The Commentariat -- Nov. 25, 2014

Internal links, defunct videos removed.

This Week in American Violence

Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "The truth is that the law gives wide berth to the police's use of deadly force.... When you add this climate of legal deference to the particular circumstances of the grand jury trial -- including McCullough's reputation for supporting police officers, and his decision to avoid a recommendation for charges -- the non-indictment was almost inevitable. Barring something extraordinary, Wilson was going to walk free. The judicial system as we've constructed it just isn't equipped -- or even willing -- to hold officers accountable for shootings and other offenses. Or put differently, the simple fact is that the police can kill for almost any reason with little fear of criminal charges." (Emphasis added.) ...

... The Guardian is liveblogging protests in Ferguson & elsewhere in the U.S. ...

... Chico Harlan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A night of rage left behind the kind of scars that Ferguson has witnessed before: smoldering buildings, looted storefronts, fire-gutted cars. What marked even more difficult ground Tuesday was finding a way forward as police braced for more unrest and many African American protesters said their only recourse was the streets." ...

... John Eligon & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "After a chaotic night of demonstrations that erupted in many fires, frequent bursts of gunshots, looting and waves of tear gas, Gov. Jay Nixon said early Tuesday that he would send additional National Guard troops to help quell the worst violence this battered St. Louis suburb has seen since a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in August." ...

... James Queally, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "At least a dozen buildings were burned and 61 people arrested during a night of violence and chaos in Ferguson, Mo., that followed a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the killing of an unarmed black man, police said early Tuesday." ...

... St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, speaking at a press conference at 1:30 a.m., said he was grateful nobody was killed but was disappointed at the amount of damage in the Ferguson area. 'What I've seen tonight is probably much worse than the worst night we ever had in August, and that's truly unfortunate,' he said. He said that there was basically 'nothing left' along West Florissant Avenue between Solway Avenue and Chambers Road." ...

... CW: All this violence is just as inexcusable as a policeman unnecessarily shooting dead a citizen. I find it more banal than aggravating, just a bunch of stupid people playing their expected roles. What percentage of these assholes in the streets do you suppose work to make the system better or even vote? The vandals have cancelled out any outrage I might have felt at a completely-expected outcome. Pardon me, but my liberal bona fides do not carry me into excusing violence as an acceptable form of remedial "justice." ...

... Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times read through thousands of pages of grand jury testimony & publish their overview here. ...

... Timothy Phelps of the Los Angeles Times: "Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., in a statement released late Monday, appeared to try to distance the ongoing federal investigation into the Ferguson, Mo., shooting death of Michael Brown from that of local authorities. St. Louis County Prosecuting Atty. Robert McCullough, in announcing earlier Monday that no charges were being brought against Police Officer Darren Wilson, repeatedly said that there had been close cooperation between county and federal investigators. 'While the grand jury proceeding in St. Louis County has concluded, the Justice Department's investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown remains ongoing,' Holder said. 'Though we have shared information with local prosecutors during the course of our investigation, the federal inquiry has been independent of the local one from the start, and remains so now," the statement said." ...

     ... Holder's full statement is here. ...

... Christine Byers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Darren Wilson issued a statement. ...

... For those interested in seeing the pictures, released late Monday afternoon, of Darren Wilson taken shortly after he killed Michael Brown, NBC News has them here. ...

... Here's the transcript of Darren Wilson's grand jury testimony, via Slate. ...

     ... Update: The Washington Post (and other news outlets) now has documents & transcripts of all of the evidence online. ...

... The police are firing smoke bombs at protesters in Ferguson. The officers are wearing gas masks. MSNBC is reporting there are few protesters. Chris Hayes of MSNBC said he heard gunshots in the area of the Ferguson police HQ. Protesters broke into a store, per MSNBC. There's a building on fire on Ferguson (or Florrisant) Ave., & MSNBC is reporting about four blocks of "chaos in the streets." There's a vehicle on fire outside of central downtown Ferguson. ...

... Here's the St. Louis Post-Dispatch liveblog.

Paul Waldman: "Seldom in Barack Obama's presidency has he looked quite so impotent as he did last night, pleading from a podium in the White House for calm while the cable news split screens showed clouds of tear gas enveloping the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. He repeated the same themes as every time he has spoken about this subject -- people have legitimate grievances but there's no excuse for violence, we've come a long way but we have a ways to go, and so on. It never rang more hollow. But ...." ...

The New York Times story on the Darren Wilson grand jury decision is here. CW: So far, seems as if everyone is performing to type. No surprises anywhere. Earlier today, the Onion (thanks to James S.) got this part of the story right: "Ahead of a grand jury's decision over whether to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, police in the city of Ferguson have reportedly heavily increased their presence this week to ensure residents are adequately provoked. 'We've deployed additional officers throughout Ferguson in order to make absolutely certain that residents feel sufficiently harassed and intimidated,' said St. Louis County police chief Jon Belmar, assuring locals that officers in full riot gear will be on hand to inflame members of the community for as long as is necessary." (Satire) ...

... As Joe Concha of Mediaite points out, McCullough's decision to make the announcement at night is "borderline reckless." CW: Yeah, but it sure fits in with the Onion "story." Moreover, the fact that McCullough & Gov. Jay Nixon "announced the announcement" hours ahead of time allowed for maximum trouble. The disinterested observer surely suspects the power structure there was going for "provocation" & "inflaming members of the community."

... The New York Times has live updates here. The Guardian has live updates here.

... McCullough is telling his version of what happened in the confrontation between Wilson & Michael Brown. He says a number of witnesses made statements inconsistent with the physical evidence; some changed their statements after news media reported the physical evidence. Wilson fired 12 rounds at Brown. ...

... Beth Ethier of Wonkette captures the essence of McCullough's presser: "St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch announced that Wilson will not face charges relating to the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9, as the grand jury found 'no probable cause' to charge him with anything. Social media, however, is definitely guilty. McCulloch spent 10 minutes on a laundry list of all the great things he did when he presented the case to the grand jury and how Ferguson is just a huge pit of liars, and how lucky the world was that he, Bob McCulloch, was able to guide the grand jury through the hellscape of deception to the sweet Land of Truth, where they found that physical evidence showed Officer Wilson had not committed any crimes." ...

...Alana Horowitz of the Huffington Post: "CNN legal expert Jeffrey Toobin called the press conference 'an extended whine' and 'entirely inappropriate and embarrassing.'" ...

... See also Charles Pierce's post on Utah police killings, linked below, for his view on Bob McCullough's performance & record. ...

... McCullough announces that the grand jury decided that no probable cause existed against Wilson & returned a no-true bill. So there ya go. Here's the Washington Post story. ...

... McCullough is dragging this out but so far it sounds as if the grand jury did not return an indictment. ...

... St. Louis prosecutor Bob McCullough will announce the grand jury's decision in the Darren Wilson case sometime after 9 pm ET Monday. The New York Times is carrying the announcement live on the front page. ...

... Julie Bosman & Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "Records show that Officer [Darren] Wilson, 28, and Officer [Barbara] Spradling, 37, were married on Oct. 24. One of the two witnesses at the ceremony was Greg Kloeppel, one of Officer Wilson's lawyers. Christopher B. Graville, a municipal judge in Oakland, Mo., performed the ceremony." ...

... ** Think about This. Erin Alberty of the Salt Lake Tribune: "In the past five years, more Utahns have been killed by police than by gang members. Or drug dealers. Or from child abuse. And so far this year, deadly force by police has claimed more lives -- 13, including a Saturday shooting in South Jordan -- than has violence between spouses and dating partners. As the tally of fatal police shootings rises, law enforcement watchdogs say it is time to treat deadly force as a potentially serious public safety problem.... Nearly all of the fatal shootings by police have been deemed by county prosecutors to be justified. Only one -- the 2012 shooting of Danielle Willard by West Valley City police -- was deemed unjustified, and the subsequent criminal charge was thrown out last month by a judge." ...

... Charles Pierce: "There is something gone badly wrong in the way police are taught to look at civilians these days. This is the logic of an occupying power being employed on American citizens. Ever since 9/11, when we all began to be told that we were going to have to bend a little bit, and then a little bit more, to authority or else we'd all die, the police in this country have been militarized in their tactics and in their equipment, which is bad enough, but in their attitudes and their mentality, which is far, far worse. Suspicion has bled into weaponized paranoia, especially in the case of black and brown people.... Dick Cheney's one-percent idea brought to American cities and towns until Salt Lake City, of all places, winds up with cops who are deadlier on the streets than drug dealers." Pierce also has a few unkind words to say about Bob McCullough. ...

... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: In its first examination of the limits of free speech on social media, the Supreme Court will consider next week whether, as a jury concluded, [Anthony] Elonis's postings [on Facebook] constituted a 'true threat' to his wife and others." ...

... David Carr of the New York Times calls out the media, including himself, for enabling Bill Cosby's alleged serial assaults & rapes. ...

... Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg View: "The default response when powerful men behave badly is to say they didn't: priests, presidents, athletes, TV evangelists and movie stars." ...

... Dahlia Lithwick on the Rolling Stone article on a University of Virginia gang rape (I write "a" because there was more than one): "Our confusion about the objectives in addressing campus rape problems has led to confusion in the solutions we have forged. If the purpose of the current internal adjudication [as opposed to going through the criminal justice system] is to increase transparency and reporting, that runs against the most basic institutional incentive to hide bad news. If the object is to counsel and support survivors, it's not clear that has worked very well either. And if the object is to keep the campus safe, it has failed spectacularly." ...

... Lithwick's summary of UVA's reaction to the Rolling Stone piece is telling:

A passive statement issued by President Teresa Sullivan was full of deflection and jargon, with a promise to have the police investigate the substance of the Rolling Stone charges. Then came Rector George Martin's staggering decision to appoint as independent counsel a former federal judge named Mark Filip. Immediately after which it was revealed that Filip had once been rush chair of a different chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity at the center of the campus' gang-rape scandal. Filip was taken off the job the next day. Last week Phi Psi voluntarily suspended its operations. On Saturday, Sullivan announced in a letter to students and alumni that all the school's fraternities have been suspended effective immediately."

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Rudy 9/11 Giuliani's "insights" about black-on-black crime: "The American people have one of the highest murder rates in the industrialized world. Almost all of these people are killed by other Americans. War hustlers and Bin Laden pimps love to go around screaming, but 9/11! Three thousand people died on 9/11. Nearly 15,000 Americans were killed in 2012. Americans perpetrate roughly five 9/11s against other Americans every year." ...

... CW: It's impossible to quantify, but I always wonder how many Americans have been killed because of the gun lobby & its politician-enablers. ...

... BUT. The crime rate has actually dropped dramatically over the past several decades. Dana Goldstein of the Marshall Project lays out "10 (not entirely crazy) theories explaining" the decline. Via Paul Waldman.

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Right after President Obama announced the resignation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the White House on Monday, he walked over to a meeting of his entire National Security Council staff, where he told the embattled group that they were critical to an ambitious foreign policy agenda. The timing was a coincidence, but it seemed an unmistakable sign that Mr. Hagel's departure does not portend a broader internal shake-up. If anything, it may represent the final triumph of a White House-centric approach to national security.... With his core team intact, and with none of the candidates to succeed Mr. Hagel likely to show the independence of Mr. Obama's first defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, the White House seems likely to keep a tight leash on foreign policy for the remainder of Mr. Obama's presidency." ...

... Shane Harris of the Daily Beast: "... President Barack Obama's decision to replace Hagel ... doesn't come as much of a shock. But the timing is conspicuous and fuels allegations that Hagel is being made a scapegoat for the myriad foreign policy crises that the White House has bungled, from the rise of ISIS to the resurgence of a nationalist Russia to the response to an outbreak of Ebola. Hagel wasn't brought in to tackle these crises, and some defense sources say he simply wasn't up to it. The presumption at the beginning of his tenure was that he would be a drawdown defense secretary -- something that world events ultimately wouldn't allow." ...

... Dylan Scott of TPM interviews Steve Clemons on Hagel's departure. Clemons cites several factors that contributed to Hagel's uneasy fit in the Obama administration. ...

... Dana Milbank: "When Barack Obama looks in the mirror these days, he must see a terrifying visage staring back at him: that of George W. Bush. In a cruel echo of history, Obama is morphing into the president whose foreign policy he campaigned to overturn. Obama on Monday morning sacked his Pentagon secretary, Chuck Hagel, after huge midterm election losses in the sixth year of his presidency -- just as Bush did in sacking Donald Rumsfeld after midterm losses in the sixth year of his presidency. As with Bush, the ouster comes as a war in the Middle East is going badly -- then, the Iraq war, now, the bombing of the Islamic State terror group. Rumsfeld's ouster led to the surge in Iraq, and Hagel's departure comes amid signs of an expanded role for U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. And, as under Bush, this guarantees that Obama will leave his successor an ongoing U.S. war in the Mideast -- quite possibly the sort of ground war Obama vowed to undo."

Gruber v. Issa. This Should Be Amusing. Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Jonathan Gruber, the former ObamaCare adviser in hot water for his comments about the 'stupidity of the American voter,' has agreed to testify at a House panel next month, setting up a healthcare showdown in what could be the final week of this Congress. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will also hear from Obama administration official Marilyn Tavenner, who is under fire this week for using inflated enrollment figures for the healthcare law."

CW: I've covered this before, but it bears repeating. Norm Ornstein in the Atlantic on the "sweeping steps" Mitt Romney promised he would take to disable the ACA. "... Romney would have acted unilaterally to thwart the intent and specific language of the law. Compared to extending protections from deportation to family members of those already under the umbrella of protection, or making choices about deportation when Congress, by providing much less funding for that purpose than necessary to deport all undocumented people, explicitly gives the president discretion to make choices, Romney's proposed moves were more daring, more cutting edge, more of an application of executive power to the max. I have searched to find cases of conservative lawmakers like Ted Cruz, or constitutional scholars, much less columnists like Charles Krauthammer, raising alarm bells about this brazen plan to short-circuit the policy process, give the middle finger to the Senate, and thwart a duly enacted law, or raising questions about an imperial president-to-be shredding the Constitution. Strangely enough, I can't find any." ...

... CW: So, "conservative family values" look like this: allowing people to suffer & die by depriving them of healthcare coverage -- A-Okay. Keeping families intact -- un-fucking-constitutional.

Peggy McGlone of the Washington Post: "President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- to a diverse and distinguished group of activists, artists, scientists and public servants Monday afternoon, including actress Meryl Streep, Congressman John D. Dingell, physicist Mildred Dresselhaus and musician Stevie Wonder." ...

... Here's a list of the winners. CW: Sadly, Tom Brokaw was among them. The only thing I can say in Brokaw's defense is that he once reported on the capture of a guy who "assaulted" me. Maybe I'll comment on that. ...

... White House: "President Obama honors the 16 recipients of this year's Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the Nation's highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors":

Peter Beaumont of the Guardian: "A controversial bill that officially defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people has been approved by cabinet despite warnings that the move risks undermining the country's democratic character. Opponents, including some cabinet ministers, said the new legislation defined reserved 'national rights' for Jews only and not for its minorities, and rights groups condemned it as racist. The bill, which is intended to become part of Israel's basic laws, would recognise Israel's Jewish character, institutionalise Jewish law as an inspiration for legislation and delist Arabic as a second official language." ...

... Juan Cole: "Netanyahu’s measure is much worse than that of Mississippi fundamentalists who want to declare Mississippi a principally Christian state and want to celebrate the white-supremacist Confederacy as part of the state's heritage.

Presidential Election

Arlette Saenz & Jeff Zelany of ABC News: "Sen. John McCain is prodding one of his closest allies in the Senate to consider a run for the White House -- Sen. Lindsey Graham. 'I think he is looking at it, and I am strongly encouraging him to take a look at it,' McCain, R-Ariz., told ABC News. 'I know of no one who is better versed and more important on national security policy and defense than Lindsey Graham, and I don't think these challenges to our security are going away. He is eminently qualified,' McCain added." CW: Aah, McCain is just finagling for my First Lady spot.

Charles Pierce sees Rudy 9/11 Giuliani as the Republicans' 2016 law-and-order candidate, a stance Pierce reckons will find an audience "in the rural precincts of Iowa," especially if Ferguson blows up (CW: as it apparently is doing as I write).

News Lede

Washington Post: "This week's winter storm is shaping up to be a travel nightmare for Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving and the busiest travel day of the year. A coating to several inches of snow could accumulate along the I-95 corridor on Wednesday. While temperatures have been unseasonably warm early this week, snow is still likely to accumulate along coastal interstates, especially during periods of heavy snowfall."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 24, 2014

Internal links, defunct videos & related text removed.

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama's Democratic majority in the Senate and the struggles of his national security team amid an onslaught of global crises. The president, who is expected to announce Mr. Hagel's resignation in a Rose Garden appearance on Monday, made the decision to ask his defense secretary -- the sole Republican on his national security team -- to step down last Friday after a series of meetings over the past two weeks, senior administration officials said. The officials described Mr. Obama's decision to remove Mr. Hagel, 68, as a recognition that the threat from the Islamic State would require a different kind of skills than those that Mr. Hagel was brought on to employ." ...

... Missy Ryan & Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel submitted his resignation Monday, bowing to pressure from the White House to step down after less than two years in the job in what could portend a broader shakeup among President Obama's national security team.... Hagel will remain as defense secretary until Obama can pick a replacement, who must also be confirmed by the Senate. Possible contenders include Michele Flournoy and Ashton Carter, former high-ranking defense officials during Obama's first term who were passed over for the top job in favor of Hagel two years ago." ...

... David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "... the pattern of corruption and patronage in the Iraqi government forces threatens to undermine a new American-led effort to drive out the extremists, even as President Obama is doubling to 3,000 the number of American troops in Iraq."

Christi Parsons of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama argued Sunday that his plan to suspend enforcement of U.S. immigration law for certain violators won't clear the path for a future Republican president to take similar executive actions regarding tax laws he or she doesn't like. In an interview on the Sunday show 'This Week,' ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked the Democratic president whether one of his successors, unable to get Congress to cut taxes, could simply opt to look the other way if wealthy people decided not to pay a percentage of their capital gains tax."

Sunday with Lindsay

Rebecca Shabad of the Hill: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said Republicans are partially responsible for not passing comprehensive immigration reform. 'Shame on us as Republicans for having a body that cannot generate a solution to an issue that's national security, that's cultural, that's economic,' Graham said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' The Senate has passed an immigration bill three times, Graham said...."

Benghaaazi! Rebecca Shabad: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday blasted a House GOP-led investigation that recently debunked myths about the 2012 Benghazi attack. 'I think the report is full of crap,' Graham said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'... After Graham was asked whether the report exonerates the administration, he initially ignored the question, and then eventually said 'no.'" ...

... Catherine Herridge & Pamela Browne of Fox "News": "Graham, along with his two Republican colleagues, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, have been outspoken advocates of a special investigation, because they say then-acting director of the CIA Mike Morell misled them about his role in crafting the so-called media talking points that blamed an opportunistic protest gone awry for the assault." ...

... Steve M.: "The preferred Beltway narrative is that responsible establishment Republicans make up the majority of the party, and all they really want to do is 'show they can govern,' but they have to keep fending off a few pesky extremists, and they occasionally have to make extremist noises themselves to fend off primary challenges from the right. Oh, please.... The reality is that the entire Republican Party is crazy -- the differences are just in degree.... The crazies in this case are three of the most prominent establishmentarians in the Senate.... No, Benghazi isn't going away."

Rebecca Shabad: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday did not rule out a 2016 presidential bid. 'I'm thinking of trying to fix illegal immigration and replacing sequestration. I will let you know if I think about running for president. It's the hardest thing one could ever do. You go through personal hell. You have got to raise a ton of money. I'm nowhere near there,' he said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' Asked if his response could be labeled as a 'maybe,' Graham nodded and said, 'That's what it was.'" ...

... CW: Super! I'm running for First Lady. My competition is stiff: Kelly Ayotte, John McCain & Joe Lieberman, ferinstance. Pick me! Pick me, Lindsey, darlin'!

Lost & Found, Rachel Bade of Politico: "An Internal Revenue Service watchdog has located an estimated 30,000 of the lost Lois Lerner emails, according to a source familiar with the matter. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration told congressional staffers Friday the emails belonging to the most controversial figure in the IRS controversy were located on disaster recovery tapes." CW: Yo, Darryl Issa! We can hardly wait for some new selective leaks.

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Senator Rand Paul is calling for a declaration of war against the Islamic State, a move that promises to shake up the debate over the military campaign in Iraq and Syria as President Obama prepares to ask Congress to grant him formal authority to use force." ...

... CW: Never mind that it's mighty unusual for Congress to declare war at all -- it has only done so five times -- and the country has never declared war on a group of revolutionaries, as opposed to a nation-state (no, the war on terror, the war on drugs & the war on Christmas don't count). ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "For months, Rand Paul has been trying to shake claims that he is an isolationist like his father. His recent op-ed 'I Am Not an Isolationist' didn't do the trick, so this weekend the Kentucky senator told the New York Times that he wants to formally declare war against ISIS.... As the Congressional Research Service explains, the former [declaring war] would automatically give the president broad wartime powers, while the latter [authorization to use military force] would not." ...

... CW: So for a guy all worried about Obama's "imperial presidency," it doesn't make a lot of sense to give this President broader powers, including for instance, the authority to suspend habeas corpus. But then, as I pointed out this weekend, Rand Paul says whatever comes to his addled mind, & historical context & accuracy are immaterial. As a Senator who is unfamiliar with American history, Paul is a disgrace; as a President, he would be truly dangerous.

New York Times Editors: "Now that they will dominate both houses of Congress, Republicans are planning to dismantle the Affordable Care Act piece by piece instead of trying to repeal it entirely. They are expected to hold at least one symbolic vote for repeal in the next session so that newly elected Republicans who campaigned against the law can honor their pledges to repeal it. But Republican leaders know they don't have the supermajorities needed to override a presidential veto, so they will try to inflict death by multiple cuts. All of the provisions they are targeting should be retained -- they were put in the reform law for good reasons." ...

... Moops! A Tale of Two Laws. John Harwood of the New York Times writes a very good piece contrasting the way (1), in 1997, Congress & the President cleaned up ambiguities & other technicalities in the 1996 welfare reform act, and (2) the current Congress will not cooperate in any way to amend the ACA. This, of course, has left the Grumpy Old Men on the Supreme Court to interpret & re-legislate even obviously-mistaken language. ...

... Charles Blow: "This hostility and animosity toward this president is, in fact, larger than this president. This is about systems of power and the power of symbols. Particularly, it is about preserving traditional power and destroying emerging symbols that threaten that power. This president is simply the embodiment of the threat, as far as his detractors are concerned, whether they are willing or able to articulate it as such."

** Now Let Us Pause for some Good News. Diane Cardwell of the New York Times: "The cost of providing electricity from wind and solar power plants has plummeted over the last five years, so much so that in some markets renewable generation is now cheaper than coal or natural gas." ...

... Impossible! Lewis Page of the U.K. Register: "Two highly qualified Google engineers who have spent years studying and trying to improve renewable energy technology have stated quite bluntly that renewables will never permit the human race to cut CO₂ emissions to the levels demanded by climate activists. Whatever the future holds, it is not a renewables-powered civilisation: such a thing is impossible."

Paul Krugman: "... one of the most striking aspects of economic debate in recent years has been the extent to which those whose economic doctrines have failed the reality test refuse to admit error, let alone learn from it. The intellectual leaders of the new majority in Congress still insist that we're living in an Ayn Rand novel; German officials still insist that the problem is that debtors haven't suffered enough. This bodes ill for the future. What people in power don't know, or worse what they think they know but isn't so, can very definitely hurt us."

CW: "60 Minutes" had a good segment last night on the U.S.'s crumbling infrastructure. I embedded it here, but it was messing up other videos, so I've removed it. You can view it here.

Chelsea Marcius, et al., of the New York Daily News: "Veteran NBC employee Frank Scotti says he helped Bill Cosby deliver thousands of dollars to eight different women in 1989-90 - including Shawn Thompson, whose daughter Autumn Jackson claimed the actor was her dad. The ex-aide also tells the Daily News he stood guard whenever Cosby invited young models to his dressing room, which eventually led him to quitting after years on the job."

Beyond the Beltway

Skinhead Ira Hansen in happier days.Hoorah! Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story "The embattled incoming speaker of the Nevada State Assembly notified his colleagues Sunday morning that he was withdrawing as Speaker Designee, saying, 'Politics of personal destruction win. I need to step down,' reports Nevada journalist Jon Ralston. Assemblyman Ira Hansen (R), who was recently elected as the legislature's next speaker, had come under fire for a series of columns he had written over the years for the Sparks Tribune. In one of his columns, Hansen had written, 'The relationship of Negroes and Democrats is truly a master-slave relationship, with the benevolent master knowing what's best for his simple minded darkies.'" ...

... CW: I believe that would be the "politics of self-destruction," White Boy. Here's Hansen's full statement, via Ralston. Bear in mind, Hansen's history of racist, homophobic, sexist remarks wasn't a secret that just came out in theme media last. Nevada's Republican state legislators knew who this guy was, & they picked him as their leader anyway. That choice is as much or more of a stain on Nevada as is Hansen himself.

White America's Mayor. White police officers wouldn't be there if you weren't killing each other. -- Rudy Giuliani, on "Meet the Press," to Michael Dyson, who is black (video at the link)

... Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post: "Most murder in the United States is intra-racial, according to data from the Justice Department: White people are more likely to kill white people, and black people are more likely to kill black people. Nearly 84 percent of white victims from 1980 to 2008 were killed by white assailants, the department's numbers show. During the same period, 93 percent of black victims were murdered by someone of the same race."

Brian Stelter of CNN: "Practically every journalist covering the death of Michael Brown would like to interview Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed Brown. In the pursuit of that interview, several high-profile television anchors have secretly met with Wilson, according to sources at several TV networks. All of the meetings were off th record, meaning the anchors could not describe what was said."

... Today in Responsible Gun Ownership. Evan Perez & Shimon Prokupecz of CNN: In St. Louis, "a woman appears to have accidentally fatally shot herself in the head with a gun bought to prepare for possible Ferguson-related unrest according to sources briefed on the police investigation.... [Her] boyfriend, who wasn't identified, told police that the couple had bought a gun because of fears of unrest related to the pending grand jury decision on the shooting of Michael Brown, the sources said.... He told investigators that as they drove late Friday night, the victim waved a gun, jokingly saying the couple were ready for Ferguson, the sources said. He ducked to get out of the way of the gun and accidentally rear-ended another car. He said the accident caused the gun to go off and she was struck by a bullet in the head."

CW: Haven't had a chance to read the story, but Deborah Sontag's piece in the New York Times on the growing opposition to big oil in North Dakota looks interesting.

Presidential Election

Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: Hillary "Clinton's views on many crucial issues [-- Keystone XL, NSA snooping -- ] remain opaque. She seems to be repeating the same mistake that she made in 2008, when the inevitability of her candidacy overwhelmed its justification."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 23, 2014

Internal links, cartoon removed.

Eli Saslow of the Washington Post profiles xenophobe Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State who has led the fight against immigrants. The headline: "Conservative expert on immigration law to pursue suit against executive action." Kobach & his wife Heather are dismayed that people are picking on him just because he believes "in rules and fairness." CW: Kobach is an expert on immigration law like Dick Cheney is an expert on environmental protection law.

... Jeff Taylor, Indianapolis Star executive editor: "On Friday, we posted a Gary Varvel cartoon at indystar.com that offended a wide group of readers. Many of them labeled it as racist. Gary did not intend to be racially insensitive in his attempt to express his strong views about President Barack Obama's decision to temporarily prevent the deportation of millions of immigrants living and working illegally in the United States. But we erred in publishing it.... [Varvel] intended to illustrate the view of many conservatives and others that the president's order will encourage more people to pour into the country illegally." ...

... Catherine Thompson of TPM: "At one point on Saturday, the newspaper apparently edited out the 'immigrant' man's mustache.... The newspaper later removed the cartoon altogether." ...

... CW: What Thompson fails to mention is that before publication, the Indy Star edited out the "immigrant" man's sombrero, serape & machete & put smiles on the faces of his menacing posse of disease-riddled braceros. Sensitive. ...

... Pilgrims' Progress. Kelly Conaboy of Gawker: "Is there a time more befitting of a cartoon lampooning unwelcome foreign guests than during the United States' holiday Thanksgiving?" ...

... Caroline Bankoff of New York: "It's fitting that President Obama's decision to temporarily protect 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation came just before Thanksgiving, which celebrates the generosity this country's original inhabitants showed to the undocumented immigrants who landed on their shores in 1620. Unfortunately, the connection was lost on Gary Varvel, an Indianapolis Star cartoonist who doesn't seem to like the idea of sharing anything with people who do not look like him."

Lydia DePillis of the Washington Post: "In advance of coordinated strikes at Wal-Marts across the country on the day after Thanksgiving, a labor union-backed group is accusing the world's biggest retailer of driving its associates into starvation -- and Wal-Mart is fighting back harder than ever, saying it's just providing low-cost groceries to the masses.... This is the third year in which Making Change at Walmart, a campaign financed and run by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union -- which represents employees at Wal-Mart's competitors, like Safeway and Giant -- will have staged protests on Black Friday."

This Week in Elizabeth Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a Huffington Post opinion piece: "I believe President Obama deserves deference in picking his team, and I've generally tried to give him that. But enough is enough." Warren goes on to elaborate on why Obama's nominee for Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the Treasury Department -- Antonio Weiss -- is a horrible choice. "It's time for the Obama administration to loosen the hold that Wall Street banks have over economic policy making. Sure, big banks are important, but running this economy for American families is a lot more important." Thanks to Whyte O. for the link.

Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "William C. Dudley, the president of the New York Fed, defended the agency, but Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, at one point told him, 'You need to fix it, Mr. Dudley, or we need to get someone who will'":

Manuel Roig-Franzia, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sixteen women have publicly stated that [comedian Bill] Cosby, now 77, sexually assaulted them, with 12 saying he drugged them first and another saying he tried to drug her. The Washington Post has interviewed five of those women, including a former Playboy Playmate who has never spoken publicly about her allegations. The women agreed to speak on the record and to have their identities revealed. The Post also has reviewed court records that shed light on the accusations of a former director of women's basketball operations at Temple University who assembled 13 'Jane Doe' accusers in 2005 to testify on her behalf about their allegations against Cosby."

Rolling Stone: "Following Rolling Stone publishing Sabrina Rubin Erdely's harrowing report 'A Rape on Campus,' which detailed a pattern of sexual assault among the fraternities at the University of Virginia, many women who attended UVA emailed Rolling Stone sharing their own similar stories. After 'A Rape on Campus' went viral, the school itself acknowledged the Rolling Stone article by promising to make changes to their student sexual misconduct policy. Now, the University is taking even more stern action. President Teresa A. Sullivan announced in a letter to students and alumni that the school's fraternities have been suspended effective immediately. The suspension will last until January 9, 2015, which marks the beginning of the spring semester."

Presidential Election

Michael Barbaro & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "... as the 2016 White House campaign effectively began in the last week, it became apparent that this [GOP primary] race might be different: a fluid contest, verging on chaotic, that will showcase the party's deep bench of talent but also highlight its ideological and generational divisions."

CW: Let me just say how mightily the major media piss me off when they describe Kris Kobach as an "expert" & the nasty boys of the GOP as a "deep bench of talent." If you want to know why millions of people vote Republican, it's partly because the "liberal media" validate these extremist bastards.

Andrew O'Hehir of Salon: "Defeating Hillary Clinton as a political candidate does little or nothing to defeat the deeply corrupt and only half-visible spectacle of power and politics that produced her and infuses her, and in which she is embedded. Defeating 'Hillary Clinton,' on the other hand, is about exposing and dismantling that spectacle and its system, brick by brick and from the ground up, such that it does not produce future Hillary Clintons as our only plausible political leaders. A lot easier said than done, I realize. But if America is ever to escape the paralytic political duopoly of the 21st century, it's a mandatory task."

Beyond the Beltway

Daniel Wallis of Reuters: "Two men suspected of buying explosives they planned to detonate during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, once a grand jury decides the Michael Brown case, were arrested on Friday and charged with federal firearms offenses, a law enforcement official told Reuters."

Jon Herskovitz & Jim Forsyth of Reuters: "The Texas State Board of Education, whose decisions can have national ramifications, on Friday approved nearly 100 textbooks despite criticism the books exaggerated the influence biblical figures had in forming the U.S. system of government." ...

... Morgan Smith & Bobby Blanchard of the Texas Tribune (Nov. 21): "Houghton Mifflin Harcourt pulled its U.S. government title just before the State Board of Education's Friday meeting, where the 15-member board is set to take a final vote on nearly 100 products for eight different social studies courses that will be used in Texas public schools for the next decade. According to the latest documents posted publicly, the publisher declined to make changes in its government textbook that would add greater coverage of Judeo-Christian influence -- including Moses -- on America's founding fathers." ...

... CW: I'm quite certain some of the Founders were doofuses, but I doubt many of them gave a lot of thought to Moses -- an entirely fictional character -- when they were drawing up the Constitution & the Bill of Rights. ...

... Here's more from Laura Isensee of NPR.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Marion Barry Jr., the Mississippi sharecropper's son and civil rights activist who served three terms as mayor of the District of Columbia, survived a drug arrest and jail sentence, and then came back to win a fourth term as the city's chief executive, died early on Nov. 23 at United Medical Center in Washington. He was 78." Barry's New York Times: obituary is here.

Washington Post: "Negotiators working to slow Iran's nuclear program and ease sanctions pressed forward with talks Saturday amid indications that they are at an impasse with two days left before a deadline for an accord." ...

... Reuters: "Iran says it will not be possible by a 24 November deadline to reach a comprehensive deal with world powers aimed at resolving the standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, the Iranian Students News Agency ISNA reported on Sunday." ...

     ... New York Times UPDATE: "With a deadline for an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program just a day away, American officials finally acknowledged Sunday that the two sides would not reach a deal by Monday's deadline but would probably extend the talks a second time to explore a series of possible solutions."

Guardian: "The Obama administration announced the release of another Guantánamo Bay detainee on Saturday, rebuking recent calls from congressional Republicans to stop the transfers entirely. A Saudi man who has spent 12 years at the wartime detention facility, Muhammed Murdi Issa al-Zahrani, will return to Saudi Arabia and enter the kingdom's rehabilitation program. The transfer brings the detainee population of a prison Barack Obama has vowed for six years to close down to 142 men, 72 of whom the Pentagon considers pose little enough threat as to be eligible for transfer."