The Commentariat -- Feb. 2, 2014

AP: "With yet another obstacle removed for the Keystone XL pipeline, opponents of the project are pressing forward with a lawsuit, public protests and an effort to inject the issue into the November midterm elections."

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), in a Washington Post op-ed, on why he is retiring from Congress.

Steve Mufson & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Labor leaders who have spent months lobbying unsuccessfully for special protections under the Affordable Care Act warned this week that the White House's continued refusal to help is dampening union support for Democratic candidates in this year's midterm elections. Leaders of two major unions, including the first to endorse Obama in 2008, said they have been betrayed by an administration that wooed their support for the 2009 legislation with promises to later address the peculiar needs of union-negotiated insurance plans that cover millions of workers." ...

... The New York Times Editors note that the Republican health insurance "reform" plan sucks. They explain the many reasons why.

Dear John Roberts, et al.: Be careful what you wish for. Matea Gold & Dan Keating of the Washington Post: "An unexpected legacy of Citizens United: more money to finance the GOP's intraparty war.... Republicans are now far more likely than Democrats to field attacks by independent groups in their primaries. In 2012, super PACs and nonprofit groups reported spending nearly $36 million in GOP congressional primaries, compared with less than $10 million in congressional Democratic primaries, according to a Washington Post analysis.... The attacks by the GOP's tea party flank are spurring a financial arms race, as major center-right groups and business organizations step forward to bolster incumbents.... Many of the conservative groups active in elections this cycle predated Citizens United, but they relied largely on traditional political action committees, which can only accept donations of up to $5,000. In the Citizens United case, the Supreme Court said that corporations could spend unlimited sums on political activity." ...

... Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Insurgent conservatives seeking to pull the Republican Party to the right raised more money last year than the groups controlled by the party establishment, whose bulging bank accounts and ties to major donors have been their most potent advantage in the running struggle over the party's future, according to new campaign disclosures and interviews with officials."

Returning to the Scene of the Crime. Again. Maureen Dowd uses Rand Paul's comments about the Clintons to write about -- the Clintons.

Eric Lipton & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Federal ethics rules are intended to limit lobbying by former senior officials within one year after they leave the government. Yet even after the ethics rules were revised in 2007 following a lobbying scandal, more than 1,650 congressional aides have registered to lobby within a year of leaving Capitol Hill, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from LegiStorm, an online database that tracks congressional staff members and lobbying. At least half of those departing aides, the analysis shows, faced no restrictions at all."

Many thanks to contributor Janice for this!

... Tom Paxton remembers (link fixed) Pete Seeger, in a Washington Post op-ed. CW: I think this is the "Rainbow Quest" session to which Paxton refers:

Jaweed Kaleem in the Huffington Post: "'As Americans tune in to the Super Bowl this year, fully half of fans -- as many as 70 million Americans -- believe there may be a twelfth man on the field influencing the outcome,' Public Religion Research Institute CEO Robert Jones said in a statement. 'Significant numbers of American sports fans believe in invoking assistance from God on behalf of their favorite team, or believe the divine may be playing out its own purpose in the game.'" Via Steve Benen. CW: Yup. If you believe in a god who is paying attention to you -- he's gonna find out if you're naughty or nice (oh, that's Santa Claus) -- it's perfectly reasonable to suspect that nosy parker cares about football results, too.

Local News

Mike Allen & Maggie Haberman of the Politico: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, after a low-key initial response to Friday's explosive allegations about his involvement in a bridge-closing scandal, mounted an aggressive defense late Saturday afternoon, attacking The New York Times and a former political ally in an email to friends and allies...." The e-mail is here. CW: It's sort of hilarious; it reads like the "and you're one, too" stuff of junior high kids. Oh, wait, that's what it is. One bit of "evidence" Christie cites: one of Wildstein's high school teachers said Wildstein was "deceptive." ...

... The New York Times story, by Kate Zernicke, is here. Here's a fun bit: "The governor was booed at a Super Bowl event in Times Square on Saturday, where he sat on stage with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York. While the other three beamed and waved, Mr. Christie looked down.... At ceremony's end, reporters pushed toward the stage and Mr. Christie stepped to the back. When coaxed to the front by Ms. Brewer to pose for a photo, reporters asked Mr. Christie a barrage of questions." ...

... CW: As we now know, thanks to Christie, he was a big athletic star & class president in high school, while Wildstein (even his social studies teacher despised him!) was one of those kids you can't remember at the reunion. Now that schmuck Wildstein has ruined the former champ's big Superbowl moment.

It is true that I met David in 1977 in high school. He's a year older than me. David and I were not friends in high school. We were not even acquaintances in high school. I knew who David Wildstein was.... We didn't travel in the same circles in high school. You know, I was the class president and athlete. I don't know what David was doing during that period of time. -- Chris Christie, during his January marathon press conference

If you can't translate that, you didn't go to high school. Or grade school. -- Constant Weader

     ... Some interesting context from Prof. Brian Murphy, writing in TPM.

If evolution was real, it would still be happening: Apes would be turning into humans today. -- Rita Rourke, Sabine Parish, Louisiana, teacher ...

"Education" in Bobby Jindal Country. Nicole Flatow of Think Progress: "A Louisiana teacher who taught her sixth grade class that evolution is 'impossible' and that the bible is '100 percent true' ridiculed a Buddhist student during class and announced that those who don't believe in god are 'stupid,' according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. When the child's parents reported the incidents, the Sabine Parish superintendent allegedly told them 'this is the Bible Belt,' and asked whether the child ... could either change his faith or transfer to a school where 'there are more Asians.'" Read the whole story; it isn't only one teacher who's teaching Bible study classes in this public school district. Via Steve Benen.

News Ledes

New York Post: New York City "Mayor [Bill] de Blasio received an ominous letter last week that threatened a 'nuclear attack against New York City,' the same day five hotels near the Super Bowl site received similar mail, police sources said Sunday."

New York Times: "Philip Seymour Hoffman, perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation, who gave three-dimensional nuance to a wide range of sidekicks, villains and leading men on screen and embraced some of the theater's most burdensome roles on Broadway, died Sunday at an apartment in Greenwich Village. He was 46. The death, apparently from a drug overdose, was confirmed by the police."

AP: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's warning against a growing boycott movement against the Jewish state should peace talks with the Palestinians fail, saying the stance undermined Israel's legitimacy and the chances of reaching a peace agreement. The latest brush-up with the United States comes as Israel is negotiating with the Palestinians against a backdrop of increasing international pressure to reach a deal, coupled with a growing call for boycotting Israel over its settlements in areas it captured in the 1967 Middle East war." ...

... AFP: "The UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories criticised Israel's demolition of 36 homes in the Jordan Valley and urged a halt to such actions in the West Bank."

Los Angeles Times: "Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, 83, whose portrayal of a defense attorney in the 1961 drama Judgment at Nuremberg' earned him an Academy Award, died Friday in a hospital in Innsbruck...."

Washington Post: "At 7:25 a.m. Sunday, a raw, cloudy and damp morning, Groundhog Phil saw his shadow in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pa. The appearance of Phil's shadow means winter will extend well into March, according to folklore." CW: Also, the Easter Bunny will leave you chocolate candy icons of himself. And climate change is fake.

The Commentariat -- Feb. 1, 2014

Internal links removed.

White House: "In this week’s address, the President discusses the goals he laid out in the State of the Union address to expand opportunity":

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The State Department released a report on Friday that could pave the way toward President Obama's approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The long-awaited environmental impact statement on the project concludes that approval or denial of the pipeline, which would carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, is unlikely to prompt oil companies to change the rate of their extraction of carbon-heavy tar sands oil, a State Department official said." The report is here. ...

... Joshua Green of Bloomberg News: "The State Department concluded that the project would create 42,100 temporary jobs during the two-year construction period. But the report says once the pipeline enters service, it will support only 50 U.S. jobs -- 35 permanent employees and 15 temporary contractors." CW: It probably already has created 42K temporary jobs -- for lobbyists.

Jake Sherman of Politico: "House Republicans are again considering tying a debt limit increase to the cancellation of a piece of Obamacare. During a closed meeting at their retreat here Friday morning, rank and file Republicans seemed to be gravitating toward trying a lift in the borrowing limit to the cancellation of the the so-called risk corridors and reinsurance fund in Obamacare." ...

... Jonathan Weisman & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "The House Republican leadership's call on Thursday to provide legal status for 11 million undocumented workers, and possible citizenship for those brought to this country as children, caused sharp division within the party even as it provided a starting point for negotiations with Democrats on overhauling the nation's immigration system."...

... Best Explanation Anywhere of GOP Strategy. Charles Pierce: "The Republican party's congressional delegations went on 'retreat' this year in order to produce plan-like products that allegedly will address the nation's problems. Now that the crayons all have been put away, and nap time is over, the party has produced a plan-like product with 'Immigration' written in big red letters across the top of the first page, one that has absolutely no chance of passage and also will get many people in the party throwing rocks at each other.... And it's going to work," thanks to the "courtier press." ...

... Steve M. elaborates: "In other words, let's make a show of support for immigration reform, but let's not try to pass an actual law that will achieve it. Oh, and let's say that our unwillingness to pass a law is the fault of President Obama and the rest of the evil Democrats.... Even Republicans who favor the reforms don't really care about immigration except as it relates to vote-getting. They're asking themselves, is it worse to risk tea party primary challenges by floating an immigration proposal, or risk alienating Hispanics by sticking to a hard line? -- and they're trying to thread the needle, by at least seeming to care. But this is the sort of thing Republicans are doing on several fronts.... Republicans care about winning. They don't care about governing or legislating, except if as a way to transfer more money from ordinary people to the rich.... Don't take it seriously, because Republicans don't." ...

... Weisman & Parker (linked above): "On the Affordable Care Act, conservatives [at the GOP retreat] pushed the party to coalesce around a single alternative to the law that would come to a House vote this year. Moderates resisted that position over concern that it would open a line of Democratic attack that would deflect from what they see as the failings of the president's health care law." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Yeah, it's those Republican 'moderates' who understand the GOP must embrace public-sector activism and stand for 'something' rather than 'No' who are the ones afraid to embrace an Obamacare replacement proposal. Perhaps they understand a side-by-side comparison of whatever Republicans can agree upon with Obamacare might not go all that well. In any event, it seems the GOP is moving crabwise towards an agenda based on the default position of 'saying no' on everything." ...

... Brian Beutler of Salon: "A lot of people have made a lot of relevant points about 'Bette' -- whose Obamacare 'horror story' figured prominently in the official GOP response to the State of the Union address delivered by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash: Greg Sargent notes that Bette's story reflects the GOP's reluctance to help constituents navigate the law, even if it means making their lives worse; Steve Benen adds that it's a sad comment on the GOP's Obamacare 'train wreck' narrative that they have such a hard time finding horror stories that stand up to scrutiny.... I think I’d take each of them one step further....

Take Bette: The reason she didn't visit the Washington state health exchange was basically #OBUMMER. 'I wouldn't go on that Obama website at all,' she said.... This started years ago. Republicans told Bette and others ... that they'd face death panels and rationing boards. That their options would be unaffordable, and irredeemable. That the exchange sites would make their personal information vulnerable to hackers and that creepy Uncle Sam would sexually violate them. They said all this in the hope that people like Bette wouldn't give the law a fair shake, then turned around and feigned outrage on their behalf when the plan worked.

** Charles Blow: "If one of the overt Democratic lines of attack against Republicans is that Republicans are conducting a war on women, one of the low-simmering, implicit lines of attack from Republicans is that Democrats are conducting a war on men, or at least traditional views of masculinity.... They are selling the right wing as the last refuge of real men.... Portraying Republican men as manly and Democratic ones as effete has been a consistent line of attack against post-Bill Clinton Democratic presidential candidates. The problem with having your message powered by machismo is that it reveals what undergirds such a stance: misogyny and chauvinism. The masculinity for which they yearn draws its meaning and its value from juxtaposition with a lesser, vulnerable, narrowly drawn femininity." ...

... (CW: Yes, there is a connection.) Dan Friedman of the New York Daily News: "U.S. Capitol Police closed a brief probe into Rep. Michael Grimm's threat Tuesday night against NY1 reporter Michael Scotto after Scotto declined to press charges against Grimm.... Fox News on Thursday quoted an unnamed congressional source who said the U.S. Attorney for the District Columbia had looked into the incident and in theory could pursue a case against Grimm even if Scotto declined to press charges. But there is no indication such action is in the cards."

Jon Stewart's interview with Nancy Pelosi (Thursday) is pretty interesting. It's a three-parter, which you can view here.

Jake Tapper of CNN interviewed President Obama Thursday, with the interview to air Friday. The full transcript is here. There are a buncha clips here. ...

... Ron Brownstein of the National Journal explains "how Obama can go it alone." Most interesting -- to me, the Constant Weader! -- observation: "The problem is that implementation of big initiatives hasn't been exactly a strong suit for Obama, only the third sitting senator ever elected president. 'He has the policymaking instincts of a senator more than the administrative instincts of an executive,' says Donald F. Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland public-policy school.Exhibit A in Kettl's case is the disastrous rollout of the health care website...." ...

... CW: During a primary debate on January 15, 2008, the moderator asked candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards & Obama what their greatest weakness was. Both Clinton & Edwards delivered hilariously self-serving phony answers, but Obama said "that he loses papers and has asked his staff not to give him things until a few minutes before he needs them." Maybe we should have paid more attention to that. At the time, I saw that as a sign Obama could delegate, but maybe what it meant was that he couldn't manage a big operation. ...

... Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "President Barack Obama has said his director of national intelligence, James Clapper, ought to have been 'more careful' in Senate testimony about surveillance that Clapper later acknowledged was untruthful following disclosures by Edward Snowden. But Obama signaled continued confidence in Clapper...."

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "On Friday, supporters of the president launched the Barack H. Obama Foundation, an administration-blessed organization to find the money and address for an eventual Obama library. As expected, the foundation is led by Marty Nesbitt, a Chicago investor and Obama friend, along with J. Kevin Poorman, a businessman, and Julianna Smoot, the president's go-to fund-raiser."

David Morgan of Reuters: "At least two U.S. states [-- Kentucky & Rhode Island --] running their own Obamacare health insurance exchanges expect new insurers to enter their marketplaces and bolster competition in 2015, officials said on Friday."

Stupid Spy Moves. Luke Harding of the Guardian: "New video footage has been released for the first time of the moment Guardian editors destroyed computers used to store top-secret documents leaked by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Under the watchful gaze of two technicians from the British government spy agency GCHQ, the journalists took angle-grinders and drills to the internal components, rendering them useless and the information on them obliterated":

... The Guardian publishes an excerpt of Harding's book on Ed Snowden.

Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: Friday was Ben Bernanke's last day on the job.

Krugman v. Brooks, Ctd. Jonathan Chait on the Bowles-Simpson Catfood Commission: "In his column today, David Brooks urges President Obama to build on [what Brooks reckons is the success of BoSimps] by creating 'a group of Simpson-Bowles-type commissions -- with legislators, mayors, governors and others brought together to offer concrete proposals on mobility issues from the beginning to the end of the life span.' ... It did succeed in creating an aspirational model for centrist pundits to tout. Brooks alone has cited Bowles and Simpson in nearly two dozen columns.... What about a Bowles-Simpson commission for everyday life decisions? The husband says we should spend $5000 to repair our car, the wife says we can't afford it. Then they hire a Bowles-Simpson commission to tell them they should reject that debate and instead ride around on an invisible unicorn."

... Paul Krugman: "But it's actually much worse than that.... BoSimps completely failed to solve the problem they were supposedly addressing, but were quite effective at worsening the policy response to the real problems they chose to ignore." ...

... CW: Notably, Krugman never mentions Brooks. He uses Chait for the one-punch, & he follows on with the two-punch. Brooks himself, I suspect, went to the basement of wherever he lives now & stuck another pin in his Krugman voodoo doll.

Local News

Kate Zernicke of the New York Times: "In a letter released by his lawyer, the former [Port Authority] official David Wildstein ... described the order to close the lanes as 'the Christie administration's order' and said 'evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference' three weeks ago." The letter from Wildstein's lawyer is here. ...

     ... Brett Logiurato of Business Insider: In a statement issued late Friday, Christie denied Wildstein's allegations. ...

... Star-Ledger Editors: "Forget about the White House in 2016. The question now is whether Gov. Chris Christie can survive as governor.... [David] Wildstein claims there is documentary proof that the governor has been lying. If this proves to be true, then the governor must resign or be impeached. Because it will show that everything he said at his famous two-hour press conference was a lie." ...

... Chris Gentilviso of the Huffington Post: "A few weeks after publicly defending New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's role in the George Washington Bridge scandal, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani added a fresh thread to his thoughts on the controversy. In an interview with WABC radio's Geraldo Rivera..., Giuliani said it's 'fifty-fifty' that Christie was aware of fired aide Bridget Kelly's discussions that led to the lane closures." CW: Giuliani is still defending Christie. His "50-50" odds are a step in a version of the "your cat is on the roof" joke. ...

     ... OR, Maybe Not. Later Giuliani "clarified" his remarks, claiming "he '100% believes New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is telling the truth and knew nothing about 'Bridgegate' until after the fact." CW: Sorry, Rudy. The cat's still dead. ...

     ... Update. Jose DelReal of Politico: AND Rudy weighs in again. CW: On this, he could be right. Guess he's still hoping for a Christie-Giuliani ticket.

... Matt Katz of WNYC: "The release of subpoenaed documents that exposed the Christie Administration's involvement in Bridgegate show how the Governor's Office has been keeping its decisions and expenditures quiet despite laws that require official business to be made public. Here's 18 ways Christie and his officials have blocked access to information." ...

... Tom Moran of the Star-Ledger: Christie "withholds public information he is legally required to reveal. He keeps secrets when the law says he must let the sunshine in. No New Jersey governor has ever been so secretive, and so disdainful of the need for open discussion in a democracy.... The arrogance is breathtaking." ...

... Update: Shawn Boburg of the Bergen Record: "Governor Christie's office has agreed to pay a high-powered attorney $650 per hour to represent it in a series of investigations into the George Washington Bridge lane closures. That's more than a 40 percent discount off attorney Randy Mastro's normal rate, he wrote in a letter to state officials, and 20 percent less than the average amount charged by attorneys at the New York office of his firm, Gibson Dunn. The terms of Mastro's agreement were laid out in documents released by the governor's office late Thursday in response to a public records request." ...

... Gail Collins on the escalating Christie scandal: "One thing's for sure -- this comes at a really good time for those of us who know nothing about football." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Six reasons Chris Christie is probably guilty."

Presidential Election 2012

Your Loss, America! Lady Ann Romney Still Bitter. Tom Kludt of TPM: But she's decided to be "polite and nice" & not say nasty things about President Obama:

News Lede

AP: "Amid severe drought conditions, California officials announced Friday they won't send any water from the state's vast reservoir system to local agencies beginning this spring, an unprecedented move that affects drinking water supplies for 25 million people and irrigation for 1 million acres of farmland."

The Commentariat -- Jan. 31, 2014

Internal links removed.

David Sanger & Thom Shanker of the New York Times: "The Obama administration announced Thursday that it would nominate Vice Adm. Michael S. Rogers to become the new director of the National Security Agency and the commander of the new Pentagon unit that directs the country's offensive cyberoperations, according to senior administration officials. Admiral Rogers, a cryptologist by training who has quietly risen to the top of naval intelligence operations, would become the public face of the N.S.A. at a moment that it is caught in the cross hairs of the roiling debate about whether its collection of information about American citizens and foreign leaders has exceeded legal constraints and common sense."

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "The House Republican leadership's call on Thursday to provide legal status for 11 million undocumented workers, and possible citizenship for those brought to this country as children, caused sharp division within the party even as it provided a starting point for negotiations with Democrats on overhauling the nation's immigration system. Many Republicans rejected the one-page 'standards for immigration reform' outright, and others said now was not the time for a legislative push on a number of contentious issues in an election year with trends going their way." ...

... Seung Min Kim & Jake Sherman of Politico: "The House Republican leadership is trying to sell their colleagues on a series of broad immigration principles, including a path to legal status for those here illegally. Speaker John Boehner's leadership team introduced the principles at their annual policy retreat here. Top Republicans circulated a tightly held one-page memo titled 'standards for immigration reform' toward the tail-end of a day that include strategy conversations about Obamacare, the economy and the national debt." ...

... Rebecca Leber of Think Progress: "House Republicans have used a variety of excuses -- citing Obamacare, sequestration, Syria, or the drug war -- to explain their reasons for not passing a comprehensive immigration bill. But a Republican congressman cited one reason for the stalemate the GOP won't admit publicly. The Southern congressman told BuzzFeed it is a matter of race. 'Part of it, I think -- and I hate to say this, because these are my people -- but I hate to say it, but it's racial,' said the lawmaker, who remained anonymous. 'If you go to town halls people say things like, "These people have different cultural customs than we do." And that's code for race.' Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) noted that race and demagoguery has always been a factor when it's come to U.S. immigration policy, and it certainly is one now. 'There's nothing new going on today that's gone on before,' Graham said. 'This isn't the first time that there's been some ugliness around the issue of immigration.'"

** Tim Egan on Cathy McMorris Rodgers: "Her district, poorer than the west side of the state, with much of the broken-family, broken-promise poverty of white rural America, is in real trouble. But the policy prescriptions of McMorris Rodgers have nothing to offer these people. Through her, you can see what happens when biography trumps substance in politics.... McMorris Rodgers voted to drastically cut food aid last year, and joined her party in resisting emergency benefits to the unemployed. She has been a leading strategist in the unrelenting Republican attempt to kill the Affordable Care Act.And yet, in her district, people are flocking to Obamacare -- well beyond the national average." ...

... Hannah Rosin in Slate: "... she is in fact, day to day, the kind of woman who not all that long ago would have made Republicans distinctly uncomfortable. That is she's a woman who works nonstop and has limitless ambitions, all while tending to three children under the age of 7.... The social values and the workaholic lifestyle sometimes make for a confusing message. McMorris Rodgers says she supports the 'traditional family,' but in front of women's groups she sometimes sounds like an overeager feminist.... But in public policy terms, the swaggering-woman rhetoric translates into 'don't ask for handouts.' McMorris Rodgers has voted like a standard conservative, for cuts to nearly every social service. She voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and in favor of cutting funding for birth control. Last year, she supported a version of the Violence Against Women Act that excluded gay, immigrant, and Native American women." ...

... Ann Friedman in New York: "The supermom archetype is perfect for a party whose policies send the message that if you're not getting ahead, it's because you aren't working hard enough." ...

... The GOP Response to the SOTU Was a Sham. David Wasson of the Spokane Spokesman-Review: "The woman described only as 'Bette in Spokane' during a nationally televised address by U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said Wednesday she had no idea her frustrations ... would become part of the Republican attack on health care reform.... But the 'nearly $700 per month' increase in her premium that McMorris Rodgers cited ... was based on one of the pricier options.... The carrier also offered a less expensive ... option.... And, [Bette] acknowledged the couple probably could have shaved another $100 a month off the replacement policy costs by purchasing them from the state's online portal..., but they chose to avoid the government health exchanges.... McMorris Rodgers' office provided no explanation Wednesday on what steps were taken to verify the figures." CW: No kidding. ...

... Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times: "According to [Cathy McMorris] Rodgers, Bette ... had 'hoped the president's healthcare law would save her money -- but found out instead that her premiums were going up nearly $700 a month.' The lesson, according to Rodgers: 'This law is not working.' ... Unsurprisingly, her story is much different from the sketchy description provided by Rodgers.... A ... plan ... actually is available from Washington's insurance exchange for much less -- and with a deductible far lower than the $10,000 [Bette] was paying under the old plan and broader coverage, though lacking a provision for four free doctor visits a year provided by her old plan.... Her plight has nothing to do with Obamacare. It's a product of her own apparently flawed decision to refuse even to look into [the ACA plans]. And it's another sign of how threadbare the GOP criticism of the Affordable Care Act has become." ...

... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos: "Yes, on the very same day that the Republican House voted on yet another anti-abortion bill, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers actually said: 'Republicans believe health care choices should be yours, and not the government's.' Unless, obviously, the you she is talking to has a uterus falling somewhere in the age range of 10 to 55.... [The bill] would prohibit the government of the District of Columbia from spending any local, public funds to provide abortion care for low-income women. It would not allow insurance companies participating in the exchanges to offer any abortion coverage. (By the way, 80 percent of private insurance plans cover abortion now.) It would take tax credits away from small businesses offering health insurance to their employees, if that insurance covered abortion." ...

... Amanda Marcotte in Slate: "After Tuesday, it became clear that the Republican strategy is now to send positive messages of support for working women while doubling down on the attacks on reproductive rights."

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The Air Force said Thursday that it had now suspended 92 officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base -- nearly half of the nuclear launch crew there -- in a cheating scandal, and it acknowledged a 'systemic problem' in the culture of the team that is entrusted to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Air Force secretary, Deborah Lee James, said a 'climate of fear' that was pervasive in the ballistic missile force might have encouraged launch officers to share answers to monthly proficiency tests. She said the nation's nuclear arsenal remained safe." ...

... Which Brings to Mind ... Matt Ballinger of the Los Angeles Times: "'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' was released 50 years ago this week." ...

... Eric Schlosser in the New Yorker: "Half a century after Kubrick's mad general, Jack D. Ripper, launched a nuclear strike on the Soviets to defend the purity of 'our precious bodily fluids' from Communist subversion, we now know that American officers did indeed have the ability to start a Third World War on their own. And despite the introduction of rigorous safeguards in the years since then, the risk of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear detonation hasn't been completely eliminated."

Richard Simon of the Los Angeles Times: "Rep. Henry A. Waxman, whose legislative record has made him one of the country's most influential liberal lawmakers for four decades, announced Thursday that he will retire from his Westside seat, the latest in a wave of departures that is remaking the state's long-stable congressional delegation."

Goldman Sachs Just Wrecked Another Country. Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "When Denmark gave the global financial giant Goldman Sachs the go-ahead on Thursday to buy a stake in its state utility..., [it] so divided ... the Socialist People’s Party that it withdrew its ministers from the country's governing coalition. Some party members said the deal ceded too much power to Goldman. Annette Vilhelmsen, the party's leader, who supported the deal, stepped down from her leadership role since she could not reach agreement within her party. The party's withdrawal from the coalition left the government of Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the prime minister, with a tenuous grip on power. That so many Danes have been aghast at the idea of giving Goldman Sachs a prominent role in the country's energy future reflects how far the damage to the investment bank's reputation has spread since the financial crisis."

Paul Krugman explains "secular stagnation," by way of Turkey. CW: Like "quantitative easing," "secular stagnation," IMHO, is a stupid term. If you asked me what "secular stagnation" meant, I'd say, "Religious fundamentalism is surging, & the non-theists are giving up!" That would not be what Krugman & Larry Summers mean, however. As for "quantitative easing," I think that's when I have to let out my waistbands a few inches. Check that with Bernanke or Yellen, will you? Maybe one reason economics is so hard for laymen to grasp is that economists don't really understand English, so their jargon, besides being jargon, is nonsensical.

Thanks to James S. for reminding us that today is the anniversary of the day "Ida May Fuller, a resident of rural Vermont...., became the first beneficiary of a recurring Social Security payment.... After working for decades as a teacher and legal secretary, and contributing to Social Security for almost three years, she filed her retirement claim in November 1939. The check she received two months later for $22.54 (roughly $350 in today's dollars) bears the historic number 00-000-001. Fuller lived to be 100 and died on the 35th anniversary of receiving her first check, on Jan. 31, 1975. In her three years of contributing to the program, the accumulated taxes on her salary were $24.75. She collected $22,888.92 in benefits." -- Kristin Aguilera in Bloomberg News

Local News

Lisa Schencker of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Up to 40 kids at Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City picked up their lunches Tuesday, then watched as the meals were taken and thrown away because of outstanding balances on their accounts -- a move that shocked and angered parents."

News Ledes

Inside Job. Reuters: "Target Corp said on Wednesday that the theft of a vendor's credentials helped cyber criminals pull off a massive theft of customer data during the holiday shopping season in late 2013. It was the first indication of how networks at the No. 3 U.S. retailer were breached, resulting in the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records with customer information such as addresses and telephone numbers."

AP: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hinted Thursday at growing U.S. impatience with Afghan President Hamid Karzai for his refusal to sign an accord permitting American troops to remain in his country after the U.S. combat mission ends in December."

AFP: "The United States on Thursday rebuked China over its treatment of foreign media following the departure of a New York Times reporter after authorities did not renew his visa. A White House statement said the United States was 'very disappointed' that reporter Austin Ramzy was obliged to leave China and that Beijing's actions 'stand in stark contrast with US treatment of Chinese and other foreign journalists.'"

AFP: " Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych scrapped controversial anti-protest laws Friday but faced calls from the military to take 'urgent steps' to ease the ex-Soviet nation's worst crisis since independence."