The Commentariat -- Feb. 11, 2013

NEW. Seung Min Kim of Politico: "The Senate Armed Services Committee will vote Tuesday on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be secretary of Defense. The vote is set for 2:30 p.m., the committee announced Monday." ...

... Tim Mak of Politico: "... Republican aides reacted to that idea by suggesting that some members could walk out in protest."

** Paul Krugman: "... the parties aren't just divided on values and policy views, they’re divided over epistemology. One side believes, at least in principle, in letting its policy views be shaped by facts; the other believes in suppressing the facts if they contradict its fixed beliefs.... For all the talk of reforming and reinventing the G.O.P., the ignorance caucus retains a firm grip on the party's heart and mind." ...

... George Stephanopoulos: "... on 'This Week,' Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., dismissed recent gestures by prominent members of the GOP suggesting a softening of Republican positions as simply 'lipstick on a pig.' ... Ellison said. 'I mean, the bottom line is, the Republicans have a core values problem, not a "who knows who Tupac Shakur is" problem.'" ...

... Pema Levy of TPM: "Republican strategist Nicolle Wallace said Sunday that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is good for the Republican Party because, as one of many attributes, Rubio "knows who Tupac is."

New York Times Editors: "The [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] has taken seriously its mandate to protect the public from the kinds of abuses that helped lead to the 2009 recession, and it has not been intimidated by the financial industry's army of lobbyists. That's what worries Republicans.... Having failed to block the creation of the bureau in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, they are now trying to take away its power by filibuster, and they may well succeed." ...

... Nathaniel Popper of the New York Times: "Regulators across the country are confronting a wave of investor fraud that is saddling retirement savers with steep losses on complex products that until a few years ago were pitched only to the most sophisticated investors." ... CW: looks as if some of the scammers' success is an unintended consequence of near-zero interest rates; people who can't in fact afford to gamble on risky investments are susceptible to claims of fantabulous payouts.

"The Conscience of a Corporation." Bill Keller: the Obama administration's "concessions [to anti-contraceptive religious organizations] are not enough to satisfy the religious lobbies. Evangelicals and Catholics, cheered on by anti-abortion groups and conservative Obamacare-haters, now want the First Amendment freedom of religion to be stretched to cover an array of for-profit commercial ventures, Hobby Lobby being the largest litigant.... I understand why the fastest-growing religious affiliation in America is 'none.'"

David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Obama will use his State of the Union speech on Tuesday to reinvigorate one of his signature national security objectives -- drastically reducing nuclear arsenals around the world -- after securing agreement in recent months with the United States military that the American nuclear force can be cut in size by roughly a third." ...

... Jake Tapper of CNN: "Former Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha, who will be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony Monday afternoon, will also be honored by the Obamas as a guest of the first lady at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, administration officials tell CNN." (CW: I guess Jake got sick of playing 2nd fiddle at ABC News.) ...

... Justin Sink of The Hill: "President Obama will circle the country in the days following the State of the Union, with stops in Asheville, N.C., Atlanta, Ga., and his adopted hometown of Chicago." ...

... Ellen Hirst, et al., of the Chicago Tribune: "President Barack Obama will visit Chicago on Friday, when he will discuss gun violence as he focuses on his economic message from Tuesday's State of the Union address, according to the White House." ...

... Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "President Obama is considering a series of new executive actions aimed at working around a recalcitrant Congress, including policies that could allow struggling homeowners to refinance their mortgages, provide new protections for gays and lesbians, make buildings more energy-efficient and toughen regulations for coal-fired power plants, according to people outside the White House involved in discussions on the issues.... The moves underscore Obama's increasingly aggressive use of executive authority, including 23 administrative actions on gun violence last month and previous orders that delayed deportations of young illegal immigrants and will lower student loan payments. These and other potential actions suggest that Obama is likely to rely heavily on executive powers to set domestic policy in his second term."

Obama Channels Dubya. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Particularly stark has been the secret memo authorizing the targeted killing of American citizens deemed terrorists under certain circumstances without judicial review, a memo that brought back memories of those in which John Yoo, a Justice Department official under Mr. Bush, declared harsh interrogation legal."

Americans for Responsible Solutions, founded by Gabrielle Giffords & Mark Kelly, put out this Web video today:

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "A new intelligence assessment has concluded that the United States is the target of a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening the country's economic competitiveness, according to individuals familiar with the report. The National Intelligence Estimate identifies China as the country most aggressively seeking to penetrate the computer systems of American businesses and institutions to gain access to data that could be used for economic gain."

Larry Summers, the Nation's No. 1 Know-it-All, in a Washington Post op-ed: "With strains from the financial crisis receding and huge investment possible in energy, housing and reshored manufacturing, the United States faces a moment of opportunity unlike any in a long time. The economy could soon enter a virtuous cycle of confidence, growth and deficit reduction, much like it did in the 1990s. But this will require moving the national economic debate beyond its near-total preoccupation with federal budget restraint." CW: re: his recommendation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, unless Larry knows something I don't -- and that's quite possible -- none, or at least very little, of the Canadian oil would come to the U.S. Rather, it would move to Gulf refineries & on to someplace else. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong here.

Tracy Johnson, a sergeant in the North Carolina National Guard, in a moving Washington Post op-ed: "As long as DOMA is federal law, our government is required to treat same-sex military partners and widows like me as second-class citizens in the country we have sacrificed to defend."

More About Bob. Eric Lipton & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez sought to discourage any plan by the United States government to donate port security equipment to the Dominican Republic, citing concern that the advanced screening gear might undermine efforts by a private company -- run by a major campaign contributor and friend of his -- to do the work.... The questions ... are potentially ... troubling for Mr. Menendez, who is already facing questions over his fitness for the Foreign Relations Committee chairmanship, because the contract involved a foreign policy concern: curbing the flow of cocaine to the United States from the Dominican Republic."

"Obama Prepares to Screw His Base." Is Ben Smith of BuzzFeed pissed off because he'll have to buy health insurance? Or because BuzzFeed will have to provide access to health insurance for its young staff? Or what? ...

... CW: Here's the thing, Ben. As Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times reports, "On a central philosophical question of the day -- the size and scope of the federal government -- a clear majority of young people embraces President Obama's notion that it can be a constructive force, a point he intends to make in his State of the Union address on Tuesday."

Grave Robber. Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times: "Pressed to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to settle clergy sex abuse lawsuits, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony ... quietly appropriated $115 million from a cemetery maintenance fund and used it to help pay a landmark settlement with molestation victims. The church did not inform relatives of the deceased that it had taken the money, which amounted to 88% of the fund. Families of those buried in church-owned cemeteries and interred in its mausoleums have contributed to a dedicated account for the perpetual care of graves, crypts and grounds since the 1890s."

Re: the tornado that hit Mississippi, & caused considerable damage in Hattiesburg, Tom Kludt, writing in TPM, has a relevant piece on Steve Palazzo (R), who represents Hattiesburg & initially opposed relief to Northeastern states hit by Hurricane Sandy.

Nicole Winfield of the AP: "With some decisive, often controversial moves, Benedict tried to remind Europe of its Christian heritage and set the Catholic Church on a conservative, tradition-minded path that often alienated progressives and thrilled conservatives. Yet his papacy will be forever intertwined with the sex abuse scandal.... Benedict never admitted any personal or Vatican failure.... He never took action against bishops who ignored or covered up the abuse of their priests...."

Right Wing World

Alex Pareene of Salon on the Right Wing World War: "The conservative movement is a massive and elaborate moneymaking venture" and the feud between the Rovians & the Norquistians is a fund-raising bonanza for both sides. "The entire modern conservative movement these days seems like a successful experiment in getting rich people (and lots and lots of non-rich people, whose donations are less coveted but accepted nonetheless) to pay an ever-growing number of pundits, think tank 'fellows' and 'scholars,' failed campaign hacks and people like Ginni Thomas who seem to serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever." CW: Pareene doesn't mention it, but of course major beneficiaries are the media.

Erasing History. Elon Green, writing in the Washington Monthly, notes that conservapundit Byron York, in criticizing President Obama for doing nothing on jobs, accidentally forgot about Obama's 2011 American Jobs Act, which "died on the table, thanks to Republicans, a month later. The failure to pass this $450 billion bill was of massive consequence to the economy in general and jobs in particular.... The Economic Policy Institute [concluded] that with the passage of the American Jobs Act 'real GDP growth for 2012 would have been 1.4 percentage points higher, bringing growth to 3.4 percent....'"

Ron Paul Sues Ron Paul Supporters. Andre Tartar of New York: "In a move that's baffled and enraged his staunchly libertarian fans, three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul has asked the World Intellectual Property Organization to confiscate two domain names currently held by his supporters: RonPaul.com and RonPaul.org. In a Friday blog post, the sites' proprietors fired back at their hero by claiming that they'd already offered to let Paul buy RonPaul.com (and its 170,000-follower mailing list) for a measly $250,000. (RonPaul.org was apparently thrown in as 'a free gift.') After all, that's the proper market economy way to handle this situation -- right? Instead, their beloved leader has chosen to expropriate private property with the help of a major bastion of liberal tyranny: the United Nations, which controls the WIPA."

Local News

Jack Leonard, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "The [Los Angeles] Police Department concluded [suspected multiple murderer Christopher Jordan] Dorner was lying when he said his training officer kicked a man during an arrest. But it's not so clear whose testimony should be believed." ...

... They Shoot Pick-ups, Don't They? CW: I think this is the first time I've seen a full report of the Torrance Police's shooting at David Perdue, whom they thought was Christopher Dorner: "... the pickups [driven by the two men] were different makes and colors. And Perdue looks nothing like Dorner: He's several inches shorter and about a hundred pounds lighter. And Perdue is white; Dorner is black." After stopping Perdue & questioning him, the police sent him on his way. "Seconds later, Perdue's attorney said, a Torrance police cruiser slammed into his pickup and officers opened fire; none of the bullets struck Perdue." The Keystone Kops excuse is classic: after purposely ramming Perdue's car, his airbag deployed, so the cop who shot at him couldn't tell whom he was shooting.

News Ledes

Reuters: "U.S. President Barack Obama plans to release a long-awaited executive order aimed at improving the nation's defenses against cyber attacks as early as Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the matter. The order, drawn up after Congress failed to pass cyber defense legislation last year, is meant to improve the protection of critical industries and infrastructure from cyber intrusions."

AP: "Chicago police say the two men accused of killing a 15-year-old honor student mistook her and her friends for rival gang members who'd shot one of the men over the summer. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says murder charges were filed Monday against 18-year-old Michael Ward and 20-year-old Kenneth Williams."

New York Times: "Military leaders, law enforcement officials and thousands of others gathered at Cowboys Stadium [in Arlington, Texas,] on Monday to remember Chris Kyle, the retired Navy SEAL sniper and author who was killed with another man, investigators say, by a troubled veteran he was trying to help."

New York Times: "The authorities [in Los Angeles] have received more than 700 tips from the public on the whereabouts of Christopher J. Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer wanted in connection with three killings, police officials said on Monday."

Space.com: "... NASA's 'Mohawk Guy' ... became world famous after helping NASA's huge Curiosity rover make a dramatic landing on Mars, and now he'll sit with first lady Michelle Obama during Tuesday's State of the Union address. The Iranian-American Mohawk Guy -- whose name is Bobak Ferdowsi -- will sit in the first lady's box to highlight President Barack Obama's call for more visas for skilled immigrants in the fields of math, science and engineering...."

AP: "A gunman who spent years in court battles over custody disputes opened fire Monday in the lobby of a Delaware courthouse, leaving two women dead before being fatally shot, authorities said."

** NBC News: "Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he will resign on February 28 because of his failing health, saying he no longer has the strength to carry out his duties. Greg Burke, senior communication adviser to the Holy See, said the 85-year-old will step down on February 28 -- becoming the first pope to resign since at least 1415."

The text of Benedict's resignation statement is here.

AP: "Residents shaken by a tornado that mangled homes in Mississippi were waking up Monday to a day of removing trees, patching roofs and giving thanks for their survival. More than a dozen in the state were injured."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 10, 2013

My column in the New York Times eXaminer incorporates some Reality Chex contributors' comments on the Citadel, a planned survivalist community.

John Bresnahan of Politico: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says the tens of billions of dollars of spending cuts under sequestration that kicks in on March 1 can be avoided through eliminating tax subsidies for oil companies. 'The fact is we've had plenty of spending cuts, $1.6 trillion in the Budget Control Act. What we need is growth,' Pelosi said in an interview on 'Fox News Sunday.' Slashing spending indiscriminately, she said, would hurt growth prospects for the U.S. economy. 'It is almost a false argument to say we have a spending problem,' [she] asserted."

Aveva Shen of Think Progress: "On ABC's This Week Sunday morning, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) called out Tom Cole (R-OK) for his claim that President Obama is responsible for the automatic budget cuts set to go into effect if Congress cannot reach a budget deal by March. The so-called 'sequester' includes steep defense cuts intended to motivate Republicans who refused to agree to any deal that included a tax increase in 2011":

ABC News: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) "is threatening to hold up Senate confirmation of President Barack Obama's nominees to lead the Defense Department and the CIA until the White House provides more answers about the deadly Sept. 11 attack against a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya."

John Bresnahan: "Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said on Sunday embattled Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) should keep his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee despite an investigation into his dealings with a top donor."

Michael Shear & Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: "President Obama on Tuesday will seek to move beyond the politics of the moment to define a second-term agenda built around restoring economic prosperity to the middle class, using his State of the Union address to unveil initiatives in education, infrastructure, clean energy and manufacturing."

The Disappeareds, American-Style. David Cole of the Nation, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... when it comes to the particular legal issue raised in a recently leaked 'white paper' from the Justice Department -- namely, whether it is legal to kill Americans with drones -- one problem looms largest: The policy permits the government to kill its citizens in secret while refusing to acknowledge, even after the fact, that it has done so." ...

... Dana Milbank: "... the only drones in evidence Thursday afternoon at [John] Brennan's confirmation hearing were the lawmakers on the dais.... The senators, with few exceptions, exempted Brennan from tough questioning about the drone program...." ...

... Last week Bill Moyers discussed the U.S. drone program with Vicki Divoll & Vincent Warren:

... Paul Harris of the Guardian: "President Barack Obama is facing a liberal backlash over his hardline national security policy, which critics say is more extreme and conservative than that pursued by George W Bush."

Anna Bernasek of the New York Times: "... what is being taxed [under the current U.S. tax code] is often just a small portion of the income and wealth of the very richest Americans; unearned income, including unrealized gains and gains on investments, is either not taxed or taxed at a fraction of the top rate on wages. Taxing wealth in addition to income is one way to make sure that the rich contribute more to government coffers. That would essentially be a tax on household assets like property, stocks, bonds, unincorporated businesses, trusts, art and yachts." ...

... Peter Applebome of the New York Times: "Even if a state recognizes same-sex marriage, federal law doesn't -- resulting in a maddening array of tax complications for gay couples.

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "The stronger argument for a major government response to climate change is the ... obvious argument: climate change. The continental United States endured its hottest year on record in 2012, and the planet's 13 hottest years have all occurred since 1998. Major storms and wildfires are increasing.... The seas are rising faster than forecast only a few years ago, and the costs of extreme weather are rising, too. In Washington, the economic case for responding to climate change has made little progress, with Democrats failing to pass a sweeping bill when they controlled Congress and Republicans remaining strongly opposed. And President Obama has subtly shifted his approach, talking less about green jobs and more about extreme weather."

Tim Egan gives a thumbs-up to Sally Jewell, President Obama's nominee for Secretary of the Interior. "For all the ranchers and wildcatters, the loggers and right-wing county commissioners who clamor for control of the nation's public lands, the dominant user is an urbanite, who bikes, skis, rafts, climbs, hunts, fishes, watches birds, waits for sunsets with a camera or finds an antidote for 'nature deficit disorder' in a weekend on a high plateau. Yet this silent majority is taken for granted." ...

... Verlyn Klinkenborg in the New York Times: "Only about a third of the 640 million acres of public land -- national parks, permanently protected wilderness..., national wildlife refuges -- enjoy complete or high levels of protection against commercial development. Nearly all the rest is multiuse land, for logging, grazing, hard-rock mining, oil and gas development. Especially vulnerable are the 248 million acres overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. It is to this threat that President Obama must pay more attention than he has.... In a speech last week, President Clinton's interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt, presented a telling chart that showed how much land has been protected -- by Congress and by the president -- from the Reagan to the Obama presidency. So far, the current administration is dead last, and by several lengths." ...

... Here's the story on Babbitt's speech by John Broder, and here's Babbitt's chart:

Bob Moen of the AP: "Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday night that President Barack Obama has jeopardized U.S. national security by nominating substandard candidates for key cabinet posts and by degrading the U.S. military." CW: the speech, by a veep who makes Spiro Agnew look good, was not intended to be ironic.

Joel Greenberg & Babak Dehghanpisheh of the Washington Post: "Israel's recent airstrike in Syria, which according to Western officials targeted weapons destined for the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah, could mark the start of a more aggressive campaign by Israel to prevent arms transfers as conditions in Syria deteriorate, according to analysts in Israel and Lebanon. Israel's readiness to strike again if necessary heralds a new and more volatile phase in the regional repercussions of Syria's civil war, which has raised concerns in Israel about the possible transfer of advanced or nonconventional weapons to Islamist militant groups."

God Is a Flat-Taxer. Steve Benen: at this past week's annual National Prayer Breakfast [CW: which I ignored] "... the president was preceded by Dr. Benjamin Carson, a conservative physician, who used his time at the microphone to complain about 'fiscal irresponsibly' and the national debt, before insisting that God wants a 10 percent flat tax. Though conservatives were outraged that Obama tried to 'politicize' the prayer breakfast in 2012, the right quickly celebrated Carson's remarks this week. It's funny how that works out, isn't it?"

Irregardless of Gene Weingarten's opinionating, I do not mean to infer that the Web is preventative of really, really good English writing. His column, tho, is the best evah! IMHO.

Local News

Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times: "This Monday begins the long-awaited trial of Jim Greer, 50, a flamboyant former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. Mr. Greer, who was chosen for the job by [then-Governor Charlie] Crist, was indicted in 2010 on charges of fraud, money laundering and theft. Prosecutors accuse him of steering $125,000 of party money to a personal account in 2009 through a shell fund-raising company, Victory Strategies, of which he was a secret co-owner.... The trial is expected to rummage through the messy -- some say unethical -- inner workings of the party from 2007 to 2010, back when Mr. Crist still called himself a Republican (he is a Democrat now) and when [Sen. Marco] Rubio was an underdog candidate."

News Ledes

Reuters: "Airports slowly cranked back to life on Sunday, rare travel bans in Connecticut and Massachusetts were lifted, but roads throughout the region remained treacherous, according to state transportation departments. As the region recovered, another large winter storm building across the Northern Plains was expected to leave a foot of snow and bring high winds from Colorado to central Minnesota into Monday...."

Reuters: "U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, expected to oversee the withdrawal of most foreign troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year, took control of the NATO-led mission on Sunday, in an elaborate ceremony which emphasised the country's sovereignty."

AP: "The hunt for a former Los Angeles police officer suspected in three killings entered a fourth day in snow-covered mountains Sunday, a day after the LAPD chief ordered a review of the disciplinary case that led to the fugitive's dismissal and new details emerge of the evidence he left behind." ...

... New York Times: "The Los Angeles Police Department will reopen its investigation into the 2007 episode that led to the firing of Christopher J. Dorner, the former police officer who is wanted in three killings, department officials said Saturday night." CW: they also might want to open an investigation into their hiring practices -- could they use some screening tools to detect homicidal tendencies?

AP: "Three foreign doctors have been killed in Nigeria, one of them beheaded, officials have said. Their nationality remains unclear, with differing reports claiming they were either South Korean or Chinese. The deaths on Saturday night of the physicians in Potiskum, a town in Yobe state, comes less than a week after gunmen killed at least nine women administering polio vaccines in Kano, the major city of Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north."

Al Jazeera: "The secular party of Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki has withdrawn its three ministers from the country's government, saying that its demands for changes in the cabinet have not been met. The decision on Sunday by Marzouki's Congress for the Republic Party deals a further blow to Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali's government, already reeling from last week's assassination of secular opposition leader Shokri Belaid."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 9, 2013

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. The President begins his remarks with a huge lie: "Over the last few years, Democrats and Republicans have come together and cut our deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a balanced mix of spending cuts and higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans." (AND he doesn't get much better as he goes along, promising "sensible changes to entitlement programs.") How fucking balance is this? --

... (From the February 7 Commentariat) Greg Sargent: "Even if the parties reach a deal in the third round of deficit reduction to avert the sequester with something approaching an equivalent sum of spending cuts and new revenues, the overall deficit reduction balance would still be heavily lopsided towards Republicans. Yet they continue to insist on resolving round three only through cuts, anyway." There are more related links in the February 7 Commentariat. ...

... Tom Raum of the AP: "Trying to ratchet up pressure on Congress, the White House on Friday detailed what it said would be the painful impact on the federal workforce and certain government assistance programs if 'large and arbitrary' scheduled government spending cuts are allowed to take place beginning March 1. They include layoffs or furloughs of 'hundreds of thousands' of federal workers, including FBI agents, U.S. prosecutors, food safety inspectors and air traffic controllers, said White House budget officials at a briefing and in a fact sheet...." ...

... Here's the White House fact sheet. ...

... Jonathan Chait: Speaker Boehner is (1) standing pat on (2) the "horrible sequester," which is all President Obama's fault. "I don't understand the strategy of publicly declaring you don't mind the sequester and blaming it all on Obama. Don't you have to, you know, pick one?" CW: no, Jon, you do not, if you live in Right Wing World, where self-contradiction is the norm. ...

... Jed Lewison of Daily Kos has the best idea on how to handle the sequester: repeal it. CW: If you think this would lead to a lot of wasteful defense spending, you might be right. But maybe not: a budget authorization is just that: an authorization. It doesn't mean the Pentagon has to spend the money, though obviously the Defense Department would be under a lot of pressure from military contractors to let authorized contracts.

... This Huff Post interview of Paul Krugman is well-worth hearing. Krugman's questioner Marc Hill asks all the right questions, allowing Krugman to cover all the basics of what's wrong with Washington's (mis)management of deficits & spending. The interview comes to me via Chris Spannos, my editor at NYTX, who found it because the accompanying Huff Post story by Jack Mirkinson links one of my NYTX columns:

Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill this week that would eliminate the corporate "'deferral,' which allows U.S. corporations to avoid paying taxes on overseas profits until they bring that money back to the U.S., giving them every incentive to leave it overseas permanently [and other corporate giveaways].... According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, 'the provisions in this bill will raise more than $590 billion in revenue over the next decade.'" CW: good luck getting so much as a hearing on the bill, Bernie.

Kelsey Snell of Politico: "An investment Jack Lew made in the Cayman Islands has been flagged as an issue in the Treasury secretary nominee’s vetting by the Senate Finance Committee, according to multiple sources close to the confirmation process. The White House says the investment was previously disclosed and is already a public matter.... 'That Mr. Lew had an investment in the Caymans from 2007 through 2010 will likely draw questions during his nomination hearing,' said ... a spokeswoman for Finance Committee Republicans. Lew has been confirmed by the Senate three times in the past -- twice by unanimous consent." CW: so I guess it was okay that President Romney still had a slew of Caymen investments, but it's not okay if Treasury Secretary Lew had a Caymen investment in the past (he sold the investment, at a loss, i 2010). The real problem: "Republicans have been critical of Lew since his nomination was announced last month. Sens. Jeff Sessions and Orrin Hatch have questioned his role in Medicare policy decisions...." ...

... Sen. Carl Levin: "Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter today to Ranking Member Sen. James Inhofe, responding to a letter by Sen. Inhofe and other Republican senators insisting on additional financial disclosure information from secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel.... Sen. Levin outlines the Armed Services Committee's rules and practices for nominees and says the request by Inhofe and other Republican senators 'appears to insist upon financial disclosure requirements that far exceed the standard practices of the Armed Services Committee and go far beyond the financial disclosure required of previous Secretaries of Defense.' Levin intends to hold a committee vote on the Hagel nomination as soon as possible."

New York Times Editors: "... Harry Reid needs to remove [Sen. Bob Menendez {D-N.J.} from his position as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee], at least pending credible resolution by the Senate Ethics Committee of the swirling accusations of misconduct."

Ari Berman of The Nation: "In 2006, Congress voted overwhelmingly to reauthorize key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for another twenty-five years. The legislation passed 390-33 in the House and 98-0 in the Senate. Every top Republican supported the bill.... Seven years later, the bipartisan consensus that supported the VRA for nearly fifty years has collapsed, and conservatives are challenging the law as never before.... The current campaign against the VRA is the result of ... a whiter, more Southern, more conservative GOP that has responded to demographic change by trying to suppress an increasingly diverse electorate; a twenty-five-year effort to gut the VRA by conservative intellectuals, who in recent years have received millions of dollars from top right-wing funders, including Charles Koch; and a reactionary Supreme Court that does not support remedies to racial discrimination."

"Fitness for Office." Gail Collins considers the corpulence of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. ...

... Jason Volentine of KTVK Phoenix: "Dr. Connie Mariano was the White House doctor for nine years, encompassing parts of both Bush administrations and the entire Clinton presidency. She was recently asked her opinion of Gov. Chris Christie’s weight problem..." The doctor said she worried about his health if he didn't get his weight down before he ran for office. [Elsewhere it was reported she said he might die in office.] Christie did not take the criticism well, firing back at the doctor from a news conference he held in New Jersey.... Mariano said Christie called her and yelled at her. 'It was essentially the tone of the press conference only louder,' she said. 'It was hard to get anything across.' ... Mariano ... [said] it's common for medical experts to weigh in on the health concerns of potential presidential candidates.... Ironically, Mariano has been a Christie supporter and identifies herself as a Republican."

Matthew O'Brien of The Atlantic explains that -- contrary to claims by know-it-alls -- liberal arts majors are not having a hard time finding jobs because their majors are useless; it's because, um, there aren't many jobs out there. With charts!

Andy Borowitz: "Citing budgetary concerns, the United States announced today that it would discontinue regular Saturday drone strikes on U.S. citizens, beginning in 2014."

Oh, boy! Remember Pretend President Rubio, the Republican savior who is going to deliver the Republican response to the SOTU? Now there's also going to be Pretend President Rand Paul who will deliver the Tea Party response to the SOTU. Paul should be great because, as Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon notes, "Paul will try to do a better job of looking at the camera than Michele Bachmann."

News Ledes

Reuters: "Chinese welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Snake with raucous celebrations on Saturday, setting off a cacophony of firecrackers in the streets and sending fireworks blazing into the sky to bring good fortune. Celebrations will carry on into the early hours of Sunday, officially the first day of the Lunar New Year."

AP: "A Cairo court on Saturday ordered the government to block access to the video-sharing website YouTube for 30 days for carrying an anti-Islam film that caused deadly riots across the world."

AP: "After weeks of anxiety plodding through the opaque Russian legal system, two U.S. women have custody of their adopted Russian children and are preparing to take them home to start a new life together. Jeana Bonner of South Jordan, Utah, and Rebecca Preece from Nampa, Idaho, told The Associated Press on Saturday about the expenses, the confusion and emotional swings they've gone through since arriving in Moscow in mid-January, expecting to quickly leave with their children, both of whom have Down syndrome."

Bloomberg News: "Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt is adopting a plan to sell as many as 3.2 million shares in the operator of the world's most popular search engine. The planned share sales, worth about $2.5 billion, are for Schmidt's individual asset diversification and liquidity, Mountain View, California-based Google said in a filing yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission."

New York Times: "A powerful nor'easter swept fast and furiously across the Northeast on Saturday, dumping mountains of snow, forcing hundreds of motorists to abandon their cars at the height of the blizzard and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people." Latest updates are here. ...

     ... AP Update: "New Englanders began the back-breaking job of digging out from as much as 3 feet of snow Saturday and emergency crews used snowmobiles to reach shivering motorists stranded overnight on New York's Long Island< after a howling storm swept through the Northeast. About 650,000 homes and businesses were left without electricity, and some could be cold and dark for days. Roads across the New York-to-Boston corridor of roughly 25 million people were impassable."

... Boston Globe: "Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents have lost power because of the mammoth blizzard that lashed Massachusetts with hurricane-force winds and dumped more than two feet of snow in some areas overnight. The state is at a standstill, with residents hunkering down at home under a rare travel ban imposed by the governor on Friday, and the MBTA saying it will not be able to restore service today. Snowplows are out in force struggling to clear the roads, but the storm is expected to continue dumping snow into midday." ...

... Hartford Courant: "Roads across the state were impassable Saturday morning, with drivers, emergency responders and even highway crews stuck in 2 to 3 feet of snow. At 5 a.m., Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ordered all roads closed until further notice, according to spokesman Andrew Doba. Just before 7 a.m., more than 36,000 Connecticut Light & Power customers were without power, along with more than half a million households in Massachusetts and Rhode Island."

AP: "Secret Defense Department studies cast doubt on whether a multibillion-dollar missile defense system planned for Europe will ever be able to protect the U.S. from Iranian missiles as intended, congressional investigators say. Military officials say they believe the problems can be overcome and are moving forward with plans."

AP: "First lady Michelle Obama will join some of Illinois' most recognizable politicians and clergy Saturday to mourn a 15-year-old honor student whose death has drawn attention to staggering gun violence in the nation's third-largest city. But Hadiya Pendleton's family says her Saturday funeral service won't be about politics, but about remembering a girl who loved to dance, once appeared in an anti-gang video and died just days after performing at one of President Barack Obama's inauguration events." ...

     ... Update: "Hundreds of mourners and dignitaries including first lady Michelle Obama packed the funeral service Saturday for a Chicago teen whose killing catapulted her into the nation's debate over gun violence." The Chicago Tribune story is here.

New York Times: John "Karlin, who died on Jan. 28, at 94..., quietly yet emphatically defined the experience of using the telephone in the mid-20th century and afterward, from ushering in all-digit dialing to casting the shape of the keypad on touch-tone phones. And that keypad, in turn, would inform the design of a spate of other everyday objects.... Mr. Karlin, associated from 1945 until his retirement in 1977 with Bell Labs..., was widely considered the father of human-factors engineering in American industry."

New York Times: "India hanged a man on Saturday who had been convicted of involvement in the 2001 attack on Parliament that killed nine people. The hanging of Afzal Guru, a 43-year-old militant with the group Jaish-e-Mohammad, came more than a decade after the Dec. 13, 2001, suicide attack on India's Parliament in which five gunmen opened fire, killing nine people, including security officials and a journalist."

Washington Post: "Parking lot attendants at the Smithsonian Institution's air and space center in Chantilly" skimmed at least $1.4 million from the parking fees they collected. Two have been sentenced. A third attendant, charged with stealing $120,000, committed suicide before her case was resolved...."

Los Angeles Times: "An attorney representing two women who were delivering newspapers when they were shot by police during a massive manhunt for an ex-LAPD officer called the incident 'unacceptable,' saying his clients looked nothing like the suspect. Emma Hernandez, 71, was delivering the Los Angeles Times with her daughter, Margie Carranza, 47, in the 19500 block of Redbeam Avenue in Torrance on Thursday morning when Los Angeles police detectives apparently mistook their pickup for that of Christopher Dorner, the 33-year-old fugitive suspected of killing three people and injuring two others." CW: Hernandez & Carranza are odd names for "Asian" women, which was the initially-reported description of the women. I guess all non-white people look alike. Who wouldn't mistake a 71-year-old Latina for a 33-year-old black man?