether the person were running for or holding office."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Gabriel Sherman of New York writes an amusing tale of how Roger Ailes chose Donald Trump over Fox "News"'s biggest star, Megyn Kelly. (Not amusing: "... Kelly has told Fox producers that she's been getting death threats from Trump supporters.") "Ailes offered Trump the chance to do a special on Kelly's prime-time show to clear the air -- an offer Trump flatly refused. 'Donald was sufficiently pissed off that there was no way that was happening,' a person familiar with the call told me. According to the source, Trump's ire was especially stoked after Howard Stern called to tell him about a 2010 interview in which Kelly joked about her breasts and her husband's penis." ...

... Josh Marshall of TPM: "Fox issues unconditional surrender." ...

... Roger's Dilemma. Jonathan Mahler of the New York Times: "To demonstrate its seriousness about vetting the Republican candidates, [Fox News] has to subject Mr. Trump to rigorous questioning, as Ms. Kelly did Thursday night. At the same time, Fox cannot afford to alienate Mr. Trump -- or, more important, the network's core audience. Fox News viewers view the channel as an alternative to a media they see as leaning left. If the network pushes too hard against Mr. Trump, it risks being seen as part of the mainstream media, rather than the antidote to it. In this sense, Fox is facing the same dilemma as the G.O.P. establishment with respect to the party's current front-runner."

"Are You Kidding Me?" Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly takes on WashPo columnist (and David Brooks' "liberal" friend) Ruth Marcus who today attacks a "hardened & embittered" President Obama for his "intolerance" of opposition of the Iran nuclear deal: "We need to freeze this Ruth Marcus column in amber so that it never perishes. Future generations will not believe that it actually existed if they can't see it with their own eyes. It is probably the purest form of wankery that has ever been constructed. I thought I had seen Peak Beltway Trolling, but I had not seen anything."

Presidential Race

Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "For the first time a poll has Vermont senator Bernie Sanders ahead in the crucial early primary state of New Hampshire. A poll released by Franklin Pierce University and the Boston Herald shows Sanders leading former secretary of state Hillary Clinton by 44% to 37% in New Hampshire among Democratic primary voters." ...

... ** Dara Lind of Vox has an excellent piece explaining why BlackLivesMatter has attacked Bernie Sanders (& Martin O'Malley) -- and why they're not getting to Hillary Clinton. Lind covers all the bases. CW: I still oppose the BlackLivesMatter tactic of stifling Sanders, but I do understand -- and would support -- the group's motivation in targeting Sanders. This is similar to women's criticism of the civil rights movement -- black women (in fact women of every color) actively supported the fight for racial equality, but when it came to gender equality, leaders of the civil rights movement were mostly silent or blatantly sexist. The idea that a rising tide floats all boats is just as noxious to marginalized groups, who want more than the crumbs from the tables of progressive policymakers, as it is to opponents of GOP trickle-down oligarchonomics.

Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton's attorney has agreed to provide the FBI with the private server that housed her e-mail during her four years as secretary of state, Clinton's presidential campaign said Tuesday. Her attorney also has agreed to give agents a thumb drive containing copies of thousands of e-mails that Clinton had previously turned over to the State Department.... The development ... came the same day that a top intelligence official whose office has been reviewing some of Clinton's e-mails informed congressional leaders that top-secret information had been contained in two e-mails that traveled across the server. The finding, contained in a letter sent to leaders of key oversight committees, marked the first indication from government officials that information regarded as top secret ... may have passed across Clinton's server.... A State Department spokesman late Tuesday described the top-secret designation as a recommendation and said they had not been marked classified at the time, but said staffers 'circulated these e-mails on unclassified systems in 2009 and 2011 and ultimately some were forwarded to Secretary Clinton.'" ...

... Groundhog Day. Steve M.: Hillary Clinton is having a bad day. In fact, every day until Election Day 2016 may be a a bad day: "Where's the passionate base of support to push back against negative coverage?"

Larry Lessig's Challenge: "Make Democracy Possible"

Jared Bernstein, in the Washington Post: During the GOP debate, the only candidate who had anything substantive to say about improving the economic prospects of poor & middle-class Americans was Ohio Gov. John Kasich. And no wonder: "Dress it up any way you like, the heart of conservative economic policy is still 'trickle-down,' exactly the wrong prescription in the age of inequality. Apparently, there's no debating that point."

Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation in a Washington Post op-ed: "Three years after [Mitt] Romney lost the women's vote by a double-digit margin, in part because of his support for defunding Planned Parenthood, the presidential debates last week made clear Republicans have only become more disrespectful toward women's bodies, more deranged in their hatred of Planned Parenthood and more dismissive of female voters.... The position that was once a liability for Romney has now become a litmus test for GOP contenders."

Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico on how superPACS allow unpopular candidates to stay in the race. CW: For Republicans, this may be a case of "be careful what you wish for."

I gave to many people before this/ When they call, I give. And you know what, when I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them. They are there for me. -- Donald Trump, during the GOP presidential debate last week

... independent expenditures do not lead to, or create the appearance of, quid pro quo corruption. -- Justice Anthony Kennedy, Citizens United majority opinion, 2010

... Vulgarians at the Gate. Charles Pierce: "How is anything Donald Trump said as purely vulgar as watching presidential candidates audition for the Koch Brothers or for international vice lord, Sheldon Adelson?How is anything he has said about the country more vulgar than the fact that we now judge the success or failure of a campaign by how much money it has raised from how many places?... How is anything he's done more vulgar than watching Jeb (!) Bush delay the announcement of his candidacy because he needed more time to work the thin edges of what remains of the law regarding political fundraising. Vulgar? Donald Trump had a thirty year head start on most of these clowns."

... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "After days in which Donald J. Trump engaged in a tense war of words with Megyn Kelly over her questioning of him at last week's Fox News debate, he spent Tuesday trying to steer the campaign conversation toward policy issues." ...

... Donald Trump, New Feminist. Eliza Collins of Politico: "After saying last week it's worth having Congress shut down the federal government unless Planned Parenthood is stripped of its $528 million in government funding..., [Donald Trump] changed his tune. Speaking on CNN's 'New Day' Tuesday morning, Trump said that before defunding Planned Parenthood entirely, he would look at the positive aspects of the organization. 'I would look at the good aspects of it, and I would also look because I'm sure they do some things properly and good for women. I would look at that, and I would look at other aspects also, but we have to take care of women,' he said. 'The abortion aspect of Planned Parenthood should absolutely not be funded.'" The federal government does not fund the "abortion aspects." ...

... CW: This would make Donald the only GOP presidential candidate who is not screaming bloody murder about Planned Parenthood. So I say, thanks, Megyn, for creating a feminist.

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "Jeb Bush ... issued a blistering attack on Tuesday on the Obama administration's handling of Iraq and terrorism issues, asserting that Hillary Rodham Clinton..., had 'stood by' as secretary of state as the situation in Iraq deteriorated." CW: See Peter Beinart's "legend of the surge," linked yesterday. ...

... Eli Stokols of Politico: on why "Jeb's bid to blame Hillary for the rise of the Islamic State is fraught with peril." Here's one: "Richard LeBaron, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Kuwait under George W. Bush, called [Jeb!'s] argument 'disingenuous.'... 'The notion that the surge worked is belied by facts after it,' said LeBaron, now a Middle East policy expert at the Atlantic Council. 'It gave us some political space to say "we're not leaving a total fiasco" when we probably were; it was really just a period in which we were able to placate and buy off some of the Sunni tribes who took our money and just waited for us to leave. The Bush administration was looking for an exit strategy; the whole country was looking to get out,' LeBaron said. 'The surge was designed to get us out of Iraq, not to keep us involved there.'"

Marco Rubio may not be a scientist, man, but he knows that a human embryo cannot turn into a cat. Marco is so impressed by his brilliant insight that he has turned it into a campaign petition/fundraiser. The quality of our presidential candidates is abysmal. Prof. Marco teaches a university course. I'm not sure if I'd trust him to teach preschoolers the ABCs.

Beyond the Beltway

Patrick McGee & Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "A white rookie police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black college football player who had broken into a car dealership in this Dallas suburb was fired Tuesday for 'inappropriate judgment' in his handling of the situation, officials said. The Arlington police chief, Will D. Johnson, said that the officer, Brad Miller, 49, had been fired for making mistakes in the fatal shooting of Christian Taylor, 19, which included entering the building without his more experienced partner and which led to an 'an environment of cascading consequences.' Mr. Miller was hired last fall and was still in training when the shooting occurred early Friday morning."

Jim Salter & Alan Zagier of the AP: "About 100 protesters gathered along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson late Tuesday in a demonstration that was decidedly smaller and calmer than others on recent nights."

News Lede

Washington Post: "China's currency slid for a second day on Wednesday sending more shockwaves through global financial markets and raising fresh questions about the credibility of the country's economic management."