The Commentariat -- Feb. 17, 2014

Frank Rich, in the New York Review of Books, on John Kennedy's legacy -- and on conservatives' attempts to deal with it. Here's a sample graf:

A more pressing conservative goal during the assassination anniversary has been to try to shield the current American right from any ties to the radical right of the 1950s and 1960s -- the Kennedy-loathing cadres who sped the ascent of the John Birch Society and the Barry Goldwater revolution within the GOP and who helped imbue Dallas with its reputation as a 'city of hate' well before Kennedy was killed there. (Some of these ties are genealogical as well as ideological: the Wichita oil man Fred Koch, a founder of the Birch Society, was the father of David and Charles Koch.) Such a connecting of dots between then and now is infuriating to the contemporary conservative establishment, which wants to maintain that radicalism is and will always be mainly a left-wing phenomenon in America. But these days it's hard to suppress all the evidence to the contrary.

On President's Day, let's hear from Not-President Romney on President Clinton & Not-President Clinton. Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News: "Mitt Romney believes former President Bill Clinton 'embarrassed the nation' with the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but doesn't think it will be a factor in 2016 if Hillary Clinton runs for president. 'I think Hillary Clinton, if she becomes a nominee, will have plenty to discuss about her own record,' Romney said on NBC's 'Meet The Press' on Sunday. 'I don't imagine that Bill Clinton is going to be a big part of it.'"

Larry Summers Speaks English, After All! "The United States may be on course to becoming a 'Downton Abbey' economy.... Those who condemn President Obama's concern about inequality as 'tearing down the wealthy' and un-American populism have, to put it politely, limited historical perspective.... It is not enough to identify policies that would reduce inequality. To be effective, they must also raise the incomes of the middle class and the poor. Tax reform would play a major role here.... Today's tax code allows a far larger share of the income of the rich to escape taxation than the poor or middle class.... Meanwhile, the ratio of corporate tax collections to the market value of U.S. corporations is near a record low, thanks to various loopholes.... It is ironic that those who profess the most enthusiasm for market forces are least enthusiastic about curbing tax benefits for the wealthy."

Paul Krugman: "During the Reagan years..., antitrust policy went into eclipse, and ever since measures of monopoly power, like the extent to which sales in any given industry are concentrated in the hands of a few big companies, have been rising fast.... It's time ... to go back to worrying about monopoly power, which we should have been doing all along. And the first step on the road back from our grand detour on this issue is obvious: Say no to Comcast."

E. J. Dionne: "There is a magnificent public policy that achieves many of the goals conservative politicians regularly extol. These include promoting work over dependency, reducing the cost of social welfare programs, fostering economic growth and strengthening families. The policy in question is raising the minimum wage.... There's a limit to how much taxpayers should be asked to subsidize employers. Lifting the minimum wage would help correct the balance." ...

... Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times: Mega-rich Seattle venture capitalist Nick "Hanauer has become a leading advocate for spiking the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. While that’s unlikely to happen on a national level, Hanauer is part of a panel appointed by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray working up a $15-minimum-wage plan for the city."

David Savage: "Companies that make generic drugs, the medications most Americans buy, are fighting to kill a proposed federal regulation that would require them for the first time to warn patients of all the known health risks of each drug they sell." CW: The 5-4 Supreme Court decision -- Mutual Phamaceutical v. Bartlett -- which led to this situation, is here. The conservatives on the Court all signed onto the majority opinion. When you read Savage's story, you will no longer wonder whether or not the conservatives on the Court have elementary reasoning skills. They do not.

New York Times Editors: North Carolina's "Department of Environment and Natural Resources has engaged in a series of maneuvers that seem designed to protect the state's largest utility, Duke Energy, from paying big fines for water pollution from coal ash ponds and meeting reasonable requirements that it move toxic coal ash to lined landfills away from rivers and lakes used for drinking water and recreation.... The recent events in North Carolina provide ample evidence that the E.P.A., which has belatedly agreed to issue a final rule by Dec. 19, should declare coal ash a form of hazardous waste and regulate it stringently."

Paul Campos, in Salon: "The failure to convict Michael Dunn for shooting Jordan Davis to death in the course of an argument over whether the 17-year-old and his friends were playing their car stereo too loudly illustrates that, as a practical matter, hot-blooded murder is often perfectly legal under Florida law -- and that of many other states as well. Criticisms of the jury fail to appreciate that the prosecution was faced with an almost impossible legal burden in this case, and only Dunn's decision to fire three more shots at a fleeing vehicle (after he had already emptied seven of the bullets in the gun's clip when killing Davis) kept him from escaping any punishment at all.... [Stand Your Ground] laws, in effect, put the victim rather than the killer on trial, which is exactly what happened in this case."

Igor Volsky of Think Progress compiles a few lowlights from a Fox "News" panel discussing climate change, which indirectly helps explain why Americans are so stupid about science -- they listen to Fox:

New Jersey News

Shawn Boburg of the Bergen Record: "The Port Authority's executive director on Sunday asked authorities to investigate the involvement of some of the agency's police officers in the George Washington Bridge lane closures. Executive Director Pat Foye's request for an investigation by the Port Authority's inspector general was spurred by two reports on Sunday, including one in The Record [linked in yesterday's Commentariat], that raised new questions about whether some officers at the bridge knew about the political motivations behind the lane closures or were used to deliver a message to the mayor of Fort Lee. The request ... represented a new front amid an ongoing effort by legislators and federal prosecutors to find out who -- besides a deputy chief of staff in Governor Christie's office and a high-ranking Port Authority executive -- knew the true reasons behind lane closures...."

Richard Brodsky in the Star-Ledger: "The interesting question is whether Gov. Chris Christie will survive Bridgegate. The important question is whether the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will survive Bridgegate, and whether it should." A New York State law has reined in state authorities. "The law was written to include the Port Authority, but legally it can take effect there only if both states enact it." New Jersey should do so now. Brodsky, a former New York assemblyman, wrote the state's Public Authorities Reform Act.

** Trick o' Chrisco. Elizabeth Drew in the NYRB: Chris Christie appears to be using Dick Nixon's playbook: setting up the "issue" surrounding Bridgegate & other scandals as being nothing more than answering the question, "What did he know & when did he know it?" "But this isn't really the issue. The issue is whether the governor can be held accountable for what happened at very high levels in his administration.... There is much still to be discovered, and the full extent of his administration's dealings on the bridge and the use of Sandy money and perhaps issues still unknown should be exposed. It would be an historic mistake, and one with national implications, if the issue of accountability were narrowed down to simply what Governor Christie knew and when."

Elsewhere Beyond the Beltway

Erik Schelzig & Tom Krisher of the AP: "Now that workers have rejected the UAW in a close vote, attention turns to whether the GOP can fulfill its promises that keeping the union out means more jobs will come rolling in.... On the first of three days of voting at the Chattanooga plant, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker all but guaranteed the German automaker would announce within two weeks of a union rejection that it would build a new midsized sport utility vehicle at its only U.S. factory instead of sending the work to Mexico.... Union leaders said after the vote that the senator's statements -- coming in concert with threats from state lawmakers to torpedo state incentives if the UAW won -- played a key role in the vote."

News Ledes

New York Times: "An environmental activist critical of the Olympic Games who was sentenced to three years in prison last week has gone on a hunger strike, members of a public oversight committee who met with him in jail said Monday. Yevgeny Vitishko, a member of the Environmental Watch on the North Caucasus, a regional environmental activism group, has refused food since Feb. 11, calling his sentence politically motivated..., a member of the oversight committee, confirmed."

Guardian: "North Korea's leadership is committing systematic and appalling human rights abuses against its own citizens on a scale unparalleled in the modern world, including crimes against humanity, a United Nations report has concluded. The UN's commission of inquiry on human rights in North Korea has been gathering evidence for almost a year -- including in an unprecedented series of public hearings in four cities around the world, which heard sometimes harrowing testimony from North Korean escapees. Its report cited the country's system of secret prison camps, deliberate starvation and a complete lack of free thought as among probable crimes against humanity." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "A United Nations panel has served notice to Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, that he may be personally held liable in court for crimes against humanity committed by state institutions and officials under his direct control. A letter conveying this notice forms part of a report by the panel to the United Nations Human Rights Council, released on Monday after a yearlong investigation."

Guardian: "John Kerry has accused the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, of stonewalling in peace talks and called on Russia to push its ally to negotiate with opposition leaders."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 16, 2014

** Dana Milbank: As Senate GOP leaders Mitch McConnell & John Cornyn abored desperately to drum up enough Republican votes to overcome a filibuster & save the nation from financial disaster, "Watching the chaos from the side of the chamber was the man who caused it: [Ted] Cruz, his hands in his pants pockets and a satisfied grin on his face. The Texas Republican strolled to the clerk's table to check on the vote count and was met with a look of disgust from Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). And the feeling was widespread: Moments after Cruz walked into the Republican cloakroom, four senators emerged from it and changed their votes to 'aye.' Cruz reemerged from the cloakroom, chewing gum, his hands again in his pockets. He smirked as his colleagues finally overcame his filibuster after a ­59-minute struggle.... Cruz has put himself before his party and even the nation's solvency. And in this sense his actions are typical of the 2016 GOP presidential field. Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Rand Paul are mucking up the gears of government in ways that will earn them favorable attention in the primaries."

** Thomas Frank, the author of What's the Matter with Kansas, in Salon: Here's what's the matter; Democratic elites let Kansas happen. ...

... Dan Balz & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post on the divisions in the Democratic party. CW Warning: Anything Dan Balz writes is bound to be peppered with stupid, not to mention he-said/she-said. Nonetheless, since he & Rucker cite a number of he's & she's, you should be able to sift & winnow out something informative from this piece. Moreover, some of these useful tidbits shine some light (hmmm, illuminating tidbits -- good example of a mixed metaphor, that) on Frank's piece, linked above.

Donna Cassata of the AP: "House Democrats are determined to cast an election-year spotlight on Republican opposition to raising the minimum wage and overhauling immigration laws. To try to accomplish that in the GOP-controlled House, Democrats are planning to rely on an infrequently used, rarely successful tactic known as a 'discharge petition.'" CW: Not news; we covered this here a couple of days ago, but I'm always glad to see stories like this make it into newspapers throughout the country.

James Risen of the New York Times & Laura Poitras: "A top-secret document, obtained by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, shows that an American law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States. The disclosure offers a rare glimpse of a specific instance in which Americans were ensnared by the eavesdroppers, and is of particular interest because lawyers in the United States with clients overseas have expressed growing concern that their confidential communications could be compromised by such surveillance."

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "... with a coming rush of [50-year] anniversaries of the legislative milestones of the Johnson presidency — [President Johnson's daughter Luci Baines] Johnson and the diminishing circle of family and friends from those White House years ... are seeking a reconsideration of Johnson's legacy as president, arguing that it has been overwhelmed by the tragedy of the Vietnam War, and has failed to take into account the blizzard of domestic legislation enacted in the five years Johnson was in the White House." With video.

AFP: "US secretary of state John Kerry will on Sunday issue a clarion call for the world to do to more to combat climate change, warning the planet is being pushed to 'a tipping point of no return'. In his keynote speech the top US diplomat will highlight the fact that Asian nations, many of them low-lying, are particularly under threat from rising sea levels. 'Kerry will call on the global community, not just countries but individual citizens around the world, to do more now because addressing the threat of climate change will require a global solution,' a senior state department official said." ...

... Jean-Louie Santini of AFP: "A warmer Arctic could permanently affect the pattern of the high-altitude polar jet stream, resulting in longer and colder winters over North America and northern Europe, US scientists say.... According to Jennifer Francis, a climate expert at Rutgers University, the Arctic air has warmed in recent years as a result of melting polar ice caps, meaning there is now less of a difference in temperatures when it hits air from lower latitudes."

... CW: Good luck explaining that to these people ...

... American Exceptionalism, Ctd. AFP: "Americans are enthusiastic about the promise of science but lack basic knowledge of it, with one in four unaware that the Earth revolves around the Sun, said a poll out Friday." ...

... CW: I wonder why Americans are so ignorant of elementary science ...

... Dylan Scott of TPM: "A Missouri lawmaker has proposed what ranks among the most anti-evolution legislation in recent years, which would require school to notify parents if the theory of evolution by natural selection was being taught at their child's school and give them the opportunity to opt out of the class.... 'It's an absolute infringement on people's beliefs,' [State Rep. Rick] Brattin [R] told the Kansas City Star of requiring schools to teach evolution. 'What's being taught is just as much faith and, you know, just as much pulled out of the air as, say, any religion.'" The bill also provides that parent's can remove their children "from any part of the district's or school's evolution instruction." CW: Hey, at least Brattin realizes that religion is "pulled out of the air."

Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action: "Stand Your Ground laws put our children, families, and communities at risk because they give everyday, untrained citizens more leeway to shoot than the United States military gives soldiers in war zones. Children -- like Jordan Davis -- who may simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time are now more likely to die at the hands of the armed and angry.... Research indicates that Stand Your Ground laws embolden people to shoot.... After Florida passed its Stand Your Ground law, its justifiable homicide rate tripled. Over the same time period, the justifiable homicide rate decreased in states that did not pass Stand Your Ground laws. This increase in homicides due to Stand Your Ground laws disproportionately affects communities of color. The Urban Institute found that when white shooters kill black victims, the resulting homicides are 11 times more likely to be deemed justifiable than when the shooter is black and the victim is white.... Texas A&M researchers found no evidence that Stand Your Ground laws deter crime." ...

Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic: "I wish I had something more to say about the fact that Michael Dunn was not convicted for killing a black boy. Except I said it after George Zimmerman was not convicted of killing a black boy. Except the parents of black boys already know this. Except the parents of black boys have long said this, and they have been answered with mockery." ...

... If you believe Michael Dunn's long-time neighbor, & his account sounds credible, then you will get some insight into the type of person who is disposed to murder a teenager for playing loud music. Via Susie Madrak of Crooks & Liars:

... AND there's this. Nicolle Flatow of Think Progress (February 4): "Letters by Dunn from jail released this week by the State's Attorney's Office reveal disturbing racial animus." ...

... Flatow: "The letters did not come into play during trial. But they reveal the sort of racial undertones that have been prominent in many Stand Your Ground cases. One study found that white defendants with black victims are far more likely to have their killings deem 'justified' under the Stand Your Ground law." ...

... Paresh Dave of the Los Angeles Times: "George Zimmerman, the 30-year-old Floridian acquitted last year of murdering Trayvon Martin, says he's homeless, jobless and struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. Zimmerman made these comments in an interview with Spanish-language television network Univision that's scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Sunday...."

New Jersey News

Steve Kornacki & Brian Murphy of NBC News: "A Port Authority police officer with personal ties to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was at the George Washington Bridge when access lanes were closed last September and personally drove David Wildstein, the Christie appointee who supervised the closings, on a tour of the area as traffic brought it to a standstill. Documents submitted to a New Jersey legislative committee by Wildstein also show that the officer, Lieutenant Thomas 'Chip' Michaels, appears to have sent periodic text messages to Wildstein updating him on the effects of the lane closures and their crippling impact on the town of Fort Lee.... In 2010, a Newark Star-Ledger article described the Christie-Michaels family friendship as one that has endured for decades." Michaels' brother Jeffrey Michaels is a lobbyist with an extensive web of ties to Christie. ...

... Erin O'Neill of the Star-Ledger: "Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) said on [Kornacki's MSNBC] program that what this speaks of is the growing number of people who had some knowledge of the lane closures 'that have some tie to the governor's office or the governor himself. It really increases the number of people that seem to have some knowledge and it certainly fuels the skepticism that many have had about the governor's timeline and when he knew.' Wisniewski is leading the legislative probe into the lane closures." ...

... Mike Kelly of the Bergen Record: "Why were some frustrated motorists trapped in gridlock near the bridge last September told by Port Authority police to take their complaints to the mayor of Fort Lee? ... In numerous cases, say drivers, Fort Lee officials and others familiar with the situation, aggravated motorists were told by Port Authority police officers at the scene that they should call the mayor or borough officials.... A special state legislative committee examining the scandal now plans to investigate whether the call-the-mayor instructions were really a way of getting the message to Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich.... 'It appears that someone issued instructions or talking points,' said Assemblyman John Wisniewski.... 'Someone orchestrated that.'"

Tom Sherman of the Star-Ledger: "Millions of dollars in federal housing aid meant for victims of Hurricane Sandy went to projects in counties far removed from those areas most impacted by the storm, an analysis of state data shows. Nearly a third of the money -- $47.6 million, earmarked for new affordable housing projects -- landed in Essex and Middlesex counties, while many hard-hit Jersey Shore communities in Ocean saw relatively little of it."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Vladimir Luxuria, a transgender former member of the Italian Parliament, was detained by Russian authorities Sunday after holding up a sign that read, 'Gay is OK,' in the Olympic Park, the leader of an Italian gay-rights group said. Luxuria, who is also a television host, had said she was attending the Olympics with the intention of challenging a Russian law banning 'propaganda' on nontraditional sexual relationships, and she was detained after holding up the sign, which was written in Russian."

New York Times: "President Obama on Sunday condemned a measure to criminalize homosexuality in Uganda, publicly warning the country's president that such discrimination could harm its relationship with the United States. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda signaled on Friday that he was likely to sign a bill that would punish the 'the promotion or recognition' of same-sex relations with as much as life in prison."

AP: "Defence lawyers in the trial of the ousted Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi have walked out of court in protest over the soundproof glass cage in which defendants are placed, Egypt's state television reported."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 15, 2014

In his Weekly Address, President Obama urges Congress to raise the minimum wage:

Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "In a defeat for organized labor in the South, employees at the Volkswagen plant here voted 712 to 626 against joining the United Automobile Workers, even though the company did not oppose the unionization drive." ...

... Working at McDonalds. Terran Lyons, as told to Kj Dell'Antonia: "I work the night shift. It’s a good job, except they pay us so little. It would be easier except right now, it takes me about two hours on buses to drop my kids off and get to work." Lyons, a crew trainer, earns $9.85/hour. CW: The Times quite often runs short pieces on the stories of minimum- & near-minimum-wage workers. I've got news for billionaire assholes Sam Zell and Tom Perkins: Terran Lyons, & millions of other Americans, work at least as hard as do you sick old farts, their lives are much more challenging than yours, they are not persecuting you, & they have as much right to participate in the so-called democratic process as you do.

Danielle Douglas of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration on Friday gave the banking industry the green light to finance and do business with legal marijuana sellers, a move that could further legitimize the burgeoning industry. For the first time, legal distributors will be able to secure loans and set up checking and savings accounts with major banks that have largely steered clear of those businesses. The decision eliminates a key hurdle facing marijuana sellers, who can now legally conduct business in 20 states and the District."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A sweeping decision on Thursday night struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage and continued a remarkable winning streak for gay rights advocates, putting new pressure on the Supreme Court to decide the momentous question it ducked last summer: whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage." ...

... Robert Barnes & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post profile U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, who declared unconstitutional Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), co-author of the ban, called for her impeachment. Ted Olsen, one of the two principal advocates who successfully challenged California's anti-gay marriage Prop 8, called Allen's decision "a beautiful opinion" & said everyone should read Allen's decision. So here it is. (Barnes & Fahrenthold call the ruling "forceful and sometimes grandiose.") ...

... David Cohen & Dahlia Lithwick in Slate: "Insofar as there was confusion about what Windsor[, last year's Supreme Court decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act,] meant at the time it was decided, the lower courts across the country have now effectively settled it. A survey of publicly available opinions shows that in the eight months since Windsor, 18 court decisions have addressed an issue of equality based on sexual orientation. And in those 18 cases, equality has won every single time. In other words, not a single court has agreed with Chief Justice Roberts that Windsor is merely about state versus federal power. Instead, each has used Windsor exactly as Justice Scalia warned' -- as a powerful precedent for equality." ...

... Paul Waldman of the American Prospect: "Same-sex marriage opponents refer to themselves as advocates of 'traditional marriage,' but they backed themselves into a corner by assuming we'd all agree that because something is 'traditional,' it has an inherently superior moral value." ...

... Ron Brownstein of the National Journal: "To understand the rolling demographic and cultural trends threatening the GOP in presidential elections, a good place to start might be with the polychromatic ads Chevrolet is running during the Olympics. First, consider the source. Chevrolet is not a company that equates buying its product with saving the planet.... In the past, its ads have linked the company, without apparent irony, to 'baseball, hot dogs, [and] apple pie.' But Chevy's latest ads, under the title 'The New Us,' celebrate the transformation of the American family into a kaleidoscopic array of new forms. In cascading images, one ad warmly portrays couples of every race and ethnicity, interracial couples, gay male couples, gay female couples -- all raising what appear to be happy, well-adjusted children. Not only does Heather have two mommies; in the world Chevrolet evokes, she's perfectly fine with it.... The 'new us' bears more than a passing resemblance to the new coalition that has allowed Democrats to win the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections." ...

     ... CW: Brownstein is right. And the Chevy ad is an amazing, surprising & delightful bit of evidence that "traditional marriage" comes in many forms. So hooray for the new us. When even Chevy & Madison Avenue gets it, we are kinda there.

Christi Parsons & Diana Markum of the Los Angeles Times: In Fresno, California, "President Obama on Friday warned against thinking of water as a 'zero-sum game' and urged regional players to push beyond politics in solving supply problems. On a dusty afternoon spent with politicians and farmers, Obama argued against pitting agricultural interests against urban ones, or north against south. 'We're going to have to figure out how to play a different game,' Obama told participants in a round table Friday afternoon. 'We can't afford years of litigation and no real action.' Still, he said, he had no intent of wading into water politics, joking that he wanted to 'get out alive.' While in town, Obama promised more than $200 million in aid to those affected by the drought."

President Obama spoke at the House Democratic Issues Conference yesterday:

GOP's Dr. Frankensteins Can't Control Their Monsters. Kathleen Hunter of Bloomberg News: Republican leaders have no effective way of punishing Ted Cruz for his wrecking-ball tactics.

... Carol Gentry of WUSF finds some Tampa Bay-area Republicans who love the ACA. Here's one:

Peggy Arvanitas of Seminole has been a Republican for decades. In fact, she helps get GOP voters out to the polls. And yet, on her car there's a bumper sticker that says 'I Heart Obamacare.' Here's why: She lost her coverage last year when the company she worked for went under; she had to take a part-time job with no benefits. Then the health law kicked in. Since Jan. 1, she's had a Humana plan she likes. Because her income is low, she pays just $10 a month. When Arvanitas finishes her business degree and passes the CPA exam, she says, her income will go up, and the premium will, too. She sees that as sensible and fair. 'It isn't a Democrat or Republican issue,' she said. 'It's a health care issue.'

     ... CW: Arvanitas' coda is unfortunate. On the one hand, she realizes Republicans are wrong; on the other hand, she ignores it. So she's saying, "Thanks, Democrats, for improving my life despite unrelenting Republican obstructionism; now I'm going out to work to elect Republicans." Stooo-pid.

** Tim Egan: "The sickness that infects news and politics, and its commensurate cynicism, can be directly traced to the creation of Fox News -- 'a political operation that employs journalists,' in the words of Gabriel Sherman, author of the new book on Roger Ailes, 'The Loudest Voice in the Room.' There is no bigger media story in the last 50 years than the creation of a news network run by political hacks, says Sherman. I'm inclined to agree. But just as important, civility itself took a dive with the rise of Fox, and has never recovered." Egan goes on to give Bill O'Reilly his just desserts. CW: Sorry, missed this one when the Times published it two days ago.

New Yorker: "On this week's Political Scene Podcast, Hendrick Hertzberg and Ryan Lizza join Dorothy Wickenden to discuss Hillary Clinton's political career":

Beyond the Beltway

A Miracle in Kansas. Kevin Murphy & Carey Gillham of Reuters: "Opposition grew on Friday in Kansas to a bill that would allow businesses and other groups to refuse certain services and benefits to same-sex couples on the basis of 'sincerely held religious beliefs.' The Kansas Senate will likely reject the bill, which the Kansas House approved on Wednesday, the Senate's president said. Meanwhile, a newly formed statewide business coalition said it would oppose the measure. Senator Susan Wagle, a Republican, said the majority of her caucus does not support the bill on the grounds that it may encourage bias.... The measure passed the House 72-49. Republicans outnumber Democrats 32-8 in the Senate and 92-33 in the House." CW: Also, thanks to Kansas businesses, many of which probably did not want to be targeted by bigots for serving gay people.

Chuck Bartels of the AP: "A group of death row inmates won a court judgment Friday that temporarily blocks executions in Arkansas and says the state Legislature gave too much authority to the Correction Department when it designated the agency director as the person who picks the drug for lethal injections. A law passed last year specified that the state kill inmates by using a barbiturate but did not specify which one."

Peter Hamby of CNN: "On the heels of a major winter storm that blanketed his state with snow, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spent Friday at a resort in Puerto Rico with his family." ...

... So then there's this Bergen Record story of all these roofs collapsing across several North Jersey communities. AND forecasts are calling for more snow today.

News Ledes

AP: "Another round of snow made its way into the Northeast on Saturday as the region continues to dig out from the previous storm. New England is expected to be hit hardest by the latest blast of winter weather. The National Weather Service says 10 to 14 inches of snow is expected in eastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island. Connecticut could see 8 to 10 inches along its Rhode Island border."

New York Times: "After four days of deliberation, the jury in the trial of Michael Dunn, a Florida man who shot a teenager to death in a parking lot during a dispute over loud music, said it could not agree on whether Mr. Dunn had acted in self-defense or was guilty of murder. The jurors did find Mr. Dunn guilty of three counts of second-degree attempted murder for getting out of his car and firing 10 times at the Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle in which Jordan Davis, 17, was killed. Three other teenagers, the subjects of the attempted murder charges, were in the car but were not struck. Mr. Dunn continued to fire at the car even as it pulled away. On the attempted murder convictions, he could be sentenced to 20 to 60 years in prison."

New York Times: The United Nations mediator for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, wrapped up the second round of peace talks [in Geneva] on Saturday without breaking a longstanding deadlock or setting a date for a third round, and urged the parties to think seriously about their commitment to the negotiations. Mr. Brahimi said the talks had broken down primarily because the Syrian government balked at his suggestion that the negotiators discuss both sides' top demands in the first two days of negotiations, rather than spending days on the government's priorities."

The Hill: "The government of Cuba announced late Friday that it will no longer process visas for U.S. travel to Cuba. Cuba said travel will end until a new U.S. bank can be found to process visa fees that are collected and routed to Cuba.Cuba's decision means only humanitarian travel will be permitted to the island nation from the United States, and that the 'people-to-people' visas and other educational travel will be shut off.... The decision is a blow to the goals of the Obama administration, which sought to expand travel opportunities to the island. It will also have an immediate impact on Cuba's access to hard currency, on which many of its citizens rely."