The Commentariat -- July 19, 2014

Internal links removed.

Ewen MacAskill, et al., of the Guardian: "Pro-Russia separatist groups in eastern Ukraine are hastily covering up all links to the Buk missile battery suspected to have been used to shoot down the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane, according to western-based defence and intelligence specialists. As the UN security council called for a 'full, thorough independent international investigation' into the downing of the plane, concern that a cover-up was under way was fuelled by a standoff at part of the crash site between observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and rebel gunmen, which ended with a warning shot being fired."

Ralph Ellis, et al., of CNN: "International monitors investigating the Malaysia Airlines crash in eastern Ukraine said Friday the team was not given full access to the site and was greeted with hostility by armed men."

Everything Is Obama's Fault, Ctd. Jed Lewison of Daily Kos: "Guess who Sen. John McCain blames for the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight 17? Yup, President Obama: 'Mr. McCain said that Mr. Obama is running a "cowardly administration that failed to give the Ukrainians weapons with which to defend themselves."'" ...

We need more leadership from the president. He gave this a passing reference in his speech in Delaware, then went on to tell Joe Biden jokes and take the usual shots at Republicans -- which is fair game, but not on this day -- and then to go to New York and go to two fundraisers. I mean, I can't imagine Eisenhower or Kennedy or Reagan doing that. -- Rep. Steve Peter King (R-N.Y.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee

... Yes, Why Can't Obama Be More Like Reagan? Steve M. Conservatives "are looking at President Obama's response to the shootdown of the Malaysian airliner and finding it lacking -- specifically, they think it falls short of Ronald Reagan's reaction to Russia's shootdown of a Korean passenger jet in 1983.... I would like to point out that Reagan slept through the shootdown -- and was not awakened." Uh, and then he went horseback-riding on his ranch & made no plans to return to Washington. He left it up to Press Secretary Larry Speakes to handle the administration's response. As Deborah Potter of CBS News reported later, "Officials [in Washington] began to worry that, given the circumstances, it wouldn't have looked right for the President to stay on his ranch. So he's returning to Washington later today for an urgent meeting with his national security advisors":

... Josh Marshall of TPM: "In a paradoxical way, I think the future ramifications of [the downing of the Malaysian Airlines jet] are almost greater because it is about Russia's recklessness and bumbling than it would be if it were more clearly a matter of intent. This is a f'-up on Putin's part of almost mind-boggling proportions. Yes, a tragedy. Yes, perhaps an atrocity. But almost more threatening, a screw up. Malign intent is one thing. So is aggression. But goofs of this magnitude by someone who controls a massive military arsenal and nuclear weapons are in a way more threatening." ...

... Now, let us return to Not-President-Thank-God McCain's assertion that Cowardly President Obama caused this tragedy by not arming Ukraine. Take it away, Charles Pierce:

It is becoming plain that the atrocity visited on the Malaysian jetliner is a direct result of arming morons. The New York Times obtained audiotape, allegedly from the people who shot down the plane, and these guys sound like they shouldn't be trusted with a lemon zester, let alone a surface-to-air missile. And it is quite plain that the one thing this situation doesn't need is to arm more morons, or to have another superpower come bungling in.... Vladimir Putin is responsible for a horrendous crime, and one that weakens his international standing. The only thing that would bail him out would be a flood of American arms to our own set of morons. The only thing that would bail him out would be if we all started listening to John McCain again.

CW: I don't know what the correlation is between morons & armed persons -- whether soldiers or civilians -- but I'm certain it is higher than the correlation between morons & the general public. A lot of morons are drawn to bright, shiny steel gadgets that go bang.

David Koenig & Scott Mayerowitz of the AP: "Airlines are already being more vigilant about avoiding trouble spots. That will make flights longer and more costly because of the need for extra fuel -- an expense that will be passed on to passengers. They may be quicker to abandon routes near conflict areas. In the aftermath of Thursday's disaster, carriers around the globe rerouted flights to avoid Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines announced that it will no longer fly over any portion of the country, routing flights over Turkey instead."

John Plunkett of the Guardian: Sara Firth, "a London-based correspondent of Kremlin-funded news channel Russia Today, has resigned in protest at its coverage of the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.... Russia Today, which has been criticised as a propaganda mouthpiece for the Russian government, suggested Ukraine was to blame for the crash, while most media organisations have said it was shot down by a suspected Russian-made missile.

CW: I know one John McCain remark a day is one too many, but I can't resist adding a second. Jake Tapper of CNN: "Sen. John McCain ... [suggested that] if he had been elected in 2000, there might not have been a war in Iraq.... If he had been president, McCain said, 'I think I would have challenged the evidence [that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction] with greater scrutiny. I think that with my background with the military and knowledge of national security with these issues that I hope that I would have been able to see through the evidence that was presented at the time.'" Pretty rich, coming from Sen. Bomb-Bomb-Bomb who is usually first to demand military action no matter what the conflict & who was captain of the Iraq War Cheerleading Squad.

Two Friday Afternoon News Dumps to Applaud:

(1) Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposal Friday under the Clean Water Act that would limit mining activity in Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed, striking a major blow to a project that would rank as one of the world's largest open-pit mines. The proposed determination, which will now be subject to a public comment period until Sept. 19, represents the latest step by the Obama administration to impose restrictions on a massive gold and copper mining project, called Pebble Mine."

(2) Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "President Obama, resisting calls from several prominent faith leaders, will not include a new exemption for religiously affiliated government contractors when he issues an executive order Monday barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, the White House said Friday."

AND Another DocuDump. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "More previously secret files from President Bill Clinton's eight years in office went public Friday, offering new insight on when he turned to first lady Hillary Clinton for advice, the pitfalls the president's advisers saw in some of his Supreme Court nominees and how a news story prompted the president to express doubts about deadly bombings the CIA had pinned on Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden." Gerstein summarizes some of the docs. ...

** Read this New York Times editorial on the Senate's confirmation of Ronnie White's nomination to the federal bench. At long last, justice is served. Oh, & only because the Democrats changed the rules on filibustering judicial nominees. Senate Republicans really are a despicable lot.

Jeff Shesol in the New Yorker: "... conservatives are doing exactly what they say the left has long done: rushing to litigate political questions, elevating all manner of disputes to the level of high constitutional principle, and asking judges to settle (or revisit) policy arguments that ought to be resolved by legislators or voters. If the Affordable Care Act can't be repealed..., it can be undercut by judges, as in the Supreme Court ruling in the Hobby Lobby case. If the National Labor Relations Board can't be shut down, the Presidential power to make recess appointments -- which has kept the agency running -- can be curbed, possibly for good, as last month's Noel Canning decision portends. And if Obama can't be impeached, well, he can be sued. That Republicans have learned to stop worrying and love the lawsuit ... is a measure of their success in remaking the judiciary and reshaping the legal environment over the past forty years."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "Even before Senator Elizabeth Warren entered the grand ballroom of the Cobo Center [in Detroit] on Friday for a much-anticipated speech to hundreds of liberal activists [at the Netroots convention], her admirers were handing out plastic boater hats, bumper stickers and lawn signs declaring, 'Elizabeth Warren for President.' ... 'Run, Liz, run!' the crowd chanted as the senator took the stage for her morning talk.... Then she opened the sort of blistering populist assault on corporations, Republicans, banks, lobbyists and trade deals that has become her trademark." ...

... Warren takes the stage at about 15:15 min. in. Gary Peters, Democratic nominee for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, introduces her at about 13:15 in:

... John Dickerson of Slate (of whom I'm not a big fan) urges Elizabeth Warren to run for president. She wouldn't win, he says, but she would force a campaign of ideas & she would get Hillary Clinton to sharpen her message. CW: Or get one. ...

... digby: "I suspect the Villagers are yearning for a way to balance the crazy tea partiers with some false hippie equivalence.... Let me just point out the one reason Dickerson doesn't mention: how wonderful it would be for me to watch two intelligent, accomplished women stand for president and debate the issues?"

AP: "Germany wants 'sensible talks' with the United States on the two countries' spat over alleged American spying, the chancellor, Angela Merkel, said on Friday, indicating that Berlin is still aiming for a formal accord. Washington has dismissed the idea of a 'no-spy' agreement demanded by Germany since reports last year that the US National Security Agency was conducting mass surveillance of German citizens -- and eavesdropping even on Merkel's cellphone. The discovery of two alleged US spies in Germany earlier this month further stoked German anger, prompting Merkel to demand the departure of the CIA station chief in Berlin."

John Tye in the Washington Post: "Public debate about the bulk collection of U.S. citizens’ data by the NSA has focused largely on Section 215 of the Patriot Act," a provision which provides extensive protections for U.S. persons. "Executive Order 12333 contains no such protections for U.S. persons if the collection occurs outside U.S. borders. Issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 to authorize foreign intelligence investigations, 12333 is not a statute and has never been subject to meaningful oversight from Congress or any court. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has said that the committee has not been able to 'sufficiently' oversee activities conducted under 12333. Unlike Section 215, the executive order authorizes collection of the content of communications, not just metadata, even for U.S. persons."

Stephen Colbert, like so many on the right, is a compassionate conservative:

Danielle Ivory & Rebecaca Ruiz of the New York Times: "... G.M. maintains that a distinct difference exists between its recall of 2.6 million older Chevrolet Cobalts and other cars, which started in February, and its more recent recall of 7.6 million cars like the Chevrolet Malibu, announced on June 30. For that reason, it has refused to expand a fund set up to compensate victims of the defective Cobalts, infuriating safety advocates. Its insistence comes even after new information filed with regulators was made public Friday that further detailed the similarities."

Dylan Byers of Politico: "CNN has removed international correspondent Diana Magnay from Israel after she referred to a group of Israelis as 'scum.' Magnay, who was covering the Israeli missile attack on Gaza, tweeted Thursday, 'Israelis on hill above Sderot cheer as bombs land on #gaza; threaten to "destroy our car if I say a word wrong". Scum.' In a statement, a CNN spokesperson said Magnay had been 'threatened and harassed' but 'deeply regrets the language used.'" ...

... Jennifer Shutt of Politico: "NBC News is sending a high-profile correspondent back into Gaza after unexpectedly removing him from the troubled region earlier this week, the network said Friday. Ayman Mohyeldin would go back into Gaza this weekend, NBC said, but didn't clarify why it had removed him."

Tim Egan: "He's had a busy summer. As God only knows, he was summoned to slaughter in the Holy Land, asked to end the killings of Muslims by Buddhist monks in Myanmar, and played both sides again in the 1,400-year-old dispute over the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad."

Congressional Races

Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "Nearly five decades after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, black voters in the South are poised to play a pivotal role in this year's midterm elections. If Democrats win the South and hold the Senate, they will do so because of Southern black voters.... If Democrats win this November, black voters will probably represent a larger share of the winning party's supporters in important states than at any time since Reconstruction."

News Ledes

AP: "Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of helping separatist rebels destroy evidence at the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines plane shot down in rebel-held territory with 298 people onboard. The government in Kiev said militiamen have removed 38 bodies from the crash site in eastern Ukraine and have taken them to the rebel-held city of Donetsk. It says the bodies were transported with the assistance of specialists with distinct Russian accents."

McClatchy News: "Islamic State gunmen overran a former U.S. military base early Friday and killed or captured hundreds of Iraqi government troops who'd been trying to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the worst military reversal Iraqi troops have suffered since the Islamist forces captured nearly half the country last month."

Reuters: "More than 40 Central American children were expelled from the United States on flights to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador on Friday, as the U.S. government stepped up its deportation of illegal child migrants.... Thirty-three minors aged 6 months to 15 years along with 26 mothers landed on a U.S. flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the city with the world's highest murder rate."

Guardian: "As Israel pressed ahead with a ground offensive in Gaza on Saturday morning, the death toll of Palestinians rose above 300, many of them children.... As diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continued in Cairo and at the UN, Hamas was looking increasingly isolated in its refusal to negotiate a truce without concessions in advance. It wants prisoners released and the easing of the blockade on Gaza by both Israel and Egypt."

Washington Post: "The press secretary of a House Republican was arrested Friday morning for carrying a firearm into a House office building. Ryan Shucard, press secretary for Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), was arrested at approximately 9:15 a.m. after officers found a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun and magazine with Shucard as he went through security to enter the building."

The Commentariat -- July 18, 2014

Internal links, defunct videos removed.

The Guardian is liveblogging developments re: downed Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17. ...

... Julie Pace of the AP: "The United States began building a case Friday that would pin the blame for the downing of the passenger jet over Ukraine on separatist forces supported by Russia. President Barack Obama said one American was among the nearly 300 killed in an disaster that could dramatically escalate the crisis in Ukraine." ...

... Michael Birnbaum & Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "In a news conference at the White House, [President Obama] noted that the separatists have 'received a steady flow of support' from Russia, including heavy weapons, training and antiaircraft systems. He called for 'a credible international investigation' into the tragedy and urged Russia to cooperate with it." ...

... Michael Birnbaum & Anthony Faiola: "Pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine offered a two- to four-day truce on Friday to allow international specialists to investigate the wreckage of a downed Malaysia Airlines jet, even as rescue workers at the crash site said they had recovered one of its black boxes. World leaders reiterated calls for an immediate international investigation into what U.S. officials said was a surface to air missile attack that brought down the Boeing 777 in a grassy field and killed all 298 people on board. The victims included leading experts in AIDS research en route from Amsterdam to a conference in Australia via Kuala Lumpur. The United Nations Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member, was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Friday to discuss the strike."

... Neil MacFarquhar & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "The double game that the Kremlin has been accused of playing in eastern Ukraine for weeks -- publicly endorsing peace talks while surreptitiously supporting the separatists with arms and men -- suddenly appeared less crafty than possibly disastrous on Thursday after the crash of a civilian jetliner in a Ukrainian field." ...

... Shaun Walker, et al., of the Guardian: "... US vice-president Joe Biden said the [Malaysian Air] plane had been shot down, while the Ukrainian authorities released an audio recording of rebel commanders apparently admitting downing it. The jet, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, came down near the village of Grabovo, part of the area controlled by pro-Russian separatists."

Kuiv Post: "Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was allegedly shot down by a group of Russian-backed Cossack militants near the village of Chornukhine, Luhansk Oblast, some 80 kilometers north-west of Donetsk, according to recordings of intercepted phone calls between Russian military intelligence officers and members of terrorist groups, released by the country's security agency (SBU)."

President Obama made his first remarks re: the downed Malaysian Air plane prior to a planned speech in Delaware:

     ... The transcript of the President's full remarks is here.

Jeremy Bender of Business Insider: "At least 10 other Ukrainian aircraft -- all of them significantly lower-flying than a Boeing 777 -- have been shot down since the rebels started using MANPADS [Man-Portable Air Defense Systems] according to a count kept by military aviation expert David Cenciotti, including five Mi-24 Hinds, two Mi-8 helicopters, one An-2, one An-30, and the Ukrainian transport plane." ...

... BUT. Michael Gordon, et al., of the New York Times: On Monday, "a Ukrainian AN-26 transport plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile while flying at 21,000 feet, an attack that American and Western officials believe was carried out either by Ukrainian separatists allied with Moscow or possibly even a Russian military unit.... [This was] the first time, a surface-to-air missile with greater range had been used, raising questions about whether the rebels have acquired such a devastating capability, and Russia's role." ...

... AND. Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Washington Post: The plane was probably shot down by a more advanced surface-to-air-missile system than a MANPADS missile. "However..., advanced surface-to-air systems ... are transponder aware, meaning they can detect if they are targeting an airliner." This suggests that the perpetrators purposely shot down a civilian plane. ...

... George Condon of the National Journal: "... it is not too early to conclude that the potential impact [of the downed jet] on the war over Ukraine is great."

Fred Kaplan of Slate: "Instead of capitalizing on Israel’s unusually strong strategic position, [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu risks squandering it -- destroying what little support he has in the West and making it hard for Arab governments that share his interests (Egypt, Jordan, and, even now, the Palestinian Authority) to sustain their tacit alliances."

Elise Foley of the Huffington Post: "As Republicans blame President Barack Obama's executive actions for the crisis along the border, the president assured [Hispanic Caucus] members of his own party Wednesday that he won't back down from his plans to ease deportations." ...

... Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) raised doubts Thursday that Congress will be able to fulfill President Obama's funding request to address the influx of illegal migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border before lawmakers leave Washington for their summer recess in two weeks."

... digby in Salon: Ted "Cruz may be a fringe dweller, but he isn't dumb. There are many ways to advance your cause in our government system that's full of choke points and over the years the Republicans have proved themselves very adept at the one thing they truly care about -- stopping what they don&'t like. (That is after all, the essence of reactionary politics.)" ...

... Steve M. digs into the sources of the "diseased immigrant children" scare. That is to say, he's rounded up the usual suspects.

Alan Rusbridger & Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian interviewed Ed Snowden for a long time. Among the things Snowden said were that "a culture exists within the NSA in which, during surveillance, nude photographs picked up of people in 'sexually compromising' situations are routinely passed around." CW: Not surprising. But disgusting. Also, "he was holding out for a jury trial in the US rather a judge-only one, hopeful that it would be hard to find 12 jurors who would convict him if he was charged with an offence to which there was a public interest defence."

... CW: I didn't listen to the interview, but Rusbridger & MacAskill imply Snowden's "holding out" for a jury trial is a sticking point in his negotiations with the U.S. government. This makes zero sense. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a jury trial to adults accused of major crimes. Snowden can just demand a jury trial. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here.

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "The Army has issued a formal reprimand for misconduct to its former top sex-crimes prosecutor after investigating a complaint that he kissed and groped a female officer while attending a conference on sexual-assault prevention, according to Army officials. Lt. Col. Joseph 'Jay' Morse received the reprimand in late June, officials said, four months after the Army received the complaint and suspended him from his job as supervisor of the Army's special-victim prosecutors."

** Danny Vinik of the New Republic has a terrific on the proposed House lawsuit against President Obama that really gets to the heart of why the suit is stupid & should fail.

Paul Krugman: "... inflation addiction is telling us something about the intellectual state of one side of our great national divide. The right's obsessive focus on a problem we don't have, its refusal to reconsider its premises despite overwhelming practical failure, tells you that we aren't actually having any kind of rational debate."

Reid Wilson of the Washington Post on the Koch brothers/Americans for Prosperity big spending & nationwide reach.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

This is painful to hear:

... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post on why the producers who put the "eyewitness" on the air should have known he was a prankster. Nonetheless, one does have to wonder what kind of sick fuck would attempt to make a "joke" of the deaths of 295 innocent people.

MEANWHILE, here's how Fox "News" covered the breaking story: panelists got in an argument with each other, with one saying to the other -- on air -- "You're so goddamned dumb." Maybe it's better to have a prankster do the swearing.

Beyond the Beltway

Readers from Texas, Kansas, Maine, Wisconsin, Louisiana & perhaps a few others states may be able to successfully challenge me on "America's Worst Governor," but no one can beat me on "America's Creepiest Governor." I assume this is the incident P. D. Pepe referred to in her comment yesterday:

Congressional Races

Jonathan Chait summarizes Karl Rove's brilliant GOP campaign strategy re: running against ObummerCare. Funny.

Jack Fitzpatrick of the National Journal has a good piece about the race for this Congressional seat, currently held by Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick in a GOP-leaning district.

Presidential Election

Former Secretary of State's Bizarre View of U.S. Foreign Policy. Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: Hillary Clinton's "vision for America's relations with the world ... isn't just unconvincing. It's downright disturbing.... Is America's biggest post-Cold War foreign policy problem really that we've failed to adequately remind others, and ourselves, how good we are? ... But the really weird part of Hillary Clinton's claim that America must 'get back to telling' the story of how great we are 'to ourselves' is how much it echoes the right's attack on Obama.... For more than five years, the right has claimed the major problem with American foreign policy is that it's not sufficiently grounded in the belief that America is an exceptional nation.... Now, bizarrely, Hillary Clinton is leveling the same critique."

Matt Arco in nj.com: In Iowa, Chris Christie criticizes President Obama for doing "an awful job" of securing the border but refuses to recommend any solutions. CW: This is a patterned, patented Christie response: he makes a sweeping criticism -- like blaming President Obama for Middle East conflicts -- then tells inquiring reporters he doesn't have time to offer solutions. Frankly, Andy Borowitz's suggestion, linked in yesterday's Commentariat, would be a more effective response than the non-response Christie gave. ...

... Kate Zernicke of the New York Times: As Chris Christie tries to move on to other topics -- like Me for President!! -- multiple investigations of his administration grind on. ...

... Shaun Boburg of the Bergen Record has more on the testimony of Regina Egea, Christie's liaison to the Port Authority & other "independent" authorities, before a New Jersey legislative committee. Democrats accused her of being "conveniently incurious" as she heard more about the bogus traffic study on the George Washington Bridge. ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York: After "dodging the question ... for two and a half weeks..., Chris Christie just realized he supports the Hobby Lobby ruling...."

Frackin' Jeb. Adam Raymond of New York: "If Jeb Bush is planning to run for president in 2016, he's chosen an odd way to spend the last year before campaign season begins. According to Bloomberg, the former Florida governor is the chairman and part owner of an investment firm that's raising private equity funds for oil and gas companies.... If Bush does indeed decide to run for president, he can expect this to be used against him. Mitt Romney's career in private equity was brought up in both the Republican primary and the general election." ...

     ... CW: Not surprising at all. Jeb is finally joining the family business.

Charles Pierce: "Any doubts about whether or not there's a presidential campaign a-brewin' on behalf of Scott Walker..., were allayed yesterday. Walker decided that he would play to da crazees in The Base by asking his pet legislature to repeal Wisconsin's commitments to the Common Core standards in education. Wisconsin, it should be noted, has already invested $25 million to implement the standards that Walker now wants to blow up. Fiscal responsibility!"

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Israeli soldiers and tanks fanned out along Gaza's borders Friday seeking out Hamas tunnel networks while pounding residential buildings with artillery and clashing with militants, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a possible 'significant expansion' of Israel's ground offensive in the enclave." ...

... New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Friday that he had ordered the military to 'prepare for the possibility of widening, significantly,' the ground operation in the Gaza Strip begun Thursday night.... Mr. Netanyahu offered condolences to the family of an Israeli soldier killed in the first hours of the ground offensive, identified by the military as Staff Sgt. Eitan Barak, 20, from Herzliya. Palestinian health officials reported that a 4-month-old baby and an 18-year-old male were among more than 20 Gaza residents killed overnight as the total Palestinian death toll topped 260, with some 1,800 others injured." ...

... Hill: "Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit the scope of a ground invasion of Gaza in a phone call Thursday between the two leaders."

Hill: "Airlines are avoiding flying over Ukraine after a Malaysia Airlines plane crashed in the country, and may have been shot down."

AP: "National security leaker Chelsea Manning can get initial treatment for a gender-identity condition from the military after the Bureau of Prisons rejected the Army's request to accept her transfer from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to a civilian facility. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved the Army's recommendation to keep the Army private in military custody and start a rudimentary level of gender treatment, a defense official said Thursday."

The Commentariat -- July 17, 2014

Internal links. defunct video removed.

NEW. White House: "President Obama spoke with Russian President Putin today about the situation in Ukraine and the additional sanctions on Russian individuals and entities that the United States announced on July 16." ...

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama escalated sanctions against Russia on Wednesday by targeting a series of large banks and energy and defense firms in what officials described as the most punishing measures to date for Moscow's intervention in Ukraine." ...

     ... AP Update: "Vladimir Putin lamented the latest round of US sanctions against Russia on Thursday after Barack Obama increased economic pressure over the Ukraine crisis.... Russia's benchmark MICEX plummeted 2.6% at opening on Thursday while Russia's biggest oil company, Rosneft, was nearly 5% down."

NEW. Andy Borowitz: "Testing the political waters in Iowa today, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said that if he is elected President, he would bring the flow of illegal immigrants over the U.S.-Mexico border to a virtual standstill. 'There are ways of keeping people from getting to where they want to go,' Christie said, claiming that he was the only Republican hopeful with the hands-on experience necessary to fix the border crisis." CW: Satire. Really, it's satire.

... Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, reversed course on Wednesday and said she would not back changes to a 2008 law that gave certain undocumented immigrant children broader legal rights to enter the United States.... The Democratic leadership's hard line raises the prospects of an impasse on Capitol Hill that leaves the Obama administration with no additional resources to deal with the border surge." ...

... All for Me & Nothing for You. Sen. Ted Cruz, whose father Rafael received political asylum in the U.S. after claiming he was beaten by Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista's soldiers (because Rafael had joined the Castro revolution), will come down hard on child refuges requesting asylum from violence in their home countries. Cruz's plan: any bill that does anything to help (or deport) these children must ensure that undocumented children who have lived in the U.S. most of their lives are deported. ...

... Greg Sargent: "... Ted Cruz is essentially calling on Republicans to formalize in their legislative response to the crisis what is already their actual position on immigration in general. And not only that, National Review reports that more and more conservatives are giving voice to the Cruz stance, arguing that Republicans must not offer any legislative response to the crisis because Obama's 'amnesty' for the DREAMers proves he cannot be trusted to work with them...." ...

... Steve Benen: "Cruz's 'top priority' is to identify ... young people, for whom the United States is the only country they've ever known, and kick them out of the country. Indeed, the Texas Republican is saying any solution to the humanitarian crisis involving the migrant children must undo the DACA policy.... If Democrats are really lucky, Cruz will rally the right to his cause." ...

... Alexia Campbell of the National Journal: "Something is changing in the most conservative corner of conservative South Carolina. Some tea-party Republicans and evangelical Christians are softening toward immigration." ...

     ... CW: This isn't entirely surprising. Evangelicals, after all, were among those lobbying for the 2008 sex-trafficking bill that is a prime cause of the current border crisis. It's a big mistake to assume that Southern evangelicals are racists. Many -- probably a majority -- are not. As Campbell reports, a 2014 Pew Research survey "shows that a surprising 66 percent of white evangelicals across the country favor some type of legal status for immigrants without papers."

AP: "Senate Republicans have blocked a bill aimed at restoring free contraception for women who get their health insurance from companies that object on religious grounds. The vote on Wednesday was 56-43 to move ahead on the measure, short of the 60 votes necessary to proceed." ...

... Jed Lewison of Daily Kos: "The one tiny piece of good news here is that it's clear Republicans are feeling the heat, because earlier this week they unveiled legislation purporting to protect women's access to birth control coverage. In reality, the legislation won't accomplish its stated purpose, because it does nothing to impact health insurance coverage requirements, but it's a sign that even Republicans understand that they are on the wrong side of the politics here." ...

     ... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos explains the GOP bill: "In response to the Senate Democrats' legislation to overturn the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision..., Republicans are offering up their own bill. That does nothing.... We're very glad that Senate Republicans are so generous in allowing us to do what we like with our slut pill money." ...

     ... Here's how Mitch McConnell described the GOP's important contribution to women's equality:

We plan to introduce legislation this week that says no employer can block any employee from legal access to her FDA-approved contraceptives. There's no disagreement on that fundamental point.

     ... CW: It's a relief to know that some Republicans at the federal level do not want employers to actually be able to conduct bedchecks of their lady employees or rifle through the help's medicine chests. And you thought Republicans were corporate shills. I wonder if this far-reaching, ultra-liberal Senate bill would pass the House. ...

     ... CW Update: It turns out that the sponsors of the Republican Women's Freedom Act (or whatever it's called) are Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) & Deb Fischer (R-NE). On the assumption that Republicans have no empathy gene, it's fair to assume that Kelly & Deb there were worried their boss Mitch might stop by uninvited of an evening. So a wise move on their parts.

Bernie Becker of the Hill recounts testimony in the House Rules Committee hearing Wednesday on the proposed suit against President Obama. ...

... Dana Milbank mocks the whole hearing, which he called "amateur hour" -- except that it dragged on for hours.

Denise Grady of the New York Times: "Under sharp questioning from members of Congress on Wednesday, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, admitted that recent laboratory accidents involving flu viruses and anthrax were not isolated mistakes, but rather part of a broader problem of unsafe practices at the agency." ...

... Brady Dennis & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Federal officials found more than just long-forgotten smallpox samples recently in a storage room on the National Institutes for Health campus in Bethesda, Md. The discovery included 12 boxes and 327 vials holding an array of pathogens, including the virus behind the tropical disease dengue and the bacteria that can cause spotted fever, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the lab in question."

Paul Waldman: According to a Washington Examiner report, potential Republican donors are refusing to pony up for fear they will be subject to IRS audits or "get Koched"; i.e., subjected to the Harry Reid treatment. Waldman is not feeling all that sorry for them. ...

... In case you forgot how horrible the IRS "scandal" is, Waldman neatly sums it up:

There's never been any credible allegation that anyone was audited because of their political beliefs. There's never been any allegation that the IRS 'targeted' donors to Republican super PACs. The worst thing that happened was that some Tea Party groups that had applied for 501(c)(4) status -- claiming, utterly falsely, that they were charitable, non-political organizations, I might add -- had to wait longer than they should have to get approval on their applications. (And, I have to repeat, when you're waiting for your approval, you're permitted under the law to act as though you've gotten your approval. You can raise and spend money, which they did.)

... CW: Assuming that potential donors really are afraid a contribution will lead to an audit -- & aren't just refusing to give bonuses to the slimeballs they figure they already bought & paid for -- then it looks like this is one place where Darrell Issa's fake scandal scheme is backfiring.

Justin Sink of the Hill: "The director of the White House's political office defied a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, setting up a new high-profile fight between the White House and House Republicans. Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said administration claims that White House political director David Simas was immune from testimony were 'absurd' and 'deeply disturbing.' ... Issa has not produced evidence of a specific instance of the White House violating the law and has pointed to abuses in the office that occurred under the Bush Administration to justify the subpoena." (Emphasis added.)

Paul Krugman's post "The Age of Infallability" is a brief life lesson that explains conservative "beliefs" but has a wider applicability.

Wherein Maureen Dowd Goes Berserk. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "When Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed to address the University at Buffalo, the largest campus of the State University of New York system, she negotiated a few requirements in addition to her pay of $275,000.... The University at Buffalo issued a statement Wednesday saying 'no state funding or student tuition revenue' was used to pay for Clinton's speech."

Congressional Races

The Washington Post predicts that Republicans will take the Senate 52-48 & retain control of the House. They provide maps of the predicted results. I like to think of these as Stupid Voter Maps.

Jonathan Chait explains why the business community isn't going to flip to the Democratic party just because the GOP-controlled House is blowing up all the things business wants.

Ask Him No Questions -- Without Notifying His Office First. Paul Lewis of the Guardian chases after former Sen. Scott Brown (R-N.H.), who's now running for a Senate seat in New Hampshire to try to get a straight response to the Hobby Lobby decision. Police were called. ...

     ... MAG Update. Scott Does Talk to the Press. Jeff McMenemy of Seacoast Online: "Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown blamed the Affordable Care Act for the U.S. Supreme Court's recent controversial Hobby Lobby decision.... 'Had we never had "Obamacare," we never would have had that decision because that was a mandate from "Obamacare" that got us into that position,' Brown said during an editorial board interview Wednesday with Seacoast Media Group." ...

     ... CW: Hope you catch the logic there. Brown is right. If ObamaCare had not guaranteed women equal access to healthcare, the Supreme Court could never have taken it away. By this logic, the Bill of Rights was a tremendous mistake, because the Supreme Court is always interpreting/limiting the rights it guarantees. Really, all laws that inure to the benefit of the citizenry are actually harmful because the courts can always limit or void those laws. The best laws, by this logic, are those that curb human rights or favor special interest groups. Because, hey, who knows, the Supreme Court could maybe void part or all of some of those "good" laws. Scott Brown for Senate! He's not just a pretty face; he's a philosopher.

Gubernatorial Race

Paul Waldman: "When he was elected governor, some Washington conservatives touted Sam Brownback as a future presidential contender. Once he implemented the conservative economic agenda and showed what a dynamic economy and pleasing government balance sheet it produced, he'd be able to take the message nationwide as a demonstration of the power of conservative ideas. Nobody's saying that anymore. Brownback is trailing his probable Democratic opponent. In a state as conservative as Kansas (where Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama by 22 points), you have to screw up pretty badly to be in that position." ...

... Charles Pierce on Brownback, Santorum & the Gipper. Thanks to MAG for the link. ...

... Here's the take of the Rude Pundit, upon whom the dainty Pierce relies for his post linked above: "Earlier this week, former Senator and losing GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum was the main speaker at two reelection rallies for Kansas Governor Sam Brownback. Considering the various ways you can read their last names, it sounds as if everyone was coated with feces-laden effluvia by the end. Brownback is in a tight race with Democrat Paul Davis, who was just endorsed by over 100 current and former GOP officials." And, yes, the Rude Pundit is really rude.

Beyond the Beltway

Maura Dolan of the Los Angeles Times: "A federal judge in Orange County ruled Wednesday that California's death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, ruled on a petition by death row inmate Ernest Dewayne Jones, who was sentenced to die nearly two decades ago. Carney said the state's death penalty has created long delays and uncertainty for inmates, most of whom will never be executed. He noted that more than 900 people have been sentenced to death in California since 1978 but only 13 have been executed."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Elaine Stritch, the brassy, tart-tongued Broadway actress and singer who became a living emblem of show business durability and perhaps the leading interpreter of Stephen Sondheim's wryly acrid musings on aging, died on Thursday at her home in Birmingham, Mich. She was 89."

New York Times: "Israel began a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip shortly after 10 Thursday night, saying it would target tunnels that infiltrate its territory, after cease-fire talks failed to de-escalate the air war that has raged for 10 days."

New York Times: "A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 295 people aboard crashed in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday, and Ukrainian officials said it may have been shot down, possibly by a Russian-made antiaircraft system."...

     ... New Lede: "Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 295 people aboard was shot down on Thursday by a surface-to-air missile, American officials said." ...

... The Guardian is liveblogging developments.

New York Times: "General Motors' top lawyer came under withering attack from lawmakers on Thursday at a Senate hearing investigating the automaker's failure to recall millions of defective small cars for more than a decade."

Washington Post: "Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella announced Thursday that up to 18,000 of his employees will get pink slips in the next year, as part of a massive round of layoffs. The cuts are the largest in the company's history, and they will hit an estimated 15 percent of its workforce."

USA Today: "A marijuana decriminalization law passed by the D.C. Council in the spring took effect Thursday at 12:01 a.m. after a Congressional review process passed. The new law, like others around the country, eases punishments for minor marijuana offenses."

Guardian: "At least three mortars were fired from Gaza into Israel on Thursday, less than three hours into a five-hour 'humanitarian pause' in the nine-day battle between Israel and Hamas. The suspension of hostilities, brokered by the UN and starting at 10am on Thursday, came after four Palestinian children died in an Israeli strike on a Gaza beach and follows an earlier Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that was observed only by Israel."

New York Times: "President Obama said on Wednesday that he believed the United States had 'a credible way forward' in its nuclear negotiations with Iran, and strongly suggested that after consultations with Congress, which has been threatening additional sanctions, he would seek an extension of the talks beyond Sunday's deadline."