The Commentariat -- April 21, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon News:

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration is expected to resign soon, according to U.S. officials, following revelations about 'sex parties' involving prostitutes overseas and other misconduct among its agents. Michele Leonhart, who has served at the helm of the DEA since 2007, has come under heavy criticism on Capitol Hill since an inspector general report last month documented a series of episodes in which agents hired prostitutes. Agents were also found to have had sex parties with some women hired by drug cartels in Colombia."

*****

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and majority leader, announced this morning that a deal had been reached to resolve a dispute with Democrats over a bill to halt sex trafficking.... Referring to the stalled nomination of Loretta E. Lynch, he noted that as soon as the measure was completed, 'we'll move to the president's nominee for attorney general -- hopefully in the next day or so.'" CW: Do bear in mind that the trafficking bill has zip to do with confirmation of the attorney general. Tying a vote for Lynch to the bill was just another GOP stall tactic. ...

     ... Update. The full story, by Jennifer Steinhauer & Emmarie Huetteman, is here.

Clare Foran of the National Journal: "As President Obama rushes to cement his climate legacy, other nations are questioning whether his administration can make good on its promise to slash greenhouse-gas emissions ahead of a major climate summit in Paris at the end of this year.... Legal challenges and political attacks faced by the regulations, which stand as a major pillar of the U.S. climate pledge, highlight the uncertain fate of Obama's most ambitious action to tackle global warming." ...

... CW: This is the second story I've linked to in less than a week (see the top of the April 18 Commentariat) in which other nations mistrust the U.S. on major issues because the GOP is working to undermine international cooperation. (And this doesn't include their egregious behavior on the Iran nuclear deal.) It is not President Obama who is "making the U.S. weaker" as Republicans claim; it is, as it has been, Republican obstinacy. When will voters wake up to the damage they are causing their country & themselves?

Grandpa Is a Selfish Bastard. Brian Beutler of the New Republic looks at poll numbers & finds that the demographic that most hates ObamaCare is old folks who, you know, are on Medicare.

Today in Right-Wing Loony. Dana Milbank: "As the Supreme Court prepares to take up same-sex marriage next week, conservative scholars have produced a last-ditch argument to keep the scourge of homosexual unions from spreading across the land:... They're saying that legalizing same-sex marriage will cause 900,000 abortions. The logic is about as obvious as if they had alleged that raising the minimum wage would increase the frequency of hurricanes."

Charles Pierce has noticed that Dave Brat (R-Va.), the Tea Party victor over former House Majority Leader & current $3.4MM/year investment banker Eric Cantor, "is several tentacles short of an octopus." CW: worth remembering -- Brat is a certified Ph.D. from a respectable university, thus providing more evidence that American education ain't what it used to be.

Dana Somberg & Maariv Hashavua of the Jerusalem Post: Israeli "President Reuven Rivlin has refused to meet with former US president Jimmy Carter during his upcoming visit to the region, due to his stances over recent years seen as 'anti-Israel.'"

Annals of Journalism. Here's the Pulitzer Prize Committee's list of 2015 winners of Pultizer Prizes. The Washington Post story, by Paul Farhi, is here. The New York Times story, by Ravi Somaiya, is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dylan Byers of Politico: "The New York Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have made exclusive agreements with a conservative author for early access to his opposition research on Hillary Clinton, a move that has confounded members of the Clinton campaign and some reporters, the On Media blog has confirmed.... On Monday, a source with knowledge of the arrangements told the On Media blog that CBS' '60 Minutes' and ABC News turned down offers for similar exclusive access to portions of the book's contents." ...

... As Byers notes, Media Matters is already on the case: "Media should be cautious with Republican activist and strategist Peter Schweizer's new book Clinton Cash. Schweizer has a disreputable history of reporting marked by errors and retractions, with numerous reporters excoriating him for facts that 'do not check out,' sources that 'do not exist,' and a basic failure to practice 'Journalism 101.'" The report, by Eric Hananoki, cites case after case of Schweizer's misreporting.

Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes of the Washington Post responds to Garry Trudeau's lecture on "appropriate" cartooning.

Catherine Thompson of TPM: "Staff writer Dylan Goforth and enterprise editor Ziva Branstetter of The Tulsa World newspaper published a report Thursday that cited multiple anonymous sources alleging supervisors had signed off on firearms certifications and field training that Reserve Deputy Robert Bates did not complete.... Branstetter was named Monday afternoon as a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist for local reporting.... The reporters left the publication on Monday.... Goforth told TPM in a direct message over Twitter that he, Branstetter and two other The Tulsa World reporters had another job offer in the works for a few months."

Presidential Race

Steve M. on money in politics, & specifically, Clinton money in politics: "Here's the thing: We will elect a corrupt president in 2016. That's simply a fact. The question is whether we'll elect a corrupt president who'll take a wrecking ball to what's left of the social safety apparatus, to voting rights, to reproductive rights, to progressive taxation, and so on. I say: Vote for the left-centrist crook, as opposed to one of the other crooks." CW: Reality sucks. ...

... Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg: "Hillary Clinton dismissed scrutiny of the Clinton Foundation's donors as just part of running for president and said [in Keene, N.H.,] Monday that she's ready for the incoming attention. 'It's worth noting that Republicans seem to only be talking about me,' she told reporters after a roundtable discussion on small businesses.... 'I don't know what they'd talk about if I weren't in the race.'" ...

... Mary Bruce & Jonathan Karl of ABC News: "The White House today declined to address reports that Clinton Foundation donors were purportedly given preferential treatment by the administration while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. 'I know there's been a lot of accusations made about this, but not a lot of evidence,' Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at the daily briefing. 'The president continues to be extraordinarily proud of the work that Secretary Clinton did as the secretary of State. But for the details of some of those accusations, I'd refer you to Secretary Clinton's campaign.'" CW: Earnest sure does a lot of talking for someone "declining to comment."

Margaret Hartmann of New York is a tiny bit skeptical of claims that Mayor DeBlasio has a secret plot to become President DeBlasio.

The Princes & the Populist. Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Charles G. and David H. Koch, the influential and big-spending conservative donors, have a favorite in the race for the Republican nomination: Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. On Monday, at a fund-raising event in Manhattan for the New York State Republican Party, David Koch told donors that he and his brother, who oversee one of the biggest private political organizations in the country, believed that Mr. Walker was the Republican Party's best hope for recapturing the White House. 'We will support whoever the candidate is,' said Mr. Koch, according to two people who attended the event. 'But it should be Scott Walker.'" CW: In case you were wondering who-all might back an anti-labor "populist." (See yesterday's comments thread for context.) ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "In a statement, David Koch said that his comments did not constitute an endorsement." ...

... CW P.S.: Many a Democratic rival could use the Kochs' backing to their great advantage. Hillary? Not so much. ...

... Charles Pierce: "... back in America's Dairyland, they may never get out of the death spiral into which Walker has shown the actual state he allegedly actually governs. His new budget is so draconian that even some of the Republicans in his pet legislature are starting to get nervous. And the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, a newspaper of wild ambivalence regarding Walker and his prospective candidacy, dropped a dungbomb on him that demonstrated that, while Scott Walker may have bought a shirt at Kohl's, he isn't qualified to run a cash register there." ...

... Regression of the Meanies. Only last week we learned that "Gov. Scott Walker's approval rating of 41 percent is its lowest point in three years, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll." ...

... New Jersey, We Have a Winner. Quinnipiac University: "New Jersey voters disapprove 56 - 38 percent of the job [Chris] Christie is doing as governor, his lowest approval rating ever and the lowest approval rating for any governor this year in the nine states surveyed by Quinnipiac University."

A Plan for All Seasons. Jonathan Chait explains why Marco "Rubio's plan is so crazy and unrealistic it might as well be no plan at all." Even mathematically-challenged Republicans have noticed the "plan"'s flaws. They "are afraid that Rubio's plan to cut taxes for the middle class would cost too much, forcing him to 'fix' his plan by curtailing his promises to rich people." CW: Of course we know that is not what would happen: Republicans -- and some Democrats -- will always keep their promises to the rich. The unwashed masses get to vote only once. Wealthy puppetmasters hold the strings 365 days/year.

Paul Steinhauser of the Washington Post & NH1News: "Ohio Gov. John Kasich Monday took a big step toward a possible 2016 Republican presidential run with the launch of a new a 527 group, the Washington Post and NH1 News in New Hampshire have learned. The new group is called New Day for America, and one of the biggest political names in New Hampshire -- former Sen. John E. Sununu -- is serving as a director." CW: Does this mean God has spoken? (See yesterday's Commentariat.)

Beyond the Beltway

Dark & Dirty. Mary Bottari in the Huffington Post: "Two court cases next week -- one being heard in open court, another being considered in silence behind closed doors -- will decide the future of Wisconsin campaign finance law, the independence of the Wisconsin judiciary, and will impact the future of presidential candidate Scott Walker. The stakes could not be higher, but the converging cases have garnered little national attention."

Lindsey Bever & Abby Ohlheiser of the Washington Post: "A 25-year-old man who died several days after being arrested by Baltimore police suffered a fatal spinal injury, authorities said Monday, as city officials announced that six police officers have been suspended." A court document "reports that [Freddie] Gray 'was arrested without force or incident' on April 12."

Jessica Roy of New York: "88,000 people applied for the 55 affordable rental units available at [New York City's] Upper West Side 'poor door' building. The condo features 219 luxury river-facing condos, and 55 street-facing units for those who earn 60 percent or less than the median income." CW: Apparently hobnobbing with the rich & famous was not uppermost in the minds of the applicants.

Steve Schmadeke & Jeremy Gorner of the Chicago Tribune: "In a stunning, abrupt end to the first trial in years of a Chicago police officer for a fatal off-duty shooting, a Cook County judge acquitted the veteran cop Monday on a legal fine point, drawing outrage from the black victim's family and leaders in the African-American community. Judge Dennis Porter ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that Dante Servin acted recklessly, saying that Illinois courts have consistently held that anytime an individual points a gun at an intended victim and shoots, it is an intentional act, not a reckless one. He all but said prosecutors should have charged Servin with murder, not involuntary manslaughter." CW: A legal fine point? How about a blunt corruption of justice.

News Ledes

AP: "An Egyptian criminal court on Tuesday sentenced ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison over the killing of protesters in 2012, the first verdict to be issued against the country's first freely elected leader.

AP: "Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries issued a voluntary recall Monday night for all of its products on the market after two samples of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream tested positive for listeria, a potentially deadly bacteria."

The Commentariat -- April 20, 2015

Internal links removed.

Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "Turning disgust with billionaire super PAC benefactors into a platform that moves voters has been an elusive goal for activists seeking to curb the massive sums sloshing through campaigns. But five years after the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision -- which held it was unconstitutional to ban independent political spending by corporations and unions, and helped set off a financial arms race -- there are signs that politicians are beginning to confront a voter backlash." ...

... Joshua Replogle of the AP: "The letter carrier who caused a full-scale security review in Washington when he violated national airspace by landing his gyrocopter on Capitol Hill expressed frustration Sunday that his message wasn't getting through.... 'We've got bigger problems in this country than worrying about whether the security around DC is ironclad,' [Doug] Hughes told The Associated Press. 'We need to be worried about the piles of money that are going into Congress.'"

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: After President Obama called the delay in Senate confirmation of Loretta Lynch "embarrassing," Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said on CNN Sunday that the "issues" which Senate Republicans used as an excuse to stall her confirmation would likely be resolved within the next few days.

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "... the nation's 1.3 million active-duty service members are in a special bind, virtually powerless to hold accountable the health care system that treats them. They are captives of the military medical system, unable, without specific approval, to get care elsewhere if they fear theirs is substandard or dangerous. Yet if they are harmed or die, they or their survivors have no legal right to challenge their care, and seek answers, by filing malpractice suits."

Frances Robles & Shaila DeWan of the New York Times: "Walter Scott's death has focused attention not just on police violence, but also on the use of jail to pressure parents to pay child support, a policy employed by many states today. Though the threat of jail is considered an effective incentive for people who are able but unwilling to pay, many critics assert that punitive policies are trapping poor men in a cycle of debt, unemployment and imprisonment.... The Obama administration is trying to change some of these policies, proposing to rewrite enforcement rules to require that child support orders be based on actual income and consider the 'subsistence needs' of the noncustodial parent, to bar states from allowing child support debt to accrue while parents are incarcerated and to finance more job placement services for them."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Medicare ... imprint[s] Social Security numbers on more than 50 million benefit cards despite years of warnings from government watchdogs that it placed millions of people at risk for financial losses from identity theft. That is about to change, after President Obama signed a bill last week that will end the use of those numbers on Medicare cards."

Rebecca Leber of the New Republic: Five years after BP's Gulf disaster, deepwater drilling is just as dangerous. ...

... Josh Israel of Think Progress: "... while scientists continue to observe ongoing [ecological] problems [in the Gulf], a BP spokesman appeared on ABC's This Week on Sunday suggesting the remaining oil no longer poses a risk to humans or the aquatic ecosystem." Ignore those tar balls, people!

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court signaled Friday that it is unlikely to allow President Barack Obama's request to go ahead with a new round of relief for illegal immigrants, making it likely that the White House will have to take its legal case to the Supreme Court within days.... By the time the court session wrapped up, it appeared likely the appeals judges will rule, 2-1, against the administration's request for a stay of a district court injunction...."

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "The Canadian Supreme Court, unlike the United States' Supreme Court, understands that sectarian prayer is sectarian." Also, their Santa Claus outfits are superb.

Daniel Politi of Slate: "President Obama offered support for decriminalizing medical marijuana, as well as an overall change in the way the country deals with drug offenders, during an interview scheduled to air on Sunday night as part of a CNN special on marijuana."

If you didn't read Steve Coll's piece on dangerous Congressional Republicans, linked yesterday, back up & read it. Coll backs up what I've said in the past, but -- unlike me -- he's something of an expert.

Paul Krugman: The Greek economic crisis is still a crisis, & creditors are still behaving badly.

Presidential Race

Jim Newell of Salon reported from Nashua, New Hampshire, the weekend's temporary center for crazy. Not surprisingly, some of the crowd were even whackier than speaker John Bolton.

Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Calling voters 'folks' and boasting about his cut-rate suits from Jos. A. Bank, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker campaigned vigorously in New Hampshire over the weekend, citing his polarizing labor policies and urging Republican primary voters to resist pleas for moderation in a party that has lost the last two presidential elections. Walker's brash, populist pitch was a direct shot at his better-heeled GOP rivals and the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton...."

Elliot Smilowitz of the Hill: "Just days after announcing a 2016 run for the White House, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has already received more than $40 million in donations, according to Reuters." ...

... Old Marco. Ana Marie Cox in the Daily Beast: "Take away Rubio's biography and look at his positions and he becomes less the voice of his generation and more Benjamin Button. If I told you about a candidate that was anti-marriage equality, anti-immigration reform (for now), anti-pot decriminalization, pro-government surveillance, and in favor of international intervention but against doing something about climate change, what would you guess the candidate's age to be? On all of those issues, Rubio's position is not the one shared by most young people. The Guardian dubbed him the 'John McCain of the millennial set,' which isn't fair to McCain, who at least has averred that climate change exists." ...

... Martin Pengelly: "Marco Rubio ... on Sunday said he did not 'believe same-sex marriage is a constitutional right'. Rubio said instead that the issue should be decided at the state level, although he did concede that 'sexual preference is something that people are born with'." CW: This is a quick "evolution" for Marco; way last week "he called homosexuality a choice." Apparently, it's a choice made in the womb. More evidence that zygotes are people, my friend. ...

... How to speak out of both sides of your mouth: It's not that I'm against gay marriage, I believe the definition of the institution of marriage should be between one man and one woman. -- Marco Rubio, to Bob Schieffer

Also, too, it's unnecessary to make sense. (See, for another example, Victoria D.'s comment in today's thread. -- Constant Weader

Nate Cohn of the New York Times: Mike "Huckabee may not be receiving much attention, but he is as important as any of the other second-tier candidates in the race, like Ted Cruz or Rand Paul. He has demonstrated appeal to a crucial bloc of Republican primary voters: the religious right. If he runs, he will be one of the most significant figures in the primary season, with the ability to deny a crucial segment of voters or even states to another candidate."

Everything Is Relative. Olivia Nuzzi of the Daily Beast: "'I don't consider myself a wealthy man,' Chris Christie said Friday in New Hampshire. That would be the same Chris Christie who, according to his tax returns, made $698,838 in 2013 -- $160,054 of which he earned as Governor of New Jersey, and $475,854 of which came from his wife, Mary Pat Christie, who works at a New York investment bank. Christie isn't rich if you're comparing him to his friends and donors, and he certainly may not feel rich in New Jersey, where his own policies have made living more expensive."

Hunter Schwartz of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said his decision on whether he'll run for president depends on whether he can raise enough money, but he said there's a '91 percent' chance he will. 'If I can raise the money, I'll do it,' he said on 'Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.'"

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Ohio Gov. John Kasich continued to signal his increasing interest in running for president Sunday, saying he's waiting for a signal from God before making the call.... While he awaits that clarity, Kasich said he's been active on the trail just in case. 'I'm not going to figure [it] out laying [sic.!] in bed, hoping lightning strikes,' he said." ...

... CW: Apparently, then, lightning is a signal from God. It appears that in the U.S., God is paying closest attention to "Central Florida between Tampa and Orlando [which] is known as 'lightning alley.'" The geologists who manage the site from which I obtained this information have a lot of nerve claiming that "warm, rising air pull[ing] sea breezes from the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico" are the cause of the high frequency of lightning strikes in the region, when the real cause is God's messaging system. In any event, if Kasich is looking for a signal, he might take the kids to Disney World to up his chances of getting a signal from Thor. I do hope that somewhere in the message, God will mention that Kasich's balanced budget obsession is idiotic.

Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "'Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,' by Peter Schweizer -- a 186-page investigation of donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities -- is proving the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy. The book, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, asserts that foreign entities who made payments to the Clinton Foundation and to Mr. Clinton through high speaking fees received favors from Mrs. Clinton's State Department in return.... Conservative 'super PACs' plan to seize on 'Clinton Cash,' and a pro-Democrat super PAC has already assembled a dossier on Mr. Schweizer, a speechwriting consultant to former President George W. Bush and a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution who has contributed to the conservative website Breitbart.com, to make the case that he has a bias against Mrs. Clinton.... Major news organizations including The Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have exclusive agreements with the author to pursue the story lines found in the book." ...

... Either Hillary Goes or I Do. AP: "A North Carolina man's obituary asked two things of friends and family: instead of sending flowers for the funeral, give the money to charity. And don't vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Jeffrey Tayler in Salon: "Reporters should do their job and not allow any of these potential commanders-in-chief to get away with God talk without making them answer for it, as impolite as that might be. Religious convictions deserve the same scrutiny any other convictions get,or more. After all, they are essentially wide-ranging assertions about the nature of reality and supernatural phenomena. As always, the burden of proof lies on the one making extraordinary claims. And if the man or woman carrying the nuclear briefcase happens to be eagerly desiring the End of Days, we need to know."

Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Sunday announced that he will not run for governor in his home state.... Manchin additionally endorsed 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during his CBS appearance Sunday."

News Ledes

USA Today: "The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has moved off the coast of Yemen to prepare to intercept potential shipments of Iranian weapons to the rebels fighting the U.S.-backed government of Yemen, Pentagon officials said Monday."

Washington Post: "An intruder climbed the White House fence late Sunday night but was quickly taken into custody, the Secret Service said."

The Commentariat -- April 19, 2015

Internal links removed.

** Steve Coll of the New Yorker on Congress's dangerous gamesmanship, as it applies to foreign policy.

American "Justice," Ctd. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000. Of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory's microscopic hair comparison unit, 26 overstated forensic matches in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Innocence Project, which are assisting the government with the country's largest post-conviction review of questioned forensic evidence. The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death. Of those, 14 have been executed or died in prison...."

Al Baker of the New York Times explores police unions' role when suspected or evident issues of police brutality, racism, & other bad conduct arise: "... amid a rising tide of anger and resentment directed at the police and, perhaps more important, vivid video documentation debunking or calling into question the accounts of officers, police union officials around the country are rethinking how best to get their message out."

Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "When George Lucas tried to expand his production company studios in California's wealthy Marin County, the community pushed back. Then the 'Star Wars' creator wanted to sell the land to a developer who would build affordable housing.... Now, two years after that project stalled, Lucas has decided to build the affordable housing and pay for it all himself. 'We've got enough millionaires here. What we need is some houses for regular working people,' Lucas said through his lawyer...."

... the moment the politicians start saying they are in denial of what the scientists are telling them, of what the consensus of scientific experiments demonstrates, that is the beginning of the end of an informed democracy. -- Astrophysicist Neil Tyson

... Bad Science. Elahe Izadi: Some doctors associated with universities have written to "Columbia's dean of medicine, Lee Goldman, calling for [quack Dr. Mehmet] Oz's dismissal from the school. His position at 'a prestigious medical institution,' the doctors wrote, is 'unacceptable.'... Oz is ... a cardiothoracic surgeon who holds the surgery department vice chairmanship at Columbia University's medical school." ...

... Ignorant, Lying, Certified Economist. Ahiza Garcia of TPM: During a radio interview, "Rep. David Brat (R-VA) on Thursday ... blamed Obamacare for moving America away from a free market system and making the country more like North Korea. During the conversation, Brat responded to a PolitiFact article, which took issue with a statement he'd made on March 17. Brat had said repealing Obamacare would save America more than $2 trillion, a statement that PolitiFact, a fact-checking project run by the Tampa Bay Times, disputed and said was false." CW: Congratulations, Richmond, Virginia, for replacing Eric Cantor with this loon.

Noah Barkin of Reuters: "Thousands of people marched in Berlin, Munich and other German cities on Saturday in protest against a planned free trade deal between Europe and the United States that they fear will erode food, labor and environmental standards.Opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is particularly high in Germany, in part due to rising anti-American sentiment linked to revelations of U.S. spying and fears of digital domination by firms like Google."

God News

Yo, Marco, Juanito, et al. David Gibson of Religion News Service: "The U.S. Catholic bishops have welcomed the Obama administration's tentative agreement aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear ambitions, and their top spokesman on international affairs bluntly warned Congress against doing anything to undermine it. The bishops 'oppose efforts that seek to undermine the negotiation process or make a responsible multi-party agreement more difficult to achieve and implement,' Bishop Oscar Cantu, chairman of the bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace Committee, wrote to House and Senate lawmakers on Monday. 'The alternative to an agreement leads toward armed conflict, an outcome of profound concern to the Church,' said Cantu."

David Gibson: "The Vatican is set to host a major conference on climate change this month that will feature leading researchers on global warming and an opening address by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The meeting, which the Vatican detailed on its website late Tuesday (April 14), is another sign of Pope Francis' 'green agenda' and another potential red flag for conservatives who are already alarmed over an expected papal teaching document on the environment that is scheduled for release this summer."

Dave Boucher of the Tennessean: "The Bible will not become the official book of Tennessee this year. Bolstered by opposition from Republican leadership, the Senate voted 22-9 to send the Bible to committee, effectively killing the bill a day after it was adopted by the House.... Gov. Bill Haslam and Attorney General Herbert Slatery oppose the bill; Slatery recently announced he thinks the bill violates the state and federal constitutions." ...

... MEANWHILE in Oklahoma.... Andrea Eger of the Tulsa World: "Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has sent a letter to public school superintendents across the state vowing to defend religious freedom amid 'veiled legal threats' over the distribution of Bibles on campus.... [Andrew] Seidel [of the Freedom from Religion Foundation] told the Tulsa World his organization wrote to 26 Oklahoma school districts in February after receiving complaints that Jamison Faught, the adult son of state Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee, had been working with Gideons International to distribute Bibles to public school students in numerous districts." ...

... Steve Benen: "... it's quite unusual for a state Attorney General to directly intervene with dubious and unsolicited advice.... Perhaps most importantly, this is hardly a question of 'religious liberty.'" ...

... CW: This is such a no-brainer than even someone like Pruitt should be able to figure out that distributing religious materials to school children is foolish at best. I'll take a wild guess that Pruitt is Christian; does he want yahoos wandering into Oklahoma schools giving the kiddies copies of the Koran or books promoting atheism? If the answer is no, then it should be obvious to him that distributing Christian bibles to the kids is not an exercise of religious freedom but a coercive act to impose a particular religious dogma on vulnerable children. Pruitt's job requires him to know the Constitution. He doesn't. BTW, Jesus wouldn't like it either: "... whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." -- Matthew 7:12.

Presidential Race

Nicky Woolf of the Guardian: "In the sprawling, opulent Crowne Plaza hotel on the outskirts of the town of Nashua, almost the entire prospective Republican field gathered for the First in the Nation summit. All the big contenders are here; they have to be. In the audience are the people who can make or break their chances at the nomination. Most important are the donors, who can usually be spotted by their swagger and the strong smell of cigar-smoke. They are shopping for the best place for their money. There are the vendors, direct-mail advertisers and website and poster designers, who have set up shop in the lobby, next to stalls advertising third-party support for third-tier candidates like Ben Carson, who couldn't even get on the roster." ...

... Patrick Healy & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "During a Republican gathering in the ballroom of the Crowne Plaza hotel here, the first high-profile political event since Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her Democratic bid for the White House last Sunday, an energized, confident bench of 19 presidential candidates and potential contenders took turns taking apart Mrs. Clinton or competing with her on policy ideas." ...

... Politico's story, by Eli Stokols, is here. ...

... AND Maureen Dowd is here to aid & abet: "In her Iowa round tables, [Hillary Clinton] acted as though she were following dating tips from 1950s advice columnists to women trying to 'trap' a husband: listen a lot, nod a lot, widen your eyes, and act fascinated with everything that's said." But MoDo is rooting for Hillary: "Let's hope that the hokey Chipotle Granny will give way to the cool Tumblr Chick in time to teach her Republican rivals -- who are coming after her with every condescending, misogynist, distorted thing they've got -- that bitch is still the new black."

Rory Ross of Newsweek: "... one of the biggest benefactors to the Clinton Foundation has been trading with Iran and may be in breach of US sanctions imposed on the country. Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, 54, has courted the Clintons for at least nine years -- in the United States, the Alps and Ukraine. Earlier this year, he was confirmed as the largest individual contributor to the Clinton Foundation.... The fourth richest man in Ukraine, Pinchuk owns Interpipe Group, a Cyprus-incorporated manufacturer of seamless pipes used in oil and gas sectors." ...

... Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) says she's still planning for primary debates, in expectation of a challenge to presidential contender Hillary Clinton. 'I expect the voters who believe we should have a Democratic primary will get their wish,' Wasserman Schultz told C-SPAN's 'Newsmakers' during a video interview from Manchester, N.H. Party officials were thus mapping out a 'series of sanctioned debates that we expect our presidential candidates to participate in,' she added."

Danny Vinik of the New Republic: "Speaking at Harvard University on Thursday night, former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley cranked up the pressure on Hillary Clinton by calling for a $15 an hour minimum wage and voicing his opposition to President Barack Obama's massive trade deal, the Trans Pacific Partnership.... Now that O'Malley has shined the spotlight on these issues, Clinton needs to take positions on them."

Beyond the Beltway

Terrence McCoy: The conservative state of Utah has nearly eliminated homelessness by providing homes for the chronically-homeless. What a concept! And it's cost-effective.

News Ledes

AP: "Former President Bill Clinton, who was president when the attack occurred [on Oklahoma City's federal building], spoke at Sunday's service at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood. Memorial officials estimated that 2,500 people attended the observance."

New York Times: "The Islamic State released a video on Sunday that appears to show fighters from affiliates in southern and eastern Libya executing dozens of Ethiopian Christians, some by beheading and others by shooting."

Guardian: "A major rescue operation is under way in the Mediterranean after as many as 700 migrants are feared to have drowned just outside Libyan waters, in what could prove to be the worst disaster yet involving migrants being smuggled to Europe." ...

     ... AP Update: A survivor "said about 300 people were in the hold, locked in there by the smugglers, when the vessel set out. He said that of the 950 who set out aboard the doomed boat, some 200 were women and several dozen were children."