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New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”
Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."
Lousy artwork via New York mag.Paul Krugman: "... much though by no means all of the horror one sees in Baltimore and many other places is really about class, about the devastating effects of extreme and rising inequality." Here I'll pause to mention that my fatuous colleague David Brooks is a liar and/or an ignoramus: "And it's also disheartening to see commentators still purveying another debunked myth, that we've spent vast sums fighting poverty to no avail (because of values, you see.) In reality, federal spending on means-tested programs other than Medicaid has fluctuated between 1 and 2 percent of G.D.P. for decades, going up in recessions and down in recoveries.... The poor don't need lectures on morality, they need more resources -- which we can afford to provide -- and better economic opportunities.... Baltimore, and America, don't have to be as unjust as they are." ...
... Why, Jonathan Chaitsees a Brooks connection, too! "Tune in next week to see if the world's longest argument nobody will admit is taking place continues."
... David Leonhardt, et al., of the New York Times: "Based on the earnings records of millions of families that moved with children, it finds that poor children who grow up in some cities and towns have sharply better odds of escaping poverty than similar poor children elsewhere. The feelings heard across Baltimore's recent protests -- of being trapped in poverty -- seem to be backed up by the new data [from a large study]. Among the nation's 100 largest counties, the one where children face the worst odds of escaping poverty is the city of Baltimore, the study found. ...
... ** Nicholas Kristof: "Just the annual bonuses for just the sliver of Americans who work just in finance just in New York City dwarfed the combined year-round earnings of all Americans earning the federal minimum wage.... The roots of inequality are complex and, to some extent, reflect global forces, but they also reflect our policy choices.... We as a nation have chosen to prioritize tax shelters over minimum wages, subsidies for private jets over robust services for children to break the cycle of poverty."
Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker: "With the exception of the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., every major riot by the black community of an American city since the Second World War has been ignited by a single issue: police tactics.
"The Milwaukee Experiment." Jeff Toobin writes an excellent piece for the New Yorker on our racist "justice" system & presents evidence that prosecutors, who wield tremendous power, are just as responsible for racially disparate prosecutions as are the police. Also, too, judges & legislators -- including our little friend Scott Walker. Just one more reason Scottie would be a horrible POTUS. But as the reform prosecutor John Chisholm of Milwaukee acknowledges: "poverty, hopelessness, lack of education, drug addiction, and the easy availability of guns" are beyond the control of prosecutors. See Krugman. "Where we're at" can be laid at the feet of knee-jerk "law & order" advocates like Walker.
Alan Blinder, et al., of the New York Times: "In a pair of gestures on Sunday that suggested that [Baltimore] ... was staggering toward normalcy, the National Guard began to pull its troops from Baltimore, and the mayor lifted a curfew that, after several days of relative calm, had come under mounting criticism."
Yastreblyansky whacks both David Brooks & "Monsignor Ross Douthat, Apostolic Nuncio to 42nd Street. Brooks addressing the fattened ex-liberal looking for reasons to hate teachers, Douthat addressing the movement conservative looking for ways to sound less like an illiterate yahoo.... The right's pseudo-intellectual critique of public sector unions is illustrated only by the police (and to a lesser extent the staffs of correctional institutions), because they're the only ones eagerly supported by conservative politicians and placated by terrorized liberal ones afraid of being stigmatized as pro-criminal. Teachers, health inspectors, tax assessors, even firefighters don't get this kind of backing from anybody.... It's the conservatism that makes the police forces abusive, and nothing less." ...
...Boyz Will Be Boyz. Steve M.: "Let's look at a few other institutions where we utterly lack the national will to regulated or deter misconduct. Think of Wall Street.... Look at rape in the military, or among college athletes.... All the institutions I've just named have something in common with the police: They're overwhelmingly male cultures that represent what conservatives consider the best of traditional masculinity. (And you could add that they're cultures believed to be antithetical to liberalism, which makes them even more admirable to conservatives.) We're reluctant to hold the bad actors in these cultures responsible for their crimes because we think they're real men, and only wussy metrosexual liberals are unmoved by their real maleness."
Heather of Crooks & Liars: Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strasselblames teachers' unions for Baltimore's problems. (Also, thanks, Chuck Todd, for your excellent "both sides equality.") CW: Yeah, teachers, unions. I knew police brutality & raging poverty was their fault.
David Sanger of the New York Times: Michael Morrell, "the former deputy director of the C.I.A., asserts in a forthcoming book that Republicans, in their eagerness to politicize the killing of the American ambassador to Libya, repeatedly distorted the agency's analysis of events. But he also argues that the C.I.A. should get out of the business of providing 'talking points' for administration officials in national security events that quickly become partisan, as happened after the Benghazi attack in 2012.
Adrian Carrasquillo of BuzzFeed: Hillary "Clinton's first 2016 foray into proving her immigration bonafides to activists will begin on Tuesday at a roundtable event at Rancho High School in Las Vegas, [Nevada,] where she is expected to affirm her support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, say she supports the president's executive actions, and call out the Republican field for their shortcomings on the issue, sources familiar with the event told BuzzFeed News." ...
... Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: Frank "Giustra, 57, a Vancouver, B.C.-based mogul whose eclectic business interests include founding Lionsgate Entertainment and investing in gold mines and an olive oil company, has come to symbolize a relatively new butsubstantial category of Clinton backers: foreign donors who are not legally eligible to contribute to U.S. political candidates but grew close to the Clintons through the charity.... Giustra's donations [to the Clinton Foundation], and others from his friends in the international mining business, are becoming a factor in Hillary Clinton's campaign." ...
... Jaime Fuller of New York: "Bill Clinton, who is currently traveling in Africa, did an interview with NBC News to defend the Clinton Foundation, saying his organization had never done anything 'knowingly inappropriate.' He said Hillary told him, 'No one has ever tried to influence me by helping you.' The former president also defended his hefty speaking fees, saying, 'People like to hear me speak,' and 'I gotta pay our bills.'" CW: Because we buy millions & millions of dollars of pretty things. Okay then. ...
... The interview, with Cynthia McFadden, is here.
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley said Sunday that he will announce his presidential campaign in riot-scarred Baltimore if he moves forward with a White House bid.... The tenure of O'Malley, who served as Baltimore's mayor between 1999 and 2007, has come under intense scrutiny since rioting broke out after the funeral of Freddie Gray...."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Carly Fiorina [will be] announcing her long-shot bid for the Republican nomination Monday morning and former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas set to announce his own on Tuesday. Ben Carson announced his bid on Sunday night." ...
... CW: Well, Carson accidentally announced his candidacy last night. ...
... Robert Samuels of the Washington Post: "For many young African Americans who grew up seeing Carson as the embodiment of black achievement -- a poor inner-city boy who became one of the world's most accomplished neurosurgeons -- his emergence as a conservative hero and unabashed critic of the United States' first black president has been jarring. Carson has been a black icon since 1987, when he became the first person to successfully separate twins conjoined at the backs of their heads. He was a rare and much-desired role model...."
News Ledes
CBS New York: "An NYPD officer died Monday, two days after being shot in the head while sitting in an unmarked squad car in Queens. Officer Brian Moore, 25, was in a medically induced coma after undergoing surgery shortly after the incident in Queens Village.... He was removed from life support at 11:15 a.m. Monday, sources said."
New York Times: "Dave Goldberg, the chief executive of SurveyMonkey and husband of Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, died of head trauma Friday night after he collapsed at the gym at a private resort in Mexico, according to a Mexican government official."
New York Times: "Two gunmen were killed after they opened fire Sunday evening outside an event hosted by an anti-Islam group in Garland, Tex., featuring cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, local officials said. According to the authorities, the two assailants shot a security guard and were, in turn, shot and killed by police officers. Officials did not name the gunmen or assign a motive for the attack. A spokeswoman for the F.B.I. in Dallas said the agency was providing investigative and bomb technician assistance to the Garland police." ...
... CW: Expect Fox "News" to handle this in their usual professional manner. ...
... ABC News: "One of the suspects in the shooting in Garland, Texas, late Sunday has been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was previously the subject of a terror investigation, according to a senior FBI official." Simpson's roommate is believed to be the other shooter. Simpson was on the no-fly list.
Lynh Bui & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Six Baltimore police officers have been charged with several counts, including one who was charged with second-degree murder, in the high-profile death of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries suffered in police custody, State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said Friday. Mosby said warrants have been issued for the arrest of the officers, including a lieutenant and a sergeant. Gray suffered a spinal injury after he was arrested April 12 and died after riding in a police transport van that made several stops. The charges against some of the officers include involuntary manslaughter, assault, failure to render aid and other counts." The Post is liveblogging events following the charges. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Paul Waldman: "Perhaps this prosecution -- and whatever reforms might happen in the near future -- would have occurred if the protests had stayed peaceful. There's no way to know for sure. But you don't have to approve of rioting to acknowledge that in this case it may well have led to results." ...
... Gene Robinson: "Police had no legitimate reason to arrest [Freddie Gray] in the first place. The ostensible charge against Gray -- that he had an illegal switchblade -- was false, according to Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby. The folding knife found in his pocket was of a design that is perfectly legal under Maryland law, Mosby said.... Now does everyone understand the anger in Baltimore?" ...
... Christopher Hooton of the Independent: "Kevin Moore, the man who filmed Freddie Gray's brutal arrest, has now himself been arrested following 'harassment and intimidation' from Baltimore police. Moore was arrested at gunpoint last night along with two other members of Cop Watch, a group dedicated to filming and documenting police work.... Moore claims that despite having co-operated with two detectives in the Baltimore Police Department's Office of Internal Oversight and given them the video, police posted his photo and told the public that he was 'wanted for questioning', asking people to identify him." ...
... Carimah Townes of Think Progress: "Moore says he was protesting with Ferguson cop watchers on North Avenue, shouting obscenities and wearing an Anonymous mask. Once the group left, officers arrested them without issuing a citation or explaining what the charges were." ...
... Nikita Stewart & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "All over Baltimore in the early hours after Ms. Mosby's speech, residents found themselves gripped by unexpected emotion. Crowds of young men who had spent the past few days and nights protesting in anger were instead smiling, bounding up and down, shouting 'Freddie, Freddie, Freddie!' Drivers honked their horns; teenagers pumped their fists. Some residents even found a way to play a recording of Ms. Mosby's speech, outside to passing crowds."
... Margaret Hartmann: "The other prisoner [who rode in the van for a short time with Freddie Gray], 22-year-old Donta Allen, came forward on Thursday and confirmed that he heard banging when he got in the van.... But in an interview with WJZ, Allen said police are misconstruing his words, and he's angry that the report was leaked. 'They trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to hisself [sic],' he said. 'Why the [expletive] would he do that to hisself?'... Allen claims that when they got to the station, he heard police say, 'We got him, we gave him a run for his money.'" ...
... MEANWHILE. Steve M.: "The right has a newEric Holder." Congratulations, Marilyn Mosby. CW: Whew! Just when you thought wingers wouldn't know what to do when Eric Holder left the building way last week.
Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "The House and Senate Republican budget plan announced this week would continue hits on government workers, as expected, with cuts that could lighten their wallets by up to $194 billion..... Given the [House Oversight C]ommittee's oversight, however, federal pension benefits and the Federal Employees Health Benefits program are likely targets." CW: A budget President Walker would love.
Department of Transportation: "U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced a final rule for the safe transportation of flammable liquids by rail. The final rule, developed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in coordination with Canada, focuses on safety improvements that are designed to prevent accidents, mitigate consequences in the event of an accident, and support emergency response."
Tina Nguyen of Mediaite: "In the past few months, the Capitol Hill Police has recorded at least three instances where their officers accidentally left their loaded Glocks in bathrooms.... Roll Call, which broke this mindblowing tale of stupidity, reports that two of the guns were found in the Capitol office complexes itself: one in the bathroom of the Capitol Visitors Center, casually wedged into a toilet seat cover dispenser. One was reportedly picked up by an 8-year-old boy touring Speaker John Boehner's office with his parents. (Let's repeat that: An 8-year-old tourist found a Glock in Boehner's office.) The third Glock was discovered casually chilling in the open at the Capitol Police headquarters building." ...
... Hannah Hess of Roll Call: "Unlike a gun with a traditional safety, a Glock will fire if the trigger is pulled -- making the young boy's alleged discovery of a gun in Boehner's office particularly concerning."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jonathan Chait: "Now that he is no longer the chairman of the Federal Reserve and is now a blogger, Ben Bernanke is free to point out certain obvious truths he couldn't say previously, such as the fact that The Wall Street Journal editorial page is run by crazy people. Bernanke is not quite putting it in those terms, alas, but his blogging career is young. In response to a Journal editorial calling for higher interest rates to tame inflation, Bernanke notes that the Journal has been wrongly forecasting higher inflation for nine years now." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Annie Lowrey of New York: "David Brooks is not buying your excuses, poor people.... I am going to leave the reductive argument about social norms and social mobility aside. Nobody should take it seriously, particularly not when it is based on a bizarre misreading of federal data on poverty." ...
... CW BTW: Pretty much everything Baker explains was available to Brooks on the Internets long before he made up this crap. For instance, here, where Glenn Kessler gives 3 Pinocchios to a similar analysis by Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. or in this PolitiFact rebuttal to Very Serious Budget Guru Paul Ryan.
... Sean Illing of Slate: "For Brooks, the problem with poor people is that they're immoral. It's not because they're structurally disadvantaged, or because their local economies have collapsed, or because jobs have been shipped overseas, or because they attended chaotic schools, or because their parents worked multiple jobs for unlivable wages, or because the material demands of existence occupy the bulk of their time. Nope, it's because of poor 'social psychology.' That's the kind of explanation that could only be offered by someone oblivious to his own advantages. And Brooks has been peddling it for years." ...
... Driftglass: "The astute reader will note that whenever Mr. Brooks lectures gassily and from far, far away about the plight of The Poors, he is never shy about using his amazing moral x-ray vision to penetrate their lives and communities and pronounce judgement on these children of a lesser God." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "Sad thing is no telling how many people will read Brooks' column and whether or not they absorb the exact numbers or understand their misleading character, they'll retain the vague impression that everybody knows you could cash out anti-poverty programs and save everybody a lot of money -- or hell, maybe just kill the programs outright and keep the change instead of giving it to po' folks who are incorrigible unless somebody gets in there and makes them behave." ...
... CW: I've said it before, & I'll say it again. David Brooks is the reincarnation of the Peter Sellers character, Chauncey Gardner, "the soft-headed Washington, D.C. gardener who is mistaken for an insightful businessman, and whose 'simple brand of wisdom' is misread as profundity." But Brooks, of course, is way meaner. A thanks to the writers cited above who don't "just make crap up." Brooks is a disgrace.
Presidential Race
Thomas Zambito of NJ.com: "Former Port Authority executive David Wildsteinpleaded guilty Friday to his role in the politically-motivated closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Wildstein, 53, admitted in federal court to conspiring with former Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni and Gov. Chris Christie's former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly to 'punish' Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie in his re-election bid." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Kate Zernicke & Marc Santora of the New York Times: "After a 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal, a judge in New Jersey on Friday unsealed indictments of two people close to Gov. Chris Christie, outlining a conspiracy to exact political vengeance against a local mayor for his failure to offer political support to the governor. Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, were charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, including 'knowingly converting and intentionally misapplying property of an organization receiving federal benefits.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Kate Zernicke: "... an indictment released by federal prosecutors in New Jersey on Friday fills out in more detail the specifics of how and why [for the bridge closing], presenting the lengths three accused conspirators ... went to, and the delight they took, in concocting their scheme and the sham story to cover it up.... The fine-grained intricacies laid out in the legal papers show the three plotting like petulant and juvenile pranksters, using government resources, time and personnel to punish a public official whose sole offense was failing to endorse their political patron. The three were in constant contact, brazenly using government emails, their tone sometimes almost giddy." The indictment also alleges (with plenty of written corroboration) that Wildstein, with the help of other unwitting PA personnel, developed plans to maximize the impact of the closing & blame Mayor Sokolich. ...
... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Nowhere does the indictment say Mr. Christie, a Republican, knew of the scheme or was involved in it. Yet it was a crime of political vengeance, the indictment makes clear, that was conceived in furtherance of Mr. Christie's political ambitions, and carried out in his name.... Mr. Christie faces the specter of a lengthy and embarrassing criminal trial overshadowing the 2016 presidential campaign, in which the star witness -- David Wildstein ... still maintains the governor was aware of the lane-closing plot as it happened. Even so, Mr. Christie treated the outcome of the federal investigation as a personal exoneration." ...
... New York TimesEditors: "Mr. Christie can't slough these problems off on hired hands. They belong to the man in charge. [The] behavior [of his subordinates] shows Mr. Christie's inability to choose employees, to manage them and, most important, to keep them from abusing their power. His failure to do so created a culture that allowed his underlings to bully the mayor of Fort Lee.... While Mr. Christie was in Virginia on Friday morning talking about the need for trust and truth in government, Mr. Wildstein was in federal court in Newark pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and 'conspiracy against civil rights' of residents caught in the traffic jam."
... Harry Enten of 538: "Chris Christie's access lanes to the the GOP nomination are closed.... Whether or not Christie is ever charged, his position in the presidential race is already even worse than we thought it was at the beginning of the year."
Gail Collins: "Question: Sanders self-identifies as a 'democratic socialist.' Aren't people going to think that's a little extreme? Answer: This week, the governor of Texas announced he was putting a special watch on U.S. military exercises this summer, due to public speculation that the soldiers might take over the state and confiscate everyone's guns. Also, the Idaho Legislature recently killed a bill that would have provided federal aid in tracking down deadbeat dads, due to concern that it might involve the use of Shariah law. I do not want to hear you calling Bernie Sanders an extremist." ...
... Dana Milbank argues that Bernie Sanders & Martin O'Malley are making a mistake by not taking on Hillary Clinton "directly and forcefully.... The O'Malley and Sanders reticence is doing Clinton no favors. Were they to take her on, they could force her from her defensive crouch into a more populist posture. That would excite the Democratic base, and sparring with O'Malley or Sanders would get her in shape for the general election."
Beyond the Beltway
Alan Yuhas & Jana Kasperkevic of the Guardian: "Thousands of Americans set out to march under the banners of 'black lives matter' and 'no justice no peace' on Friday, merging the movement against police abuses with May Day's 124-year crusade for workers' rights. In New York, thousands rallied in downtown Manhattan, demanding 'disarm the NYPD' in the wake of the police killings of Freddie Gray in Baltimore and other black men around the country. Protesters also called for a minimum wage hike to $15, restrictions on carbon emissions and an end to tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans." ...
... Veronica Rocha & Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times: "Traffic snarled in downtown Los Angeles on Friday afternoon as street closures took effect for a May Day rally demanding immigration reform and higher minimum wages."
William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Dean G. Skelos, the leader of the New York State Senate, and his son are expected to be arrested on federal corruption charges next week, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The expected arrests, coming roughly three months after federal bribery and kickback charges led Assemblyman Sheldon Silver to step down as speaker, would signal an extension of the investigation into allegations of political corruption in Albany.... It is not known if Mr. Skelos, a Republican from Long Island who was first elected to the Senate in 1984, will resign his leadership post as did Mr. Silver, a Manhattan Democrat...."
Lynh Bui & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Six Baltimore police officers have been charged with several counts, including one who was charged with second-degree murder, in the ... death of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries suffered in police custody, State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said Friday. Mosby said warrants have been issued for the arrest of the officers, including a lieutenant and a sergeant.... The charges against some of the officers include involuntary manslaughter, assault, failure to render aid and other counts." The Post is liveblogging events following the charges. ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "The other prisoner [who rode in the van for a short time with Freddie Gray], 22-year-old Donta Allen, came forward on Thursday and confirmed that he heard banging when he got in the van.... But in an interview with WJZ, Allen said police are misconstruing his words, and he's angry that the report was leaked. 'They trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to hisself [sic],' he said. 'Why the [expletive] would he do that to hisself?'... Allen claims that when they got to the station, he heard police say, 'We got him, we gave him a run for his money.'"
Thomas Zambito of NJ.com: "Former Port Authority executive David Wildsteinpleaded guilty Friday to his role in the politically-motivated closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Wildstein, 53, admitted in federal court to conspiring with former Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni and Gov. Chris Christie's former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly to 'punish' Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie in his re-election bid." ...
... Kate Zernicke & Marc Santora of the New York Times: "After a 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal, a judge in New Jersey on Friday unsealed indictments of two people close to Gov. Chris Christie, outlining a conspiracy to exact political vengeance against a local mayor for his failure to offer political support to the governor. Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, were charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, including 'knowingly converting and intentionally misapplying property of an organization receiving federal benefits.'"
Jonathan Chait: "Now that he is no longer the chairman of the Federal Reserve and is now a blogger, Ben Bernanke is free to point out certain obvious truths he couldn't say previously, such as the fact that The Wall Street Journal editorial page is run by crazy people. Bernanke is not quite putting it in those terms, alas, but his blogging career is young. In response to a Journal editorial calling for higher interest rates to tame inflation, Bernanke notes that the Journal has been wrongly forecasting higher inflation for nine years now."
*****
NBC Chicago: "President Barack Obama's library will be built in Chicago, NBC News' confirmed Thursday. Both The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago placed bids. The final selection is expected to be connected to the University of Chicago, but the final site has not been settled upon." ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Speaking to a group of schoolchildren at the Anacostia Library in Washington, D.C., [President] Obama said he would like to focus on expanding education and economic opportunity after his presidency. 'I'll be done being president in a couple of years and I'll still be a pretty young man,' he said. 'And so I'll go back to doing the kinds of work I was doing before, just trying to find ways to help people.'... 'Help young people get an education, help people get jobs, bring businesses into neighborhoods that don't have enough businesses,' he said. 'That's the kind of work that I really love to do.' During the event in Southeast Washington, Obama announced a new initiative to provide 10,000 new e-books to low-income youth."
Alexander Bolton & Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Two junior conservatives blindsided Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Thursday by attempting to force a vote on an amendment that could derail the bipartisan Iran nuclear review bill. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is running for president, surprised McConnell by leapfrogging ahead of colleagues waiting for chances to get votes on their amendments. They used a procedural maneuver to force McConnell to schedule a vote on an amendment requiring Iran to recognize Israel's right to exist as part of any nuclear deal."
Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauser of the New York Times: "After more than a decade of wrenching national debate over the intrusiveness of government intelligence agencies, a bipartisan wave of support has gathered to sharply limit the federal government's sweeps of phone and Internet records. On Thursday, a bill that would overhaul the Patriot Act and curtail the so-called metadata surveillance exposed by Edward J. Snowden was overwhelmingly passed by the House Judiciary Committee and was heading to almost certain passage in that chamber this month. An identical bill in the Senate -- introduced with the support of five Republicans -- is gaining support over the objection of Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who is facing the prospect of his first policy defeat since ascending this year to majority leader."
Bernie Becker of the Hill: "The House on Thursday passed a Republican budget that would boost defense spending, slash social welfare programs and target ObamaCare, in what GOP leaders cast as a victory for fiscal sanity. The joint House-Senate budget, which was unveiled on Wednesday, passed by a 226-197 margin, with 14 Republicans joining every Democrat in opposition.... And even as the House passed the first joint GOP budget in nearly a decade, Republicans were already seeing signs that they would face difficulties -- including a divide between defense and fiscal hawks -- as they seek to turn the top-line budget numbers into fleshed-out spending bills."
Josh Hicks & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Baltimore police said Thursday that they have turned over [to the State's Attorney's office] a much-anticipated report of their investigation into the death of Freddie Gray to prosecutors.... The Baltimore State's Attorney's Office will now have to decide whether to file criminal charges. The U.S. Department of Justice is also conducting its own investigation into Gray's death.... Officials have had said the police report to the prosecutors will not be made public." ...
... Brad Bell of WJLA Washington: "An investigation into the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray has found no evidence that his fatal injuries were caused during his videotaped arrest and interaction with police officers, according to multiple law enforcement sources. The sources spoke to ABC7 News after being briefed on the findings of a police report turned over to prosecutors on Thursday. Sources said the medical examiner found Gray's catastrophic injury was caused when he slammed into the back of the police transport van, apparently breaking his neck; a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van." ...
... The Washington Post story, by Lynh Bui & others, is here.
... Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "In Baltimore, they call it a rough ride.... Other cities called them joy rides. The slang terms mask a dark tradition of police misconduct in which suspects, seated or lying face down and in handcuffs in the back of a police wagon, are jolted and battered by an intentionally rough and bumpy ride that can do as much damage as a police baton without an officer having to administer a blow." ...
... Blame the Victim, Ctd. CW: I thought I'd check in with David Brooks to see what he thought about the killing of Freddie Gray. Suffice it to say that Brooks has found a better, gentler way to blame the victim -- and liberals! Incredibly, Brooks mentions Gray's lead-paint contamination & frames it not as an explanation for Gray's disabilities but, in as an oh-so-subtle way to suggest Gray got an even bigger handout than most poor people get & -- as is his "nature" -- he didn't use it to become a tax-paying nuclear-scientist & family man. See, throwing money at the poor doesn't work. I haven't time to debunk Brooks' theory on "the nature of poverty," but I'll look around later to see if anyone else takes on his load of crap. There are so many ways to do it.
James Risen of the New York Times: "The American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror, according to a new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists. The report is the first to examine the association's role in the interrogation program. It contends, using newly disclosed emails, that the group's actions to keep psychologists involved in the interrogation program coincided closely with efforts by senior Bush administration officials to salvage the program after the public disclosure in 2004 of graphic photos of prisoner abuse by American military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.... Rhea Farberman, a spokeswoman for the American Psychological Association, denied that the group had coordinated its actions with the government." ...
Hypocrites Son Nosotros. Mary Jordan & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "By providing tax prep and driving classes [for Latinos, the Koch brothers, through an organization they fund called LIBRE], are building good will in the Latino community and what they call a 'platform for civic engagement.' LIBRE officials take pains to say they are advocating policies, not specific candidates.... The Latino Victory Fund, which is backed by Democratic activists including actress Eva Longoria, is so concerned about LIBRE that it is gathering Latino leaders in Washington next week to discuss how to counter the efforts, which they see as disingenuous."
Jonathan Chait: Karl Rove "is also the victim of a severe psychological trauma that has rendered him unable to recollect anything that transpired between January 2001 and 2009, when he masterminded one of the most disastrous presidencies in American history, an ordeal that is the possible source of his trauma." ...
... AND a lovely piece by Paul Waldman on "indulging the lunatics on the right," featuring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. "So in response to the fact that some of Texas's dumbest citizens emerged from their doomsday prepper shelters long enough to harangue a colonel about their belief that martial law is coming to their state, Governor Abbott issued an order to the National Guard to monitor the movements of the U.S. military just to make sure they aren't herding citizens into re-education camps or dropping Islamic State infiltrators into Galveston.... But what's remarkable about this is that we aren't talking about an offhand remark Abbott made.... He's mobilizing state resources, at taxpayer expense, because of a bizarre conspiracy theory that has some of Texas's more colorful citizens in its grip." ...
... Steve M. has much more on the conspiracy theories, which would be more of a fun read if it weren't for the fact that, "your Fox-watching uncle probably believes a great deal of this. And one of our two major parties is so afraid of conspiratorialists like this that it takes them seriously. That's what's frightening."
Strange News. Aaron Schock Has Disappeared. Jon Seidel of the Chicago Sun-Times: "... two weeks after a campaign donor filed a federal lawsuit against the former congressman, [Daniel Kurowski] an attorney for the donor, said Wednesday he can't track the Peoria Republican down.... Kurowski said his firm tried to serve Schock at a Peoria address that Schock previously listed on forms with the Federal Election Commission. But Kurowski said the property is now vacant. He also said attorneys who appear to have represented Schock in the past have not responded to his firm's inquiries."
Presidential Race
Paul Krugman: "... this election should turn almost entirely on the issues. But if we must talk about character, let's talk about what matters, namely intellectual integrity." CW: As far as I can tell, the only presidential candidate who meets Krugman's criterion is ...
Bernie! Paul Kane & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday launch[ed] his campaign for the White House -- and representing a real challenge to the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as she fights to win over the kind of left-leaning Democrats inclined to heed Sanders's fiery call to action. Sanders lifted off his long-shot bid with a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday by declaring war on corporate America and billionaire campaign donors. He also landed subtle jabs at Clinton, whose political ties to Wall Street and hawkish worldview have left some liberals yearning for an alternative":
... Paul Waldman: "... Sanders could actually cause more headaches for the Republicans running for president [than for Clinton] -- if he succeeds on focusing the campaign on his area of interest.... Sanders' candidacy will be almost entirely about economic issues.... The more attention Bernie Sanders gets, the more attention economic inequality gets, which is something Republicans would rather avoid." ...
... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: Sandersis "a genuine economic populist, and many of his policy proposals -- such as spending a trillion dollars on infrastructure investment, introducing a carbon tax, and replacing private health insurance with Medicare for all -- are eminently defensible, if politically unrealistic." ...
... Arlette Saenz of ABC News: "Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, said he is concerned by the millions of dollars flowing into the Clinton Foundation at a time when he thinks money plays too strong a role in politics. 'It tells me what is a very serious problem,' Sanders said in an interview with ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl. 'It's not just about Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton. It is about a political system today that is dominated by big money. It's about the Koch brothers being prepared to spend $900 million dollars in the coming election." ...
... Andrew Prokop of Vox summarizes Sanders' policy positions. ...
... Andy Borowitz (satire): "Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clintonis on pace to adopt rival Bernie Sanders's positions on all major issues by noon on Thursday, Clinton campaign officials have confirmed." ...
... CW: Also, seems Borowitz would agree with me on the integrity thing: "The Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders's potential bid for the 2016 Presidency was declared over, on Monday, before it even began, because of a key feature of the American political system that makes a person with integrity ineligible for the White House." ...
... Annie Linskey of the Boston Globe: "An unprecedented ethics promise that played a pivotal role in helping Hillary Rodham Clinton win confirmation as secretary of state, soothing senators' concerns about conflicts of interests with Clinton family charities, was uniformly bypassed by the biggest of the philanthropies involved. The Clinton Health Access Initiative never submitted information on any foreign donations to State Department lawyers for review during Clinton's tenure from 2009 to 2013, Maura Daley, the organization's spokeswoman, acknowledged to the Globe this week. She said the charity deemed it unnecessary, except in one case that she described as an 'oversight.'" ...
... Ken Vogel of Politico: "A handful of deep-pocketed donors are reconsidering their gifts to the $2 billion Clinton Foundation amid mounting questions about how it's spending their money and suggestions of influence peddling, according to donors and others familiar with the foundation's fundraising. One major donor who contributed at least $500,000 to the foundation last year said a 2015 donation is less likely because of revelations about sloppy record-keeping and huge payments for travel and administrative costs."
Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "Two days after riots in Baltimore [[ at a time when most of the presidential field is either silent or contemptuous -- [Hillary] Clinton has stepped out front with a forward-looking agenda on bringing people out of prison, a definitive rebuke to the 'law and order' politics used by her husband throughout his career. Not only did Clinton call for an end to 'the era of mass incarceration,' but she also connected our prison population to broader patterns of inequality.... This speech is a political gamble as much as it is a policy commitment.... Suddenly, police reform is a Democratic agenda item, something a Democratic Congress and a Democratic White House may act on. For police reform activists, this is vindication. This is what winning looks like." ...
... Dara Lind of Vox: "Whenever a politician suddenly flip-flops on an issue, especially after decades spent on the other side, it makes sense to wonder whether the conversion is genuine. But even if Clinton doesn't believe a word she said at Columbia, the fact that she gave the speech is incredibly significant.... Research shows that campaign promises are actually a lot more important than you might think.... Clinton just handed criminal justice advocates something they can use, if she's elected president, to prove that she told them reform was a priority." ...
... Ed Kilgore notes that it wasn't President Bill Clinton, but Republicans, who inserted harsh drug sentencing into the 1994 Omnibus Crime Law. So Rand Paul should STFU. CW: One thing that one must remember about Li'l Randy: he never, never, ever is right about history. He's probably the guy who told Michele Bachmann that "the shot heard 'round the world" rang out from New Hampshire & told Sarah Palin that Paul Revere warned the British that Bostonians would shoot them (or whatever she said).
Jessie Byrnes of the Hill: "Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a likely 2016 presidential contender, said the Baltimore rioting that has gripped national attention this week was a major blow to the city and its ambitions.... O'Malley was heckled on Tuesday when walking the streets of Baltimore, where he served as mayor from 1999 to 2007, over the tough-on-crime policing policies pushed during his term." ...
... James Hohmann of Politico: "Martin O'Malley's political career, which started on the streets of Baltimore, may also end there: Half of Democratic insiders in the early states believe this week's riots have hurt the former mayor's already long-shot presidential hopes."
Kate Zernicke & Marc Santora of the New York Times: David Wildstein, "a former Port Authority official and ally of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, is expected to plead guilty on Friday to the first charges stemming from the 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal. The United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, announced early on Friday that there would be a 'proceeding of interest in a criminal matter' related to the closings at 11 a.m. in front of Judge Susan D. Wigenton in United States District Court in Newark. Mr. Fishman will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. to discuss the investigation, breaking his long silence over the inquiry.... Mr. Fishman is expected to announce other indictments in the case, but it was not clear who would be among those indictments." ...
... Not to worry, Chris. We realize you hardly knew Wildstein. Ken Kurson of NJ Politicker (March 15, 2015): "'We were not even acquaintances in high school.... We didn't travel in the same circles in high school. I was class president and an athlete, I don't know what David was doing.' A tough editorial in yesterday's Star-Ledger called that line 'cringe-worthy' and pointed out that a $150,000 executive position at the Port Authority was a pretty sweet reward for some 'anonymous nerd occupying another lunch table at Livingston High.'"
When I don't show up for work because I'm out hustling fatcats, it's like I'm really there & voting 'no.' -- Ted Cruz (paraphrase), explaining why he was the only senator who didn't vote on Loretta Lynch's confirmation
Eli Stokols of Politico: For the second time this month, Rand Paulblew an opportunity to distinguish himself as a Republican with a more sympathetic view of the oppression & resulting problems of urban black Americans.
I respect the courts, but the Supreme Court is only that -- the supreme of the courts. It is not the supreme being. It cannot overrule God...When it comes to prayer, when it comes to life, and when it comes to the sanctity of marriage, the court cannot change what God has created. -- Mike Huckabee
One of things God has created is people who who want to enjoy the sanctity of marriage with people of the same sex. And, no, the Court cannot change that. Which is as it should be. Amen, Brother Mike. -- Constant Weader
Gubernatorial Race
Tom LoBianco of the Indy Star: "Democrats are lining up to potentially challenge a likely re-election bid by Republican Gov. Mike Pence, whom some see as vulnerable. Pence's chief opponent from the 2012 campaign, Democrat John Gregg, announced Thursday he would run for governor again. Meanwhile, Pence's continuing critic since taking office in 2013, Democratic State Schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz, announced she is considering a gubernatorial challenge, too."
Beyond the Beltway
CW: Yesterday in a comment, I jokingly suggested President Obama should declare martial law & take over Florida. Maybe the joke isn't such a bad idea, after all. As Steve Benenlays out, "Rick Scott believes Florida should say no to Obamacare because it might interfere with Obamacare." Since we already have two Floridians in the presidential beauty contest, I think Rick Scott should join them; he's as good at farcical doublespeak as is Marco Rubio & he's richer than Jeb Bush.
News Ledes
Los Angeles Times: "The stepchildren of a woman killed in a car crash involving Bruce Jenner filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Friday against the Olympian, accusing him of being negligent."
Guardian: "Ben E King, the R&B and soul singer best known for Stand By Me, whose honeyed vocal tones helped first popularise the genres with mass pop audiences, has died aged 76."
New York: "A week after the last string of sexual-assault allegations against Bill Cosby, two more women have come forward with claims that the comedian drugged and sexually assaulted them.... More than 40 women in all have accused Cosby of sexual assault."
;)
Lousy artwork via New York mag.Paul Krugman: "... much though by no means all of the horror one sees in Baltimore and many other places is really about class, about the devastating effects of extreme and rising inequality." Here I'll pause to mention that my fatuous colleague David Brooks is a liar and/or an ignoramus: "And it's also disheartening to see commentators still purveying another debunked myth, that we've spent vast sums fighting poverty to no avail (because of values, you see.) In reality, federal spending on means-tested programs other than Medicaid has fluctuated between 1 and 2 percent of G.D.P. for decades, going up in recessions and down in recoveries.... The poor don't need lectures on morality, they need more resources -- which we can afford to provide -- and better economic opportunities.... Baltimore, and America, don't have to be as unjust as they are." ...
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