The Commentariat -- May 6, 2013

Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: Caroline "Kennedy bestowed on [Gabrielle] Giffords the Profile in Courage Award in a small ceremony on Sunday afternoon at the [John F. Kennedy Presidential] Library. The award is given annually to someone who demonstrates the kind of courage that President Kennedy highlighted in his book 'Profiles in Courage,' which praised eight senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands on unpopular positions." ...

... They're Sick & They're Armed. Benny Johnson of BuzzFeed: "The National Rifle Association has asked a vendor at its convention to remove a target that resembles [President] Obama from its booth, a worker told BuzzFeed. The company, Zombie Industries, sells a range of three-dimensional 'life sized' targets that 'bleed when you shoot them.' The Obama likeness has been on display for two days, but was notably absent on Sunday.... When asked if the Obama likeness was intentional the worker said, 'Let's just say I gave my Republican father one for Christmas.' 'They are just scared some liberal reporter will come by and start bitching' another booth worker said to men gathered around the booth. 'But ya know, he does look very familiar.'" ...

... Joe Coscarelli of New York: in his NRA keynote speech, Glenn Beck "included an image of Michael Bloomberg looking uncomfortably similar to a Nazi." Bloomberg is Jewish. With photo.

... New York Times Editors: "A continent removed from Washington’s shameful resistance to new gun controls, California has just enacted a law that will speed up the confiscation of firearms from an estimated 20,000 people who bought them legally but were later disqualified because of a conviction for a violent crime, a finding of mental illness or a restraining order for domestic violence. The law, signed Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown after passage by the Democrat-controlled Legislature, is a sign that enlightened lawmaking unhindered by gun lobby scare tactics and Capitol Hill filibustering is possible in American politics."

Fox ... Henhouse. New York Times Editors: "Mary Jo White, the new chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has gotten off on the wrong foot. Last week, in her first commission vote, Ms. White led the commissioners in approving a proposal that, if finalized, could leave investors and taxpayers exposed to the ravages of reckless bank trading."

Obama 2.0. Charlie Savage of the New York Times. Billionaire Penny Pritzker's family finances & her supervision of a failed bank are bound to come up in her confirmation hearings. President Obama has nominated her for Secretary of Commerce.

Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times: "There are steps Obama can take [to ease the situation at Guantanamo]. He can appoint a successor to [State Department negotiator Daniel] Fried, whose job has been empty since last year, and resume finding new homes for released detainees. Even better, he could appoint a high-level deputy for Guantanamo -- Vice President Joe Biden, say, or retiring FBI Director Robert Mueller or even former CIA Director David H. Petraeus -- to negotiate a solution with Congress, which has been more trouble than most foreign governments. And he can begin sending detainees to Yemen and Afghanistan, both of which say they are ready to receive them. None of those steps alone will result in the closure of Guantanamo.... But reducing Guantanamo's population would solve a big chunk of what has become an apparently insoluble problem."

Scott Shane of the New York Times: "Aware that intensified American counterterrorism efforts have made an ambitious Sept. 11-style plot a long shot, Al Qaeda propagandists for several years have called on their devotees in the United States to carry out smaller-scale solo attacks and provided the online education to teach them how.... The Boston Marathon bombing -- which the authorities believe was carried out according to instructions ... posted online -- offers an unsettling example of just how devastating such an attack can be, even when the death toll is low. It shows how plotters can construct powerful bombs without attracting official attention. It offers a case study in the complex mix of personality and ideology at work in extremist violence. And it raises a pressing question: Is there any way to detect such plotters before they can act?"

** Frank Rich: "The party on the brink of destroying the Voting Rights Act reminds us that Republicans were really the great civil-rights leaders all along."

Retro Romney -- the Amazing Animated Way-Back Machine! "Find a Mate and Procreate." CW: I would be remiss if I didn't link Mitt Romney's advice to graduating college women, which Kate M. called to our attention in yesterday's Comments thread. Kristen Gwynne of AlterNet has kindly provided video of Romney's commencement address you may want to share with all the young women you know. It's 1964 all over again! ...

... Meanwhile, for those not into the Retro Romney Prescription for Female Fulfillment -- over at the Washington Monthly, Kathleen Geier explains to dummies the need for over-the-counter access to Plan B contraception. The particular dummy Geier addresses here is the WashPo's Kathleen Parker, who has pulled out all the usual "reasonable" objections to girls' access to Plan B. ...

     ... Update: also see Patrick's addition to Geier's takedown in today's Comments.

It's "Apologize for Gay-Bashing Week." Kevin Cirilli of Politico: "Howard Kurtz took to his 'Reliable Sources' show on CNN on Sunday to apologize for his 'inexcusable' erroneous report last week about NBA player Jason Collins and for a string of past mistakes that the media critic admitted he was sometimes too slow to correct. During Kurtz's extraordinary 15-minute long confession of journalistic sins, he repeatedly said he's learned a lesson and promised to double- and triple-check all his facts in the future.... It was a humbling appearance for someone who was once regarded as the nation's leading media critic." (See yesterday's Commentariat for context.)

"The Chutzpah Caucus." Paul Krugman: "... if you look at United States history since World War II, you find that of the 10 presidents who preceded Barack Obama, seven left office with a debt ratio lower than when they came in. Who were the three exceptions? Ronald Reagan and the two George Bushes. So debt increases that didn't arise either from war or from extraordinary financial crisis are entirely associated with hard-line conservative governments.... Here we have conservatives telling us that we must tighten our belts despite mass unemployment, because otherwise future conservatives will keep running deficits once times improve." ...

... In a Washington Post op-ed, Larry Summers defends his friends Carmen Miranda Reinhart & Ken Rogoff: his defense -- yes, they fucked up, but the policymakers who heeded them should have known better: "The authors of [austerity] policies chose the policies first and then cast about for intellectual ballast." Summers also makes the valid points that even accurate statistical models aren't sacrosanct, & policy decisions should never rest on a single academic study.

What Warren Buffett said at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting.

Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog comments on the news (see also today's Ledes) that the U.N. has evidence it was Syrian rebels, not the Assad government, who used chemical weapons in Syria.

Lindsey Boerma of CBS News: "'Everybody in the mission' in Benghazi, Libya, thought the attack on a U.S. consulate there last Sept. 11 was an act of terror 'from the get-go,' according to excerpts of an interview investigators conducted with the No. 2 official in Libya at the time, obtained by CBS News' 'Face the Nation.'" With video.

I think he is the most talented and fearless Republican politician I’ve seen in the last 30 years. I further think that he is going to run for president, and he is going to create something. -- James Carville, assessing Ted Cruz on the teevee yesterday

Congressional Race

Sanford Has the Momentum. Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "PPP's final poll of the special election in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District finds a race that's too close to call, with Republican Mark Sanford leading Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch 47-46. The 1 point lead for Sanford represents a 10 point reversal from PPP's poll of the race two weeks ago, when Colbert Busch led by 9 points at 50-41." The election is tomorrow.

Local News

Florida, Where the Legislature Is Even Worse than the Governor. Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: Florida "lawmakers adjourned Friday after passing a budget that does not include funding for a Medicaid expansion. Unless the Republican-controlled legislature comes back for a special session later this year -- which some Democrats are calling for -- Florida will not expand Medicaid in 2014. In Florida, where one in five non-elderly residents lack insurance coverage, the consequences are especially large: An estimated 1.3 million Floridians were expected to gain coverage through the the Medicaid expansion."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The Obama administration on Monday explicitly accused China's military of mounting attacks on American government computer systems and defense contractors, saying one motive could be to map 'military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis.'"

AP: "The White House asserted Monday that it's highly likely that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, not the rebel opposition, was behind any chemical weapons use in Syria. Responding to weekend airstrikes in Syria, the White House also reiterated its view that Israel has the right to protect itself against weapons that could pose a threat to Israelis."

New York Times: "Giullio Andreotti, a seven-time prime minister of Italy with a résumé of soaring accomplishments and checkered failings that reads like a history of the republic, died on Monday, Italian news agencies said. He was 94 and lived in Rome."

The Hill: "United Nations human rights investigators said Sunday they have gathered testimony from outside Syria suggesting rebels, not Bashar Assad's regime, may have used chemical weapons."

Reuters: "Israel sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that its recent air strikes around Damascus did not aim to weaken him in the face of a more than two-year-old rebellion. Officials say Israel is reluctant to take sides in Syria's civil war for fear its actions would boost Islamists who are even more hostile to Israel than the Assad family, which has maintained a stable stand off with the Jewish state for decades."

AP: "Bangladeshi police are investigating possible murder charges against the owner of a shoddily built factory that collapsed nearly two weeks ago after the wife of a garment worker crushed in the accident filed a complaint. The legal development comes as officials said Monday that the death toll from the country's worst industrial disaster had reached 645."

AP: "At least 15 people died in clashes Monday between police and Islamic hardliners demanding that Bangladesh implement an anti-blasphemy law, police said. A police official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said eight people, including two policemen and a paramilitary soldier, were killed in clashes in Kanchpur just outside the capital, Dhaka." CW: once again, religion is used to distract people from actual problems.

AP: " The uncle of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev arrived in Massachusetts on Sunday to arrange for his burial, saying he understands that 'no one wants to associate their names with such evil events.' Ruslan Tsarni, of Montgomery Village, Md., and three of his friends met with the Worcester funeral home director and prepared to wash and shroud Tsarnaev's body according to Muslim tradition."

The Commentariat -- May 5, 2013

Ad-libbing into War. Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: President Obama's remark last year that use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would "cross a red line" was "unscripted." But, "as a result, the president seems to be moving closer to providing lethal assistance to the Syrian rebels, even though he rejected such a policy just months ago. "

What's the best thing for an "austerian" economist to do when his theories are debunked? Gay-bash John Maynard Keynes! ...

... Tom Kostigan of the Financial Advisor: "Harvard Professor and author Niall Ferguson says John Maynard Keynes' economic philosophy was flawed and he didn't care about future generations because he was gay and didn't have children.... This takes gay-bashing to new heights." ...

... Niall Ferguson: "Sorry." ...

... Good. The Boston Globe is reporting this as a top headline: "Prominent Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson apologized Saturday for saying in a public speech that economist John Maynard Keynes' policies were too short-sighted because he was gay and did not have children." ...

... NEW. P. D. Pepe (see Comments) is quite right; Pankaj Mishra's review of a book by Ferguson is an excellent read. (So are Ferguson's whining complaints about Mishra's review, which follow the original article.)

... Matt Gertz of Media Matters: Ferguson "was harshly criticized for a 2009 column in which he compared Obama to the cartoon character Felix the Cat, writing that Obama was 'not only black' but 'also very, very lucky.' More recently he claimed that New York Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman's supposed 'inability to debate a question without insulting his opponent suggests some kind of deep insecurity perhaps the result of a childhood trauma.'" ...

... John Aravosis of AmericaBlog: "Ferguson rather-famously has had a long-going feud with liberal economist Paul Krugman. Krugman has been married twice, the first time to an artist, and has no children." ...

... Kathleen Geier of the Washington Monthly: It turns out gay-bashing Keynes is a longstanding right-wing meme, & Ferguson himself has commented on Keynes' homosexuality at least twice before. Also, Ferguson is not exactly a paragon of "traditional family values." ...

... Henry Blodget of Business Insider: "... this is the first time we have heard a respectable academic tie another economist's beliefs to his or her personal situation rather than his or her research.... Keynes' policies did not suggest that he did not care about future generations. On the contrary. ... For the sake of both future generations and current generations, Keynes believed that governments should run deficits during recessions and then run surpluses during economic booms." ...

... Ezra Klein: "Quite a few studies and surveys have found that gay couples save much more than straight couples.... The fact is that Ferguson would like our government to act a bit more like the nation's gay couples than its straight couples and stop doing so much spending and investing now and begin doing more saving for later.... Somewhat ironically, the financial lives of gay couples fit right-wing economic theories pretty well." ...

... A couple of other bad things that have happened to conservatives recently because ... the gays:

     (a) Obama won re-election ... because Mitt Romney is gay. He has a dancing horse, for Pete's sake. ...

     (b) The Supreme Court declared the Affordable Care Act Constitutional ... because Chief Justice John Roberts is gay. His children are adopted.

Ben Pershing & Jon Cohen of the Washington Post: " Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has an early lead over businessman Terry McAuliffe in their race for governor, a new Washington Post poll shows, even as most voters in the commonwealth have yet to engage in the nationally watched contest." CW: either way, Virginia is going to have another lousy governor.

Andrea Lorenz of Reuters: "Heavy-handed gun laws and a culture disapproving of gun ownership put citizens in a vulnerable position during the door-to-door search for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev last month, NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre said on Saturday. 'How many Bostonians wished they had a gun two weeks ago?' LaPierre asked in a speech at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Houston."

News Ledes

CNN: "A series of massive explosions illuminated the dark sky over Damascus early Sunday, igniting renewed claims that Israel has launched attacks into the war-torn country. Syria's government said the explosions were the second Israeli airstrike in three days. The latest target, officials said, was a military research facility outside the Syrian capital. A top Syrian official told CNN ... that the attack was a 'declaration of war' by Israel."

AP: "The Texas fertilizer plant that exploded last month, killing 14 people, injuring more than 200 others and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage to the surrounding area had only $1 million in liability coverage, lawyers said Saturday." CW: if I'm not mistaken, I have a million dollars of liability coverage on both my homeowners' and auto policies.

Guardian: "Seven US service members were killed on Saturday in one of the deadliest days for Americans in Afghanistan in recent months and the latest of attacks against international troops since the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive."

AP: "A 46-year-old soccer referee who was punched by a teenage player during a game and later slipped into a coma has died, police said. Ricardo Portillo of Salt Lake City passed away at the hospital, where he was being treated following the assault last weekend...."

The Commentariat -- May 4, 2013

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. ...

... Randal Archibold & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama, speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of young people [in Mexico City], on Friday declared a new era in relations with Mexico that will focus on strengthening the countries' economic ties and that will play down the battle against drug gangs that has dominated the discourse for several years":

... Kathleen Hennessey & Tracy Wilkinson of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama on Friday painted a sunny picture of a modern Mexico emerging from its past troubles, an attempt at rebranding that serves the political aims of both governments but clashes with the realities of a country beset by violence and poverty."

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The American economy continues to add jobs in proportion to population growth. Nothing less, nothing more. The share of American adults with jobs has barely changed since 2010, hovering between 58.2 percent and 58.7 percent. This employment-to-population ratio stood at 58.6 percent in April. That is about four percentage points lower than the employment rate before the recession, a difference of roughly 10 million jobs. In other words, the United States economy is not getting any closer to recreating the jobs lost during the recession." ...

... David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Over the last 12 years, the United States has gone from having the highest share of employed 25- to 34-year-olds among large, wealthy economies to having among the lowest." ...

... Catherine Rampell of the New York Times: "The unemployment rate for college graduates in April was a mere 3.9 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for the work force as a whole.... Among all segments of workers sorted by educational attainment, college graduates are the only group that has more people employed today than when the recession started.... ... There is ample evidence that employers are hiring college-educated workers for jobs that do not actually require college-level skills -- positions like receptionists, file clerks, waitresses, car rental agents and so on." ...

... Floyd Norris of the New York Times: "The economic recovery from the recession that officially ended in 2009 has been extremely disappointing for American consumers. But for business, it has been the best recovery in decades."

"It's the GOP's World; We Just Live in It." Kevin Drum points out, in case nobody noticed, that Congressional Democrats & President Obama are playing into Republicans' hands. ...

... Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post: "The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has released an important new report that details Barack Obama's record on nominating judges during his first term. It's no surprise: Republican obstruction against his selections was unprecedented.... Ordinary people who just want to get their legal matters taken care of promptly have suffered because of all the vacancies on federal courts. It's really a disgrace."

Lyin' Ryan, Ctd. Rebecca Leber of Think Progress: "David Novak, who works for the Environmental Protection Agency in Wisconsin, confronted [Paul] Ryan over the impact the sequester is having.... Ryan's response to Novak reinvented his long standing position on budget cuts. Not only did Ryan disavow any responsibility for helping create the sequester, he also omitted how his budget plan similarly shrinks the EPA" for which Novak works. Novak, BTW, was satisfied with Ryan's response. Lies work. ...

... Or maybe Ryan just has a really, really bad memory. Steve Benen chimes in with a list of things Ryan accidentally forgot:

Ryan doesn't remember the spending cuts in the Budget Control Act.

Ryan doesn't remember that he used to refer to his own plan to end Medicare as "vouchers."

Ryan doesn't remember taking credit for the sequestration policy he later condemned.

Ryan doesn't remember learning about Democratic alternatives to the sequester.

Ryan doesn't remember what happened with the 2011 "super committee."

Ryan doesn't remember Bill Clinton's tax increases.

Ryan doesn't remember the times he condemned social-insurance programs as "taker" programs.

Ryan doesn't remember all of the times he appealed to the Obama administration for stimulus funds for his congressional district.

Ryan doesn't remember his marathon times.

Ryan doesn't remember how much he was inspired by Ayn Rand.

Ryan doesn't remember his own speeches.

Jon Favreau in the Daily Beast on the limited powers of the presidency.

Joe Nocera: "For all the protestations by gun owners that most are responsible with their weapons, I have been struck by how many killings take place because people do careless, stupid things. In the gun report that my assistant, Jennifer Mascia, and I compile on my blog, I see daily examples of children accidentally shooting other children with a gun found in the house.... When a passenger dies in a car accident that is the result of negligence, there are usually serious legal consequences for the driver. If we really want to reduce gun violence, there must be consequences for negligent gun owners, too." ...

... Bravery v. Braggadocio. Jim Vertuno & Juan Lozano of the AP report on the first day of the NRA convention. Pretty sickening stuff. One bright note: "Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, was killed by the gunman, was outside the building and said she hoped to talk to as many NRA members as she could. 'I am not against people owning guns. I am asking for safe and responsible gun ownership and gun laws. I don't understand where the problem is with background checks,' Lafferty said." That young woman has more courage in her little finger than the whole bunch of convention-goers cheering Sarah Palin, et al. (The photo accompanying the AP story in the Houston Chronicle is of a guy standing next to a tee-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a pistol beneath the statement "I Don't Dial 911."

The NRA was started ... by some Yankee generals who didn't like the way my southern boys had the ability to shoot in what we call the 'War of Northern Aggression.' Now, y'all might call it the Civil War, but we call it the War of Northern Aggression down south.... The very reason that they started the National Rifle Association, was to teach and train the civilian in the use of the standard military firearm. And I am one who still feels very strongly that that is one of our most greatest charges that we can have today, is to train the civilian in the use of the standard military firearm, so that when they have to fight for their country they're ready to do it. Also, when they're ready to fight tyranny, they're ready to do it. -- Incoming NRA President Jim Porter, in a 2012 speech

... Vertuno has more on Porter: "As shown by his 'culture war' comment Friday and others in his past, Porter's style is likely to be one that fans the flames of an emotionally combustible debate."

Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon: "Libertarian activist and radio host Adam Kokesh is hoping to get 1,000 people to march on Washington on July 4 -- armed with loaded rifles. The plan, launched with a Facebook group today, is to gather on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where gun laws are lax, and then march across the bridge with loaded rifles slung over their shoulders into the District, where openly carrying weapons is generally prohibited. 'This will be a non-violent event,' the Facebook group warns, 'unless the government chooses to make it violent.' ... [Friday] he tweeted this: 'When the government comes to take your guns, you can shoot government agents, or submit to slavery.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the link & commentary on same. ...

... Ed Kilgore follows up in a big way on my comment re: Louie Gohmert's dangerous rabble-rousing rhetoric: "... please join me in calling on conservatives to cut this crap out and separate themselves from those who believe in vindicating the 'original constitution' or defending their property rights or exalting their God or protecting the unborn via armed revolution. If William F. Buckley could 'excommunicate' Robert Welch and the John Birch Society from the conservative movement back in the 1960s, today's leaders on the Right can certainly do the same to those who not only share many of that Society's views, but are willing to talk about implementing them by killing cops and soldiers."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has acknowledged flaws in forensic testimony by the FBI that helped convict a man in the 1992 slayings of two Mississippi State University students, and federal officials have now offered to retest the DNA in the case. The extraordinary admission and offer come just days before the man is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday and present a quandary for Mississippi officials about whether to stop the execution of Willie Jerome Manning, 44."

FINALLY, in its annual spring cleaning feature, the Washington Post asks reporters what should be tossed out. Thomas Hicks, a former Post reporter, suggests Texas.

Congressional Races

Michael Levenson of the Boston Globe: "Gabriel E. Gomez, the Republican nominee for US Senate in Massachusetts, is nearly tied with his Democratic opponent, US Representative Edward J. Markey, according to a poll released Friday. Gomez, who scored an upset victory over two rivals in the Republican primary on Tuesday, has the support of 40 percent of likely voters in the June 25 general election,compared to 44 percent for Markey, according to the survey by Public Policy Polling.... Sixteen percent of respondents said they were undecided. The four percentage point spread is surprisingly thin in such a heavily Democratic state and suggests Markey, a 36-year veteran of the US House, is far from a lock in the general election."

Alexander Burns of Politico: Michael McFadden, "a wealthy Minneapolis finance executive, appears poised to enter the race against first-term Democratic Sen. Al Franken." Sez McFadden: "Minnesotans would rather have a crass materialist represent them than a clown who gives a shit about people." CW: okay, maybe he didn't say that, but no doubt that's what he thinks.

Local News

Nullification. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "In late April, the Kansas legislature passed and Gov. Sam Brownback (R) signed a law that blocks enforcement of any federal gun laws on guns produced and used within the state of Kansas. Under the law, 'any act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation of the government of the United States which violates the second amendment to the constitution of the United States is null, void and unenforceable in the state of Kansas.' Attorney General Eric Holder has written to Brownback that the law is unconstitutional and that the government 'will take all appropriate action including litigation if necessary, to prevent the State of Kansas from interfering with the activities of federal officials enforcing federal law.'" Other states are pulling similar stunts.

Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times: "Six months after Florida became the butt of late-night jokes for a chaotic voting process that bedeviled the 2012 presidential election, the State Legislature passed a bill on Friday to remedy many of those problems." The Miami Herald report, by Mark Caputo & Michael Van Sickler, is here. Seems Marco Rubio (who used to speaker of the Florida house) had a hand in writing the law.

Seanna Adcox of the AP: South Carolina "State senators inserted a clause in the 2013-14 budget plan that would bar Gov. Nikki Haley's office and the Governor's Mansion from buying junk food with public money, whether for employee treats or entertaining. The move was a response to state efforts to fight obesity by limiting what people can buy with money from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, known more commonly as food stamps." Adam Beam of The State has a longer piece here. ...

... Ben Smith of BuzzFeed: "South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian, a trial lawyer, longtime Democratic leader, and legendary figure in local politics, reportedly told a South Carolina Democratic Party dinner that the Democratic challenger would send "Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from.' Haley was born in South Carolina. Her parents are from India." CW: You might be a racist if -- you're a white Southerner, no matter your political affiliation.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old man who the authorities say is one of two brothers who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing, died of gunshot wounds and blunt trauma, according to his death certificate."

AP: " A wildfire tearing through a coastal region in Southern California nearly tripled in size as high temperatures fueled the flames, but a fire official said early Saturday that a favorable shift in the weather will likely help crews make progress against the flames. The fire 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles mushroomed to 43 square miles Friday...."

Reuters: "Israel has carried out an air strike targeting a shipment of missiles in Syria bound for Hezbollah guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon, an Israeli official said on Saturday." ...

     ... Update. The Washington Post has more here. ...

     ... Update 2. AP: "Israeli missiles struck a research center near the Syrian capital Damascus, setting off explosions and causing casualties, Syria's state news agency reported early Sunday, citing initial reports. If confirmed, it would be the second Israeli strike on targets in Syria in three days, signaling a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war."

Reuters: "Five U.S. soldiers were killed by a bomb in southern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the U.S. Armed Forces said on Saturday. The Taliban launched their annual spring offensive on Sunday, saying it would take aim at foreign military bases and diplomatic areas."

Bags of Cash Are on the Truck. AP: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday that the CIA's station chief in Kabul has assured him that regular funding the U.S. intelligence agency gives his government will not be cut off."

AP: "The death toll in the factory-building collapse in Bangladesh rose to more than 530 on Saturday, a day after the country's finance minister downplayed the impact of the disaster on the garment industry, saying he didn't think it was 'really serious.'"