The Commentariat -- Aug. 15, 2013

Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post: "... the United States spends much less on the education and well-being of poor people, especially poor children, than any other rich country -- and that retards their chances of escaping poverty.... Countries -- and most parts of the United States -- that invest heavily in all their children's health care, nutrition and education end up with a much stronger ladder of opportunity and access. And that's something we can change. So if we want to restore the American dream, we now have the beginnings of a path forward." ...

... CW: yeah, but what if -- after obtaining a good education -- there are no good jobs. A friend told me that where she lives there are job openings for positions that require a college degree & pay $12.50 an hour.

The Party of Racists. Tom Edsall in the New York Times: "There is a growing body of evidence that those intent on moderating the [Republican] party's ideological rigidity ... face opposition from Republican primary voters, the most powerful force in the party." ...

... Racism by Any Other Name.... CW: Edsall calls the voters' anti-immigration hysteria "conservatism," but he does quote Sean Trende, who has argued that the near-future GOP can do better mining non-college-educated whites than appealing to Hispanics: "Whites are sliding toward minority status, and becoming more internally homogenous at the same time." Call it "conservative" or "internally homogenous," it's still racism. ...

... Nonetheless, "Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, and former Govs. Haley Barbour and Ed Rendell [who] co-chair the Bipartisan Policy Center's Immigration Task Force, take a stab at building consensus on immigration reform in this Politico essay.

The interesting thing about voting patterns now is in this last election African-Americans voted at a higher percentage than whites in almost every one of the states that were under the special provisions of the federal government. So really, I don't think there is objective evidence that we're precluding African-Americans from voting any longer. I don't see a problem with showing your driver's license to vote. I also think that some people are a little bit stuck in the past when they want to compare this. There was a time in the south when African-Americans were absolutely prohibited from voting by selective applications of bizarre and absurd literacy tests. And that was an abomination, that's why we needed the Voting Rights Act, but that's not showing your ID. -- Sen. Rand Paul

... CW: I suspect Paul is so ignorant he believes his own propaganda. I sent him a copy of Jamelle Bouie's post that explains some provisions of North Carolina's voter suppression law. ...

... Charles Pierce has more on Paul's idea of the meaning of FREEEDOM.

Prof. Devon Carbado, et al., in a New York Times op-ed: "The historic ruling by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin that the stop-and-frisk practices of the New York Police Department violate the Constitution is being applauded as a major victory against unreasonable policing.... The ruling ... does nothing to disrupt the authority the Supreme Court has given police officers to target African-Americans and Latinos with little or no basis. Despite the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Supreme Court's interpretation of that provision gives the police frighteningly wide discretion to follow, stop, question, frisk and employ excessive force against African-Americans and Latinos who have shown virtually no indication of wrongdoing."

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, an Army Ranger and paratrooper, stands accused of forcible sodomy, adultery and other charges that could land him in prison. Prosecutors say he abused his command authority by sleeping with a subordinate officer, a taboo in the armed forces and a violation of military law. They charge that the relationship turned violent on two occasions, when he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex. In addition, Sinclair faces charges that he had inappropriate communications with three other female officers. Sinclair has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Besides the rare spectacle of a general in the dock, however, the case poses a critical test of how the U.S. military handles allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, crimes that have long bedeviled the armed forces." ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "In an effort to stop military lawyers from using comments by President Obama to prevent sexual assault prosecutions, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has sent out a directive ordering the military to exercise independent judgment in the cases and effectively ignore the president's remarks. 'There are no expected or required dispositions, outcomes or sentences in any military justice case, other than what result from the individual facts and merits of a case and the application to the case of the fundamentals of due process of law,' Mr. Hagel wrote in a memorandum dated Aug. 6 that is to be disseminated throughout the military."

Jim Miklaszewski, et al., of NBC News: "The Department of Defense announced a plan Wednesday to extend a range of federal benefits to same-sex spouses of military service members starting Sept. 3. The Pentagon will extend to legally married same-sex couples the same privileges and programs that are provided to legally married heterosexual couples, including benefits tied to health care, housing, and family separation allowance, compensation paid to military members when their dependents can't live with them at their permanent duty station."

This Is Amusing. Greg Sargent: "Various reports are telling us that House Republicans are mulling a new anti-Obamacare strategy: Rather than push for a government shutdown to force the defunding of Obamacare, they will use the coming debt limit fight to force the administration to delay implementation of the law.... This latest move from a shutdown-based strategy against Obamacare to a debt limit-based one (presuming it's even real) is part of a larger pattern, in which GOP leaders try to talk conservatives out of the favored insane and dangerous strategy of the moment by promising another confrontation around some other leverage point later." ...

... This Is Amusing, Too. Peter Hamby of CNN: "Former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich reprimanded his fellow Republicans in unusually harsh terms Wednesday, blaming GOP members of Congress for developing 'zero' alternatives to President Obama's health care reform law." "When I was in Congress, blah, blah, blah...." ...

... More Amusement. Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon: "right wing push-poll accidentally finds Obamacare is popular." ...

... Jonathan Cohn: when the anti-ObamaCare crowd gloats over the "sticker shock" Americans will experience when they purchase insurance under the plan, they're really only talking about their well-off friends. "... the number of people receiving discounts is a lot larger than even many analysts seem to realize. It turns out that about half the people who buy their own insurance today will be eligible for subsidies. For them, the subsidies will be worth an average of $5,548 per household, effectively discounting the price by two-thirds." CW: so it looks like the real objection to ObamaCare is in service of the relatively wealthy; i.e., a substantial chunk of the GOP base. Those students that the Koch brothers' FreedomWorks are trying to talk into "burning their ObamaCare cards"? Most of them are likely eligible for subsidies.

New York Times Editors: "President Obama must make clear his unequivocal opposition to the Egyptian military's conduct. He can do so by immediately suspending military aid and canceling joint military exercises scheduled for September." ...

Washington Post Editors: "Before the July 3 coup in Egypt, the Obama administration privately warned the armed forces against ousting the government of Mohamed Morsi, pointing to U.S. legislation that requires the cutoff of aid to any country where the army plays a 'decisive role' in removing an elected government. Yet when the generals ignored the U.S. warnings, the White House responded by electing to disregard the law itself. After a prolonged and embarrassing delay, the State Department announced that it had chosen not to determine whether a coup had taken place, and Secretary of State John F. Kerry declared that Egypt's military was 'restoring democracy.' Because of those decisions, the Obama administration is complicit in the new and horrifyingly bloody crackdown launched Wednesday by the de facto regime...." ...

... Julian Pecquet of the Hill: "'As we predicted and feared, chaos in Cairo,' [Sen. John] McCain tweeted after dozens of pro-Morsi protesters were killed when their sit-in camps were raided. 'Sec Kerry praising the military takeover didn't help.'" ...

... Egypt's Crackdown on Journalists. Abigail Hoslohner of the Washington Post: "'If I see you again, I'll shoot you in the leg,' a police officer told my colleagues, Sharaf al-Hourani and Mansour Mohamed, and me. Security forces on the roof of a nearby building watched us through binoculars. Two helicopters circled overhead." See yesterday's News Ledes.

Meteor Blades of Daily Kos: Democratic "pressure being exerted on the White House over the {[Fed] chairman's post have, according to The Wall Street Journal, made the president cross.... Sources informed the Journal's reporters, there have been behind-the-scenes efforts telling the dissenters to keep their traps shut.... [Larry Summers] would be a rotten choice. And the [20] senators who seemed also to think so when they signed the letter of support for [Janet] Yellen should ignore the White House staff's calls for them to cease their criticism. That criticism is a favor to the president even if he doesn't see it that way." ...

... Scott Lemieux, in Lawyers, Guns & Money: " One suspects that the annoyance is based partly on the fact that the people firing at the Summers trial balloon are clearly right on the merits. Yellen is more qualified for this job. Breaking glass ceilings is an important consideration. Letting pre-existing personal relationships excessively influence the choice for Fed Chair (as opposed to a political adviser) is inappropriate." ...

... "L'état, c'est moi." Digby: "Democracy is so icky sometimes, isn't it, what with people expressing their opinions all over the place and telling the president what they think he should do and all? Why a president can hardly do anything anymore without a bunch of citizens and lawmakers weighing in on his decisions.... There is no tradition, law or rule that says the public, the party and members of congress cannot make their wishes known ahead of time and try to lobby the White House to make whatever choices they prefer. In fact, it's downright undemocratic for the executive to imply that they shouldn't."

J. K. Trotter of Gawker is not impressed with the New York Times' long piece on the Clinton Foundation (linked here yesterday): "Of course the Clinton Foundation is a disorganized shitshow stuffed with creepy hacks and starfuckers; of course it bends to the whims of Clinton disciples (and donors).... That the Clinton family has surrounded itself with rich idiots and ethically bankrupt grifters is repellent and a little sad. It's not, however, new or exciting." ...

... Maggie Haberman of Politico: "Hillary Clinton is fielding offers from colleges and universities -- including Harvard and her law school alma mater, Yale -- to give her a formal academic role, a move that would give her a platform outside her family's foundation."

Local News

Howard Mintz of the San Jose Mercury News: "Barring an unforeseen legal bombshell, gay marriage is here to stay in California. In a one-line order, the California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to halt same-sex marriages throughout the state, rejecting the latest legal bid to revive Proposition 8's ban on gay nuptials. The justices, meeting in their weekly closed-door conference, declined to hear a case brought last month by backers of Proposition 8 who argue that the law should remain in effect in at least 56 of the state's 58 counties." ...

... Brooke Adams & Ray Parker of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Utah has a 'sovereign right' to define and regulate marriage and a constitutional amendment that bars recognition of same-sex marriage enshrines that right, state attorneys say in a brief filed in U.S. District Court. The state disputes assertions by three couples who filed a challenge to Amendment 3 in March, including the claim that the amendment was aimed at furthering privately-held views that same-sex couples are immoral and inferior to heterosexual couples." ...

... Robert Parry in Consortium News, March 2013: "... there is no language [in the U.S. Constitution] referring to states as 'independent' or 'sovereign.' That wording comes from the Articles of Confederation (which governed the country from 1777 to 1787), but was expunged by the Constitution, which transferred national sovereignty from the 13 original states to 'We the People of the United States.' ... The Constitution also contains a long list of prohibited activities by the states.... The Constitution further dictates the structure of state governments, requiring them to operate as republics (Article IV, Section 4). Most significantly, the Constitution makes federal law 'supreme,' giving federal courts the power to strike down state statutes deemed unconstitutional.'"

San Diego Union-Tribune: "Momentum is building toward the recall of beleaguered Mayor Bob Filner with four local businesswomen organizing an anti-Filner march around City Hall on Sunday to coincide with the first day that signatures can be collected to oust him from office. Meanwhile recall proponents say they've raised more than $100,000 for the petition drive and created a new website -- recallbobfilner.com -- for donations and volunteers. They are also planning to kick off their signature-gathering efforts in multiple locations Sunday...." ...

... Gail Collins: Filner seems to have disappeared, having ending his two-week "rehab" program early. "Also, the mayor is trying to get the city to pay his mounting legal fees by arguing that San Diego is responsible for everything because Filner never received the sensitivity course required for city employees." ...

... Garance Franke-Ruta of the Atlantic has an excellent piece on what the chairman on San Diego's Democratic Party heard about Bob Filner's history of preying on women. She suggests the chairman should have consulted its lawyers, who should have known how to do due diligence in vetting Filner. For the women, who were not Filner's employees, the bottom line is that when some creep makes an inappropriate pass at you (and, yes, I think there are "appropriate passes" & a lot of men know how to make them), you have little recourse unless the pass involves touching "private parts."

Send in the Clowns. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) press release: "Congressman Steve Stockman Wednesday invited the rodeo clowns who performed at the Missouri State Fair, and were banned or ordered into 'sensitivity training' when one clown mocked President Barack Obama, to perform at a rodeo in Texas' 36th District. Fair officials did not reveal the clown's identity.... 'Liberals want to bronco bust dissent. But Texans value speech, even if its speech they don’t agree with,' said Stockman, 'From Molly Ivins to Louie Gohmert and every opinion between Texans value free and open political speech. I'm sure any rodeo in Texas would be proud to have performers.'" ...

     ... CW: Somebody should tell Steve the First Amendment does not guarantee a right to employment. You have a First Amendment right to tell callers your boss is a jerk, to tell customers the food is terrible at this restaurant, to tell your company's clients to go fuck themselves. You do not, however, have a right to keep your job after you express such opinions. ...

     ... Somebody should tell Peggy Noonan, too. But as contributor Diane suggested yesterday, Noonan is probably too daft or drunk to comprehend such subtleties. Diane wonders what Noonan's response would be "if a rodeo clown had appeared dressed in a diaper and a Reagan mask with a sign around his neck 'I knew my name this morning' shouting 'Nancy, where are my pills.' I wager she would have downed a 5th of vodka and with a halting but classy stumble, made it to her bed to pass out."

News Ledes

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Bert Lance, the former state highway director who helped Jimmy Carter climb to the presidency and then joined his White House administration, died Thursday evening. He was 82."

New York Times: "The death toll from Egypt's bloody crackdown on supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, soared beyond 500 across the land on Thursday with over 3,700 people injured, the Health Ministry said, in a further sign of the extent and the ferocity of Wednesday's scorched-earth assault by security forces to raze two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo."

The Commentariat -- Aug. 14, 2013

** Maureen Dowd does an excellent job of trashing Larry Summers. Sometimes MoDo gets it so right.

Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian: "The White House has moved to dampen controversy over the role of the director of national intelligence James Clapper in a panel reviewing NSA surveillance, insisting that he would neither lead it nor choose the members."

Robert Reich, in a New York Times op-ed, on the consequences of an impotent, do-nothing Congress: "Political decision making has moved to peripheral public entities, where power is exercised less transparently and accountability to voters is less direct. What we're losing in the process isn't government -- it's democracy.... It's bizarre that a self-styled populist insurrection, [the Tea Party,] would end up making our government less accountable to the people. But that's exactly what it's done."

** Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: John "Lewis is a congressman from Georgia and the sole surviving speaker from the March on Washington in August 1963. His history makes him the closest thing to a moral voice in the divided Congress. At 73, he is still battling a half-century later. With the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy now that the Supreme Court has invalidated one of its central provisions, Mr. Lewis, a Democrat, is fighting an uphill battle to reauthorize it. He is using his stature as a civil rights icon to prod colleagues like the Republican leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, to get on board.... Mr. Lewis has an answer for those who say the election of a black president was a fulfillment of Dr. King's dream: It was only 'a down payment,' he said in an interview." ...

... Charles Pierce: In her speech on voter suppression, "What [Hillary Clinton] did was throw some serious chin music at the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.... Say what you will about her, she punches in her own weight class." Thanks to James S. for the link. ...

... ** Jamelle Bouie, in the Daily Beast, details the provisions of the anti-Democrat North Carolina voter suppression act, which "would have never passed federal muster" under Section 4 of the federal Voting Rights Act, struck down by the Supremes. "In the meantime, North Carolinians will have to live in a state that doesn't respect their right to participate. And worse, we should expect similar behavior from other states that were under federal preclearance before the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County." ...

... Election law expert Rick Hasen is skeptical that the lawsuits filed against North Carolina's voter suppression law will be successful. Via Jonathan Bernstein. ...

... AND Chris Fitzsimon of North Carolina Policy Watch: Gov. Pat McCrory still doesn't know what's in the law he signed. Also via Bernstein.

Steve Benen on why GOP members of Congress appears to have lost their enthusiasm for townhall meetings: "The first [reason] is that the Republican Party base is starting to push for things Republican Party lawmakers don't want to deliver -- a government shutdown, national default, impeachment, hearings into the president's birth certificate, a special committee to investigate Benghazi conspiracy theories -- and town-hall forums put GOP officials in an awkward position of disappointing the far-right activists the party has worked so hard to rile up. The second is the flip-side: the Republican Party base is pushing for extremism, many Republican officials are going along, and invariably someone catches this on video. In other words, we're looking at a dynamic in which Republicans (a) will be pressed to say something stupid; or (b) will go ahead and say something stupid."

Fernando Espuelas of Univision, in the Huffington Post: "In the immigration reform morass that has gripped our government like quicksand, we see [John] Boehner's manifest weakness. It's no secret that the Tea Party radicals in his own caucus have terrorized the Speaker into immobility and sometimes outright incoherence."

CW: It's impossible to read the essays & news reports linked above without realizing that Republicans are fundamentally opposed to democracy. John Boehner won't allow a vote on issues like immigration that a majority of representatives (and of the public) would favor. Senate Republicans won't let a popularly-elected Democratic president appoint his own judges or even his Cabinet members. They won't allow the passage of any bill the Democratic majority of the Senate favors. Republicans try to defund lawfully-enacted programs they don't like. Republicans legislatures & governors throughout the country are knocking themselves out to suppress the vote of "those people," even when "those people" may be their own college-going children or poor grandmas. Republican-appointed justices rubber-stamped the efforts to suppress the vote. They apparently don't even want to talk to constituents because a few voters might pose awkward questions. There are occasions, of course, when minority views should prevail; for instance, when laws & practices discriminate against a group or when a presidential nominee is particularly unfit. I don't think Congress should take a public poll every time a bill comes up for consideration. But, with some exceptions, Congress generally should act in ways that reflect the "will of the people," & not just the people of their own districts. Maybe "all politics is local," but members of Congress have to rise above parochial interests & consider the general welfare of all Americans. They may hail from Mississippi or Idaho, but their title is United States Congressman or United States Senator & their oaths are to the United States Constitution. They should act as if they know that.

Nicholas Confessore & Amy Chozick of the New York Times delve into Bill Clinton's shady foundation, which is now the Bill, Hillary & Chelsey Shady Foundation. Nice graphic here.

Senate Races

Matt Friedman & David Giambusso of the [New Jersey] Star-Ledger: Newark Mayor Cory Booker has easily prevailed in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, the Associated Press projects. Booker will now face Steve Lonegan, the Republican primary winner, in the Oct. 16 special election to succeed the late Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). Results show Booker well ahead of his three rivals tonight: U.S. Reps. Rush Holt (D-6th Dist.) and Frank Pallone (D-12th Dist.), and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex). The difference is so large -- with Booker leading his closest opponent, Pallone, by a two-to-one margin -- that the Associated Press called the race with just 7 percent of the vote in."

Josh Israel of Think Progress: "Believing it to be 'God's will,' South Carolina State Sen. Lee Bright (R) announced Tuesday that he will [run] a 2014 primary challenge to U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R). Over four years in the State Senate, Bright has taken a number of out-of-the-mainstream positions on a wide array of issues, aligned himself with the anti-government William Wallace Caucus, and served as state campaign chair for the presidential campaign of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Bright also is on the board of a right-wing seminary that believes women should be subservient to men, both in the church and in the home." Read the whole post to learn more Bright Ideas. CW: I don't see how Graham can lose to this crazy bastard (a "fiscal conservative" who can't seem to pay his own bills & taxes), even in South Carolina. Via Charles Pierce, who is amused. As for me, I'm seeing Graham & Bright decked out in Confederate uniforms, fighting a duel to the death, with swords.

Gubernatorial Race

Washington Post Editors on Terry McAuliffe's venture GreenTech, in which he remains the company's largest shareholder: "GreenTech relies heavily on financing from wealthy foreigners, many of them Chinese, who pony up at least $500,000 each through a federal program designed to attract overseas investors. In return for their investments, they receive U.S. visas and may become eligible for permanent residency green cards.... According to former GreenTech employees..., the plant is a Potemkin manufacturing facility, where managers stage a semblance of production for the benefit of visitors. Company officials deny that. If it's untrue, they should allow journalists to see for themselves," which they won't....

... CW: so Virginians have to decide whether they want a shady character or a right-wing nutjob as governor. In view of McAuliffe's ethical challenges, I think it's likely that current Gov. Bob McDonnell's sleazy cash-grabbing will rub off as much on McAuliffe as on Ken Cuccinelli. (Kenny has grabbed a little cash from McDonnell's friend, too, making him both a nutjob and a shady character, but McAuliffe's deals are getting more attention now than are Kenny's.) I suspect voters prefer ideologues to crooks.

Local News

Katherine Skiba & Marina Villeneuve of the Chicago Tribune: "Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who pleaded guilty to misspending about $750,000 in campaign funds, will learn today how much his crime will cost him. A federal judge will sentence Jackson on a felony conspiracy count and also will sentence his wife, Sandi, on a related charge of failing to report about $600,000 in taxable income." ...

       ... UPDATE: "Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced today to 30 months behind bars and his wife, Sandi, got a year in prison for separate felonies involving the misspending of about $750,000 in campaign funds. The Jacksons will be allowed to serve their sentences one at a time, with Jackson Jr. going first, based on the wishes of the family as expressed by Dan Webb, an attorney for Sandi Jackson. Jackson Jr. will report to prison on or after Nov. 1, the judge said."

David Lieb of the AP: " The president of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association has resigned after getting flak about a State Fair event in which a rodeo clown riled up the crowd as a bull chased a masked man imitating President Barack Obama. An attorney for rodeo announcer Mark Ficken said Tuesday that his resignation from the group is not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing on his part but rather a protest that the association has not banned the rodeo clown from its membership. Ficken's resignation from the rodeo group comes as he tries to hold on to his job as superintendent of the Boonville School District. The school system announced Monday that it is hiring an investigator to look into whether Ficken was involved in any 'inappropriate conduct' during Saturday's bull riding event at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia." CW: Yo, Mark. Bet you didn't think your 15 minutes of fame would be all about what a total asshole you are. But, you know, that's what happens sometimes when you're a total asshole.

News Ledes

Baltimore Sun: "Jack W. Germond, the irascible, portly columnist and commentator who was a fixture on the American political scene for nearly 50 years, including nearly 20 of them in The Baltimore Sun's Washington bureau, died Wednesday morning of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his home in Charles Town, W.Va. He was 85."

Washington Post: " Violent clashes spread across Egypt on Wednesday after security forces stormed two sprawling protest camps in an early morning assault that killed scores of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. With at least 281 people killed, it was the deadliest day in Egypt since the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and the fallout dealt a further blow to the prospect that the country might resume its path toward democracy. At least 37 died in clashes in the conservative oasis town of Fayoum." New York Times story here. The Times' The Lede has updates here. Al Jazeera's liveblog is here. ...

... Washington Post: "A 15-year veteran of Sky, Mick Deane was one of three journalists reported killed in Egypt on Wednesday. Also killed Wednesday was Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, a 26-year-old reporter for Xpress, a sister publication of Dubai's Gulf News. She was fatally shot near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque, the scene of a major crackdown by the Egyptian military and police on a pro-Morsi encampment. Abd Elaziz was on leave from the newspaper and was visiting Egypt.... Social media users in Egypt reported the death of a local news photographer, but those reports could not be confirmed. At least a dozen other journalists were detained, injured or threatened Wednesday as the violence raged, suggesting increasing danger for journalists in an already hostile working environment."

... Guardian: "The United States has led a chorus of international concern about Egypt's crackdown on demonstrators, publicly condemning the violence that resulted in the worst loss of life on a single day since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi last month. The White House said 'the world is watching' after a day on which at least 278 people were killed. But there was still no sign that the US was prepared to characterise Morsi's removal by the army as a coup -- which would trigger an automatic congressional ban on $1.3bn in annual aid to the powerful Egyptian military."

New York Times: "While just two former London traders for JPMorgan [Chase] were criminally charged on Wednesday, the cases intensify the scrutiny of the bank's executives in New York, where lax controls and the pressure for profits aggravated the problem. Federal authorities outlined the breakdown in the bank's oversight in the two criminal complaints against the employees: Javier Martin-Artajo, a manager who oversaw the trading strategy, and Julien Grout, a low-level trader in London. The employees, accused of manipulating the books to disguise hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, operated for months with scant supervision and the impression that higher-ups of the bank supported them."

AP: "Defense attorney David Coombs says [Bradley] Manning will take the stand during the sentencing phase of his court-martial Wednesday at Fort Meade near Baltimore." ...

     ... Guardian Update: "Bradley Manning, the soldier convicted last month of leaking an enormous collection of classified documents to WikiLeaks, has said he now regrets his actions and that he was 'sorry that they hurt the United States.' 'I am sorry for unintended consequence of my actions. When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people,' Manning told his sentencing hearing, in an attempt to receive a reduced sentence." ...

     ... The Hill: "WikiLeaks late Wednesday described Bradley Manning's apology as 'forced' but, nonetheless, called on a court to take 'compassion' and 'understanding' into account during his sentencing."

Al Jazeera: "Security forces have moved in on two Cairo protest camps set up by supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi, launching a crackdown that quickly turned into a bloodbath with dozens dead. Conflicting reports have emerged over the number of people killed. However, Al Jazeera's correspondent counted 94 bodies in Rabaa al-Adawiya's makeshift hospital, while some members of the Muslim Brotherhood have put the figure up to 2,200, with about 10,000 injured. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the Brotherhood's figure."

Guardian: "A Russian-built submarine of the Indian navy has exploded in Mumbai harbour, with 18 sailors believed to be trapped inside. Several other crew members were reported to have escaped by jumping off the submarine when it blew up on Tuesday night, sparking a huge fire. Several injured navy personnel were being treated in a naval hospital."

AP: "Canada's transportation agency is suspending the operating license of the U.S.-based rail company whose runaway oil train derailed and exploded in a Quebec town, killing 47 people. The agency said Tuesday it is taking away the certificate of fitness for the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway and its Canadian subsidiary, effective Aug. 20."

The Commentariat -- Aug. 13, 2013

Pete Yost & Paul Elias of the AP: "Attorney General Eric Holder announced a major shift Monday in federal sentencing policies, targeting long mandatory terms that he said have flooded the nation's prisons with low-level drug offenders and diverted crime-fighting dollars that could be far better spent." Holder's full remarks before a meeting of the American Bar Association, are here. ...

The real value of these proposals will be in the implementation, which drug policy reform advocates have good reason to be wary about. For example, despite a 2009 Justice Department memo urging U.S. attorneys not to go after marijuana businesses that are legal under state law, more state-legal medical marijuana providers were shuttered by federal actions during the first term of the Obama administration than were closed during George W. Bush's two terms. And, we're still waiting for the administration to announce its response to the marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington.... -- Tom Angell, Chairman, Marijuana Majority

The focus on racial disparity in the drug war is positive, but it sounds incredibly hollow given that at the same time President Obama is considering picking Ray Kelly to lead the Department of Homeland Security. As NYPD commissioner Kelly is responsible for the stop-and-frisk policy that a federal judge just declared an unconstitutional violation of the 14th amendment. -- Jon Walker of Firedoglake

... Ed Kilgore: "Long before Rand Paul drew national attention to his own support for sentencing reform, there was a quiet movement slowly but surely developing on the Right ... in favor of calling off the madness of mandatory minimums. Just as importantly, this trend was being fed by various tributaries of the conservative stream, not just libertarians but conservative evangelicals and budget-conscious fiscal hawks. Just last week, in fact, the American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC], which probably contributed more to the spread of mandatory minimum legislation in the states than just about any other single source, reversed its position and endorsed sentencing reform. So Holder may be pushing on an unlocked door. Still, a whole generation of pols -- mostly Republicans, to be sure, but also many Democrats trying to prove themselves as 'tough on crime' -- have prospered politically from the 'Three Strikes' era." ...

... Steve M.: already the right is complaining that the administration should not be implementing sentences changes "by executive fiat," even when the writers agree with Holder on the underlying issue. "Um, you Republicans could solve this by helping to pass a bill. But you won't, will you? You certainly won't now that the policy is associated with Holder. Will you?" ...

... Charlie Savage & Erica Goode of the New York Times: "Two decisions Monday, one by a federal judge in New York and the other by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., were powerful signals that the pendulum has swung away from the tough-on-crime policies of a generation ago. Those policies have been denounced as discriminatory and responsible for explosive growth in the prison population."

** Peter Maass in the New York Times Magazine on how Laura Poitras helped Ed Snowden reveal the NSA's surveillance programs. After extensive e-mail contacts initiated by Snowden, "along with her reporting partner, Glenn Greenwald..., Poitras flew to Hong Kong and met the N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, who gave them thousands of classified documents...." ...

... "In the course of reporting his profile of Laura Poitras, Peter Maass conducted an encrypted question-and-answer session, for which Poitras served as intermediary, with Edward J. Snowden." The article is a full transcript of that conversation. ...

... CW: I don't regularly agree with libertarian Conor Friedersdorf, but he has an excellent post in the Atlantic detailing one-by-one the obfuscations & lies President Obama told in his Friday press conference about NSA programs. "... throughout the surveillance debate, the executive branch, including Obama, has lied, obfuscated, and misled the American people in a variety of ways. Before Edward Snowden's leaks, they could at least tell themselves that the disinformation was serving the purpose of keeping al-Qaeda operates from learning the general contours of our surveillance capabilities. But today, when that excuse has long since expired, Obama is still lying, obfuscating, and misleading the American people.... With the stakes so high, and his performance so dubious in so many places, Friday's speech has got to be one of the low points of his presidency." ...

... Gene Robinson: "The modest reforms Obama proposed [re: the U.S.'s surveillance apparatus] do not begin to address the fundamental question of whether we want the National Security Agency to log all of our phone calls and read at least some of our e-mails, relying on secret judicial orders from a secret court for permission. The president indicated he is willing to discuss how all this is done -- but not whether." CW: Yo Bama. When you've lost Gene Robinson, you've lost. ...

... BUT Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast looks on the bright side: "No, they were not 'bold and sweeping' proposals [to change surveillance practices]. At the same time, it sure seemed to me like this was the first time in my adult life I'd ever heard a sitting president propose checks on his administration that he didn't have to offer. And Obama didn't have to offer these.... On May 23, [before any of Snowden's leaks became public,] he gave a speech at the National Defense University in which he foreshadowed the moves he just announced." ...

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "In another setback for President Obama's health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care. The limit on out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-payments, was not supposed to exceed $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. But under a little-noticed ruling, federal officials have granted a one-year grace period to some insurers, allowing them to set higher limits, or no limit at all on some costs, in 2014."

Kevin Liptak of CNN: "Hillary Clinton's self-imposed absence from the country's political discourse ended Monday when the former secretary of state issued biting criticism of Republican-backed voter ID laws during a speech to a group of lawyers. Clinton said her appearance at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association marked the beginning of a speaking series she'll embark upon that will also include an address on the United States' national security policies next month in Philadelphia." ...

... "The Most Trusted Name in News." David Brock of Media Matters, in a Politico op-ed: CNN chief Jeff "Zucker has apparently made it his mission to compete with Fox News by having CNN from time to time become a pale copy.... CNN is tilting and slanting to the right, but without Fox's overt ideological agenda. CNN under Zucker has lent legitimacy to the right's agenda, especially the never-ending complaint that the network never airs enough conservative points of view -- a fair point, he said, and something he has vowed to correct. Now it is becoming clear that he is paying more than lip service to this demand for a course correction," with what he hints will be an unfavorable biopic of Hillary Clinton. "Just last week, CNN aired an hour-long special, 'The Truth About Benghazi,' that pushed long-debunked myths.... Just a few months ago, former producer Peter Dykstra, who oversaw CNN&'s environmental beat for 13 years, revealed top CNN executives now describing environmental stories as 'elite issues or liberal issues.' ... The shift toward more sensationalist coverage has also moved CNN into the infotainment business and out of the news business...."

Farenthold & a friend. That's Blake on the right, in the ducky pj's, circa 2010. If you're going to be impeached, might as well be by a guy who happily has his picture snapped while wearing pj's & wrapping his arm around a scantily-clad unidentified woman. (This is what I mean by too many clowns to cover; see my comment below on another anti-Obama clown.)A question I get a lot: 'If everyone's so unhappy with the president's done, why don't you impeach him?' I'll give you a real frank answer about that: If we were to impeach the president tomorrow, you could probably get the votes in the House of Representatives to do it. But it would go to the Senate and he wouldn't be convicted. -- Rep. Blake Fahrenthold (R-Texas)

Farenthold wants to assure America that yes, the entire House of Representatives are exactly the sort of petty dumbasses that Farenthold considers his people, but I promise you: Nobody in the country had any doubt about that. -- Hunter of Daily Kos

... Tom Kludt of TPM: "A spokeswoman for Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) repeatedly declined Monday to say whether or not the congressman believes President Barack Obama is an American citizen, telling TPM it's a 'moot point.'" ...

... CW Update: Here's the full shot of Rep. Ducky Boy & friends. Contributor Noodge links to a fine piece by Juanita Jean, but she uses a photo which obscures the face of the young -- how young? -- lady on the left. I leave it to you to decide if she is a minor; I can't be sure, and surely, surely Ducky Boy had no idea! ...

     ... Update Update: Noodge explains, "The 'M' on the young lady's hand was, apparently, to indicate that she is a minor so she wouldn't be served alcohol." As Noodge says, that means she's less than 21, but could be 18 or older, so legally an adult. Farenthold would have been about 48 at the time the photo was taken. Wikipedia: "Farenthold lives with his wife Debbie and two daughters Morgan and Amanda in Corpus Christi." ...

... Here's another 4-shot; this time it's Ducky Boy & the family. The daughters appear to be about the ages of Ducky's young friend in the photo above. Ducky does not appear nearly as comfortable with the wife & kiddies as he was with his other friends; note how awkwardly he holds his arms at his sides & his "smile" looks more like a grimace:

Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor: "Over the weekend Republican National Committee chief Reince Priebus doubled down on his threat to withhold 2016 GOP presidential debates from CNN and NBC if the networks air planned programs on Hillary Rodham Clinton. On CNN's 'State of the Union' Sunday, host Candy Crowley asked Mr. Priebus whether he'd throw Fox News into the debate penalty box as well, given a New York Times report that a Fox sister company is in talks to produce the Hillary Clinton miniseries now slated to appear on NBC. Priebus made it clear Fox would not be included in any RNC boycott. First of all, he downplayed the Times report, saying he 'doesn't know the truth of anything you're talking about.' ...

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Republican congressmembers have lost their enthusiasm for townhall-style meetings. "Though Republicans in recent years have harnessed the political power of these open mic, face-the-music sessions, people from both parties say they are noticing a decline in the number of meetings. They also say they are seeing Congressional offices go to greater lengths to conceal when and where the meetings take place." Tea party groups, who love opportunities to confront members of Congress, are furious, & Democrats think it's a hoot.

Ashlee Vance of Bloomberg BusinessWeek: "Almost a year after Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Motors (TSLA) and SpaceX, first floated the idea of a superfast mode of transportation, he has finally revealed the details: a solar-powered, city-to-city elevated transit system that could take passengers and cars from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. In typical Musk fashion, the Hyperloop, as he calls it, immediately poses a challenge to the status quo -- in this case, California's $70 billion high-speed train that has been knocked by Musk and others as too expensive, too slow, and too impractical. In Musk's vision, the Hyperloop would transport people via aluminum pods enclosed inside of steel tubes.... Musk published a blog post detailing the Hyperloop on Monday. He also held a press call to go over the details." ...

... Brad Plumer of the Washington Post: "Musk claims a Hyperloop would be ridiculously cheap, with tubes from San Francisco to Los Angeles costing just $6 billion or $7.5 billion (depending on whether the pods could transport cars). That's just one-tenth the cost of California's tumultuous high-speed rail project. But is this low price tag really plausible? Even if the Hyperloop technology did work, there's good reason to think it'd be a lot pricier than Musk is letting on."

Science Daily: "Smart people are just as racist as their less intelligent peers -- they're just better at concealing their prejudice, according to a University of Michigan study. 'High-ability whites are less likely to report prejudiced attitudes and more likely to say they support racial integration in principle,' said Geoffrey Wodtke, a doctoral candidate in sociology. 'But they are no more likely than lower-ability whites to support open housing laws and are less likely to support school busing and affirmative action programs. ... Intelligent whites give more enlightened responses than less intelligent whites to questions about their attitudes, but their responses to questions about actual policies aimed at redressing racial discrimination are far less enlightened.... According to Wodtke, the broader implication of this study is that racism and prejudice ... result from the need of dominant groups to legitimize and protect their privileged social position.... Thanks to James S. for the link.

Senate Race

Raymond Hernandez of the New York Times: "As New Jersey residents prepared to vote in a primary on Tuesday to fill a seat in the United States Senate, candidates traveled around the state to make their final pitches."

Local News

Jim Morrill of the Raleigh News & Observer: North Carolina "Gov. Pat McCrory on Monday signed into law a bill requiring voters to produce a photo ID when they go to the polls, and it was immediately met with legal challenges in federal court questioning its constitutionality. The new law brings sweeping changes to the state's election process by reducing the early-voting period by a week, abolishing same-day voter registration and ending straight-party voting.... Just hours after McCrory signed the bill, two separate lawsuits challenging the law were filed in federal court in Greensboro. A third lawsuit is expected to be filed in state court Tuesday. Congressman G.K. Butterfield also asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to 'take swift and decisive action by using any legal mechanisms' to protect North Carolina's voting rights."

Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed: "His poll numbers have plummeted, and his campaign donations have all but dwindled, but in a wide-ranging interview with BuzzFeed Monday night, Anthony Weiner appeared defiant, hopeful, and even a bit annoyed by the suggestion that he could possibly lose the New York City mayoral race this fall.' BuzzFeed also has several short items highlighting some of Weiner's remarks. A few headlines: "Huma Will Play Role In Hillary Clinton's 2016 Campaign"; "Stop-And-Frisk Is 'Racial In Nature'"; "I'm Still Seeing A Therapist."

Joan Greve of ABC News: "Republicans have joined Democrats in condemning a Missouri State Fair rodeo act that featured a bull nearly stampeding a clown wearing an Obama mask.... The clown has reportedly been 'permanently banned' from performing at the fair 'ever again.' Missouri State Fair officials issued an apology for the 'disrespectful' show...." CW: sorry I didn't link to any stories about this yesterday, but there are just so many clowns I can stomach in a day. This one didn't make the cut.

Travis Loller of the AP: "A Tennessee judge's decision to change a baby's first name from Messiah to Martin is drawing strong reactions from people who believe the judge overstepped her powers and those who think parents' creativity should have some limits. Thousands of people have commented online about the judge's order since WBIR-TV published its story over the weekend.... While Messiah may not be a traditional English name, it is becoming more popular. Messiah was No. 4 among the fastest-rising baby names in 2012, just ahead of King but behind Major at No. 1, according to the Social Security Administration's annual listof popular baby names. And other religious names are very common, such as Mohammed in Islamic culture and Jesus ... in Hispanic culture."

News Ledes

See the August 14 Commentariat for New Jersey U.S. Senate race primary results

New York Times: "After a decade of rapid consolidation in the nation's airline industry, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block the proposed merger between American Airlines and US Airways, which would create the world's largest airline. The move, joined by attorneys general from six states and the District of Columbia, surprised industry officials, who had expected little resistance to the deal. But it underscored a newly aggressive approach by the Justice Department's antitrust division, which has been more closely scrutinizing proposed mergers as the economy recovers."

Al Jazeera: "Israel has released 26 Palestinian prisoners on the eve of renewed Middle East peace negotiations. Buses carrying the inmates, most of whom were held for attacks on Israeli citizens, left Ayalon prison in the centre of the country late on Tuesday."